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Corbin's top fantasy football RB sleepers draft targets for ZeroRB Strategy in 2026. His later-round RBs with upside, including Keaton Mitchell and more.
The narrative around drafts this season has been against drafting with the ZeroRB strategy. Some drafters might be fading the ZeroRB approach because running backs were profitable in the early rounds over the past two seasons.
When looking at running back win rates last season, many of the running backs from the first three rounds were profitable before the dead zone hit.
The visual below shows the running back win rates from 2025 FFPC leagues
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The Basis of the ZeroRB Fantasy Football Strategy and Where it Works
The basis for the ZeroRB draft strategy came from Shawn Siegele with the idea of being anti-fragile, which he wrote about in 2013. Shawn references the book Antifragile, which is the idea that things can thrive in volatile or random situations.
That's somewhat like fantasy football, where logical coaching, injuries, and randomness make our fantasy teams sink or thrive. The goal of building an antifragile team with a ZeroRB approach is to improve instead of staying the same when variance arrives
The ZeroRB strategy likely works better in leagues with more flex spots and three or more wide receiver positions. In shallower formats of 10-12 teams with fewer starting spots, it makes more sense to go with a HeroRB approach to invest in one early running back. Furthermore, the past off-season research on win rates by position suggests that running backs can provide better win rates in the later rounds compared to receivers.
That said, we'll cover a couple of different types of ZeroRB sleepers. One involves what some in the bestball world call chaperones, who carry your team through the early stages of the season. The other would be running backs who might not have any immediate value unless one of the other running backs misses time or struggles.
Let's look at five running back sleepers in the middle to later rounds going after pick 125 in FFPC leagues. Like any strategy, we should be flexible during drafts, though the ZeroRB strategy can thrive with volatility and chaos, in hopes of being antifragile.
Keaton Mitchell, RB, Chargers
FFPC ADP: 139 (RB44)
In my league-winning wide receivers article, I mentioned how we'll want to invest in the Chargers' offense. Though this doesn't mean we want to fade Omarion Hampton heading into Year 2, there's upside in taking a chance on Hampton or Mitchell with the positive coachspeak. Mike McDaniel reportedly had a "Wanted" poster with Mitchell's picture on it.
The visual below shows the rushers sorted by yards before contact per attempt over the past two seasons.
Mitchell has only one game with 10 or more carries throughout his career (Week 17 in 2024). Since Mitchell entered the league in 2023, he ranked 11th in rushing fantasy points over expectation (ruFPOE/G), showing his efficiency. Furthermore, Mitchell has the ninth-highest explosive rush rate (percentage of carries 15+ yards) and the highest yards before contact per attempt (YBC/Att) among all rushers with 25 attempts over the past two seasons.
Under McDaniel in Miami, the Dolphins used the slowest pace (31.2 seconds per snap) during neutral game scripts. Meanwhile, the Dolphins ranked 12th in neutral script rush rate (46%) last season. That's not far from the Chargers' offense last year, which ranked 25th in pace (29.7 seconds per snap) and 21st in neutral-script rush percentage (44%).
In McDaniel's offense, he loves to use motion. The Dolphins ranked second in rush attempts, rush yards per game, and explosive runs when using motion last season. Meanwhile, the Chargers were 17th in rush attempts, 17th in rush yards, and fifth in explosive runs when they used motion. That should bode well for Hampton and Mitchell, assuming the Chargers deploy similar run concepts when using motion.
One underrated piece of the Chargers rushing offense that I've highlighted with the Commanders before is how often Justin Herbert takes rush attempts. Herbert handled 19% of the team's rush attempts last season, up from 15% in 2024. He had the ninth-highest rush rate among quarterbacks last year.
When a quarterback is taking 15-20% of the team's carries, we expect the running backs to be efficient. As I mentioned earlier, we'll want to invest in the Chargers' offense this season.
Summary
Hampton missed time last season with an ankle fracture, so Mitchell has contingent upside if Hampton misses time in Year 2. The Chargers will likely mix in another back with Mitchell if Hampton misses time, because he hasn't handled a heavy workload in his NFL career.
However, Mitchell handled a hefty workload at East Carolina, with 197 touches in 2021 and 228 in 2022. That led to a 60% RB Dominator in college. Assuming Mitchell's draft price doesn't skyrocket, he has the upside as a mid-round ZeroRB option.
Zach Charbonnet, RB, Seahawks
FFPC ADP: 146.7 (RB47)
Charbonnet has been placed on the PUP list as training camp starts. If the Seahawks activate him off the PUP list, he won't need to miss the first four games of the season, so that's something to monitor. It would make sense for the Seahawks to have patience as Charbonnet recovers from his injury, so he is healthy and ready to contribute at a high level.
Charbonnet led the team with carries inside the five-yard line (66.7%) last season, showing they trusted him with high-value touches. He generated above-average yards after contact with 2.62 YAC/Att while forcing a missed tackle (MTF/Att) on 21% of his rushes.
Given Charbonnet's success in that role, there's a good chance he fills it again this season. The Seahawks drafted Jadarian Price in the first round, likely meaning they want to continue the backfield split between Charbonnet and another player.
Price flashed some juicy rushing advanced stats in college. That's evident in Price's 3.92 YAC/Att and 26.5% MTF/Att. Price had a 45% breakaway rush percentage, indicating nearly half his rushes went for 15+ yards. Since Price had a 2% receiving yardage market share, he profiles as an early-down rusher.
