RB · MIN · 31 yrs · exp 9 · UTEP
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Latest: Jul 24, 2026 · 2,321
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This article ranks the top 10 running back duos in the NFL for the 2026 season, considering individual stardom, balanced backfields, and recent production against projections. It also includes honorable mentions and discusses specific player pairings and their potential impact
Aaron Jones, David Montgomery, Jordan Mason traded
Minnesota Vikings rookie running back Demond Claiborne was selected in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft after he recorded 1,047 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns across 12 games at Wake Forest in 2025. In Minnesota, Claiborne joins a crowded running back room that also includes Aaron Jones Sr., Jordan Mason, and Zavier Scott. As a result, Claiborne may have a difficult time carving out a fantasy-relevant role in his first NFL season. However, both Jones Sr. and Mason will be free agents at the end of the 2026 season, leaving the Vikings without a clear running back of the future. Weighing in at under 200 lbs., Claiborne is a bit undersized for a true three-down role in the NFL. Still, he brings high-end speed and could be worth targeting as a dynasty stash candidate in rookie drafts
Windy City Gridiron's Bill Zimmerman ranked the top 100 running backs of all-time, featuring 5 Packers in the list
After recording 1,047 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns on 207 touches across 12 games in his senior season at Wake Forest, running back Demond Claiborne was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Claiborne is unlikely to see significant playing time in Minnesota as a rookie, as he enters the year with veterans Aaron Jones Sr. and Jordan Mason both firmly ahead of him on the running back depth chart. However, neither Jones Sr. nor Mason is currently under contract with the Vikings beyond the 2026 season. Claiborne is undersized for an NFL running back, but he brings a speed element that could allow him to establish himself as a key piece of the Minnesota offense going forward. Given the clear long-term opportunity available in the Vikings backfield, Claiborne profiles as a worthy late-round dart throw for dynasty managers in rookie drafts
According to overthecap, the Vikings currently have 13.1M in cap space for the 2026 season and 46.1M for the 2027 season. In 2027, as of today, the internal unrestricted free agents will be Brian O’Neill , Andrew Van Ginkel , Jordan Mason , Kyler Murray, Jauan Jennings , Blake Brandel , Aaron Jones , Isaiah Rodgers , Ivan Pace Jr , Carson Wentz , Eric Johnson, Johnny Hekker (who?), Ryan Van Demark , Andrew DePaola , and Jay Ward . The restricted free agents will be Jalen Redmond , Bo Richter , Dwight McGlothern , Josh Ross, and Kahlef Hailassie . They have a bunch of EFRAs which may or may not be on the team by next year which could be the case for a couple of the RFAs. These players have void years that could convert to dead money in 2027. Van Ginkel – 8.8M, Hockenson – 7.1M, Cashman – 3.1M, & Mason 2.4M. These players have dead money in 2027. Harrison Smith – 7.6M, Jonathan Allen – 4.67M, and Monkell Goodwine – 6.7M. I am hoping they get a deal done for O’Neill prior to or right around the start of training camp. His deal will take some out of the 2027 cap. It’s possible (maybe even probable) that they extend Van Ginkel at some point in order to utilize that 8.8M hitting the cap already. They could extend him and when you factor the signing bonus his cap hit in 2027 (void year charges) would and should be a little less. The new GM has a lot to do but obviously needs to see the season play out no? What are the chances the team will be competitive in 2026 and remain that way going forward? What steps should the take? Breaking down every NFL team’s offseason spending and most expensive free agent https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-teams-offseason-spending-most-expensive-free-agent/ Mandatory minicamps are wrapping up all around the league, which means it’s time for summer vacation for the NFL at large until training camps ring in the start of a new season at the tail end of July. That means now is a perfect time to assess all 32 NFL teams’ differing levels of spending in free agency this offseason as how the league looks today will probably be close to how it looks come July. It’s also worth spotlighting how many free agents all of the teams were able to reel in with money spent as well as highlighting the player they allocated the most cash toward in the 2026 offseason. Enjoy our spending breakdown for every NFL team this offseason. Minnesota Vikings Total