{"id":289867,"date":"2026-07-05T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=289867"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:05:21","slug":"nfc-north-running-backs-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/07\/05\/nfc-north-running-backs-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the Top NFC North Running Backs for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025 was a good year for the NFC North with two teams making the playoffs (Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears<\/a>), with a third (Detroit Lions<\/a>) just missing out. The top running backs in the division feature an exciting mix of young rookies and aging veterans. Here are the best NFC North Running Backs for 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best NFC North Running Backs for 2026<\/b><\/h2>\n

5. Jordan Mason<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Minnesota Vikings<\/a> used a split backfield in 2025 with Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. Mason got off to a better start with Jones missing time early in the season. However, once Jones returned from his injury, he won the starting job back from Mason and played well down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Mason is four years younger than Jones and has dealt with fewer injuries in his career. Mason was a popular breakout candidate last season, and he once again should have the opportunity to. Mason is the highest-ranked running back on the team, ranking fifth overall in the NFC North running back rankings.<\/p>\n

4. Kyle Monangai\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

The first of two Chicago Bears<\/a> running backs on the list is Kyle Monangai. Monangai had a decent rookie season, despite being the backup behind D\u2019Andre Swift. In the one game that Swift missed, Monangai took full advantage, having 26 carries for 176 rushing yards. However, when Swift was the starter, Monangai only saw more than 15 carries one time in sixteen games. With another year under the belt, he should see more work. Monangai is a talented player; he just needs more carries to prove it.<\/p>\n

3. D\u2019Andre Swift<\/b><\/h3>\n

Swift had the best season of his career last year in 2025 with career highs of 1087 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Swift was very effective in head coach Ben Johnson\u2019s offensive system. As mentioned earlier, I do expect Swift to lose out on more carries to Monangai this season, but Swift is still the top guy in the backfield. Chicago will be one of the better offenses in the league, making both running backs effective. Swift ranks higher than Monangai and is the third-best of NFC North running backs.<\/p>\n

2. Josh Jacobs<\/b><\/h3>\n

Jacobs had another great season in Green Bay<\/a>, scoring 13 rushing touchdowns. He has 28 rushing touchdowns combined in his two seasons with the Packers. An injury cost him two games and a 1000-yard rushing season, finishing at 929.<\/p>\n

Overall, Jacobs has been pretty healthy during his seven-year career, playing in at least 13 games in all seven years and at least 15 in five of them. Jacobs was not as efficient last season, averaging 3.97 yards per carry after averaging 4.42 in his first year with the Packers. Jacobs is 28 years old and entering his eighth season in the league. Jacobs is the runner-up in the NFC North running back rankings.<\/p>\n

1. Jahmyr Gibbs<\/b><\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

The undisputed top NFC North running back is a top-three running back in the game. The 24-year-old Jahmyr Gibbs is coming off a third straight excellent season to begin his career. He had 1223 rushing yards, 13 rushing touchdowns, 77 receptions, 616 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns.<\/p>\n

He has topped 240 carries in back-to-back seasons, and that was with David Montgomery, the Knuckles to Gibbs\u2019 Sonic<\/a>. Montgomery had 158 carries last season. The Lions<\/a> did sign Isiah Pacheco to replace Montgomery and backup Gibbs, but Gibbs will get a heavier workload without Montgomery. Gibbs could be approaching 300 carries for the run-first offense in Detroit. Last season, Christian McCaffrey had 311 carries and 102 receptions. Gibbs could definitely make a run at 300 rushing attempts and 100 receptions this year. Gibbs closes out the best NFC North running backs in first place.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a strong 2025 for NFC North teams. Here are the best NFC North Running Backs for 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5257,"featured_media":289882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,23,24,25,26,6431,33916],"tags":[6194,33728,32043,4983,32907,41,33805],"class_list":["post-289867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-bears","category-lions","category-packers","category-vikings","category-nfl-teams","category-power-rankings","tag-dandre-swift","tag-jahmyr-gibb","tag-jordan-mason","tag-josh-jacobs","tag-kyle-monangai","tag-nfc-north","tag-running-back-rankings"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289867"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289884,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289867\/revisions\/289884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}