Running Back (RB) Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Picks for Week 2 (2026)

September 15, 2026

Matt's running back (RB) fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 2 of 2026. His RB lineups advice for Week 2 fantasy football start/sit decisions.

Week 1 gave fantasy managers plenty of information about running back workloads, but it also created plenty of new questions. Which backfields are actually committees? Which players are going to see the valuable touches? And which Week 1 performances were simply the result of a favorable game script? One week isn’t enough to have all the answers, but it’s enough to start identifying the trends that matter.

At the top of the position, there are a couple of players you simply aren’t thinking twice about. Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson belong in your lineup every week. Beyond those elite options, though, the decisions get much harder. Volume, goal-line opportunities, receiving work, and matchup all play a major role in determining whether a running back can deliver.

Week 2 gives us our first real opportunity to act on what we learned in Week 1 without overreacting. Let’s look at the running backs positioned for a fantasy boom—and the ones who could become Week 2 traps.

Week 2 - Potential Fantasy Football Booms

David Montgomery - RB, Houston Texans vs. Cincinnati Bengals

This whole Woody Marks and David Montgomery split-backfield talk has gone on far too long. Against the Bills, Montgomery saw a 70% opportunity share, a 51% snap rate, 63% of the team's rushes, and a 36% route share in Week 1, while Marks had a 30% opportunity share and 48% route share. That doesn’t seem like the 50/50 split we had all heard throughout camp.

Snap share is even, but the opportunities are heavily tipped in Montgomery’s favor, especially the opportunities that matter the most, the ones on the goal line.

Going back to Montgomery's tenure in Detroit, those metrics increased significantly. In his most active season (2023), Montgomery saw a 48% snap share, 46% of the team’s rushes, and a 29% route share.

COUNT 'EM 🗣️ That's three TDs for David Montgomery!

BUFvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/iUc7FIoNID

— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026

Against the Bills, Montgomery found the end zone on three occasions, pushing his fantasy total up to 28.9 fantasy points. This week he faces a Bengals team that allowed 26.18 fantasy points per game a season ago, the second-highest. Cincinnati also allowed Bucky Irving to average 5.6 yards per attempt while hitting paydirt in the run game. Irving also had seven receptions for 48 yards in that contest.

Jadarian Price - RB, Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals

Jadarian Price isn’t what we want him to be, at least not yet, but it’s coming. In Week 1 against the Patriots, Price saw a 50% snap share, 48% of the team's running back rushes, and a 41% route share in Week 1. Last season in Seattle, Kenneth Walker had a 46% snap share, 45% of the team's rushes, and a 36% route share, all of which led to 52 yards on 10 carries along with a pair of receptions for six yards in his NFL debut.

Remember, Price was essentially a non-participant throughout camp and through the preseason, which makes his modest workload justified. Heading into Week 2, expect that load to increase against a Cardinals team that surrendered 25.0 fantasy points per game to the position, the third-most last season.

While the Cardinals shocked many when they went to SoFi and stole a win, Omarion Hampton did find his way into the end zone, and early lines have the Seahawks as favorites, which could help the game script in Price’s favor.  

Start Price over low-volume or backup backs, particularly in a favorable matchup. With Zach Charbonnet expected to miss several more weeks, this is an early audition for Price to grow into the role when Charbonnet returns.

Javonte Williams - RB, Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Commanders

While everyone is talking about CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, and Dak Prescott, the best fantasy asset on the Dallas Cowboys roster may very well be Javonte Williams, whose 24.2-point fantasy outing was the top mark on the afternoon for the Cowboys.

While Williams struggled on the ground, his 12 rushing attempts led to 41 yards and a touchdown, but his fantasy value came in the passing game, where he had five receptions for 31 receiving yards and a touchdown, giving him multiple scores on the day. Running backs who have off days running the ball that can lift their floor in the passing game are invaluable.

Dak finds Javonte Williams out of the backfield for six!

