Question: Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs at 1.01 in fantasy football?

Answer: Yes.

Seriously, it would be an honor to have either star running back lead my fantasy team, but only one can be drafted first overall. And quite frankly, no one else really enters the discussion. Let’s make the argument for both players as the 1.01 in fantasy land.

RELATED: Updated 2026 Fantasy Football Rankings

Bijan Robinson Should Be The 1.01 in Fantasy Football 2026

He’s really, really good?

Look, everyone knows how special Robinson is. But the Falcons may have sometimes forgotten just how good. Yes, Robinson totaled nearly 2,300 scrimmage yards on 366 touches, but his 11 total touchdowns were a bit underwhelming. 

Thanks a lot, Tyler Allgeier. 

According to the Utilization Report, Robinson accounted for just 48% of Atlanta’s rush attempts from inside the 5-yard line. That put him outside the top-25 running backs and tied with Allgeier, who tied Robinson with five goal-line carries. Robinson also compiled only 32 red-zone carries, which trailed players like Chris Rodriguez, Kyle Monangai and Kareem Hunt. Again, Allgeier was right behind him with 31 red-zone rushes. Allgeier is a good player and was effective from in close, converting four of seven carries inside the 5-yard line into touchdowns. But his presence was often a headache for Robinson’s fantasy potential.

Free Agency served as the ibuprofen.

Allgeier signed a two-year deal with the Cardinals, paving the way for Robinson to finally dominate the short-yardage work for the Falcons. The Falcons are surely going to add to their backfield in some capacity, but whoever it is won’t match Allgeier’s 9.2 touches per game from a season ago. Atlanta also deployed both Robinson and Allgeier on the field together around 8% of the time. 

Although the touchdowns weren’t elite, Robinson made up for it with stellar pass-game usage. He ranked second among running backs in target share (20%), while his 23% TPRR was good for fifth at the position. The stellar target share is unlikely to disappear, especially if Tua Tagovailoa is under center for the Falcons. Over the course of his career, Tagovailoa has been targeting running backs 23.1% of the time, while sporting one of the highest checkdown rates in the entire NFL. Tua has always had a propensity for getting the ball out as fast as humanly possible, a trait that has benefited fantasy running backs. All told, 79 receptions for 820 yards helped propel Robinson to 21.8 PPR PPG last year (2nd), but a spike in touchdowns could lead to the overall RB1 finish in 2026.

Jahmyr Gibbs Should Be The 1.01 In Fantasy Football 2026

Jahmyr Gibbs. Also really good at football.

Gibbs finished right behind Robinson last season, averaging a strong 21.6 fantasy points per contest. After catching 52 passes in each of his first two NFL seasons, Gibbs hauled in 77 balls last year, while scoring 18 total touchdowns. He continues to be one of the most dynamic and efficient players in all of football. Here are his ranks in yards per touch since entering the NFL:

• 2023: 5.4 (8th)
• 2024: 6.4 (2nd)
• 2025: 5.7 (4th)

Like Robinson, Gibbs has also split work with a good, power running back to open his career. Since joining the Lions in 2023, David Montgomery has averaged a healthy 14.1 touches per game, while accounting for 46% of Detroit’s designed rush attempts during that span. Most of the time, the Lions would deploy an every-other-drive approach with their backfield, though once Dan Campbell took over play-calling duties last year, the shift toward Gibbs began to intensify.

From Week 10 on, Gibbs accounted for 63% of the rush attempts, 21% of the targets and handled 19.4 touches per game. Before that, Gibbs was averaging 17.8 touches per game, while handling 52% of the rush attempts and a 14% target share. That may have been the precursor to Montgomery’s trade to the Texans.

Sonic now stands alone.

We have a very fun, totally sustainable split of Gibbs playing games with Montgomery sidelined over the last few seasons. In six career games without Montgomery, Gibbs has averaged absolutely gaudy numbers:

• 19.7 carries
• 5.2 targets
• 110.8 rushing yards
• 36.5 receiving yards
• 24.9 touches
• 27.4 PPR PPG

Again, totally sustainable. But in terms of his usage, it might not be too far off. The Lions brought in Isiah Pacheco on a one-year, $1.81-million deal, which tells me he isn’t coming anywhere close to the 14 touches per game Montgomery averaged during his Detroit stint. And Pacheco straight up ceded short-yardage work to 30-year-old Kareem Hunt in Kansas City, making it unlikely he steals much of the touchdown equity from Gibbs.

There’s definitely some change within this Lions offense entering 2026. The offensive line has some moving parts, while Drew Petzing will now be calling plays. But one thing should remain—this team will be scoring plenty of points. Since 2023, Detroit has ranked 2nd, 1st and 3rd in percentage of drives ending in a touchdown. And during that same span, the Lions are averaging 29.6 points per game, giving Gibbs plenty of touchdown potential as the lead running back.

The Bottom Line

Look, barring injury, you truly cannot go wrong with either Robinson or Gibbs with the first overall selection. They are undoubtedly the top 2 players in fantasy entering 2026. And because their profiles are so good, you really have to dig deep to find a potential tiebreaker. In this case, it really comes down to this …

Who plays in the better offense?

Yes, I expect Robinson to score more touchdowns than he did in 2025. But predicting touchdowns can still be a dangerous game, and if I am going to try forecasting scores, it would be wise to side with the better offense. 

Give me Gibbs ever so slightly over Robinson as fantasy’s first selection.

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