You may be familiar with my yearly breakout series, but if not, I welcome you and urge you to read last week’s quarterback and tight end breakout piece. Then, come back and dive into the breakout running backs for the 2026 fantasy football season.For reference, I’ll give a yes or no vote on whether the running back featured breaks out and into the top 16. I’ll also include a few more backs who aren’t necessarily RB1s. I have four main candidates with deeper breakdowns and another quick-hit group of four. After all, we know Ashton Jeanty’s path to breaking out is simply: the Raiders aren’t utter trash again.Four main candidatesOmarion Hampton, LACCase for: Pure talent. I believed — and still do — that the talent gap from Ashton Jeanty to Hampton is as slim as when Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs entered the league. Hampton has plenty of pass-catching upside with his bell-cow ability. Eclipsing 300 touches over a full season is extremely doable. The Chargers’ offensive line is healthy and should be improved. Last year, the OL had the worst PFF run blocking grade (37.7) and sixth-worst yards before contact (1.14) mark. Mike McDaniel is the new offensive coordinator and will look to push the offense to the next level.Case against: Even before the injury, Hampton struggled in the run game — admittedly, partly due to the aforementioned run-blocking issues. A timeshare is quite possible, and while not in the 50/50 split realm, head coach Jim Harbaugh and McDaniel have utilized a second back regularly. Hampton’s backfield share could peak at 60%, which is still attractive, but a top-tier workload pushing 70%-plus appears unlikely. For what it’s worth, McDaniel seemingly made it his mission to see the Chargers bring in Keaton Mitchell. The offensive line could be healthy and one of the better pass-blocking units, but still struggle in the run game.My vote: Unequivocal yes. Even with the concerns, Hampton’s talent and situation should make him a locked-in RB1.Cam Skattebo, NYGCase for: The Juggernaut wishes he had Skattebo’s drive. Before the injury in Week 8, Skattebo was RB7 in half-PPR fantasy points per game (FPPG) from Weeks 2 to 7 (Skattebo only had four touches in Week 1). Senior offensive assistant Greg Roman has had plenty of success, even before Baltimore, with run games, and head coach John Harbaugh talked up Skattebo quite a bit as a potential top-tier back. For all of the Giants’ woes last year, they still offered the ninth-most goal-line (inside the 5-yard line) rush attempts (30). Even while sharing a backfield with Tyrone Tracy, Skattebo showed his passing-game potential with 32 targets, 24 receptions, 207 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in eight games.Case against: Skattebo doesn’t have Juggernaut’s helmet. The injury risk is real. If Roman is the main brain for the run game, he has often shared the workload with a secondary option. As I said regarding Jaxson Dart in the QB breakouts piece, this offense might take weeks to hit its stride, given all of the changes. Despite his willingness to break tackles, Skattebo won’t rack up a ton of plays over 10 and 20 yards.