Jordan Mason is the RB to own in this backfield for fantasy football 2026, not Aaron Jones, and, for me, it’s not close. Mason profiles as one of the most efficient runners in football, and Jones hasn’t broken a long run since 2021.
Why Jordan Mason Is a Fantasy Football League-Winner Candidate
Since 2022, among qualified running backs, only De’Von Achane (15.3%), JK Dobbins (14.3%) and Jahmyr Gibbs (14.1%) have gained 10+ yards on a higher share of their carries than Mason’s 14.2%. It’s not a crowded room when discussing the backs who have shown more consistent explosive potential than Mason, and while the sample isn’t huge, it’s pretty easy to be impressed with the data he’s given us.
Kyler Murray’s mobility is part of why that efficiency should hold up. A mobile quarterback who can threaten defenses horizontally tends to open up exactly the kind of running lanes that turn good backs into explosive ones, and that’s the dimension Murray brings to this offense that Mason hasn’t always had. Mason’s career average sits at 5.1 yards per carry across a 395-carry sample. If he gets anywhere close to that number in what is trending toward a semi-featured role, his current ADP outside the top 100 players makes him a bargain at the very least and a potential swinger of leagues at best.
Reporting has started to name Mason as the leader of this backfield, and that’s already nudged his ADP up over the past few weeks. I don’t think it’s gone far enough. I agree he’s the lead back, but I’m not convinced this looks like much of a real committee by mid-October.
Why Aaron Jones Isn’t Worth Drafting Even at a Discount
Jones is over 1,500 career carries deep, and he hasn’t had a run longer than 41 yards since 2021. That’s not a matchup issue or a scheme issue as much as it is Father Time. The explosive profile has been gone for several years now, and those hoping for a bounce back are chasing the memories of Jones in Lambeau with the Packers.
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He’s also entering his age-31 season coming off a year in which he missed five games, the second time he’s missed considerable action in a three-year window. Durability and big-play upside were already the two questions surrounding Jones, and neither has trended in his favor.
The passing-game context around this offense should help the run game overall. JJ McCarthy pretty clearly wasn’t ready to make the most of a reasonable supporting cast last season, and that sucked all of the upside out of this offense. Defenses were the ones dictating tempo because they weren’t scared of being burned, and that made production difficult to come by for all involved.
Now, Kevin O’Connell has a QB who can, at a bare minimum, run the show and funnel the ball where it needs to go. It may sound counterintuitive, but the better that Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Jauan Jennings do, the better life is for those who drafted Mason.
If he does hold the lead role, we want a positive offensive environment that is moving the ball on a consistent basis. That obviously wasn’t the case here in 2025, but it has a chance to be in 2026, and I’m not sure that upside is being properly priced by the fantasy industry.
I guess you could sell me on Jones being something of a handcuff, a running back who holds passable contingent value should something happen to Mason. At the right price, he’s a fine bench piece, but the industry right now has this as a coin-flip situation for work, and that’s not at all how I project the distribution of responsibilities looking this season.
Grab Mason and thank me later.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.