The running back position is a polarizing topic among dynasty fantasy football enthusiasts. If you have one — or multiple — elite producers at the position, it can make your fantasy team an absolute juggernaut.
Yet, the position’s year-over-year volatility and the shorter fantasy production shelf life make it very tricky to build the core of your roster around it.
After dissecting a running back class without a consensus top prospect, here is a closer look at my dynasty rookie RB rankings after the 2024 NFL Draft.
Dynasty Rookie Running Back Rankings 2024
1) Trey Benson, Arizona Cardinals
The top running back on my board heading into the draft process fell into the laps of the Cardinals in the third round. Trey Benson could see plenty of run in 2024 and projects favorably as the RB of the future behind veteran James Conner.
Benson is a big play waiting to happen and can contribute on all three downs. Conner is a solid player who may cap his immediate fantasy ceiling, but Benson could slide into a full-time role very shortly in an offense that has quickly been reinfused with young talent.
2) Jonathon Brooks, Carolina Panthers
Despite tearing his ACL during his one season as the full-time starter, Texas RB Jonathon Brooks became the first running back selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Brooks is not a lock to be available for the start of his rookie season, which does cloud his immediate fantasy outlook in 2024. Yet, Chuba Hubbard is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Carolina’s selection of Brooks certainly suggests that it believes he has the potential to be a featured RB under new head coach Dave Canales.
Speaking of Canales, he featured Rachaad White last season in Tampa Bay, which led to White finishing as the RB4 overall despite averaging just 3.6 yards per carry behind a pretty average offensive line.
If you can accept the injury risk and a potential redshirt-type year for Brooks as a rookie, you could have a valuable prospect for 2025 and beyond.
3) Jaylen Wright, Miami Dolphins
After you sift through the cascade of groans in the distance from De’Von Achane shareholders, one should get very excited about Tennessee RB Jaylen Wright going to the Dolphins.
Wright ran into an obnoxious amount of light boxes during his days as a Volunteer, and he could encounter a very similar situation playing in Miami with both Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle consistently threatening opposing defenses vertically.
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Sure, Wright may not be guaranteed a huge volume of work in 2024 working in tandem with Achane. Yet, just as Achane proved last year, it doesn’t take many touches from an explosive runner to make a big fantasy impact in Miami’s wide-open offense.
All that stands in the way of Wright and split duties in this backfield is the 32-year-old Raheem Mostert, who has played a full NFL season just once in his nine-year career.
4) Tyrone Tracy Jr., New York Giants
The New York Giants‘ decision to part ways with running back Saquon Barkley this offseason makes this backfield one where an unknown (but very talented) prospect could emerge with a much larger role than anticipated. One such prospect who I believe possesses this type of upside is Tyrone Tracy Jr. out of Purdue.
Tracy is an older running back prospect who will be 25 years old his rookie season — which is enough to turn some dynasty managers off altogether. Still, his late emergence as a name to monitor is largely due to the fact he played the position for just one season after playing receiver at both Purdue and Iowa.
The track record may not be very long, but Tracy’s flashes of explosive acceleration, long speed, exceptional contact balance, pass-catching ability, and creativity as a ball carrier all make him a prospect with three-down upside in the NFL.
His reads are still pretty inconsistent when pressing the hole and setting up his blockers, but with Devin Singletary being all that stands between Tracy and a fantasy-relevant role in 2024, his upside and situation make him worth a look in the early parts of the third round in your rookie draft.
5) Ray Davis, Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills changed their offensive mindset towards the middle of the year once Joe Brady took over for Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator last season, which saw Buffalo begin to focus on running the ball far more often.
James Cook had an excellent season and is still firmly entrenched as the team’s leading ball carrier heading into the 2024 season, but the addition of Kentucky running back Ray Davis could add an extra dynamic in the Buffalo backfield this upcoming year.
Davis has a dense and powerful 211-pound build and regularly dismisses the first tackler he encounters with a great combination of lateral agility, quick, controlled footwork through congestion, and excellent contact balance. He isn’t afraid to take the fight to opposing defenders and has both pass-catching chops and play strength to pass-protect as a third-down option.
Last year, Latavius Murray saw 79 carries for 300 yards and two scores as the third rushing fiddle behind Cook and Josh Allen. I could see a similar volume of work for Davis in year one, but with better efficiency to potentially earn an expanded role down the road.
6) Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams
One unfortunate truth about the running back position is that landing spot matters significantly.
The Los Angeles Rams using third-round NFL Draft capital on Blake Corum is great, but his role alongside/behind Kyren Williams — who finished second behind Christian McCaffrey in fantasy points per game last year — makes for a very tough projection to fantasy relevancy over the next few seasons.
