In this series of articles, I’ll be looking at the movers and shakers in every NFL backfield – division by division – and what they may mean for your best ball, dynasty, and redraft rosters as we edge ever closer to the opening of team training camps in mid-July.
We’re kicking things off in the AFC North, home to arguably the best RB in the league in Derrick Henry, the best WR in the league in Ja’Marr Chase, one of the greatest QBs of all time in Aaron Rodgers…oh, and also the Cleveland Browns.
Let’s dive right in!
Baltimore Ravens (12-5)
2024 RB Statistics
| Player | ATT | YDS | Y/A | Rush Share (%) | TD | TGT | REC | YDS | TD |
| Derrick Henry | 325 | 1921 | 5.91 | 81.86% | 16 | 22 | 19 | 123 | 2 |
| Justice Hill | 47 | 228 | 4.85 | 11.84% | 1 | 51 | 42 | 383 | 3 |
| Rasheen Ali | 10 | 31 | 3.10 | 2.52% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keaton Mitchell | 15 | 30 | 2.00 | 3.78% | 0 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 397 | 2210 | 17 | 74 | 62 | 534 | 5 |
PLAYERS IN: Marcus Major Jr. (UDFA), Sone Ntoh (UDFA)
PLAYERS OUT: NONE
With this being the first article of the series, it seems only fitting that we start with the number one rushing offense in the National Football League: the Baltimore Ravens. The reigning AFC North Champions dominated on the ground in 2024, racking up a league-leading 3189 yards out of the backfield during the regular season – the second highest team total in NFL history. The Ravens’ 554 total rushing attempts were eclipsed only by the Saquon Barkley-led Philadelphia Eagles, and their 5.9 Y/A average saw them finish the year a full half-yard ahead of the second-place Arizona Cardinals in terms of rush efficiency. Unsurprisingly, then-Head Coach John Harbaugh and General Manager Eric DeCosta appear to have adopted a position of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” regarding the running game in 2025.
The supporting cast of Justice Hill, Rasheen Ali, and Keaton Mitchell are all back for another year, joined by undrafted free-agents Marcus Major Jr. out of Minnesota and former Monmouth Hawk, Sone Ntoh, who racked up a Taysom Hill-inspired stat line of 25 TDs on just 109 carries in his senior year in the CAA Conference. As impressive as Ntoh’s college numbers were in New Jersey, he will be just another pretender to the throne in a court that can have only one king…The Yeti himself, Mr. Derrick Henry.
Entering his tenth season in the National Football League, King Henry doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, and fresh off signing a new 2-year $30 million extension in May, the odds are heavily against us seeing an abdication from the throne anytime before 2027. Henry’s maiden year in Maryland saw the then 30-year-old put up his second-best single-season numbers in terms of rushing yards (1921) and TDs (16), bolstered by a career-best 5.9 Y/A on 347 carries…the man simply isn’t human.
King Henry’s 81.9% of the Ravens’ carries at the position sits behind only Jonathan Taylor in Indianapolis (92.4%) and Kyren Williams in Los Angeles (82.7%). With the Colts bringing in the more-than-competent Khalil Herbert to backup J.T., and Matthew Stafford seeing Davante Adams replacing Cooper Kupp across the line at SoFi, who’d bet against Derrick Henry ending 2025 as the outright dominant rusher in terms of team workload share, even at the ripe old age of 31?
If you’ve picked up The Fantasy Footballers Ultimate Draft Kit (and if you haven’t, why not?) you’ll see that Andy, Mike, and Jason all currently project Henry to lead the league in rushing attempts and TDs; with only Mr. Holloway forecasting The Yeti to be second-best in terms of overall yards on-the-ground. The King’s only threat to complete dominance of this backfield comes not from any of his fellow RBs, but from one of only two players in the entire league to post a better Y/A in 2024 (minimum 100 carries) – his QB, Lamar Jackson. The two-time league MVP led all ball carriers with a 6.6 Y/A, notching up over 900-yards on just 139 attempts – and despite The Ballers forecasting another stellar season for Lamar, there should be plenty to go around for both he and The Yeti to flourish in 2025.
