{"id":290459,"date":"2026-07-04T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=290459"},"modified":"2026-07-04T10:40:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:40:31","slug":"afc-south-running-backs-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/07\/04\/afc-south-running-backs-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the Top AFC South Running Backs for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AFC South<\/a> running backs are a talented group of players including one of the best running backs in the NFL and multiple consistently productive players. Here are the five best AFC South running backs for the 2026 NFL season.<\/p>\n

The Best AFC South Running Backs for 2026<\/h2>\n

5. Bhayshul Tuten, Jacksonville Jaguars<\/h3>\n

Tuten finished his rookie season with 307 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, and is in a position to potentially have a breakout season for the Jaguars in 2026. <\/span>He is not a great running back in the passing game, and there are some concerns with fumbling the football, but Tuten is a very athletic running back who has good power and tremendous contact balance, averaging over 3.2 yards after contact<\/a> per attempt last season. Tuten also has great acceleration and top-end speed.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Chris Rodriguez Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars<\/h3>\n

Rodriguez has been a very efficient running back throughout his career, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt with a 58.0% success rate last season, and averaging a career 4.6 yards per attempt and a career 58.1% success rate. He had solid production as the No. 2-leading running back for the Commanders<\/a> last season with 500 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rodriquez has limited ability as a receiver with just three receptions for 30 receiving yards last season, but as a runner, he has great power and balance. He averaged 3.46 yards after contact last season, according to PFF<\/a>, and he is a very strong runner in short-yardage situations and at the goal line. Rodriquez also takes good care of the football with just one career fumble and no fumbles in his last two seasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. David Montgomery, Houston Texans<\/h3>\n

Montgomery has been a very productive running back throughout his entire career so far, finishing with at least 700 rushing yards in each of his last seven seasons. He also does a great job finding the end zone<\/span>, finishing last season with eight rushing touchdowns and finishing in the top 10 for rushing touchdowns in both the 2024 and 2023 seasons with 12 and 13 total rushing touchdowns. <\/span><\/p>\n

Montgomery has been a consistent running back in both Chicago and Detroit, and he will now have the opportunity to be an impactful player for Houston in 2026. He is a well-rounded runner who doesn\u2019t have elite breakaway speed but does have good vision and patience along with incredible contact balance and elusiveness in the open field.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"David
Jan 4, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs with the ball against Chicago Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright (26) during the second half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Tony Pollard, Tennessee Titans<\/h3>\n

Pollard has now had over 1,000 rushing yards for four seasons in a row, and he finished the 2025 season with a new career high of 1,082 rushing yards. Along with being a consistent runner, Pollard is also a very good receiver out of the backfield and recorded 33 receptions for 206 receiving yards in 2025. Pollard has averaged 4.0 yards per attempt or more in every season of his career so far, and finished last season averaging 4.5 yards per attempt. He has solid power and balance, and is an elusive runner with the ability to consistently force missed tackles.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts<\/h3>\n

Taylor is the best of the AFC South running backs and one of the best running backs in the entire NFL. He finished last season as the league leader in touchdowns with 18 rushing touchdowns and 20 total touchdowns scored. Taylor also finished third in both rushing yards and yards from scrimmage with 1,585 rushing yards and 1,963 yards from scrimmage. He is an all-around incredible runner who has tremendous vision, balance, power, acceleration, and top-end speed. Taylor is a very elusive runner as well and ranked second in the NFL last season with 67 forced missed tackles<\/a>, according to PFF. He also had a career-high 46 receptions and 378 receiving yards in the passing game.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The AFC South has a great group of running backs in the division, so let’s rank the AFC South running backs entering the 2026 NFL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5467,"featured_media":254673,"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":[36,14,12,13,6431,33916,11],"tags":[33250,9961,4828,6237,33781,33805,5087],"class_list":["post-290459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-texans","category-colts","category-jaguars","category-nfl-teams","category-power-rankings","category-titans","tag-bhayshul-tuten","tag-chris-rodriguez-jr","tag-david-montgomery","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-nfl-power-rankings","tag-running-back-rankings","tag-tony-pollard"],"modified_by":"Grant Potter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290459","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\/5467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290459"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290599,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290459\/revisions\/290599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}