If you take things down to the lowest level, and I mean the true lowest level, fantasy football is a pretty simple game. Each week, you get one opponent. Score more points than them. That is it. How you do it does not matter. It is just heads-up, one-on-one, so figure out a way to score as many points as possible, and you are the winner. Continue to do that for enough weeks, make the playoffs, then win your playoff matchups. Alright, now that we oversimplified our 2026 fantasy football prep, let’s come back to center. How do we do this? One way is by embracing the power of the pass-catching running back.
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Power of the Pass Catching Running Back
We Want Touchdowns
Initially, fantasy football was as simplistic as it could get. Part of that was the availability of information, and the manual nature of things, but early leagues were touchdown-only. After all, that is the object of the game, right? Get into the end zone more than your opponent, and you are the winner.
From our perspective, every time your running back touches the ball, we have a raffle ticket. What we get with that ticket is the chance at a touchdown. Even as leagues have evolved, touchdowns still return the most points, and remember, points are what we are after.
Initially, running backs carried the ball 20 to 25 times a game. That, in a lot of cases and for a lot of reasons, is no longer the case. So as we hunt for touches, having a running back that catches a few passes per game means we have that many more chances at scoring a touchdown.
Give Me All the Yardage
We cannot expect our running backs to score a touchdown each week, so the other source of production is through yards. It only stands to reason that, with five more catches, we have that many more chances at positive yardage. Depending on the depth of target, there is also the potential for bigger plays.
The Obvious Reason: PPR Leagues
Sometimes, we do need to state the obvious. The above logic applies to all leagues. However, there is a large portion of leagues that follow the PPR, or sometimes the Half-PPR format. That means points per reception. So, even if your running back catches a pass for one yard, or even no gain, you still end up with a point. A few catches per game, even four catches for 10 yards, means we are getting five additional points added to our total each week. That helps to establish a floor, that even if your running back fails to find room to run, you are almost guaranteed those few points.
Immunity to Game Flow
What happens if your star running back’s team goes down 20-0 in the first half? Do you think they are really going to come out and pound the ground four yards at a time in the second half? No, they are going to look to do some damage through the air as they try to attempt a comeback. Having your running back involved in those passing efforts means that he is never truly pushed out of fantasy relevance.
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