With veteran Patrick Ricard retaining his place at FB, it’s likely we will see at least one, possibly two roster casualties in this backfield ahead of September. Hill and Mitchell are both locks to play backup to Henry, with Ali and undrafted rookie Nthoh battling it out for the final spot.
Cincinnati Bengals (9-8)
2024 RB Statistics
| Player | ATT | YDS | Y/A | Rush Share (%) | TD | TGT | REC | YDS | TD |
| Chase Brown | 229 | 990 | 4.32 | 69.18% | 7 | 65 | 54 | 360 | 4 |
| Zack Moss | 74 | 242 | 3.27 | 22.36% | 2 | 27 | 23 | 187 | 1 |
| Khalil Herbert | 28 | 114 | 4.07 | 8.46% | 0 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 331 | 1346 | 9 | 101 | 85 | 568 | 5 |
PLAYERS IN: Samaje Perine (FA – with Chiefs in 2024), Tahj Brooks (6th Round – pick 193), Quali Conley (UDFA)
PLAYERS OUT: Khalil Herbert (FA to Colts)
If we started with the best, we now move on to one of the worst. To put things into context, the Cincinnati Bengals ran for a mere 1574 yards during the 2024 regular season – less than half of the total posted by their divisional rivals, and just short of 350 yards of King Henry’s individual effort on the ground…it was rough. Cincy’s 380 rush attempts were T-30th on the year with the Raiders, ahead of only the anemic New York Jets. Despite their team average 4.1 Y/A being far from the worst in the league, this was an offense that abandoned the run fast and often due to their very generous defensive unit forcing Joe Burrow to air it out on the reg.
It was a tale of two halves for the Bengals’ run game, or rather a tale of two half-backs. Veteran Zack Moss opened the season as the starter for Zac Taylor’s team, and in what must have been an act of solidarity with his namesake, the Bengals’ HC stuck with the former Colt as the de facto lead until an injury ended his year in Week 9.
eek 9…enter Chase Brown. The sophomore rusher lit up the league after his promotion to the starting role, serving as the overall RB6 between Weeks 9 and 17, with six consecutive top-12 finishes ahead of the fantasy playoffs, becoming the first Bengals RB since Jeremy Hill to be worthy of a Mike Wright tribute tattoo in the process.
After fully recovering from the neck injury that saw him sidelined halfway through the year, Zack Moss restructured his contract with the team in May and is a lock to make the 53-man cut come the end of August – but make no mistakes, this is Brown’s backfield now. Moss will undoubtedly eat into the 95% share of RB carries Brown saw over the back half of the season, but coming off a 54 reception (5th) and 4 TD (T-3rd) season in the passing game, the third-year back will have more than enough opportunity to contribute all over the field and for your fantasy team.
Ja’Marr isn’t the only Chase on this roster projected to finish in the top-12 at their position, with all three Ballers locking the Canadian-born Brown in as an RB1 for the year ahead, eclipsing the 1000-yard rushing mark in the process. One of the guys even has Brown statted out a mere 19 yards behind a lesser-known back named Christian McCaffrey, but you’ll need to get your hands on the UDK to find out who that is.
Further down the depth chart, Khalil Herbert has been replaced by Samaje Perine in the RB equivalent of the Spider-Man meme, and will likely be joined by 6th-round rookie pick Tahj Brooks, who could see some 3rd-down or special teams work as the season goes on.
