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Which running backs will shine in Week 1 for your fantasy football teams? We’ll take a look at all of them in our PPR rankings.
Welcome to the NFL regular season! It’s been too long, so let’s get into it. Today we’re going to take a look at fantasy football running backs for Week 1. Without a great read on rush defenses going into Week 1, we can still look toward players who appear poised to see good usage.
This season we have plenty of lead backs, but only a handful that we can count on for 20+ touches per game. Last season those backs were Kyren Williams, Christian McCaffrey, Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley. While Rachaad White and Alvin Kamara would have rounded up to 20. This group isn’t exactly infallible either. There are cases to make against each and cases to make for others to ascend to big usage this season.
Which RBs are poised for big usage in 2024?
If the Jets can sustain more drives, Breece Hall is going to amass great usage. In Kansas City the hope was that Isaiah Pacheco would take on more of a third-down/hurry-up role, but a last minute acquisition of Samaje Perine might have dampened that thought a bit. Derrick Henry used to command huge usage in Tennessee and if his body is up to it, the Ravens would be happy if he could get 20 touches a game. Bijan Robinson is someone we SHOULD see hit 20 touches a game, as he has the ability and now a coach who seems ready to use him well in an upgraded offense. And we could have someone bust out like Rachaad White did last season with big touch numbers. Could someone like Jaylen Warren, Tyjae Spears, Zack Moss, or Rhamondre Stevenson take over their backfield and become a high volume guy? It’s possible, but we have to realize that backfields are just split up more than they used to be and even after injuries, teams like splitting running back snaps if they can.
Those myriad of split backfields can still be good for fantasy. Last season we saw both De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert eat in the Dolphins backfield. The Lions had both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery finish as starting fantasy running backs as well. But, you surely need those kinds of high-scoring offenses to help multiple backs see fantasy relevancy on the same team. In the end, injuries from week to week will be the biggest factor for running backs in split backfields to see a bump in usage and if that coincides with a good matchup, you’re really in luck. But as usual, those injuries are tough to predict, so stack those benches with high upside backups and keep working that waiver wire.
Week 1 will tell us some things about each backfield and each run defense, but it won’t give us the whole picture. Each week we’ll need to reassess the matchups and backfield usage. So this week we’ll be going in blind as we try to predict how they’ll split backfield touches.
Week 1 running back injuries
Jonathon Brooks, Panthers
Brooks is out for at least the first four weeks of the season coming off a knee injury in college. He has a ton of potential and could have great usage with Dave Canales leading the way, but for now it’s Chuba Hubbard, who played well enough to take over Miles Sanders as the starter last year. Unfortunately the offense as a whole hurt his efficiency and touchdown potential and could do the same this season.
Jaylen Warren, Steelers
Warren has been out with a hamstring injury, but he practiced on Monday and says he will be ready for Week 1, per Dave Lolley. What he says doesn’t matter too much, but practicing on Monday is a great sign. We should learn more as we get closer to Sunday.
Marshawn Lloyd, Packers
Lloyd returned to practice this week coming off a hamstring injury and could be available for Friday’s matchup in Brazil. He wouldn’t be a fantasy start at this point, but he looks to be a strong backup to Josh Jacobs.
Elijah Mitchell, 49ers
Mitchell has been put on season ending I.R., which makes Jordan Mason the no-doubt backup to Christian McCaffrey to start the season. He is a good stash, as his upside if McCaffrey were to miss time is high.
Week 1 running back sleepers
Jaleel McLaughlin, Broncos
The Broncos offense is set up to be “dink and dunk” with Bo Nix at the helm and Sean Payton calling the plays. That sets up well for McLaughlin, who appears to be just behind starter Javonte Williams and has shown more burst than Williams since his injury. As long a we are in full PPR, I like McLaughlin as a flex play with big play upside.
Rico Dowdle, Cowboys (14 team leagues)
At this point is is extremely tough to know how the Cowboys are going to split their backfield between Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, and Dalvin Cook, but from what we saw last season, it would be wrong to dismiss Dowdle because of the big names around him. He is more than likely the best choice and should be able to show that on the field early on, as Elliott and Cook aren’t even close to the players they once were.
Justice Hill, Ravens (14 team leagues)
Hill looks to be the bo-doubt receiving back in Baltimore and with Derrick Henry as the lead, we should see Hill get snaps in hurry up and passing downs. This week they take on the Chiefs, who are likely to move the ball and could get the Ravens in a spot where they can’t force the run. This pick does rely on game flow, so if you feel strongly that the Ravens won’t need to abandon the run, then you should move off Hill.