free agent spending: $53.73 million Number of free agents signed: 10 Most expensive free agent signing: WR Jauan Jennings (One year for $8 million with $6.13 million fully guaranteed) The Minnesota Vikings were up against it from a salary cap perspective entering free agency, which hindered how active they were this offseason. Minnesota began around $43 million over the salary cap, but was able to clear up space with the retirement of offensive lineman Ryan Kelly, plus contract restructures for wide receiver Justin Jefferson , left tackle Christian Darrisaw and cornerback Byron Murphy . Trading edge rusher Jonathan Greenard to the Philadelphia Eagles also helped decrease the Vikings ’ financial issues. Cutting defensive linemen Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen were also subtractions the Vikings needed to make to their roster this offseason. While they weren’t big spenders, their most expensive free agent signing on an average per year basis — San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings — fills a key need. Minnesota lost speedster Jalen Nailor to the Las Vegas Raiders , but Jennings can certainly make up for some of the production lost in Nailor’s departure. Since 2024, Jennings’ 83 receiving first downs rank 28th in the NFL. Once 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy returned from injury in Week 11 in 2025, Jennings’ six receiving touchdowns from Week 11 to the end of the regular season were tied for the second most in the entire league. He’ll be a prime secondary weapon for whomever emerges in the quarterback battle between J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray. Bleacher [... truncated ...]
The Seattle Seahawks ’ move to acquire linebacker Ernest Jones IV in 2024 was unassuming at the time . Seattle was desperate for help at the position, and the Titans needed picks to rebuild, simple as that. Just over two years later, though, this trade means so much more. Jones near instantly transformed the Seahawks’ defense into the stifling machine that many had dreamed of when the team hired Mike Macdonald as head coach. Coming off a second stellar season and second Super Bowl ring, it seems the nation and league are finally catching up to how great Jones has been playing. Sliding in at No. 97 on the NFL’s Top 100 players list for 2026, Jones makes his debut with high praise from stars like Green Bay Packers linebacker Zaire Franklin , who called him the best linebacker in the league last year. “He been balling for a little minute too, I respect guys that been balling for a couple of years,” Franklin said on the ranking. “He ain’t a one-hit wonder.” Multiple running backs, most notably Vikings back Aaron Jones , complimented Jones’ play in the run game. Division rival and superstar tight end Trey McBride said that he always has to be aware of Jones, wherever he is on the field. “He’s a very smart football player and guy, who is a huge asset for their run game,” McBride said. “And he knows how to take those windows away from a quarterback. I’d argue only four spots away from not making the list is a bit low for Jones, who totaled 126 tackles and the most interceptions by any linebacker, five, last season. Jones earned NFL second-team All-Pro honors, so it will be interesting to see which linebackers land above him on the players’ ranking. However, at only 26 years old, Jones still has much more life in his football career, and this should be far from his last appearance on the list. The full NFL Top 100 will steadily be revealed over the next few weeks, and we should expect many other Seahawks to be on there
Ahead of training camp, Jones is set to reclaim his key role in a Minnesota backfield that also includes fellow returnee Jordan Mason and rookie sixth-rounder Demond Claiborne, Alec Lewis of The Athletic reports. Jones is coming off a 2025 regular season in which he carried 132 times for 548 yards and two touchdowns while adding 28 catches (on 41 targets) for 199 yards and a score in 12 games. With Mason (758 rushing yards and six TDs on 159 carries and 14 catches for 51 yards in 16 contests) still around, another RB time-share -- one that favors Jones in PPR formats -- looms in 2026, with Claiborne a candidate to mix in
Chicago/MSU League trade — Xs N Os received: Jack Bech and Riley Leonard. 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets received: Aaron Jones
