Opportunity is king in fantasy football, and there might not be a position that epitomizes that more than running backs. Fantasy managers long for the players who are expected to command the lion’s share of a backfield, but the number of teams who deploy a running back committee continues to grow every season.

With free agency and the NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, most depth charts are set at the running back position. However, some notable free agents are still available including Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, Kareem Hunt, and Leonard Fournette – all players who could command a decent workload should they land with the right team.

Today, we’re diving into the players that are expected to see their total number of carries decrease from where they were in 2022.

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Expected Carries Fallers

These players are expected to have a decrease in total carries for the 2023 season.

Kenneth Walker III

Kenneth Walker III was one of the most exciting rookies in the NFL in 2022. However, he faces significant competition now that the Seahawks have added another second-round running back in Zach Charbonnet. Walker essentially had the backfield to himself in 2022 and regardless of who you expect to lead this backfield moving forward, it’s safe to say that Walker will not have it to himself again in 2023.

The hope had been for Walker to retain a true three-down role for the Seahawks, but Charbonnet figures to compete for early-down and goal-line touches. What muddies the waters even further is that Charbonnet held his own as a pass catcher in his senior season at UCLA, where he reeled in 37 catches for 321 yards. This will be a true committee situation. While both running backs will retain fantasy value, I’m much more comfortable treating Walker as a high-end RB2 than the locked-in top-three option we thought he might be.

D’Onta Foreman

Only 22 running backs had over 200 rushing attempts during the 2022 season, and D’Onta Foreman was one of them. He had 203 attempts for 914 rushing yards and five touchdowns for the Carolina Panthers. Most of that came from week seven on, after the Panthers’ traded star running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers.

Foreman was a solid veteran runner who moved on to the Chicago Bears in free agency, but the problem is that it’s a crowded running back room in Chicago. Khalil Herbert averaged nearly six yards per attempt in 2022 and figures to have a significant role in the Bears’ offense again this year. The team also added former Texas Longhorns running back Roschon Johnson in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.

This is not to say Foreman will have no role on the team, but of those three options, Foreman is the least likely to have a significant role moving forward. Herbert is a more explosive option, and Johnson could find himself on the field on third downs sooner than later thanks to his ability in pass protection.

Travis Etienne

Like Kenneth Walker III, Etienne essentially had the backfield to himself in 2022. Now, the Jaguars have made another addition to the running back position in the form of former Auburn running back Tank Bigsby.

In Doug Pederson’s tenure as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 2016 to 2020, the lead running back on the roster only accounted for over 40% of total team rushing attempts just once. That was when Miles Sanders had 164 attempts in 2020, which accounted for 41% of the team’s rushing work.

Last season, Etienne had nearly 50% of the backfield to himself, with 220 rushing attempts that he turned into 1,125 yards on the ground and five rushing touchdowns.

Etienne is still an extremely valuable fantasy asset, thanks in part to his receiving capabilities, and his role can continue to expand there. Still, it would not shock me if we saw his total number of carries drop to somewhere between 170 and 180 following the addition of Bigsby, although he should have an uptick in targets.

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