The Defending Champs Have Gotten Themselves Into Quite the Pickle: NFL Draft Landing Spots, Part 2

Kevin Szafraniec
April 10, 2026

Kevin Szafraniec provides a team-by-team breakdown of every NFC backfield to find the most advantageous landing spots for the incoming rookie running back class.

We all know by now that the 2026 rookie running back class is not tracking to be one of the best in recent memory. However, that does not mean we won’t witness some of this year’s incoming backs outperform expectations after landing in favorable situations.

Two factors to look for in a favorable landing spot are vacated opportunities and a lack of high-end talent. The former is easy to calculate now that nearly all of the big-name free agents have settled. As for the latter, Sports Info Solutions helps us out with their points above average (PAA) metric, which isolates individual player performance on each play and compares it to a baseline outcome. Like most metrics, PAA is not perfect. But it still gives us a decent understanding of whether a player is more likely to help or hurt their team on any given play.

After working through the AFC backfields in Part 1 of the series, something that became apparent when putting together the second installment is the lack of balance between the two conferences when it comes to 2026 draft capital. Six AFC teams own 10 or more selections, while not a single NFC team’s total gets out of the single digits. Ten of the 16 AFC franchises have at least nine picks versus only three NFC clubs. Meanwhile, four NFC teams have fewer than seven picks compared to only one AFC team falling below that threshold.

While it may be wise not to read too deeply into this trend, it would make sense that AFC teams with loads of draft capital may be more inclined to spend a luxury pick on a devalued position like running back, especially in a weaker class like the one we have this year.

Do you want to predict which rookie RBs could land on your favorite team? Volume 2 of the 2026 RotoViz Rookie Draft Guide is the perfect way to get to know this year’s incoming draft class!

Jam-packed with comprehensive player profiles, advanced stats, player comps, strategies, and rankings from the RotoViz staff, it is a must-have for every fantasy manager who wants to crush their best ball, dynasty, and redraft leagues in 2026! Keep an eye out for Volume 3, which will drop after the 2026 NFL Draft!

NFC North

Chicago Bears

Draft Picks (7): 25, 57, 60, 89, 129, 239, 241

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Kevin Szafraniec

Lead Writer and Full-time Cat Dad. Sneakerhead, Record Collector, Beatmaker, Lord of the Rings Superfan, and Jeopardy Enthusiast in my free time. Follow me on X and Bluesky @thecatdadff

Thin AFC Depth Charts Could Be Ripe With Opportunity for Rookie RBs: NFL Draft Landing Spots, Part 1

Kevin Szafraniec April 9, 2026

Kevin Szafraniec provides a team-by-team breakdown of every AFC backfield to find the most advantageous landing spots for the incoming rookie running back class. We all know by now that the 2026 rookie running back class is not tracking to be one of the best in recent memory. However, that does not mean we won’t witness some of this year’s incoming backs outperform expectations after…...

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