Backfield Breakdown: 2022 Running Back Recap and Early 2023 Fantasy Rankings

Written by

Updated on February 8, 2023 9:55AM EST

If you're looking for the usual game-by-game stats and notes that usually come with Backfield Breakdown, we're trying something new for Week 18 and have those in a different article published Monday (Box Score Breakdown) that also shows advanced stats and usage rates for WRs and TEs in addition to RBs.

This article will focus on the 2022 season as a whole rather than Week 18 specifically, and with a different format than we normally use in the regular season. It's intended to be a useful reference throughout the offseason for anyone who needs to look up stats or reference free agents, injury rehabees, top performers from 2022... basically anything related to NFL running backs. Let's start with a bit of fun, though, handing out 2022 awards.

At the end, you'll find my estimated RB fantasy rankings for 2023, which will be updated intermittently throughout the offseason. For all the same stuff at other positions (2022 advanced stats, 2023 ranks, free agents, etc.) be sure to check out my end-of-year 'Target Breakdown' articles for Wide Receivers and Tight Ends, respectively:

Target Breakdown: 2022 Tight End Recap and 2023 Early Fantasy Rankings

Target Breakdown: 2022 Wide Receiver Recap and 2023 Early Fantasy Rankings

2022 RB Awards

Real-Life MVP: Christian McCaffrey

Fantasy MVP: Austin Ekeler

Best Runner: Nick Chubb

Best Receiver: Christian McCaffrey

Best Rookie: Kenneth Walker / Dameon Pierce

Best ADP Return: Josh Jacobs

Mid-Round Magic: Kenneth Walker

Late-Round Hero: Jerick McKinnon

Comeback Player: Saquon Barkley

Most Improved: Josh Jacobs

Brightest Future: Breece Hall

Least Valuable Player: Melvin Gordon

Biggest Fantasy Bust: Jonathan Taylor

Biggest Fantasy Bust (non-injury): Najee Harris

Biggest Real-Life Bust: Alvin Kamara

Offseason Injury Rehab

DEN Javonte Williams (ACL tear - Oct. 2)

SEA Rashaad Penny (broken fibula / ankle injury - Oct. 9)

NYJ Breece Hall (ACL tear - Oct. 23)

HOU Dameon Pierce (high-ankle sprain - Dec. 11)

IND Jonathan Taylor (ankle - Dec. 17 - possible offseason surgery)

WAS Antonio Gibson (foot/knee - last played Dec. 24, had foot surgery Jan. 5)

DAL Tony Pollard (fibula/ankle - suffered Jan. 22)

Notes

Williams' ACL tear also come with an LCL tear and damage to his posterior lateral corner, per SI's Luke Patterson. It isn't clear exactly when he had surgery, but it seems to have been at some point in October, i.e., within a few weeks of suffering the injury
Hall's ACL tear was accompanied by only minor meniscus damage, so far as we know. He had surgery in mid-November, about 3-4 weeks after his injury.
Penny said in early December that he might return for the playoffs if Seattle qualified. I haven't heard anything about that for a month, however, and it always seemed like a long shot given that his broken fibula was accompanied by a high-ankle sprain and reportedly came with a four-month rehab/recovery timeline. Reports suggest the ankle damage wasn't too bad, which means Penny should be healthy by the time he's eligible for unrestricted free agency in March.
Taylor struggled with ankle injuries all season and revealed Jan. 9 that he might get offseason surgery. He'll likely decide by the end of January, and should be healthy for training camp either way... but it's still worth monitoring carefully given his importance.
Gibson played through a foot injury from Week 10 on, then was shut down for the final two games after spraining his knee Week 16. He had foot surgery Jan. 5. This recent injury is to Gibson's left foot, whereas his turf toe in 2020 and toe sprain in 2021 were on the right foot.

