{"id":167582,"date":"2024-03-27T14:48:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T18:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=167582"},"modified":"2024-03-27T14:48:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T18:48:42","slug":"still-too-early-2024-running-back-rankings-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/03\/27\/still-too-early-2024-running-back-rankings-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Still, Too Early Fantasy Running Back Rankings \u2013 Part 4\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is where the running back rankings get a little wild. But Jaleel McLaughlin finished 46th out of all the running backs in the league and he only touched the ball 107 times. So wild stuff happens when you get this far from the top<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, Too Early Fantasy Running Back Rankings \u2013 Part 4<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

37. Rico Dowdle<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

If Dowdle is the Cowboys starting running back when the season begins then this ranking is far too low. But in his three years in the NFL, he has never started a game. It appears the Cowboys would rather use him to spell whoever is the starter. Presumably, they will draft a running back, although they could re-sign Ezekiel Elliott. Elliott is still available in free agency and Jerry Jones did once say <\/span>\u201cI know he\u2019s one of the best teammates that I\u2019ve had the privilege of seeing on the Cowboys\u201d.<\/span><\/a> If that does happen the Cowboys will have to come up with a creative way of using both backs. They are both very physical and have both had their fair share of injuries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dowdle only scored 91.5 fantasy points in 2023, but he only played 22% of the Cowboys\u2019 snaps on offense. Even if Elliott returns Dowdle\u00a0should see more game time in 2024.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

38. Nick Chubb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Talking of injuries, Chubb has had at least two operations after suffering a knee injury back in September. But he averaged 6 yards per touch before the injury. Not even the Browns GM seems to know when Chubb will be back, they\u2019ve signed D\u2019Onta Foreman in case he\u2019s not ready for the start of the season. But given that this was his first knee injury since 2015 there\u2019s good reason to be optimistic. He should be back stronger than ever. And he was squatting 675 lbs. during his 2022 preseason workouts remember?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

39. Zamir White<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

White was Josh Jacobs\u2019 backup in 2023, but he looked terrific doing it. The former Georgia running back started four games and he racked up 457 yards from scrimmage in those games. If he starts 17 games that would put him on pace to amass 1,942 total yards. That\u2019s probably not going to happen. But if he winds up with 75% of those yards, he\u2019ll be close to 1,500 on the season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

White only scored one touchdown in 2023 on a pretty low-scoring offense (they only scored 31 touchdowns all season). He\u2019ll be splitting carries with Alexander Mattison this year. But Mattison didn\u2019t score any rushing touchdowns in 2023! White will definitely be the lead back in the desert.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

40. Najee Harris<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Steelers have gone all-in this offseason to build an offense that could be as good as their defense. But it will only work if they manage Harris\u2019 workload. And with Jaylen Warren on the roster, they have the perfect opportunity to do just that.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harris scored 195.5 fantasy points in 2023. But with either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields under center and three new wideouts arriving (so far), it seems unlikely Arthur Smith will lean on the run game as much as Matt Canada did. Harris caught 76.3% of his targets in 2023, but Warren caught 82.4% of his. And with all that newly acquired talent the running backs might not see many targets this season. He’ll still be a valuable asset in fantasy leagues though.<\/p>\n

41. Rhamondre Stevenson<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Stevenson made the best of Bill O\u2019Brien\u2019s insane Patriots offensive system in 2023. But he succumbed to a high ankle sprain in Week 12 (because all the Patriots’ best players got injured at some stage in 2023). He averaged 4.4 yards per touch before the injury though. And that\u2019s not really headline-grabbing (he averaged 5.2 yards in 2022). But with an offensive line that wasn\u2019t really helping, not to mention a coaching team that spent more time arguing than coaching it was quite the achievement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Oklahoma running back Stevenson scored 145.7 fantasy points in 2023 and he could improve on that in 2024. Importantly Alex Van Pelt isn\u2019t Bill O\u2019Brien, but the Patriots haven\u2019t really upgraded the line yet. They don\u2019t really seem to have a clear plan to improve the offense and right now nobody seems to know who the quarterback will be. Until that\u2019s cleared up it\u2019s difficult to boost him up the rankings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

42. AJ Dillon<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

25-year-old running back Dillon must have been quietly happy to see The Packers release Aaron Jones, nobody wants to see their friends leave but it made him numero uno in Green Bay. And then Josh Jacobs arrived three days later. Now Dillon isn\u2019t even the number one power back on the roster.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He scored 117.6 fantasy points in 2023 in what was a bit of a down year. His 3.4 yards per carry was a career low and his two touchdowns were the fewest since his rookie year. Jacobs averaged 4.1 yards per touch and scored six touchdowns in 2024. The Packers run game might not be as good as they hope in 2024.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

