A look at the best fantasy football running back handcuffs to roster for the 2026 NFL season, including Carolina Panthers’ Jonathon Brooks.
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With the emergence of the “zero RB” strategy in fantasy football over recent years, the debate over running back handcuffs has not been as widely discussed as it used to be. For people who like to load up at every position but running back, they usually aren’t interested in the position at all. This year may be different though as there are so many more solid handcuffs than in recent years. Not only do they provide plenty of value as depth pieces for teams, they can also serve as decent RB2 options for those “zero RB” strategists who hold off on the position until the very end.
Here are the best 2026 fantasy football RB handcuffs.
Best 2026 Fantasy Football RB Handcuffs
Jonathon Brooks (Carolina Panthers)
With the departure of Rico Dowdle to Pittsburgh, the backfield of the Carolina Panthers is suddenly up for grabs. Plenty of analysts and fans will gravitate to Chuba Hubbard given his past success, but don’t make the mistake of looking past Jonathan Brooks. Most handcuffs derive most, if not all, of their value from the starter getting hurt. Brooks, on the other hand, has some staying power even if Hubbard is leading the backfield in Carolina.
Just two years ago, the Carolina Panthers spent the 46th pick in the draft on Brooks, but multiple freak injuries have kept him sidelined. There is no reason for the Panthers to suddenly abandon him now, and there is even less traffic clogging up a possible path to taking the lead back role as well. The biggest draw to Brooks is that he has the speed and size needed to make it at the NFL level while being in one of the better situations as well. The NFC South should once again be one of the weaker divisions in the NFL that is completely up for grabs. This Carolina team has improved over the past year as well and won’t be the team that gets blown out every week either.
With the Panthers being competitive in most matchups and a run-heavy identity in Carolina, Brooks is poised for a breakout year if the injury bug finally leaves him alone. For those worried about his two ACL tears and fearing his career is already over, Frank Gore tore his ACL twice in college and ended up setting the NFL record for most games played by a running back.
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Jadarian Price (Seattle Seahawks)
Jadarian Price will be one of the best handcuffs in the NFL this year because he already had a guaranteed role even before training camp started. With Zach Charbonnet tearing his ACL during the divisional round in last year’s playoffs, it’ll likely be late October at the earliest before he returns to full strength. Looking at the rest of the running backs in that backfield, it’s clear that Price is the best option.
Not only did the Seahawks put plenty of draft capital into him when they took him with the last pick of the first round in the 2026 NFL Draft, but they didn’t bring much other talent in either. Outside of Price, the backfield consists of George Holani and Emmanuel Wilson.
Outside of having basically the first half of the season to own this backfield, Price will also likely see plenty of reps when Charbonnet gets back as well. Charbonnet has never been a workhorse in the NFL, and it would be shocking to see the Seattle Seahawks go away from their committee approach that has been so successful for the last few years. With an incredibly high floor and a ceiling through the roof, Jadarian Price should be the one running back you make sure to leave with in the late rounds of your fantasy drafts.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. (Jacksonville Jaguars)
Just like with the Carolina Panthers, the Jacksonville Jaguars often suffer the same fate in flying under the radar and being underappreciated from a fantasy perspective. This year, it seems very few people are paying attention to the Jaguars’ backfield and the potential for incredible fantasy value held by Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Bhayshul Tuten. With Travis Etienne leaving for New Orleans, the Jaguars didn’t add anything in the draft and instead focused on their offensive line.
Clearly, this means the team has faith in Tuten leading the charge in the backfield. It shouldn’t be overlooked, though, that the team gave Chris Rodriguez a two-year deal with $10 million this offseason. Rodriguez has often been used as a change-of-pace back, but he would provide some immediate production even with Tuten fully healthy. If anything were to happen to Tuten on the injury front, he’d go absolutely berserk.
Rodriguez was an animal at Kentucky and packs plenty of punch even in a smaller frame at 5’11”. He’s a slippery player who has averaged 4.6 yards per carry so far in his NFL career as a change-of-pace back. With the Jaguars being one of the better teams in the AFC and having the 12th-easiest schedule in the NFL (based on last year’s results), the sky is the limit for a running back who will certainly receive a ton of carries and plenty of chances at finding the end zone.