Cleveland Browns (3-14)
2024 RB Statistics
| Player | ATT | YDS | Y/A | Rush Share (%) | TD | TGT | REC | YDS | TD |
| Jerome Ford | 104 | 565 | 5.43 | 33.77% | 3 | 43 | 37 | 225 | 0 |
| Nick Chubb | 102 | 332 | 3.25 | 33.12% | 3 | 11 | 5 | 31 | 1 |
| D’Onta Foreman | 71 | 232 | 3.27 | 23.05% | 0 | 8 | 6 | 54 | 0 |
| Pierre Strong Jr. | 26 | 108 | 4.15 | 8.44% | 0 | 22 | 14 | 104 | 0 |
| Jacob Kibodi | 5 | 24 | 4.80 | 1.62% | 0 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 308 | 1261 | 6 | 87 | 63 | 429 | 1 |
PLAYERS IN: Quinshon Judkins (2nd Round – pick 36), Dylan Sampson (4th Round – pick 126), Ahmani Marshall (UDFA)
PLAYERS OUT: Nick Chubb (FA to Texans), D’Onta Foreman (FA), Jacob Kibodi (UFL)
What is dead may never die. After seven incredible years in Ohio (well, five incredible years and two injury-plagued ones), Nick Chubb has set sail for pastures new, leaving a very large 227lbs hole in this Browns backfield. Despite posting an impressive 5.4 Y/A in Chubb’s absence – good enough for T-4th at the position (minimum 100 carries) – Jerome Ford’s time as a usable fantasy asset appears to be over after Kevin Stefanski and the Cleveland Front Office drafted not one, but two rookie RBs in a bold attempt to breath some life into this ailing franchise after a dismal 3-14 campaign last season.
While the Bengals’ putrid run game was perhaps symptomatic of their clinical passing attack, the same can’t quite be said for their in-state neighbours up in Cleveland, who were just plain bad on both fronts. Only the Anthony Richardson led Colts (56.3%) had a lower completion percentage than the Browns (59.8%) and their merry-go-round of starting QBs in 2024, and this – coupled with a ground attack that only found the end zone 8 times in 17 regular season games – saw Cleveland end the year as the only team to score fewer than 30 total TDs…woof. Things can only get better, right?
While the Browns missed out on one of the top QBs in this years draft (c’mon, we’re not counting Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders as elite options here), members of the Dawg Pound will be hoping that the selection of Quinshon Judkins with the 36th overall pick goes some way to adding a bit of bite to the Brown’s bark out of the backfield. Alongside Omarion Hampton and former Buckeye’s teammate TreVeyon Henderson, Judkins was a consensus tier-two RB heading into April’s draft – and although the landing spot may not be as sexy as Los Angeles or New England (ok, just LA) – the powerful 5’11”, 221lbs rusher arguably has the clearest pathway of all rookie RBs not named Ashton Jeanty to making an immediate impact in fantasy football. Much like the now-departed Nick Chubb, Judkins will likely do most of his damage as an early-downs rusher, but also like Chubb, the Ohio State grad is sneaky good as a receiver out of the backfield, boasting the highest TPRR amongst backs in this year’s draft class.
Joining Judkins in the rushing corps is fellow rookie and 4th round pick Dylan Sampson, drafted out of Tennessee. Sampson is a smaller dude sitting at just 5’8″, but give him a gap and he can really move! The youngest RB in the league – aged just 20 years old (he’ll celebrate his 21st birthday with a trip to Baltimore in Week 2 on September 14th) – the former Volunteer set a program record for single-season TDs in his senior year with 22. The young rookie will definitely be more of a change-of-pace back, but may also see some work on 3rd downs alongside Judkins.
Veteran Pierre Strong Jr. will almost certainly make the 53-man roster come cut day and see a smattering of touches over the year, with UDFA Ahmani Marshall likely to be a casualty.
Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)
2024 RB Statistics
| Player | ATT | YDS | Y/A | Rush Share (%) | TD | TGT | REC | YDS | TD |
| Najee Harris | 263 | 1043 | 3.97 | 61.74% | 6 | 48 | 36 | 283 | 0 |
| Jaylen Warren | 120 | 511 | 4.26 | 28.17% | 1 | 47 | 38 | 310 | 0 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson | 32 | 135 | 4.22 | 7.51% | 0 | 14 | 12 | 80 | 1 |
| Jonathan Ward | 5 | 22 | 4.40 | 1.17% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aaron Shampklin | 6 | 17 | 2.83 | 1.41% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 426 | 1728 | 7 | 109 | 86 | 673 | 1 |
PLAYERS IN: Kaleb Johnson (3rd Round – pick 83), Kenneth Gainwell (FA – with Eagles in 2024), Trey Sermon (FA – with Colts in 2024), Evan Hull (FA – with Colts in 2024), Max Hurleman (UDFA)
PLAYERS OUT: Najee Harris (FA to Chargers), Aaron Shampklin (FA)
After an opening five weeks that saw Najee Harris rack up a mere 270 yards and zero TDs on 82 attempts (for context, Tank Bigsby had three more yards and two more TDs on 48 fewer carries), his overall finish of RB20 on the year actually feels kind of impressive. Things eventually clicked into place for the fourth-year back after he finally found the end zone in Las Vegas during Pittsburgh’s Week 6 win over the Raiders, beginning a stretch of weekly RB1/2 performances which turned his 3.4 Y/A into a much healthier 4.3 Y/A over the final two-thirds of the year. Harris’ 74 yards in Week 17 ensured he eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark yet again, a feat he has somehow achieved every year since entering the league back in 2021. Will Najee manage to hit a four-figure yardage total in year five; who knows – but one thing is for certain, it won’t be in the black and yellow of the Steelers after the former 1st round draft pick signed a one-year, $9.5m deal with the Chargers to go play in Jim Harbaugh and G-Ro’s run-heavy offense in Los Angeles. With the age of Najee now over, who will be taking his place and lining up behind new QB Aaron Rodgers in the Pittsburgh backfield… let’s take a look at the contenders.
Mike Tomlin has been a busy man this off-season and has brought in no fewer than five new recruits to his RB room, but first, let’s focus on the guy who’s hung around, Mr Jaylen Warren. It may not feel like it (especially if you rostered him last year), but Jaylen Warren is a good NFL RB, albeit one that appears to have a significant aversion to the end zone. The UDFA out of Oklahoma State has had over 500 touches in his three years in Western Pennsylvania, amassing a total of just six TDs. To put that into perspective, on those same number of opportunities, he’s had more fumbles than scores. Despite his anemic TD rate, the organization clearly likes him and reinforced this by using a 2nd round tender worth over $5m to keep him in the Steel City for another season. Could Warren assume the mantle of this backfield’s leader, sure, but as a 4th-year back who has yet to see more than 150 carries in a season, it seems unlikely. A campaign more akin to his sophomore year in 2023 feels a safer bet, one which saw Warren rack up over 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards and four total TDs on just over 200 opportunities.
So, if the long-time heir to the throne won’t be ascending to the steel throne, just who will be? We mentioned five new off-season additions to this backfield, and without wanting to come off as overly dismissive of some of these recent acquisitions, there is a less than zero chance that any of the veteran signings outside of Kenneth Gainwell will make even the slightest impact for fantasy purposes (sorry, Trey Sermon truthers). Kenny G. will likely see most of his work on later downs, being utilised in a pass-catching role that he was more accustomed to earlier in his career across the state in Philadelphia. That still leaves some Najee Harris-sized shoes to fill, and more importantly, the 300+ opportunities from last season that his departure has left vacant, enter Kaleb Johnson. The 3rd round pick out of Iowa isn’t the first rookie RB carrying the moniker of “K. Johnson” to be the object of Jason Moore’s affection (remember Kerryon back in 2018?), and just as it was with the former Lion some eight years ago, this is true love. The 21-year-old ran for over 1500 yards and 22 TDs in his final year as a Hawkeye, and coupled with his usage in the passing game, accounted for over 40% of the team’s total yards. His dominator score of 52% is by far the highest of all backs in this class, and at 6’1″, 224lbs, Johnson presents as a ready-made, direct replacement for Najee in this backfield. One of the ‘Ballers has Johnson ranked as high as RB17 on the season in this year’s UDK, and for privacy’s sake let’s call him Jason M…no that’s too obvious, let’s say J. Moore – whoever the mystery man is, you can find their and the entire trio’s full season projections for every position in The Fantasy Footballers’ Ultimate Draft Kit, available NOW.
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