Tony Pollard underwent surgery Tuesday on a broken left fibula and high ankle sprain he suffered in the Cowboys' divisional round playoff loss to San Francisco, per source. Should be full strength well before training camp. Set to be an unrestricted free agent in March.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) January 24, 2023

#Jets RB Breece Hall says he's recovering at a faster rate than normal and believes he'll be ready for the start of training camp pic.twitter.com/7U73ezZKTQ
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) January 9, 2023

Antonio Gibson said the plan for his left foot (had surgery to repair a fracture) is two weeks with no pressure and then 3 months of recovery time.
— John Keim (@john_keim) January 9, 2023

2022 Stat Leaderboards

We're mostly looking at volume and usage stats here, breaking it down by rushing and receiving. If you want to see stuff like broken tackles, yards after contact and other performance metrics, check out RotoWire's Advanced Stats Pages. We also have Red Zone stats if that's what you're looking for.

Note: Minimums for inclusion on these leaderboards are 170 snaps or 50 touches, though we've also included a few noteworthy players that didn't quite reach those numbers.

Rushing

		Team	G	Snaps	Sn %	Carr.	Carr Sh	Ru. Yd.	YPC	YPG	TD	Fum	F Lost
1	Christian McCaffrey	CAR	6	275	85.1%	85	68.5%	393	4.6	65.5	2	0	0
2	Saquon Barkley	NYG	16	821	80.2%	295	59.1%	1312	4.4	82	10	1	0
3	Josh Jacobs	LV	17	783	74.7%	340	79.4%	1653	4.9	97.2	12	3	1
4	Dalvin Cook	MIN	17	812	72.4%	264	65.3%	1173	4.4	69	8	4	4
5	James Conner	ARI	13	635	71.3%	183	54.6%	782	4.3	60.2	7	3	1
6	Jonathan Taylor	IND	11	503	69.9%	192	63.8%	861	4.5	78.3	4	3	3
7	Alvin Kamara	NO	15	621	69.6%	223	53.3%	897	4	59.8	2	4	4
8	Christian McCaffrey	SF	11	465	67.3%	159	47.3%	746	4.7	67.8	6	1	0
9	Derrick Henry	TEN	16	619	66.8%	349	75.4%	1538	4.4	96.1	13	6	3
10	Rhamondre Stevenson	NE	17	664	66.0%	210	49.4%	1040	5	61.2	5	4	1
11	Devin Singletary	BUF	16	679	65.4%	177	40.7%	819	4.6	51.2	5	3	3
12	Najee Harris	PIT	17	724	65.3%	272	54.4%	1038	3.8	61.1	7	3	2
13	Joe Mixon	CIN	14	601	65.3%	210	61.8%	814	3.9	58.1	7	0	0
14	David Montgomery	CHI	16	600	64.3%	201	38.2%	801	4	50.1	5	2	2
15	Dameon Pierce	HOU	13	486	63.8%	220	74.3%	939	4.3	72.2	4	4	2
16	Austin Ekeler	LAC	17	710	61.5%	204	50.5%	915	4.5	53.8	13	5	3
17	Leonard Fournette	TB	15	653	59.8%	189	51.6%	668	3.5	44.5	3	0	0
18	Travis Etienne	JAX	17	637	59.4%	220	49.1%	1125	5.1	66.2	5	5	3
19	Kenneth Walker	SEA	15	550	58.5%	228	58.2%	1050	4.6	70	9	0	0
20	Aaron Jones	GB	17	605	57.7%	213	46.7%	1121	5.3	65.9	2	5	3
21	Rashaad Penny	SEA	5	159	57.6%	57	51.8%	346	6.1	69.2	2	1	0
22	Miles Sanders	PHI	17	644	57.1%	259	47.6%	1269	4.9	74.6	11	2	2
23	Nick Chubb	CLE	17	632	56.4%	302	56.8%	1525	5	89.7	12	1	1
24	Raheem Mostert	MIA	16	528	56.4%	181	49.7%	891	4.9	55.7	3	1	1
25	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	15	534	54.5%	231	49.0%	876	3.8	58.4	12	0	0
26	Javonte Williams	DEN	4	133	53.9%	47	45.2%	204	4.3	51	0	1	1
27	Darrell Henderson	LAR	9	324	53.5%	70	34.0%	283	4	31.4	3	0	0
28	Jeff Wilson	MIA	8	247	53.2%	84	45.2%	392	4.7	49	3	1	0
29	Latavius Murray	DEN	12	402	52.9%	160	51.3%	703	4.4	58.6	5	1	0
30	Tony Pollard	DAL	16	543	52.1%	193	38.7%	1007	5.2	62.9	9	0	0
31	Jeff Wilson	SF	8	249	51.9%	92	43.4%	468	5.1	58.5	2	2	2
32	Tyler Allgeier	ATL	16	481	51.2%	210	40.3%	1035	4.9	64.7	3	0	0
33	Breece Hall	NYJ	7	221	49.1%	80	45.5%	463	5.8	66.1	4	1	1
34	AJ Dillon	GB	17	513	48.9%	186	40.8%	770	4.1	45.3	7	1	0
35	Michael Carter	NYJ	16	480	48.6%	114	30.7%	402	3.5	25.1	3	2	1
36	Cam Akers	LAR	15	418	47.6%	188	52.1%	786	4.2	52.4	7	2	2
37	Antonio Gibson	WAS	15	468	46.4%	149	51.4%	546	3.7	36.4	3	1	0
38	Cordarrelle Patterson	ATL	13	362	46.3%	144	31.8%	695	4.8	53.5	8	1	1
39	Jerick McKinnon	KC	16	497	45.5%	72		291	4	18.2	1	1	1
40	James Robinson	JAX	7	203	45.4%	81	42.6%	340	4.2	48.6	3	1	0
41	Kenyan Drake	BAL	12	346	45.1%	109	28.9%	482	4.4	40.2	4	1	0
42	Eno Benjamin	ARI	9	296	43.1%	70	29.9%	299	4.3	33.2	2	0	0
43	Brian Robinson	WAS	12	337	42.7%	205	32.4%	797	3.9	66.4	2	2	0
44	J.K. Dobbins	BAL	8	196	42.2%	92	37.9%	520	5.7	65	2	0	0
45	Zonovan Knight	NYJ	7	191	42.1%	85	54.1%	300	3.5	42.9	1	2	0
46	Melvin Gordon	DEN	10	270	41.9%	90	34.1%	318	3.5	31.8	2	5	2
47	Kareem Hunt	CLE	17	463	41.3%	123	23.1%	468	3.8	27.5	3	1	0
48	D'Andre Swift	DET	14	373	41.3%	99	24.6%	542	5.5	38.7	5	1	0
49	Jamaal Williams	DET	17	447	41.1%	262	54.6%	1066	4.1	62.7	17	3	2
50	Samaje Perine	CIN	16	420	39.9%	95	23.6%	394	4.1	24.6	2	0	0
51	J.D. McKissic	WAS	7	211	39.7%	22	10.5%	95	4.3	13.6	0	0	0
52	Rachaad White	TB	17	453	39.1%	129	33.4%	481	3.7	28.3	1	3	3
53	Khalil Herbert	CHI	13	291	38.1%	129	29.8%	731	5.7	56.2	4	0	0
54	Damien Harris	NE	11	232	35.4%	106	37.2%	462	4.4	42	3	0	0
55	D'Onta Foreman	CAR	16	337	34.6%	203	42.0%	914	4.5	57.1	5	1	0
56	Zack Moss	IND	8	170	33.5%	76	33.3%	365	4.8	45.6	1	0	0
57	Clyde Edwards-Helaire	KC	10	212	32.2%	71	29.6%	302	4.3	30.2	3	0	0
58	Chase Edmonds	DEN	5	104	32.1%	26	19.5%	125	4.8	25	0	0	0
59	Jaylen Warren	PIT	15	330	31.7%	77	16.3%	379	4.9	25.3	1	1	0
60	Isiah Pacheco	KC	17	344	31.5%	170	41.6%	830	4.9	48.8	5	4	2
61	Mark Ingram	NO	9	196	31.0%	62	20.7%	233	3.8	25.9	1	2	2
62	Chuba Hubbard	CAR	12	263	30.8%	95	23.3%	466	4.9	38.8	2	1	0
63	Joshua Kelley	LAC	12	260	29.0%	69	20.8%	287	4.2	23.9	2	0	0
64	Dontrell Hilliard	TEN	10	193	28.1%	22	6.2%	145	6.6	14.5	0	0	0
65	Gus Edwards	BAL	9	158	27.6%	87	29.1%	433	5	48.1	3	1	1
66	Kenneth Gainwell	PHI	15	310	27.5%	53	11.5%	240	4.5	16	4	0	0
67	Justice Hill	BAL	15	254	27.2%	49	10.3%	262	5.3	17.5	0	2	1
68	Rex Burkhead	HOU	7	248	26.0%	26	6.9%	80	3.1	11.4	0	0	0
69	Alexander Mattison	MIN	17	281	25.1%	74	18.3%	283	3.8	16.6	5	0	0
70	Elijah Mitchell	SF	5	80	24.8%	45	26.2%	279	6.2	55.8	2	0	0
71	James Cook	BUF	15	257	24.7%	89	21.5%	507	5.7	33.8	2	1	1
72	Kyren Williams	LAR	8	138	23.8%	35	13.1%	139	4	17.4	0	0	0
73	Deon Jackson	IND	11	242	23.2%	68	21.2%	236	3.5	21.5	1	1	1
74	Matt Breida	NYG	16	249	22.9%	54	10.0%	220	4.1	13.8	1	0	0
75	DeeJay Dallas	SEA	10	188	20.3%	35	8.8%	186	5.3	18.6	0	1	0
76	JaMycal Hasty	JAX	17	216	20.2%	46	10.3%	194	4.2	11.4	2	0	0
77	Justin Jackson	DET	12	176	17.3%	42	8.4%	170	4	14.2	1	0	0
78	Caleb Huntley	ATL	12	118	17.1%	76	18.5%	366	4.8	30.5	1	1	0
79	Hassan Haskins	TEN	15	148	16.9%	25	5.5%	93	3.7	6.2	0	0	0
80	Malik Davis	DAL	6	77	9.4%	38	8.1%	161	4.2	26.8	1	0	0
81	Jordan Mason	SF	10	80	8.2%	43	13.3%	258	6	25.8	1	0	0