DALvsNYG on NBC/Peacock
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/aDfaiM4sFb

— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2026

Against the Giants, Javonte Williams had a 52% route share and 17% target share. A season ago, Williams hit that high of a route share frequently, but he got to that target share just one other time last season.

Javonte Williams is a bell cow barely coming off the field and running a ton of routes. Before the start of the season, Dallas cut Jaydon Blue and placed Malik Davis on IR. After Williams, the Cowboys' depth chart features Emari Demercado and Israel Abanikanda.

In two games against the Commanders last season, Williams had 170 rushing yards and a pair of scores, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. In 2025, the Commanders allowed 23.8 fantasy points per game, the fourth-most. Last week, Saquon Barkley averaged 5.5 yards per attempt, popping off a 42-yard scamper in that contest.

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Week 2 - Potential Fantasy Football Busts

J.K. Dobbins - RB, Denver Broncos vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Quinshon Judkins is a very capable back in this league; that said, Judkins averaged just 2.8 yards per carry last week against this Jaguars run defense. Last season, the Jaguars allowed a league-low 85.6 rushing yards per game and held the third-best fantasy points per game against mark at 16.3.

Dobbins is primarily an early-down runner. R.J. Harvey is expected to handle much of Denver’s third-down and pass-catching work, which lowers Dobbins’ PPR floor. Even if Harvey were to miss time, Jonah Coleman is most likely to receive the bulk of the receiving opportunities, not to mention getting some touches in the run game.

Against arguably the best run defense in the league, starting a running back in a three-way committee is less than ideal. In standard leagues, you may have no choice but to start Dobbins, but in .5 or PPR formats he’s a fantasy fade.

Jeremiyah Love - RB, Arizona Cardinals vs. Seattle Seahawks

In Jeremiyah Love’s NFL debut, the rookie found the end zone scoring on one of his 11 carries. As good a story as that is, Love averaged a modest 3.6 yards per carry and had just a pair of receptions for nine yards.

Jeremiyah Love opens up his NFL career with a TD!

AZvsLAC on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/3gM3cEpY1g

— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026

Looking at the backfield splits, Tyler Allgeier saw a 56% opportunity share, while also leading the backs in route share at 46% versus Love’s 39%. Love also saw an opportunity share south of 45%. Allgeier also commanded 64% of the Cardinals' work on third-down.

Against the Patriots in Week 1, Seattle limited Rhamondre Stevenson to 2.8 yards per carry on his 18 rushing attempts. That isn’t very promising for a back locked in a committee this week. Last week wasn’t a one-time thing; in 2025, Seattle allowed the second-fewest fantasy points to opposing backs, limiting the position to 6.1 fantasy points per game.

Split backfield. Tough matchup. Better options available with better matchups.

Jaylen Warren - RB, Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots

Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle are in a near dead-even backfield split. Warren carried the ball 10 times for 46 yards and finished the afternoon with six targets, hauling in five for 27 yards. Targets. Warren was the more efficient of the two backs, as Dowdle recorded 15 rushing yards on his eight attempts and two receptions for six yards on his five targets.

Warren looked to pick up the 2-minute drill at the end of the first half, but Dowdle got the only carry in the red zone; with these splits, it really is difficult to put much faith in either one.

With this split backfield, similar to Arizona's, there are better options with better matchups than Warren’s against a Patriots team that allowed 16.6 fantasy points per game last season, the fourth-fewest.

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You can also see the Who Should I Start tool here.

Week 2 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Jadarian Price, David Montgomery, J.K. Dobbins, Jaylen Warren, Jeremiyah Love, Javonte Williams, David Montgomery. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 2.

Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.

Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, players news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!

How It Works. Each week our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.

Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do, is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.

Popular Week 2 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 2 (2026)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.

Popular Week 2 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons

Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 2 for Jadarian Price, David Montgomery, J.K. Dobbins, Jaylen Warren, Jeremiyah Love, Javonte Williams, David Montgomery: