The Best Backup RBs To Draft in Fantasy Football: Blake Corum Leads Handcuff Rankings
Fantasy

The Best Backup RBs To Draft in Fantasy Football: Blake Corum Leads Handcuff Rankings

Joe Metz runs through which backup RBs you should target as your handcuffs in your 2026 fantasy football drafts.

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Running backs are all the rage with their return to dominance, making it more important than ever to identify the best backup RBs to draft in fantasy football. While we've been fortunate to see a run of good health at the position over the last handful of seasons, the pendulum is bound to swing back at some point, so let's dive into how to prioritize running back handcuffs in your 2026 drafts.

Backup Running Backs To Target In 2026 Fantasy Football Drafts

Blake Corum (LAR): It's hard to truly consider Corum a backup given the fact that he got 39% of the rushing attempts and 55% of the attempts inside the five-yard line from Week 10 on last season, but he's still the 1B to Kyren Williams' 1A. Even so, Corum saw 145 attempts last season and with the Rams adding zero insurance behind these two, Corum would be locked into a workhorse role in a potent offense if Williams misses time. He has standalone value and elite contingent upside.

TreVeyon Henderson (NE): Henderson's price is a hard one to click in drafts given the consistent reports that there's been virtually no improvement in pass pro, but we saw his upside should Rhamondre Stevenson miss time. Between Weeks 9 through 11 last season, Henderson posted snap shares of 75%, 83% and 90% while scoring 10.7, 27.5 and 29.8 half-PPR points.

Rico Dowdle (PIT): Like the other two, Dowdle is less of a backup and more of a 1B, but we could very well see him command the majority of the rushing attempts out of the gate while ceding high-leverage touches to Jaylen Warren. Dowdle had multiple 200-yard games last season, with a trio of top-three RB finishes en route to unseating Chuba Hubbard from his RB1 role. If Warren goes down, Dowdle is a mega-smash.

Chris Rodriguez (JAX): All the offseason hype has surrounded Bhayshul Tuten, but Rodriguez will have a role out of the gate and should be the favorite for goal-line work. He offers virtually nothing in the passing game, but he could easily unseat Tuten if the sophomore doesn't improve on some underwhelming metrics last season and offers standalone value in an attractive offense.

Kenneth Gainwell (TB): The opposite of Rodriguez, Gainwell should receive a small fraction of the base work, but virtually all of the receiving work alongside Bucky Irving in Tampa Bay. He's a decently appealing RB2 in full-PPR Zero-RB builds after an 85-target season with the Steelers in 2025.

Tank Bigsby (PHI): Bigsby feels like the first pure handcuff on this list, as all expectations are that Saquon Barkley maintains his workhorse role for the Eagles in their new-look offense. That said, Barkley is entering his age-29 season after back-to-back years of at least 280 carries. At some point, he's going to hit the cliff, and Bigsby is a legitimately good RB behind him, capable of filling the void if it happens.

Brian Robinson (ATL): While I don't expect Robinson to provide the same level of annoyance that Tyler Allgeier did for Bijan Robinson managers, he's a pure handcuff to the running back who may have the largest workload in the entire NFL. That alone carries value.

Emmett Johnson (KC): Johnson has been a preseason riser, and the fact that the Chiefs cut third-down RB Emari Demercado. Kenneth Walker has missed time in each of the last three seasons and has never handled a truly voluminous role, so we could see Johnson carve out standalone value with massive contingent upside in the scenario that Walker misses time.

Kaelon Black (SF): The RB2 behind Christian McCaffrey is always a lucrative late-round investment, but arguably never more lucrative than after a season where McCaffrey accumulated 413 touches and now enters his age-30 season.

Mike Washington Jr. (LV): The Ashton Jeanty injury scare opened the door for people to pay closer attention to how explosive Washington is, even after an insane weekend of NFL Combine testing in March. He averaged 7.3 yards per attempt on 23 preseason carries and should slot into a valuable role if Jeanty gets reinjured.

Malik Davis (DAL): With Jaydon Blue cut by the Cowboys, Davis slides in as the RB2 behind Javonte Williams in one of the highest-scoring offenses in the NFL. The defense should be improved this season, too, so we could see the Cowboys' 62% dropback rate fall a few percentage points as they utilize the ground game a bit more.

Tyjae Spears (TEN): Is it fun rostering a running back on the Titans? No, but Tyjae Spears has dual-threat upside and standalone RB3 value as the primary passing-down back. He would almost surely take on some of the base work in the event of a Tony Pollard injury or fall-off.

Tyler Allgeier (ARI): Allgeier served as a thorn in the side of Bijan Robinson managers for the last two seasons and will open the year as the RB2 behind rookie phenom Jeremiyah Love, whose status is already in question for Week 1. The offense isn't pretty, but he's a pure handcuff that's proven to have fantasy value when given the carries for a bad offense before.

Ray Davis (BUF): James Cook will be a workhorse this season, but with a higher workload comes a higher probability of injury. The Bills project as Matthew Freedman's No. 1 offense, so targeting the early-down backup has value in fantasy football; just don't expect a ton of receiving work so long as Ty Johnson remains involved.

More handcuff/committee running backs to target: Kaleb Johnson (GB), Kyle Monangai (CHI), Jonah Coleman (DEN), Jordan Mason (MIN), Woody Marks (HOU), Braelon Allen (NYJ)

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Blake Corum
    BlakeCorum
    RBLARLAR
    PPG
    6.8
    Proj
    8.0
  2. TreVeyon Henderson
    TreVeyonHenderson
    RBNENE
    PPG
    9.6
    Proj
    7.7
  3. MikeWashington
    RBLVLV
    Proj
    4.9
  4. KaelonBlackQ
    RBSFSF
    Proj
    2.1

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