Receiving

		Team	Snaps	Sn %	Tgt	Tgt Sh.	REC	Rec Yd	Rec TD	YAC Avg	Routes	TPRR	YPRR
1	Christian McCaffrey	CAR	275	85.1%	43	24.7	33	277	1	9	152	28.3%	1.82
2	Saquon Barkley	NYG	821	80.2%	76	16.9	57	338	0	8	328	23.2%	1.03
3	Josh Jacobs	LV	783	74.7%	64	11.6	53	400	0	7	320	20.0%	1.25
4	Dalvin Cook	MIN	812	72.4%	56	9.3	39	295	2	9	354	15.8%	0.83
5	James Conner	ARI	635	71.3%	58	11.6	46	300	1	8	248	23.4%	1.21
6	Jonathan Taylor	IND	503	69.9%	40	10.8	28	143	0	7	196	20.4%	0.73
7	Alvin Kamara	NO	621	69.6%	77	18.3	57	490	2	8	259	29.7%	1.89
8	Christian McCaffrey	SF	465	67.3%	65	19.9	52	464	4	8	189	34.4%	2.46
9	Derrick Henry	TEN	619	66.8%	41	11	33	398	0	12	163	25.2%	2.44
10	Rhamondre Stevenson	NE	664	66.0%	89	17.2	69	421	1	8	315	28.3%	1.34
11	Devin Singletary	BUF	679	65.4%	52	9.5	38	280	1	7	384	13.5%	0.73
12	Najee Harris	PIT	724	65.3%	53	10.6	41	229	3	5	251	21.1%	0.91
13	Joe Mixon	CIN	601	65.3%	75	14.3	60	441	2	8	277	27.1%	1.59
14	David Montgomery	CHI	600	64.3%	40	14.4	34	316	1	9	219	18.3%	1.44
15	Dameon Pierce	HOU	486	63.8%	39	10.6	30	165	1	7	153	25.5%	1.08
16	Austin Ekeler	LAC	710	61.5%	127	18.5	107	722	5	8	351	36.2%	2.06
17	Leonard Fournette	TB	653	59.8%	83	12.1	73	523	3	8	353	23.5%	1.48
18	Travis Etienne	JAX	637	59.4%	45	9.1	35	316	0	10	263	17.1%	1.2
19	Kenneth Walker	SEA	550	58.5%	35	8	27	165	0	8	209	16.7%	0.79
20	Aaron Jones	GB	605	57.7%	72	13.6	59	395	5	8	301	23.9%	1.31
21	Rashaad Penny	SEA	159	57.6%	5	5.1	4	16	0	7	64	7.8%	0.25
22	Miles Sanders	PHI	644	57.1%	26	6.2	20	78	0	5	198	13.1%	0.39
23	Nick Chubb	CLE	632	56.4%	37	7.3	27	239	1	10	232	15.9%	1.03
24	Raheem Mostert	MIA	528	56.4%	42	8.6	31	202	2	6	266	15.8%	0.76
25	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	534	54.5%	23	5.9	17	92	0	5	150	15.3%	0.61
26	Javonte Williams	DEN	133	53.9%	22	17.3	16	76	0	7	67	32.8%	1.13
27	Darrell Henderson	LAR	324	53.5%	22	7.8	17	102	0	6	144	15.3%	0.71
28	Jeff Wilson	MIA	247	53.2%	24	10.8	12	94	1	7	122	19.7%	0.77
29	Latavius Murray	DEN	402	52.9%	34	9.4	26	124	0	7	158	21.5%	0.78