Corum is a workhorse back who plays with great leverage, excellent vision, and plus-level contact balance, but it’s hard to say he does anything definitively better than Williams entering the NFL.
He wasn’t called upon as a pass catcher often at Michigan and didn’t produce explosive plays in the running game at the same frequency in 2023 as he did in his previous years. Williams was excellent from both a fantasy and advanced analytics perspective — ranking among the league leaders in broken tackles and yards per attempt for high-volume backs.
Corum is a good football player but could struggle to get on the field much over the next two years if the Rams continue to utilize Williams similarly to how they did in 2023.
7) Marshawn Lloyd, Green Bay Packers
Marshawn Lloyd has found himself in an intriguing situation in Gren Bay. Josh Jacobs was the big offseason acquisition, and AJ Dillon ended up back in Wisconsin after struggling to find a home elsewhere. Combine that with Lloyd struggling to remain fit in training camp, and there are some doubts about his role this season.
Following the draft, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich was very high on Lloyd. “No, I would like to get him out there as much as possible. He’s got a skill set that’s a little bit different than AJ’s, as far as his speed… It’ll be nice to get him the ball in space and just see what he can do, ‘cause I think he’s gonna add a good explosive element to the offense, for sure.”
#Packers OC Adam Stenavich on whether MarShawn Lloyd will see limited action his rookie season, ala AJ Dillon:
“No, I would like to get him out there as much as possible. He’s got a skill set that’s a little bit different than AJ’s, as far as his speed… It’ll be nice to get him… pic.twitter.com/PSWW3CbCOZ
— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) May 6, 2024
Matt LaFleur recently emphasized that, talking about how exciting Lloyd is as a prospect but acknowledging the missed reps. While Lloyd could have a slow start to this season, he remains a fantastic long-term prospect for fantasy purposes. There seems to be a track here to him taking that RB2 slot behind Jacobs and eventually moving into that RB1 spot.
8) Audric Estimé, Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos’ RB depth chart is an intriguing one to watch. The way things are shaping up, it appears as though Audric Estimé is competing with Javonte Williams for the early-down work this year. While that could mean he has limited upside early in 2024, there is a path to consistent production for the rookie.
Estimé’s upside may be limited if he always has the likes of Jaleel McLaughlin or Samaje Perine in that satellite back or third-down role, but there should be a solid floor if he can unseat Williams as the RB1 on this roster.
9) Dylan Laube, Las Vegas Raiders
If there is a running back prospect who legitimately could play receiver in the league, Dylan Laube out of New Hampshire would likely top that list.
Need proof? Well, can I interest you in a back who caught 117 passes over the last two seasons? For some context, that is more receptions than Adonai Mitchell had during his entire three-year collegiate career.
Laube has a stout build and plays well through contact, but he mostly wins with top-shelf acceleration and agility, which show up in spades when he regularly embarrasses linebackers who try to check him in man coverage.
The biggest question mark for him is how much of his production was coming from his lack of competition at New Hampshire.
There are some questions about how effective he can be as an inside runner against NFL-caliber talent, which is why he is unlikely to steal a significant amount of early down work away from Zamir White. Even so, he could certainly earn a sizeable role on passing downs, which has value in a PPR format.
10) Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
When looking back at why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished near the bottom of total rushing yards for a second straight season, one of the common denominators in both of those situations was White seeing a significant amount of work out of the backfield.
To be fair, the fact White has never averaged more than 3.73 yards per carry in a season could have a lot to do with the struggles of the interior of the offensive line, which the Bucs just addressed by selecting Duke center Graham Barton at No. 26 overall. But his lack of efficiency on the ground has left the door open to general manager Jason Licht adding depth behind him.
Well, this exact scenario played out when Bucky Irving was selected in the fourth round and figures to play some sort of complementary role in 2024. Yet, Irving has a pretty similar skill set to White but is just smaller (5’9”, 192), slower (4.55), and less explosive (29.5” vertical jump) than the incumbent.
That may sound harsh, but Irving has nice quickness and good vision. He is a very reliable pass catcher out of the backfield — he led all FBS backs with 55 receptions in 2023. However, his lack of size, power, and home-run speed make it difficult to project him as a real threat to take away White’s starting role in 2024.
2024 Dynasty Rookie RB Rankings | 11-20
11) Rasheen Ali| Baltimore Ravens
12) Kimani Vidal | Los Angeles Chargers
13) Isaac Guerendo | San Francisco 49ers
14) Blake Watson | Denver Broncos
15) Will Shipley| Philadelphia Eagles
16) Keilan Robinson | Jacksonville Jaguars
17) Sione Vaki | Detroit Lions
18) Braelon Allen | New York Jets
19) Isaiah Davis | New York Jets
20) Jase McClellan | Atlanta Falcons