What’s old is new again. As fantasy football was taking off more than two decades ago, the sport was different, and pounding running backs made all the sense in the world. As the NFL has adjusted its rules over time, however, the WR position has spiked in value and has been the focus of the first set of selections for a few years now.
You’d better get comfortable being uncomfortable: The RB-RB strategy is back, and Jason Katz is right to love that angle if you’re picking at the back end of your draft.
Fantasy Football: Draft Strategy When Picking 12th
When picking at the end of the first round, you naturally need to be ready to pivot if anyone goes off-script ahead of you.
That said, ADP has four receivers very clearly labeled as first-round targets (Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Amon-Ra St. Brown). If we assume that as a constant, it means that in a 12-team draft, there is a maximum of seven running backs coming off the board before you’re on the clock.
Read: 2026 Fantasy Football Rankings
I have eight RBs in my top two tiers at the position. So, if we are talking about what is most likely to occur, the second Justin Jefferson or CeeDee Lamb gets selected ahead of you, you’ve locked yourself into a position where you can grab—in an age of committees and workload management—two Tier 2 RBs.
And the odds are very good that you’ll be the only team in your league to pull that off.
Running Back Tiers
Tier 1
- Bijan Robinson
- Jahmyr Gibbs
Tier 2
- James Cook
- Ashton Jeanty
- Christian McCaffrey
- Jonathan Taylor
- De’Von Achane
- Chase Brown
Tier 3
- Jeremiyah Love
- Derrick Henry
- Javonte Williams
- Omarion Hampton
- Kenneth Walker III
All of these running backs are great, but the top eight carry next to zero role concerns, and all have either shown elite skills or are attached to an elite offense, if not both.
Less important than selling you on one of those eight names is selling you on the opportunity cost. That third tier is going to run out before you’re on the clock in Round 3, which means passing on an RB-RB start boxes you out from an entire tier, something that isn’t the case at wide receiver.
Katz raises a good point in his piece: this is a very specific strategy tied to your draft slot. If you’re picking in the first half of the draft, you’re going to get swings at that third tier. At the tail end of the first round, however, that’s not a luxury you have. Thus, you’d be wise to plan around it ahead of time as opposed to panicking as the timer ticks.
