Jadarian Price remains undervalued
Jadarian Price joins a long list of running backs selected at the end of the first round of the NFL draft: Najee Harris, Travis Etienne Jr, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Rashaad Penny, Sony Michel, Doug Martin, and David Wilson, among others. Many of those names had underwhelming careers or disappointing rookie seasons. Price is different.
College backups (Price was Jeremiyah Love's backup at Notre Dame) are rarely drafted in the first round. It hasn't happened since 2008, when Arkansas' Darren McFadden and his backup Felix Jones both went in the top 25. Jones went on to have an unproductive career due to injuries and a backfield that already involved Marion Barber. Price is different.
Price joins one of the NFL's best offenses in Seattle with no meaningful competition and a strong draft capital, yet he's still going outside the top 30 running backs in early offseason drafts.
Either Jadarian Price is going to be a key component to your fantasy championship run, or he'll take someone else there.
Jadarian Price, Come on Down
Early ADP is tumultuous. But looking at Underdog, Sleeper, DraftKings, and FFPC, his best ranking is RB25 — still sitting behind guys like Bhayshul Tuten and Bucky Irving — and at his lowest, he's in the same range as Rhamondre Stevenson. That's a severe undervaluation heading into 2026.
| Running Back | Carries | Receptions | Injured in 2025 or | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career Average | Career High | Career Average | Career High | New to the Team? | |
| Zach Charbonnet | 142 | 184 | 32 | 42 | Yes |
| George Holani | 13 | 22 | 2 | 2 | No |
| Emanuel Wilson | 81 | 125 | 10 | 15 | Yes |
Running back touches aren't the same as wide receiver targets. The old adage is "targets are earned", but running back touches just have to be earned relative to the competition in the backfield that season. The table above shows a quick summary of what Price is walking into in 2026: a career 1b recovering from a late-season knee injury, a career backup new to the team who has shown nothing that should threaten a first-round pick, and George Holani.
Zach Charbonnet's injury recovery timeline supports investing in Price
- Best case for Charbonnet: Price is competing with almost no one for two-thirds of the season. That's over ten weeks of regular-season usage — enough to lock into the fantasy playoffs before navigating a muddier backfield down the stretch.
- Worst case for Charbonnet: he misses the entire season, and it's Price alone with Emanuel Wilson spelling him for a breather. Either way, when it comes to backfield competition, Price is the only real option in Seattle.
Should we worry about Klint Kubiak's departure?
While head coach Mike Macdonald remains, offensive coordinator and play-caller Klint Kubiak has left for the Las Vegas Raiders. While Kubiak is undoubtedly a gifted play-caller, he was also a believer in splitting running back touches in a committee. Incoming play-caller Brian Fleury, most recently the run game coordinator in San Francisco, may have a different perspective. The offensive coordinator in Seattle changed this offseason. Klint Kubiak and his split-backfield mentality are gone. Fleury is the new OC and was just the run game coordinator in San Francisco. For anyone keeping score at home, the 49ers just gave Christian McCaffrey over 400 touches with Brian Robinson Jr. as an extremely competent backup. Jadarian Price isn't Christian McCaffrey, but the upside for close to 20 touches per game is there if Fleury doesn't want to mix up his running backs.
The 49ers had one of the closest-to-neutral pass rates over expected in 2025. In other words, when expected to pass, they passed, and when expected to run, they ran. The Seahawks slightly tilted towards running the ball more often, which is part of the reason they had over 500 carries to go around last season. That means that Price won't have the same upside as a Christian McCaffrey, but at his much lower draft cost, that's fine. Only one player finished outside the top 24 with fewer than 200 carries last year, and that was Quinshon Judkins. The Cleveland Browns and the returning Super Bowl champions are extremely different offensive environments, and penciling Price in for 200 carries is likely an undersell.
A fantastic supporting cast
Offensive environments for rookies are a spin of the wheel. Sometimes you'll end up the lead back for the Cleveland Browns (sorry, 21st-century Browns fans). Other times, the rookie we love lands as the lead back for an offense with a solid core and no glaring concerns. The 2025 Seattle Seahawks fall into the latter.
All five offensive linemen from 2025 return for 2026. Their quarterback returns. Their tight ends and wide receivers all return. They even added an extra blocking tight end option in Lance Mason out of Wisconsin. The offense that produced two top-25 fantasy running backs now has no backfield competition and a fully intact supporting cast — the makings of at least one league-winning back.