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Aidin Ebrahimi's five fantasy football running backs who could score more touchdowns in 2026. His top positive-regression candidates and risers at RB.
2024 seemed to signal the death of Zero-RB and the resurgence of running back-heavy teams. But 2025 felt like a correction year. Teams averaged 116.9 rushing yards per game last year, down 2.9 yards per game from the 2024 season. However, the league's total rushing touchdowns remained nearly the same (510 in 2025 compared to 511 in 2024). This shows that teams still trust their RBs to finish drives in the red zone.
Last year, I looked at five potential TD risers. Javonte Williams scored nine more total touchdowns than the year before, while Jaylen Warren improved his tally by seven TDs. Jaleel McLaughlin and Breece Hall were disappointing, as they scored fewer touchdowns compared to 2024 (though Hall finished 2025 with slightly more PPR points than the season prior). And finally, Tony Pollard finished the 2025 season by matching his 2024 season tally (five scores).
Without further ado, let's look at five RBs who could score more touchdowns than they did in 2025. Players who missed at least half of the 2025 season due to injury will not feature.
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Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders
Did you know that Ashton Jeanty ran for over 1,000 yards last year (1,057 to be exact) but lost 82 yards on multiple carries where his offensive line collapsed, which caused him to finish the year with "only" 975 rushing yards?
GENO TO JEANTY FOR THE 60-YARD TD!
LVvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/k8CknFOEcy
— NFL (@NFL) December 21, 2025
The Raiders' offensive line struggles in 2025 cannot be overstated. Jeanty had a really good start to the season, racking up 302 yards and four touchdowns from scrimmage in his first four games. However, nothing was the same after Kolton Miller suffered an injury in Week 4.
After that point, every rushing attempt became a battle for Jeanty. 1,021 of his 1,321 total yards (77.3%) came after contact in 2025, showcasing his playmaking ability and how he can consistently make something from absolutely nothing.
Despite the offensive line's struggles, QB Geno Smith's poor play, Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly's dated schemes, Jeanty finished 2025 as the PPR RB11 and scored 10 total touchdowns. He can be unstoppable and return to his Boise State form if he has any help around him.
Luckily for Jeanty, the Raiders went all out this offseason. Tyler Linderbaum will be a huge addition to the offensive line, and new head coach and running game guru Klint Kubiak will help Jeanty tremendously.
The Seahawks were the NFL's 28th-ranked rushing team in 2024, but improved to a top-10 unit under Kubiak. They also scored 19 rushing TDs, which ranked ninth in the league. New QBs Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza are also big upgrades.
The biggest fear with Jeanty this year will be Kubiak's habit of giving his RB2 goal-line touches, as we saw in Seattle with Zach Charbonnet taking many touchdowns away from RB1 Kenneth Walker III. However, the Raiders aren't like the Seahawks and don't have the luxury of having two high-level running backs they can alternate touches with.
Dylan Laube hasn't shown much so far in his young career, while rookie Mike Washington Jr. looks promising, he's still an unproven commodity.
Jeanty is the team's undisputed number one, and by quite some distance, too. 10 TDs as a rookie were impressive, but he can easily improve upon those numbers next year, especially with more red zone touches on the ground.
Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers
Chuba Hubbard's time as the Panthers' RB1 seemingly came to an end after Rico Dowdle's insane two-game stretch while Hubbard was out due to an injury. And while Hubbard lost his starting spot for the rest of the year, he fought his way back to being the team's most effective rusher near the end of the year.
The team eventually chose to stick with the younger Hubbard overpaying Dowdle, as they spent the rest of that money on big-name defensive signings such as Devin Lloyd. Dowdle's departure will leave six rushing TDs on the board, and it's safe to assume Hubbard, who only ran for one touchdown in 2025, will be the main beneficiary.
His main opponent will be the oft-injured Jonathon Brooks, who has only recorded nine total rushing attempts since mid-November 2023 (college and the NFL).
Trevor Etienne is the current RB3, but he has yet to score an NFL touchdown. Hubbard is clearly the most experienced player in the RB room, and still has three years left on his big-money contract extension.
Bhayshul Tuten, Jacksonville Jaguars
Speaking of the Etienne family (De'Von Achane is sadly not related), Trevor's big brother, Travis, departed the Jacksonville Jaguars after three 1,000-yard seasons in four years with the team.
Bhayshul Tuten the Preferred Dynasty Running Back in Jacksonville? https://t.co/LKd7f3DbU5
— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) May 6, 2026
This has left the Jags pretty thin at the running back position, as Bhayshul Tuten, LeQuint Allen Jr., and Chris Rodriguez Jr. are their top-three running back options. While I've been high on Allen since he got drafted, it's clear that Tuten will be the face of Jacksonville's rushing attack in 2026. In limited opportunities, Tuten found the endzone an impressive seven times as a rookie.
Offensive genius HC Liam Coen is widely regarded as a quarterback whisperer, but his work with running backs should not go unnoticed. He helped rookie Kyren Williams break into the team late in his lone season with the Rams, before going to Tampa and helping the fourth-round rookie Bucky Irving finish as the PPR RB13 in 2024.
He also rejuvenated Etienne's career following a down year, as his yards per carry improved from 3.7 to 4.3. Etienne finished the 2025 season with 13 total touchdowns, a whopping 11 touchdowns more than in 2026.
Tuten scored on 7.5% of his touches last year, which means if he hypothetically took Etienne's 296 touches last year, he would have finished with 22 scores from scrimmage. While it's a bit too far-fetched to expect him to be that prolific, he will still benefit greatly from Etienne's departure.
Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Irving barely meets the criteria to be featured on the list, as he played in 59% of the Bucs' games last season. The argument for Irving is simple: he's the team's lead back despite the recent addition of Kenneth Gainwell, who is mostly here to fill in for Rachaad White's RB2 spot, and Sean Tucker.
Irving started the season off fairly prolifically, scoring four touchdowns from scrimmage in his first six games despite missing significant time due to injury.
However, he went scoreless in his last four games, finishing the year with one rushing touchdown and three receiving scores. Irving is now back to full health, and so are the team's offensive linemen, who play well as a unit but are below-average individually (apart from Tristan Wirfs, who is elite regardless).
New OC Zac Robinson also loves red zone runs, as Falcons RB2 Tyler Allgeier scored six rushing TDs inside the 10 last year. With him being back to full health, a healthy offensive line, and a new playcaller, expect Irving to do big things in 2026.
Kenneth Walker III, Kansas City Chiefs
As mentioned earlier in the article, Zach Charbonnet took many goal-line touches away from Kenneth Walker, but the Super Bowl LX MVP seems to be in a better situation now.
Kenneth Walker III Could be More Involved as Pass-Catcher With Chiefs https://t.co/rjULWS5z3E
— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) May 6, 2026
It looks like Kareem Hunt won't be brought back to KC, which is ideal news for Walker. Walker's rushing TDs have steadily declined each year he's been in the league (he scored five in 2025), but now that he's in KC, he will be tasked to replace both Hunt and Isiah Pacheco's production.
Also, expect him to be more involved in the passing game. Walker has scored just two receiving touchdowns in his career, but Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has told Walker that he'll be used more often as a receiver.
"I feel like I’ll be used more in the passing game," Walker said on the Up & Adams show. "And [Mahomes] is really good at details. Being detailed with the whole team. And, yeah, I feel like our chemistry is gonna just keep building."
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