30	Tony Pollard	DAL	543	52.1%	55	11.3	39	371	3	9	220	25.0%	1.69
31	Jeff Wilson	SF	249	51.9%	13	5.9	10	91	0	7	100	13.0%	0.91
32	Tyler Allgeier	ATL	481	51.2%	17	8.1	16	139	1	11	105	16.2%	1.32
33	Breece Hall	NYJ	221	49.1%	31	14.5	19	218	1	9	104	29.8%	2.1
34	AJ Dillon	GB	513	48.9%	43	9.2	28	206	0	7	200	21.5%	1.03
35	Michael Carter	NYJ	480	48.6%	54	10.1	41	288	0	7	266	20.3%	1.08
36	Cam Akers	LAR	418	47.6%	18	5.5	13	117	0	11	88	20.5%	1.33
37	Antonio Gibson	WAS	468	46.4%	58	12.2	46	353	2	7	213	27.2%	1.66
38	Cordarrelle Patterson	ATL	362	46.3%	31	11.4	21	122	0	6	156	19.9%	0.78
39	Jerick McKinnon	KC	497	45.5%	71	11.5	56	512	9	10	302	23.5%	1.7
40	James Robinson	JAX	203	45.4%	11	5.1	9	46	1	6	71	15.5%	0.65
41	Kenyan Drake	BAL	346	45.1%	26	8.3	17	89	1	8	125	20.8%	0.71
42	Eno Benjamin	ARI	296	43.1%	33	9.5	24	184	0	10	175	18.9%	1.05
43	Brian Robinson	WAS	337	42.7%	12	5.8	9	60	1	8	42	28.6%	1.43
44	J.K. Dobbins	BAL	196	42.2%	8	8.2	7	42	1	5	38	21.1%	1.11
45	Zonovan Knight	NYJ	191	42.1%	14	6.9	13	100	0	10	37	37.8%	2.7
46	Melvin Gordon	DEN	270	41.9%	32	10.7	25	223	0	9	144	22.2%	1.55
47	Kareem Hunt	CLE	463	41.3%	44	8.7	35	210	1	7	226	19.5%	0.93
48	D'Andre Swift	DET	373	41.3%	70	15.1	48	389	3	9	218	32.1%	1.78
49	Jamaal Williams	DET	447	41.1%	16	5.1	12	73	0	6	75	21.3%	0.97
50	Royce Freeman	HOU	101	40.1%	8	6	6	33	0	7	33	24.2%	1
51	Samaje Perine	CIN	420	39.9%	51	8.6	38	287	4	9	210	24.3%	1.37
52	J.D. McKissic	WAS	211	39.7%	40	14	27	173	0	6	155	25.8%	1.12
53	Rachaad White	TB	453	39.1%	58	9.2	50	290	2	6	209	27.8%	1.39
54	Khalil Herbert	CHI	291	38.1%	12	8.7	9	57	1	9	56	21.4%	1.02
55	Chase Edmonds	MIA	175	35.9%	17	6.8	10	96	1	7	98	17.3%	0.98
56	Damien Harris	NE	232	35.4%	23	7.8	17	97	0	5	88	26.1%	1.1
57	D'Onta Foreman	CAR	337	34.6%	9	5.8	5	26	0	6	67	13.4%	0.39
58	Zack Moss	IND	170	33.5%	5	5.3	4	12	0	4	29	17.2%	0.41
59	Clyde Edwards-Helaire	KC	212	32.2%	23	7.3	17	151	3	9	85	27.1%	1.78
60	Chase Edmonds	DEN	104	32.1%	7	6.5	6	61	0	9	50	14.0%	1.22
