Rich’s Power Rankings: The NFL’s Top 10 Running Backs Heading into the 2026 Season

Ten spots, one position group, and a stack of running backs Rich openly admits he went back and forth on. His top 10 running backs heading into the 2026 season, presented by SoFi, started with a respect pick and ended with a player he called stupid good.

10. Kenneth Walker III. Rich put him on the list out of respect for what Walker did in the biggest game of his career, not for the raw production. He barely ran for 1,000 yards. His 221 carries ranked 20th among running backs. Five touchdowns. All purpose yards of 1,309. But Rich is genuinely curious what the Chiefs do with him, and hopes it is more than 221 carries. "The guy is physical and the guy doesn't blink when the pressure's on, chips are down."

9. Breece Hall. A 1,065 yard rushing season on 243 carries and 1,415 all purpose yards is a top 10 finish, and Hall did it behind one of the worst offensive teams Rich has ever seen the Jets field. "And that's saying a whole bunch of a lot." What he wants is Hall in an offense with more than one receiving threat and a quarterback defenses actually have to respect.

8. De'Von Achane. The home run hitter, and Rich means it literally. Achane was top five in rushing yards with 1,350, his 12 total touchdowns ranked 10th among backs, and he was sixth in all purpose yardage. The hesitation is repeatability. "I am concerned about whether Achane is going to have 15 targets on him, and there's only 11 players on the other side of the field."

7. James Cook. Rich led the segment admitting this might be too low for a player who led the league in rushing yards. He is putting Cook here anyway. Third most carries, 14 total touchdowns tied for fifth, top five in all purpose yards, and a quarterback who vultures scores at the goal line. "I just kind of need to see it again."

6. Derrick Henry. The diminisher misses the top five despite the second most rushing yards in the league last year on 307 carries, fourth most. Rich took a victory lap here, and he earned it, noting he was the first to float a Hall of Fame case for Henry from that chair about four years ago while the room told him it was early. "Who cares that I'm over 30" is roughly Henry's whole argument, and it held up.

5. Jonathan Taylor. Another one Rich flagged as possibly too low. Taylor led the league in rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns from the running back position, carried 323 times, and finished third in rushing and third in all purpose yards. "I thought he was the MVP midway through, and then everything fell apart. And I'm not going to lay that at his feet." The quarterback went down and that was that.

4. Saquon Barkley. This is a respect placement following what Rich called a total drop-off. Everyone in Philadelphia is still asking what happened. It also makes this the biggest season of Barkley's career, because a return to his form of two years ago puts him on a Hall of Fame path, and another offensive player of the year type run with a championship attached seals it. "Saquon's still Saquon."

3. Christian McCaffrey. Another big season, another set of concerns swirling around the Niners. Rich sent his best to Kyle Shanahan as he recovers from a car accident, noted Ricky Pearsall's knee swelling and a PCL concern that surfaced during the commercial break, and acknowledged Kittle is coming off an injury. Through all of it, McCaffrey is as consistent when healthy as anybody Rich has seen at the position. He is 30 now. Doing it again may seal the Hall of Fame case. Rich also went back to the combine, where the questions were whether a "piece of fine Tiffany" out of Stanford could run between the tackles and whether he was a good teammate after skipping his bowl game. "How stupid are both of those things sitting here right now?"

2. Jahmyr Gibbs. The number that jumps is 259 carries, tied for 11th among running backs, while splitting time. He still put up 18 total touchdowns, second in the league, and finished fifth in all purpose yards. Rich cannot wait to see what happens when the workload catches up to the talent.

1. Bijan Robinson. Fifth in carries at 287, which sounds like a lot until you see the rest. Robinson led the National Football League with 2,298 all purpose yards and was a first team All-Pro. The one gap is the end zone: 11 total touchdowns, 13th best among running backs. "We need that up near 20," the desk said. Rich thinks it is coming, and that all the talk about working him in gradually is out the window.

Rich closed with apologies to the backs who did not make it. Kyren Williams could have gone eighth, ninth or 10th. Chase Brown, Travis Etienne, Josh Jacobs and Javonte Williams all came up. And Rich expects Ashton Jeanty and Omarion Hampton to force their way into this conversation soon enough.