RB Rankings

For the second straight year, injuries derailed what might have been a tremendous season for McCaffrey. The 25-year-old played seven games in 2021 and only saw more than 40 snaps in four of them, but in those four contests he averaged 4.8 yards per carry and over 150 scrimmage yards per game. McCaffrey remains the premier pass-catching back in the league while still being dangerous on the ground, and those skills were still in evidence last year. His 2.3 yards per carry after contact was comparable to the likes of Javonte Williams and Aaron Jones, and McCaffrey broke a tackle every 8.3 carries on average, a better rate than Nick Chubb or Najee Harris, albeit with much less volume. None of the injuries McCaffrey has sustained appear to be chronic, so it's possible his luck will turn for the better in 2022. The Panthers added D'Onta Foreman in the offseason to give them another depth option aside from Chuba Hubbard, who didn't impress as a rookie, but if McCaffrey is on the field he'll still dominate the backfield touches and snaps. Apart from health, his biggest concern at this point is the overall quality of the Carolina offense with either Baker Mayfield at quarterback.

After a solid rookie season that finished with a bang, expectations were high for Taylor coming into 2021, and he exceeded them by a mile. He won his first of potentially many rushing crowns, and he nearly lapped the field doing it, as the 552-yard gap between Taylor and second-place Nick Chubb was the largest since 2009. Taylor's the total package as a runner, showing power, agility, vision and speed, but it's the latter trait that puts him over the top among his peers. He posted three of the five fastest top speeds recorded on touchdowns last year, including an NFL- best 22.13 mph on a 67-yard scamper Week 15 against the Patriots. The power and agility were highlighted by his 2.6 yards per carry after contact, good for third in the league. If there's a flaw in his skill set, it's that Taylor isn't a natural receiver out of the backfield, but the Colts have Nyheim Hines to handle those duties, and Taylor is still capable of contributing. Indianapolis' elite offensive line showed a couple cracks in 2021, and some natural regression could be coming for Taylor's league-leading 89 red-zone carries (more than 40 ahead of second-place Austin Ekeler), but the addition of Matt Ryan to replace Carson Wentz at quarterback shouldn't change the focal point of Frank Reich's offense. Expect Taylor to see big volume again in 2022 and consistently burn defenders with those touches.

Barkley's dynamic rookie season increasingly seems like a fading dream that you have trouble remembering when you awake. The 25-year-old missed four more games last season, this time with an ankle injury, and when he was in the lineup he was mostly ineffective, managing a paltry 3.7 yards per carry. Before you blame that performance on the inept offense around him, consider that Devontae Booker posted 4.1 YPC on similar volume for the Giants. Barkley was simply a shadow of his former self, displaying little of the power, speed or elusiveness that made him such a threat a few years ago. It's possible another year removed from ACL surgery will allow him to regain those traits, and his one 100-yard game last year came in Week 17, but it's just as possible that version of Barkley is gone forever. The Giants haven't given up on him, and the team once again rebuilt its offensive line this offseason, with formers Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll coming in as head coach and bringing center Jon Feliciano over with him from Buffalo in addition to signing veteran guard Mark Glowinski and drafting OT Evan Neal (first round) and OG Joshua Ezeudu (third round).

Another season, another strong performance from Chubb that makes you wonder what he would be capable of with a bell-cow workload. The Georgia product has run for 5.0 yards per carry or better in all four of his NFL campaigns, and his 3.0 yards after contact per carry in 2021 was second best in the league behind only Rashaad Penny. Chubb boasts exceptional power, speed and elusiveness, and while he doesn't get as many chances to show what he can do as a receiver as he maybe should, he hasn't been charged with a dropped pass in three straight seasons. Therein lies the problem. Kareem Hunt remains a Brown, and Hunt not only handles the majority of pass-catching duties but also poaches some carries, including in the red zone. D'Ernest Johnson also played well last year, so Chubb never took more than two-thirds of the snaps even when Hunt missed time. The Browns offense figures to look much different once quarterback Deshaun Watson is eligible to play, but for the first 11 games of the coming season the team figures to employ a run-heavy attack, with Jacoby Brissett slated to fill in while Watson is suspended.

A foot injury that cost him the second half of last season was the main obstacle standing between Henry and a third consecutive rushing title, and maybe even a second consecutive 2,000-yard campaign. He averaged career highs of 27.4 carries and 2.5 targets per game, up from 23.6 and 1.9 the year before, and ran for 937 yards and 10 TDs in eight games despite seeing eight-man fronts 36 percent of the time, one of the highest marks in the league. But there were signs his huge workload was catching up to him, even before he got hurt. Henry's 4.3 yards per carry was a step back from his performance the previous two seasons, and the downturn partially came from breaking tackles at a lower rate. He averaged 2.2 yards after contact in 2021, following 3.2 in 2019 and 2.8 in 2020, and his 10 broken tackles in those eight games was almost half his usual rate. On the other hand, he still ran with shocking speed for a big man, as rushing champ Jonathan Taylor was the only running back to post a faster top speed on a touchdown in 2021. Last season also was Henry's best yet in terms of per-game fantasy production, boosted by the ridiculous volume, and he even returned from his foot injury for a playoff loss to the Bengals. The Titans will keep riding their 28-year-old workhorse as long as he'll hold up, with the burden on the running game as large as ever this season after star wide receiver A.J. Brown was shipped to Philadelphia on draft day and replaced by rookie Treylon Burks.