Ambiguous Backfields: 2026 Edition

Winning in fantasy football requires a combination of skill and luck. Amongst the fantasy degenerates, the common conception is that it takes skill to make the playoffs in your league, but it takes luck to then go on and win your championship. In the 1st round of your draft, you’re picking from a pool of players who are likely to be your foundation and score on average, 15-20 Fantasy Points/Game (FP/G). There’ll be the odd bust every now and then of course, looking at you, 2025 Justin Jefferson, but for the most part you’re in safe hands regardless of who you pick. The real skill expression in the game we love so much appears in the later rounds, where players are far more prone to being irrelevant in fantasy football. We all know those “boring” rounds where all the attractive names have been drafted, everyone else in your league is scrolling through their phones, waiting for their next turn to pick the player with the highest ADP. That’s where we at The Fantasy Compass believe that your league is won, while everyone else is asleep at the wheel and you’re there sniping high upside players in the late rounds that no one else is fully clued in on. Before I get into the nitty gritty though, I’m going to share a story of how I used today’s article topic to create a strategy in a past draft of mine, before it even began. Despite only finishing in 3rd place that year, I boasted easily the deepest roster I’ve ever crafted in my fantasy football career.

The year is 2024, Ferg and I were drafting in a 12 team online friend league where I’d drawn up a plan for my draft that I was confident in, providing I acquired my target players. In the first 5 rounds, I’d picked up a nice quartet of wide receivers (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Drake London, Devonta Smith and Rashee Rice) as well as De’Von Achane in round 2, who I was high on that year. Achane was my insurance policy as a hero RB, if you will. In round 6, I drafted Najee Harris as my 2nd RB and in round 7 I grabbed Jayden Daniels. I really wanted Brock Bowers in round 8 but he was taken a few picks ahead of me, leaving me with Jake Ferguson as my tight end. That snipe still haunts me to this day given that Bowers finished as the TE1 while Ferguson was the TE30 that year. I didn't get tilted, brushed off missing out on Bowers and sprung into action to continue the focal point of my strategy with Chase Brown in round 9 and Bucky Irving in round 14. Sure, the core of that roster was extremely productive, but the satisfying part was due to the production of the late round sleepers of RBs in ambiguous backfields. Chase Brown had questionable competition in Zack Moss. Meanwhile, the high upside receiving back in Bucky Irving, who despite having to share a backfield with 2023 RB7 Rachaad White, was the talk of training camp in Tampa Bay, putting him on my own and many others’ radars. Brown went on to finish as the RB12 and Bucky the RB14, an extremely pleasing return on such low cost investments. Ambiguous backfields create these opportunities for incredible breakouts, unexpected or bounce back seasons for all player types ranging from a promising rookie to a declining vet, because the price of the players in these RB rooms are dirt cheap and they could very easily claim their team’s starting job. It’s a literal cheat code when your 1st round RB is on a bye week in a crucial matchup for you in your league, and you can plug in your 10th round steal who goes on to notch up double digit points, winning the matchup for you and having your opponent scratching their head wondering why they were watching ‘awkward kid falls in creek’ on YouTube during the late rounds of the draft instead of planning for the championship rounds. These are the moves which separate the players collecting their league winnings at the end of the year vs the ones sending those dreaded cashapp payments. Enough rambling, let’s get into it.

In most cases, an ambiguous RB room is where two or more RBs on the same NFL team have similarly low ADPs from a lack of information on who will win the starting job. There are numerous scenarios for this, including, but not limited to both players being viewed to have roughly the same skill level, the veteran in the RB room performing poorly in the previous year, the young promising talent isn’t a sure thing for carries, or a new coaching change brings uncertainty to the starter. 

Prior examples and results of ambiguous backfields

ADP rounds and finishes are based on 12 team half PPR leagues.

2025

Travis Etienne (JAX)

RB Roommate = Bhayshul Tuten (ADP: RB48)

Etienne ADP = RB31 (Round 8)

Finish = RB10 (13.9 PPG)

Javonte Williams (DAL)

RB Roommate = Jaydon Blue (ADP: RB45)

Williams ADP = RB41 (Round 10)

Finish = RB11 (14.1 PPG)

Cam Skattebo (NYG)

RB Roommate = Tyrone Tracy (ADP: RB28)

Skattebo ADP = RB38 (Round 9)

Finish = RB39 (14.5 PPG)

Skattebo is included because he was comfortably leading the backfield and on pace for a top 10 RB finish after 8 games before suffering a season ending injury.

2024

Chase Brown (CIN)

RB Roommate = Zack Moss (ADP: RB29)

ADP = RB37 (Round 9)

Finish = RB12 (14.3 PPG)

Chuba Hubbard (CAR)

RB Roommate = Jonathon Brooks (ADP: RB34)

Hubbard ADP = RB42 (Round 11)

Finish = RB15 (14.7 PPG)

2023

Raheem Mostert & De’Von Achane (MIA)

Mostert ADP = RB39 (Round 10)

Achane ADP = RB43 (Round 11)

Finishes = RB2 (17.0 PPG) & RB24 (16.1 PPG)

Isiah Pacheco (KC)

RB Roommate = Jerick McKinnon (ADP: RB42)

Pacheco ADP = RB29 (Round 7)

Finish = RB16 (13.7 PPG)

The last few years worth of data shows we can clearly see that every year you have the opportunity to identify ambiguous backfields and reap the rewards. Of course, identifying the backfield and selecting the right player are two separate tasks, so let's discuss which specific players I’ve got my eye on in 2026.