43. Zach Charbonnet<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Former Michigan and UCLA running back Charbonnet is always exciting to watch. That\u2019s partly because you never know if he\u2019s going to lose the ball or absolutely body the nearest tackler. But he\u2019s definitely behind Kenneth Walker III on the depth chart. Last season Charbonnet averaged 4.8 yards per touch in his backup role, but he only scored one touchdown. Seattle has bolstered their offensive line in free agency, so their running game should be better than the 2023 version.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Charbonnet scored 106.1 fantasy points in 2023 and it\u2019s easy to see him improving on that this time out. He\u2019ll score more than a solitary touchdown. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

44. D\u2019Onta Foreman<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Foreman had a pretty quiet 2023, he only managed seven touches in the first five games of the season. And he was pretty much the eight ball from there. He started eight games in all and averaged just 3.9 yards per carry. He did score five touchdowns though. And now he\u2019s in Cleveland as part of a pretty hectic backfield.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly the former Texans running back only scored 91.2 fantasy points. He\u2019ll surely improve on that in 2024. When Nick Chubb is back healthy Foreman could find himself being traded. But if he starts the season more effectively than he did in 2023 he\u2019ll be an attractive trade target.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

45. Dameon Pierce<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

24-year-old running back Pierce had a bit of the sophomore syndrome in his second year in the league. His average yards per touch fell from 4.4 yards as a rookie to 3.3 as he shared time with Devin Singletary. This year he\u2019ll be behind Joe Mixon on the depth chart, but that should help him. Singletary\u2019s mediocrity (his 4.2 yards per rush was ok, but only 22<\/span>nd<\/span> in the league) combined with CJ Stroud\u2019s general air of calm and excellence meant the Texans only ran the ball 41% of the time in 2023.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pierce only scored 82.7 fantasy points in 2023, but he only played 32% of the offense\u2019s snaps. He\u2019ll be a nice foil for Mixon and if the Texans do run the ball more Pierce will get a lot more touches than he did in 2023.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

46. Ty Chandler<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Chandler had an odd 2023. The 25-year-old running back showed what he can do when he turned a <\/span>fake punt<\/span><\/a> into a 31-yard run. But across the season his usage was spotty at best. He had 11 touches in the first three weeks of the season, but he started for the first time in week 14. In that game, he touched the ball 26 times! By the end of the season, he was averaging 5.0 yards per touch with the offense and 24.25 yards per kick return. In 2023 he\u2019ll be Aaron Jones\u2019 backup, so he shouldn\u2019t be seeing 26 touches in any game this year. But if he continues to average 5 yards a touch that\u2019s not a problem.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chandler scored 101 fantasy points in 2023, but with a rookie QB, the Vikings should be leaning on the run game in 2024. The double-headed monster of Jones and Chandler should tire out a lot of defenses.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

47. Cam Akers<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Former FSU running back <\/span>Akers<\/span><\/a> might be the most fun running back to watch unless you\u2019re on the opposing sideline. He breaks tackles for fun, he\u2019s not particularly big but he has such a strong core that he rarely goes down from initial contact. He ruptured his Achilles tendon in November though. And he\u2019s currently without a team. But his rehabilitation is progressing well and it\u2019s inconceivable that he won\u2019t find a team preseason begins. The Broncos and Jaguars should be interested.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though he only had 71 touches in 2023 he still scored four touchdowns. And he ended the 2023 season with 46.7 fantasy points.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

48. Kenneth Gainwell<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Gainwell will be firmly entrenched behind Saquon Barkley this year. But with a new offensive coordinator and no Jason Kelce (at the moment) the \u201ctush push\u201d could be in endanger of extinction. It also makes sense to spread the ball around more than the Eagles did last year. Barkley isn\u2019t traditionally the healthiest back (he hasn\u2019t completed a full season since his rookie year), so it makes sense to share the load. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Memphis running back Gainwell scored 97.38 fantasy points in 2023 and that was despite only playing 415 of the offensive snaps. He only scored two touchdowns and he fumbled three times, if he can clean that up, he\u2019ll score more points this season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The running back rankings get a little wild and wooly when you get this far down the list, but there are some hidden gems in there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1277,"featured_media":167595,"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":[59,54],"tags":[6221,5578,1548,8923,294,7959,7426,10271,9619],"class_list":["post-167582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","category-editorials","tag-a-j-dillon","tag-cam-akers","tag-donta-foreman","tag-dameon-pierce","tag-fantasy-football","tag-kenneth-gainwell","tag-najee-harris","tag-ty-chandler","tag-zach-charbonnet"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167582","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\/1277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}