61	Jaylen Warren	PIT	330	31.7%	33	6.7	28	214	0	8	146	22.6%	1.47
62	Isiah Pacheco	KC	344	31.5%	14	4.8	13	130	0	12	81	17.3%	1.6
63	Mark Ingram	NO	196	31.0%	18	6.7	16	68	0	5	65	27.7%	1.05
64	Chuba Hubbard	CAR	263	30.8%	17	11	14	171	0	11	71	23.9%	2.41
65	Nyheim Hines	IND	139	30.2%	28	11.2	25	188	0	6	104	26.9%	1.81
66	Joshua Kelley	LAC	260	29.0%	25	5.3	14	101	0	7	107	23.4%	0.94
67	Dontrell Hilliard	TEN	193	28.1%	26	9.9	21	177	4	7	110	23.6%	1.61
68	Gus Edwards	BAL	158	27.6%	2	4.4	0	0	0	0	12	16.7%	0
69	Kenneth Gainwell	PHI	310	27.5%	29	7.4	23	169	0	7	136	21.3%	1.24
70	Justice Hill	BAL	254	27.2%	12	6.3	12	58	0	7	47	25.5%	1.23
71	Travis Homer	SEA	159	26.6%	18	8.6	16	157	1	8	80	22.5%	1.96
72	Rex Burkhead	HOU	248	26.0%	51	10.5	37	204	1	6	180	28.3%	1.13
73	Alexander Mattison	MIN	281	25.1%	18	4.8	15	91	1	9	106	17.0%	0.86
74	Elijah Mitchell	SF	80	24.8%	4	6.2	3	7	0	6	14	28.6%	0.5
75	James Cook	BUF	257	24.7%	32	8.2	21	180	1	7	114	28.1%	1.58
76	Kyren Williams	LAR	138	23.8%	12	6.9	9	76	0	9	62	19.4%	1.23
77	Deon Jackson	IND	242	23.2%	34	12.1	30	209	1	8	118	28.8%	1.77
78	Matt Breida	NYG	249	22.9%	25	6.9	20	118	0	5	113	22.1%	1.04
79	Mike Boone	DEN	120	21.1%	15	6.8	9	96	0	9	48	31.3%	2
80	DeeJay Dallas	SEA	188	20.3%	19	6.9	17	126	0	8	81	23.5%	1.56
81	JaMycal Hasty	JAX	216	20.2%	26	8.1	20	126	1	7	100	26.0%	1.26
82	Craig Reynolds	DET	106	18.6%	10	5	9	116	0	12	47	21.3%	2.47
83	Sony Michel	LAC	122	18.1%	13	5.1	9	53	0	6	30	43.3%	1.77
84	Justin Jackson	DET	176	17.3%	19	5.6	12	101	1	9	80	23.8%	1.26
85	Caleb Huntley	ATL	118	17.1%	2	4.8	2	3	0	4	2	100.0%	1.5
86	Hassan Haskins	TEN	148	16.9%	12	7.2	11	57	0	6	66	18.2%	0.86
87	Dare Ogunbowale	HOU	171	16.9%	26	7.9	20	104	0	7	68	38.2%	1.53
88	Boston Scott	PHI	165	16.8%	6	3.9	5	15	0	4	34	17.6%	0.44
89	Ameer Abdullah	LV	168	16.0%	32	7.5	25	211	1	8	117	27.4%	1.8
90	Ty Johnson	NYJ	164	15.3%	24	8.5	12	88	0	6	67	35.8%	1.31
91	Jonathan Williams	WAS	96	11.0%	10	12.7	7	40	0	5	48	20.8%	0.83
92	Malik Davis	DAL	77	9.4%	7	7.2	6	63	0	12	25	28.0%	2.52