Who I Like In 2026

Rachaad White (WAS)

I strongly believe the closest comparison we have to 2025 Javonte Williams is going to be 2026 Rachaad White. Javonte came off a 2024 season where he finished as the RB31, averaging 7.8 points per game in half PPR formats. He signed a 1 year, $3 million deal with the Cowboys and entered a Running Back room with little proven talent in Jaydon Blue. As a result, his ADP entering the 2025 season was RB41. In comparison, Rachaad White finished the 2025 season as the RB34 averaging 7.4 points per game, signed a 1 year $2 million deal with the Commanders and joined a RB room with a relatively unproven player in Jacory Croskey-Merritt. ‘Bill’ is a polarising name in the fantasy football world, but he’s not a bell cow. The ADP reflects that, with both Croskey-Merritt and White firmly settled in round 10 as of July 2026. Not only have we seen White handle a bell cow workload in 2023 before Bucky entered the fray, but he’s the far superior receiving option to Bill. I predict White will be on the field more often and get the heavier share of the workload. The only concern I have is in the redzone, where Croskey-Merritt was efficient in 2025, punching in 7 touchdowns on 26 attempts. Even still, my eggs are very much in the Rachaad White basket. 

Chris Rodriguez (JAX)

After a quietly solid end to the 2025 season, where in his final 4 games Rodriguez scored 3 touchdowns and put up 3 double digits performances, he heads off to Jacksonville on a 2 year $10 million deal to join Bhayshul Tuten. I believe both players will compliment each other nicely, with Tuten being the home run hitter and Rodriguez getting early down and redzone work. The main difference between them for me is their price. As of July 2026, Tuten is hovering around the 6th round in ADP, whereas Rodriguez is double that, down in the 12th round. Tuten is an exciting prospect but a prospect nonetheless, and hasn’t shown us that he’s locked down the starting job all for himself. Tuten has a good chance of breaking out this year, but I’m far happier betting a 12th round pick on a guy who’s shown that he’s no slouch in a contested backfield, as well as the clear favorite to snatch up any valuable redzone carries. I think this is one of the more sneaky high value ‘handcuffs’ to pick up in fantasy football in 2026 with Tuten’s uncertainty and the high power offense expected out of Jacksonville this year. 

Jonathon Brooks (CAR)

This one is more of a wildcard pick, because my advice here revolves around the fact that Dave Canales always found a way to produce a top 16 running back across each of the 3 seasons he’s been the offensive play caller in Tampa Bay and Carolina respectively. His run schemes are great for fantasy football, and he’s never had to rely on a Bijan Robinson or a Christian McCaffrey to make it happen. This year it’s Chuba Hubbard vs Jonathon Brooks, both of whom have their pros and cons. Chuba was extremely unimpressive last year and even lost control of the RB room to Rico Dowdle, however it’s worth noting that he suffered a calf injury in the first few weeks of the season. Now 10 months removed from said injury, he could bounce back to his peak level in 2024 which would be a solid return on a currently priced round 7 investment. Brooks however, is sitting in the 11th round on most sites as of July 2026. That’s a much cheaper risk to take, but baked into that price is the fact that he suffered 2 ACL tears in the space of 13 months. After sitting out the full 2025 season he’s back in action, and training camp reports have been very positive. The talent was always there with Brooks, hence why the Panthers selected him in the 2nd round of the 2024 draft. There’s absolutely a world where at just 23 years old come September, he effectively enters the league as a rookie and reminds us why the Panthers originally drafted him to replace Chuba. Perhaps we just had to wait a couple of years for that to happen.

Kenneth Gainwell (TB)

Being an NFL fan in Ireland has plenty of disadvantages. Having to stay up to the ungodly hours of the morning 3 nights a week can be painful, but I do it for the love of the game. The advantage finally arrived when I was sitting in Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, in September 2025 waiting for the Steelers vs Vikings game to start. I was watching Jaylen Warren tentatively warming up, looking uncomfortable and in pain after carrying a Questionable tag all week. Seeing as I had Jaylen Warren in my starting lineup in one of my leagues, I made the quick decision to pick up Kenneth Gainwell from free agency while the 11 Americans in my league were all barely waking up, and then when it’s announced that Warren is out, I slotted Gainwell into my flex spot and watched him score 2 touchdowns, putting up 28.4 fantasy points right in front of my eyes and to the dismay of my uncle and cousin who were sitting right next to me, dressed from head to toe in Viking purple. These are the sort of performances that earn you a 2 year, $14 million deal to head down to Tampa Bay and back up Bucky Irving. I get it, technically, this isn’t an ambiguous backfield. Everyone knows Bucky is the starter, but everyone also knows that Bucky missed 7 full games last year with a plethora of different on and off the field issues. Gainwell’s receiving upside is what the Bucs are looking for with the departure of Rachaad White, and if Bucky is marred with injuries for a 2nd consecutive season, we could really benefit from spending a 9th round pick on a guy who just last year hit double digit fantasy points in 7 games, 3 of which he went for 20+.

Jordan Mason (MIN)

Yes, I know, you’ve spent 30 seconds squinting to make sure you read that correctly. I, for the first time ever, am advocating that you DRAFT Jordan Mason AT ADP AND NO EARLIER. An 11th round pick will cost you nothing and there’s no clear defined leader in the Minnesota RB room. I’m personally taking this shot with the hope that the Vikings are better offensively than last year, now that he shouldn’t be starting this year or any year for the rest of eternity for that matter. An improved offense equals a greater chance of redzone activity which indicates that  maybe the 230lb back will get the occasional goal line carry. Aaron Jones’ ADP is solidly in the 9th round and he’s missed 5+ games in 2 of his last 3 seasons, so there’s definitely a chance that Mason can take the room for himself if he plays well enough or if Jones goes down to injury once again. This is my least favorite shout, but I believe it’s absolutely worth talking about because next to no one is really recommending investing in this particular RB room.