Across 15 games in 2025, Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson recorded 51 receptions for 438 yards and three touchdowns on 66 targets. While Hockenson's numbers don't jump off the page, the Vikings got some of the worst quarterback play in the league in 2025 from the trio of J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Minnesota's passing game should be significantly improved in 2026 following the offseason acquisition of veteran quarterback Kyler Murray. Still, Hockenson's production has been trending downwards in recent years, and he's now entering his age-29 season and the final year of his current contract with the Vikings. Minnesota also signed former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings in free agency, who seems likely to take Hockenson's role as the tertiary pass-catcher in Minnesota alongside star wideouts Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Dynasty managers may want to consider selling Hockenson before his stock drops even further in 2026
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison's 2025 season got off to an unfortunate start, as he missed the first three games due to a suspension. The 24-year-old then posted the least productive year of his career upon his return, hauling in 42 receptions for 610 yards and three touchdowns on 79 targets across 14 games. Despite the underwhelming 2025 campaign, there may be reason for fantasy managers to buy in on an Addison bounce-back. The Vikings had one of the worst quarterback situations in the NFL last season with the trio of J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Minnesota signed veteran signal-caller Kyler Murray this past offseason, who should bring a significantly higher level of stability to the team's passing game in 2026. Addison has proven he can be an explosive player in a competent offense, averaging 13.4 yards per reception and scoring 19 touchdowns over the first two years of his career. In dynasty formats, Addison profiles as a clear buy-low target for managers
MarShawn Lloyd has been little more than an idea for his two years in Green Bay. A 2024 third round pick out of USC, Lloyd has seen the field for just one regular season game in the intervening two years. He’s been injured so much we can’t even given him the Christian Watson caveat. We can’t say “he’s good when he’s healthy” because he’s been so rarely healthy. But assuming (and, granted, it’s a big assumption at this point) he stays healthy and can actually get on the field, what could a role for MarShawn Lloyd actually look like this year? What can he bring to the Packers? Athleticism has never been a problem for Lloyd. He posted a 8.62 Relative Athletic Score after a solid combine in the leadup to the 2024 draft, highlighted by his 4.46 second 40-yard dash. Lloyd’s 40 time is noteworthy not because it’s especially quick, but because of how he moves his mass. It’s no secret that Brian Gutekunst prefers bigger bodied backs, often sacrificing a little bit of speed for power. But Lloyd demands no such sacrifice, and Speed Score shows us why. Speed score rates players based not just on how quickly they run, but on how quickly they run for their weight. A heavier player who runs a 4.5-second 40-yard dash will have a higher speed score than a player who’s lighter but puts up a 4.4. Speed Score is scaled so that a score of 100 approximates a “fast” player, regardless of mass. But the better you move your mass, the higher you’ll score. Aaron Jones , for instance, scored a 100.8 for putting up a 4.49-second 40-yard dash at 205 pounds. But Lloyd scores a 109.2 because he ran a tick faster than Jones, but 15 pounds heavier. That’s a long way of saying it, but Lloyd’s primary value is as an explosive, change-of-pace back, which is something the Packers really haven’t had since Jones himself was wrongfully slotted into the Packers’ number two running back job in 2017. Emanuel Wilson has handled the bulk of the non-Josh Jacobs reps the last couple of seasons, and he’s essentially a replacement-level back, both from an athleticism standpoint and as a ballcarrier. I think his athleticism was the biggest limiting factor to his game, but Lloyd (again, if he remains healthy) should have no such limitation. Wilson carried the ball 103 times in 2024 and another 125 times in 2025, averaging 4.9 and 4.0 yards per carry, respectively. With more athleticism to burn, Lloyd shouldn’t have trouble matching those figures. What’s more, Lloyd is probably a better receiver than Wilson at this point in his career. We, obviously, don’t have much to go on at the NFL level, but in college Lloyd averaged a bit over a catch per game, an average dragged down considerably by a three-catch season in 2021. Wilson, meanwhile, was not much to write home about as a receiver. In 2024 and 2025 combined, he managed just 26 total catches for 170 yards, 55 of which came on just two plays. In addition, he was a liability as a pass protector to the point that Chris Brooks regularly replaced him on obvious passing downs and in two-minute drills. If Lloyd just plays to type as a receiver and can be at least neutral as a pass blocker, he’ll already be ahead of Wilson. And if he can harness his athleticism in the ground game, he’ll provide a solid upgrade there as well. Whether or not he remains healthy is going to be an open question until he actually can stay on the field. But if he does, the path to playing time is clear, and Lloyd has the clear makings of an upgrade
