The first look at positional projections often looks a bit light because I have not yet included the 2024 rookies and I do not project players who I expect to hit free agency. The rookies will get added in after the 2024 NFL Draft. The free agents will get added in as soon as they sign with a team. They probably hope that is in March at the latest, but with the names potentially available in this free agent class some of the running backs may be waiting for a while.
If you look below you won't see Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, Tony Pollard, Austin Ekeler, D'Andre Swift, or Derrick Henry projected. And that's far from the entire free agent running back class, that's just the cream of the crop. Based on the past five years I would expect a couple of these guys to still be looking for work come summer, and I will not be excited about their prospects.
The only silver lining for these free agents is that the 2024 rookie running back class might be the worst one since I started producing Dynasty Fantasy Football content here at CBS. That figures to create a couple of really uncomfortable committees early in the season with aging superstars sharing with younger Day 3 picks. Early on at least, this makes me want to attack running back with a Hero-RB approach. I'd love to get a stud in Round 1 and then forget about the position for a while.
Here are my way-too-early 2024 running back projections:
