RB rankings for your 2024 fantasy football drafts

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Kate Magdziuk ranks the best running backs for 2024 fantasy football drafts and examines some of the biggest risers and fallers in her ranks and heading into the biggest draft weekend of the year.

The biggest fantasy football draft weekend of the year has finally arrived, which means it’s time for one thing — #RankingsSZN! If you’re here seeking some advice ahead of your drafts, we’re here to help you navigate some of your most challenging draft decisions with our 2024 running back rankings.

RB injury news and updates

Before diving into the rankings, let’s first dive into some of the most recent injury news you need to know ahead of fantasy drafts.

Browns RB Nick Chubb will start the year on the PUP list. This means he’ll be out for at least the first four games of the season. It’s unclear when he’ll be back in the lineup, and even more specifically, when he’ll be back at full strength following 2023’s devastating ACL injury. Jerome Ford projects to get the bulk of the work while he’s out.

Panthers rookie Jonathon Brooks will also start the year on the PUP list. He’ll miss the first four weeks of the season, with Chuba Hubbard likely in line for most of the carries in his absence. Expect a big second-half surge for Brooks, who was without a doubt the most refined and balanced prospect in this class with true three-down potential when healthy.

Saints second-year RB Kendre Miller will start the year on injured reserve. He’ll miss the first four weeks of the season. Jamaal Williams is technically the backup to starting RB Alvin Kamara. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if TE/do-it-all gadget guy Taysom Hill was the biggest beneficiary of a lack of depth at the position due to injury.

Steelers RB Jaylen Warren is dealing with a hamstring injury. Warren missed the third preseason game but says he expects to be ready to play in Week 1. Don’t plan on making any adjustments to the draft stock of neither he nor Najee Harris based on the news.

Running back risers

Josh Jacobs (Green Bay Packers)

Unfortunately for Packers, the running back position is a bit of a disaster right now, as A.J. Dillon landed on season-ending injured reserve with a neck injury and rookie MarShawn Lloyd deals with a hamstring injury (which was preceded by a hip injury earlier in camp). That means, for the time being, we can expect Jacobs to get just about all the work he can handle. I wouldn’t rule Lloyd out for a role in the rotation through the second half of the season, but Jacobs’ upside as a workhorse early in the year rules out any concerns I had about his efficiency in his final season with the Raiders.

Jerome Ford (Cleveland Browns)

Once again, it’s an injury that boosts this back’s draft stock, as starter Nick Chubb officially started the year on the PUP list. Even if it wasn’t a shock to most, the official confirmation that Chubb will miss, at the very least, the first four games of the season gives Ford the green light as a great late-round target in drafts. Ford ranked as the RB26 in fantasy points per game (half-PPR) last year and seems likely to return RB2/RB3 value any given week.

Rachaad White (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

White was one of the most inefficient running backs in the league last season, but it’s difficult to argue that he could easily see another 300+ touches in 2024. The team drafted Oregon prospect Bucky Irving in the fourth round this year and he could see some work, but veteran Chase Edmonds (the only RB besides White with 25+ carries last season) went on season-ending IR to make for a generally less-crowded backfield.

Running back fallers

Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams)

Earlier this week, a report surfaced that Kyren Williams will function as the team’s punt returner in 2024. HC Sean McVay spun it in a positive way, noting that they wanted to find “another way” to get the ball in Williams’ hands. However, considering they just spent a third-round pick on Blake Corum in a move that felt like it was for the sake of keeping him healthy after handling a monstrous workload just last season. Working Williams in as a punt returner, particularly given his injury history, feels like a recipe for disaster… and considering his ADP in the early second round, he’s starting to feel like a screaming red flag.

Zamir White (Las Vegas Raiders)

White has been a fan-favorite pick in the RB dead zone this year, and it makes sense after his showing to close out the 2023 season. During his four-week stint as a starter in Weeks 15-18, White averaged just over 23 touches for 114 scrimmage yards per game. It didn’t seem as though there was much competition behind him for carries in the offense moving forward, either, but through the preseason, backup Alexander Mattison played a bit more than anyone projected, particularly working in on third-down situations, while White remained in the game to play with the backups. This backfield may be more convoluted than anyone had initially projected.

2024 running back rankings

Kate Magdziuk is an editor and contributor for Yahoo Fantasy and co-host of the Locked On Dynasty Football podcast. She is also the managing editor for Behind The Steel Curtain, SB Nation’s exclusive Pittsburgh Steelers blog. Her previous bylines include Pro Football Focus, NBC Sports Rotoworld and 4for4 Football, among others.