Fantasy Football Draft Targets: Jonathon Brooks, Jerome Ford, MarShawn Lloyd

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football Zero RB Running Backs to Draft.

Running Backs to Draft (2024 Fantasy Football)

Derek Brown shares Zero RB Running Backs he’s targeting in his fantasy football drafts.

Jonathon Brooks (CAR)

Brooks lands in CAR with second-round NFL Draft capital in a wide-open backfield, with his toughest competition being Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders. Yes, he’s recovering from an ACL tear, but as soon as he’s ready to shoulder most of the load for this backfield, it should be his job. Brooks displayed a three-down skillset last year at Texas, ranking 21st in yards after contact per attempt and yards per route run while also finishing ninth in PFF elusive rating. Brooks could begin the season as an RB3/flex but finish it as a stretch run hero.

Jerome Ford (CLE)

Jerome Ford could be the Brown’s starting tailback again this season. Nick Chubb‘s health remains up in the air. While the early returns have been encouraging for his recovery, he isn’t guaranteed to play in the early parts of the season or at all in 2024. Last season, in Weeks 3-17, when Ford was the starter, he averaged 14.9 touches and 66.6 total yards as the RB20 in fantasy. Ford played well, ranking 13th in missed tackles forced per attempt and 16th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). If he is the team’s starter again this season, he should be considered an RB2 with upside. He could see even more work this season if he can hold off D’Onta Foreman on early downs and Nyheim Hines for the pass game work.

MarShawn Lloyd (GB)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably already aware that MarShawn Lloyd was one of my man crushes throughout the NFL Draft cycle. While his landing spot has turned many off, I’m not fazed. Will Josh Jacobs be heavily involved weekly? Sure, but that doesn’t mean that Lloyd is a zero or change-of-pace option only. Lloyd crushed every part of the predraft process after jumping off the stat sheet during his final two collegiate seasons. In each of those two years, he finished in the top 20 in yards after contact per attempt, breakaway percentage, and PFF elusive rating. Lloyd will quickly be a major factor in this backfield, with his main competition for touches (Josh Jacobs) hoping for a bounceback year. Last year, Jacobs struggled mightily to break tackles and create big plays as he ranked (among 49 qualifying backs last season per Fantasy Points Data) 41st in explosive run rate, 37th in missed tackles forced per attempt, and 44th in yards after contact per attempt. Lloyd is an RB3/4 who can easily out-kick his ADP this season.