By the end of the 2026 season, after the Dallas Cowboys play in Mexico City, the Green Bay Packers will have played the fewest games internationally of any NFL club. That could be changing in the near future. On Tuesday, the NFL’s owners approved the league to schedule 10 international games moving forward, up from the 8 that are on the books for the 2026 season. Maybe more importantly, though, owners also passed a rule that takes away teams’ ability to block specific home games from playing overseas. Currently, teams have the right to protect two home opponents from being played at an international site. This is significant because it’s been made known that the Detroit Lions wanted to keep their matchup against the Packers in Detroit, eliminating Green Bay from having to travel to Germany this year. On top of that, it’s also been rumored that the New Orleans Saints protected their game against the Packers, which kept Green Bay from a Paris matchup. Under these new rules, it’s possible the green and gold would have been playing overseas in 2026. Due to a lot of different factors, the Packers have only played two games outside of the United States so far. Moving forward, though, it’s going to be harder and harder to keep Green Bay stateside for an entire regular-season slate
For the first time in NFL history, there's going to be a game on Thanksgiving Eve, and it's going to be an NFC showdown with the Los Angeles Rams hosting the Green Bay Packers on Netflix. The matchup marks the first time in the Super Bowl era that the NFL has held a Wednesday game in November. The NFL has been playing games on Thanksgiving for more than 100 years, but this season marks the first time that the league scheduled a game to be played the night before Thanksgiving (Nov. 25). This tradition will likely be sticking around, with Netflix signing a deal to stream the game for the next four seasons (2026-29). With the game being played on a Wednesday, the expectation is that the Rams and Packers will both get a bye in Week 11, as the NFL's scheduling guru, Mike North, revealed last month . "We talked to a handful of clubs about that Wednesday night," North said of Thanksgiving Eve. "It's a scheduling challenge, as you can imagine. You know, Sunday to Thursday is clearly a short week. We don't play Sunday to Wednesday. So, anybody playing that Wednesday of week 12 would have a week 11 bye." The Rams and Packers will kick off at 8 p.m. ET from SoFi Stadium, and the game will be one of five that stream on Netflix this year. Netflix began airing NFL games in 2024, when it landed a Christmas doubleheader. Netflix then streamed two more Christmas games last year, but this season the streaming company will get more games as part of a new contract with the NFL. The Thanksgiving Eve matchup will be one of five games that Netflix will stream in 2026, and that total will include two Rams games. Here's a look at the full list: Week 1: 49ers vs. Rams in Australia Week 12: Packers at Rams (Thanksgiving Eve) Week 16: Christmas Doubleheader (1 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET) Week 18: Saturday, 1 p.m. ET The teams playing in the other three Netflix games will be revealed when the full schedule comes out on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET . The Saturday game in Week 18 is a new window that the NFL is adding this year. The league started scheduling a Saturday doubleheader during the final week of the season back in 2021 , and now, that final Saturday will be a tripleheader with the early game on Netflix and the final two games on ESPN/ABC. Netflix originally signed a three-year deal with the NFL back in 2024 that allowed the company to stream a Christmas doubleheader each year, but now, there's a new deal in place that will run through the 2029-30 NFL season. As we mentioned, the streaming company will show five games in 2026, but after that, Netflix will stream four games per year for the duration of its deal. Here's the full list of games: Netflix will also be the new home of NFL Honors, the league's annual awards show that airs on the Thursday before the Super Bowl
The Vikings' reduction in spending has sparked speculation about a possible sale
Adds: Aaron Jones
Drops: Aaron Jones
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