Pre-season 2026 draft preview: The RBs … The 2024 season was something of a statement year for RBs everywhere. Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley, for example, was arguably the best player in the NFL as he lead the Eagles to last year’s Super Bowl, while Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty was just as arguably the best player in college football when he ran for a remarkable 2,600 yards plus. Jeanty, of course, was the 6th player selected at this past April’s draft where he was nabbed by Las Vegas. Jeanty, though. was the highest back selected since Barkley since was taken 2nd overall in 2018; in fact, Jeanty was the first RB selected with a top 10 pick since #26. Its also not all that likely that that trend is going to change this coming April, although there are some very good backs currently playing college football.
Part of the problem assessing the 2026 RB class is that while there are a number of potential elite backs out there, there really isn’t a consensus #1 guy at the position. In fact, talk to half a dozen teams and you’ll likely get 5-6 different names at the top of their respective RB boards. Backs at that the top of that list include Jeremiyah Love of Notre Dame, Mahki Hughes of Oregon, Justin Haynes of Michigan, Texas A&M’s Le’Veon Moss and the Penn State duo of Kaytron Allen and Nic Singleton. Hughes and Love, for example, are the top 2 returning rushing leaders in college football after Hughes ran for over 1,400 yards for Tulane last year, while Love topped 1,100 for the Irish as did both the Penn State guys while splitting snaps. Meanwhile, Haynes could end up being the best of the bunch after transferring from Alabama to Michigan. A couple of backs that could crash that top group include Jonah Coleman of Washington and Jadyn Ott, who transferred from California to Oklahoma this winter, both of whom were considered to be among the top 4-5 RB prospects at the position at this time last year, but opted to return to school, in the latter case because he missed almost all the season with a foot injury. At the same time, other top backs include Quint Wisner of Texas, Roman Hemby of Indiana, Darius Taylor of Minnesota, and A’marion Peterson of Southern Cal.
