Bhayshul Tuten is fantasy football’s next breakout running back in 2026
· Yahoo Sports
Every fantasy football season produces a handful of NFL players who leap from afterthought to must-start option in a single year. Most managers miss the signs until the price has already climbed. Bhayshul Tuten fits that pattern heading into 2026.
The Jacksonville Jaguars running back spent his rookie season buried on the depth chart behind Travis Etienne. Etienne is now with the New Orleans Saints, and the door Tuten needed is finally open.
Visit cat-cross.com for more information.
MORE: Printable one-page fantasy football rankings cheat sheets for PPR, half-PPR, standard leagues
Bhayshul Tuten’s breakout opportunity in Jacksonville
Bhayshul Tuten (33) returns a kickoff during the first quarter in an NFL AFC Wild Card playoff matchup.Tuten rushed for 307 yards and five touchdowns on 83 carries as a rookie in 2025, adding 10 catches for 79 yards and two more scores. That total of 386 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns on just 93 touches came in a crowded room that also included Etienne and Tank Bigsby.
Jacksonville signed Chris Rodriguez Jr. in free agency, and the two have been listed as co-starters on the team’s unofficial depth chart. LeQuint Allen Jr. remains part of the mix on third downs. But Tuten has drawn the most attention through training camp, and head coach Liam Coen said he wants Tuten to “go be special, that’s who you are.”
MORE: Josh Downs & 6 more fantasy football wide receiver sleepers for 2026
NFL analyst Tony Pauline reported that Tuten is chasing 1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2026. That sounds about right. Those numbers would require him to win the lion’s share of the backfield, but the fact that a number that big is even being floated says something about how the Jaguars view him entering the season.
The advanced numbers behind the breakout case
Jacksonville Jaguars running back Bhayshul Tuten (33) runs a drill during the third day of NFL Training Camp at the Miller Electric Center.Tuten’s per-touch profile from his rookie year backs up the hype. Among 55 qualifying running backs with at least 75 carries last season, he ranked fifth in rushing success rate, 11th in missed tackle rate and 17th in yards after contact per attempt. Those marks came in limited volume behind a more established starter.
He also ran a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, a mark that puts him in the 100th percentile among running backs for speed. That kind of explosiveness paired with an expanded workload is the exact formula that produces fantasy football breakouts.
Tuten’s current ADP sits at RB25 in redraft leagues, with his overall price climbing into the top 55 picks amid a steady run of training camp buzz.
When Tuten assumes the majority of snaps and goal-line work the way the Jaguars’ offseason moves suggest they want him to, he offers top-five upside from a range where managers are drafting back ranked somewhere in the early teens.
— Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —