2024 Rookie Drafts: Running Back Tiers Primer

The 2024 NFL rookie running back class looks to be one to forget, but it is still nowhere near fantasy irrelevance. As with any other class, this new crop of talent is chock-full of intriguing middle-round backs, as well as a handful of noteworthy late-round lottery tickets. Let’s break them down, tier by tier.

Tier 1: Likely year-one producers

Jonathon Brooks, CAR

Brooks entered the draft about neck-and-neck with Trey Benson for rookie RB1 status, and he got the upper hand after being traded up for and drafted by the Panthers in the middle of the second round. Brooks was buried behind Bijan Robinson for two years at Texas before he got the chance to prove himself as a smooth, one-cut operator last season. He tore his ACL toward the end of the season, but not before posting 1,139 rushing yards and adding 286 more through the air.

In Carolina, Brooks offers higher upside to his coaching staff at the position than Chuba Hubbard, Miles Sanders, and others, as well as a similar floor early into his career. In terms of efficiency, this offense does not project to be anything close to a rising tide that lifts boats, so Brooks (like Hubbard and Sanders) will probably struggle to get going early on. However, given the draft capital and pick equity the Panthers used to select him, as well as his backfield competition, he slides into this lineup as a starter (once healthy) more cleanly than any other back in the class. The ACL injury is, of course, something to keep an eye on.