Summary
At Charbonnet's draft cost, it's hard to find a running back who showed he can handle high-value touches in the red zone while contributing as a rusher and receiver. Charbonnet is priced as an RB4 with RB1 upside. Draft and stash Charbonnet, who should be a strong contributor in the latter half of the season as the floor expectation.
Jonah Coleman, RB, Broncos
FFPC ADP: 163.4 (RB52)
Maybe 2025 was the outlier, but we had six running backs drafted as the third back on their team in fantasy football drafts with an above-average win rate in FFPC leagues. The notables on that list include Jerome Ford, Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Woody Marks, and Kenny Gainwell.
Could Coleman join that group? RJ Harvey and J.K. Dobbins go right around pick 100 within 10 picks of each other. Meanwhile, Coleman goes 50 picks later than those two. I discussed Coleman as a breakout candidate because of his complete profile.
Coleman rocked an 80% RB Dominator and a 12% receiving yard market share. Beyond generating 3.30 YAC/Att, he forced missed tackles on 31.2% of his attempts, and 38.2% of his carries went for 15+ yards. That's the recipe for a fantasy-friendly running back.
With Dobbins healthy in Weeks 1-10, he led the backfield with a 51% snap share and 57% of the team rush attempts. Harvey was on the field for 29% of their snaps with a 19% rush share and 9% target rate. Meanwhile, Bo Nix had a 17% rush share in Weeks 1-10.
The rushing usage was fairly similar in Week 11 and beyond with Dobbins injured. Harvey had a 61% snap share, 52% rush percentage, and an 11% target rate. Nix's 19% rush share in Weeks 11-18 was similar to earlier in the season.
Throughout Sean Payton's career, he tends to mix in 2-3 running backs, which was evident in the overall season usage.
Summary
There have been talks about Harvey being involved as a pass catcher, suggesting Coleman could be battling Dobbins for early-down rushes at some point during the season. Dobbins has missed several games over the past two seasons, so Coleman has contingent upside if one of them misses time.
Be patient with Coleman because he can thrive as a rusher and a receiver, especially with chaos.
Tank Bigsby, RB, Eagles
FFPC ADP: 167.8 (RB53)
If we were building a ranking list of the top backup running backs, Bigsby would be on it. Among rushers with 50 attempts last season, Bigsby ranked first in rush yards over expected per attempt (RYOE/Att). He forced a missed tackle on 27% of his rush attempts while generating 3.16 YBC/Att and 2.49 YAC/Att.
Bigsby has been an efficient and explosive rusher over a small sample. With Jalen Hurts at quarterback over the past two seasons, he hardly threw to his running backs from a team-level standpoint. For context, Saquon Barkley had 50 or fewer targets in his two seasons with the Eagles after 60 or more targets in four of five healthy seasons.
Summary
Bigsby is a priority draft-and-stash candidate in a ZeroRB build or generally. If Barkley misses time, Bigsby should handle most of the running back rush attempts. We expect the Eagles' offense to be better under Sean Mannion this year.
MarShawn Lloyd, RB, Packers
FFPC ADP: 175.4 (RB55)
With Josh Jacobs arrested and released from custody in late May after domestic violence charges, there has been some uneasiness about how that will play out. Lloyd reportedly went to an injury institute this offseason, realizing he was overcompensating in his ankle and hip, specifically the torn ACL from 2020.
Since Lloyd was drafted in 2024, he has five reported injuries. That has led to Lloyd having seven total touches, coming in Week 2 of his rookie season. It's a big if, but if Lloyd is healthy, he should be contributing from the Packers backfield.
Lloyd flashed strong athleticism, given his 88th-percentile Speed Score and a 79th-percentile Freak Score as a prospect. That's a similar athletic profile to Doug Martin, Cam Akers, and Robert Turbin. Lloyd was a YAC machine (3.97) with a highest career MTF/Att (52.1%) in the 2024 NFL Draft class, behind Trey Benson.
Summary
With Jacobs as the lead running back, Emanuel Wilson handled 20% of the rush attempts in 2024 and 26% in 2025. That could be a baseline projection for Lloyd, assuming he remains healthy throughout the preseason. If Jacobs misses time, Lloyd would be valued as an RB2. It's a matter of health for Lloyd, but that's baked into his draft price.
RB3's Drafted on Their Team to Draft and Stash
- Kaytron Allen, RB, Commanders
- Allen finished his career at Penn State with over 200 rush attempts and 1,100 rushing yards in his final two seasons. He generated yards before (2.43) and after (3.77) while forcing a missed tackle on 27.1% of his attempts. Allen has some rushing juice in the later rounds.
- Nicholas Singleton, RB, Titans
- Singleton rushed for 12 or more touchdowns in three of his four college seasons at Penn State. He had a 10% receiving market share in three of his four seasons, signaling he can be involved in the receiving game. Singleton had a 39.8% breakaway rush rate in his career, yet only 23.4% of his carries went for 15+ yards in 2025.
- Kaelon Black, RB, 49ers
- This is just an arbitrary bet on one of the cheaper 49ers' running backs behind Christian McCaffrey. Jordan James is dealing with a fractured rib from training camp, but could be ready for the start of the season. Black flashed breakaway ability, with 41.6% of his carries going for 15+ yards, yet struggled to force missed tackles (16.1%).
- Demond Claiborne, RB, Vikings
- I mentioned Claiborne as a rookie to target in bestball leagues. Claiborne has shown the ability to break off big plays and the potential to be a pass-catching back on third down. Jordan Mason will handle the bulk of the rushes, so it's more of a bet on upside.
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