The running back position had a few exceptional performances during the opening weekend of the 2024 NFL regular season, with four guys rushing for at least 120 yards. I see you, Joe Mixon (159 yards), Jordan Mason (147), J.K. Dobbins (135) and Rhamondre Stevenson (120).
Week 1 also had plenty of duds. Not seeing reigning rushing king Christian McCaffrey (calf/Achilles) on the field Monday night was certainly disappointing, but so was the fact that five other top-10 rushers from last season had 50 ground yards or fewer in their first outing of the 2024 campaign.
However, it’s very early, to be sure. Week 2 brings fresh opportunity. Who’ll bounce back? Who will continue to ball out? Here are two answers to each question.
Bounce back
Next game: Sunday vs. Las Vegas Raiders, 1 p.m. ET
Henry did score in his debut with Baltimore, but Todd Monken has to figure out how best to use the King and Lamar Jackson. Henry played just 46 percent of the offensive snaps against the Chiefs, as the Ravens often swapped him out for Justice Hill when operating out of shotgun. The veteran finished the Kickoff Game with 13 carries for 46 yards — with just three of those carries coming in the second half. John Harbaugh told reporters Monday that the Ravens “didn’t bring Derrick in here to be the guy that gets the ball 30 times a game. He’s done that before. That’s really not the plan.” I understand that Baltimore wants to spread the love around on offense, but watching Lamar rush for 122 yards while Henry, a two-time rushing champ, often stood on the sideline was concerning. Lamar is a great runner, but this approach doesn’t seem sustainable for a full season. Henry is still too good at his craft to be underutilized. I’d expect Henry to get more involved in the run game this week against the Raiders, who just let J.K. Dobbins run all over them.
Next game: Sunday at Green Bay Packers, 1 p.m. ET
Taylor entered Week 1 averaging 135.2 rush yards per game with eight touchdowns in six career contests against the rival Texans — but that wasn’t the guy we saw Sunday. He was held to just 48 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, averaging a meager 3.0 yards per tote. First, let’s give credit where credit is due: The Texans’ defense is talented, limiting Taylor to just 2.1 rush yards after contact per carry. For context, Taylor has never posted a figure under 3.3 for a season in his career, according to Next Gen Stats. Another factor could be that Taylor and Anthony Richardson have rarely shared the same backfield. They played in one game together in 2023, but it was Taylor’s first contest back from injury and Richardson exited in the first half with a season-ending shoulder injury. This pair needs reps together — and even though the second-year quarterback flashed at times against Houston, the Colts would greatly benefit from leaning on Taylor early. If he gets going against a Green Bay defense that struggled versus the Eagles last week, the entire Colts offensive operation should fall into place, thus helping Richardson feel more comfortable all around.
Stay hot
Next game: Monday vs. Atlanta Falcons, 8:15 p.m. ET
Giants fans — that young girl could be onto something: You might want to go where Saquon goes. He looked outstanding in his debut with the Eagles, rushing for 109 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in Philadelphia’s win over Green Bay in Brazil. Playing behind a much better offensive line than he did a year ago, Barkley was expected to look in prime form as a rusher — music to Jalen Hurts’ ears. Perhaps the most notable play, though, came on the Eagles’ first score of the evening, when the back hauled in an 18-yard, toe-tapping touchdown pass from Hurts. Much like Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco, this marriage between Philadelphia and Barkley looks like a home run — one I don’t expect the Falcons, who just gave up 137 rushing yards to the Steelers, to stop.
Next game: Sunday vs. Chicago Bears, 8:20 p.m. ET
We saw a rejuvenated Mixon in Houston’s season-opening win over Indianapolis, as the 28-year-old ran for 159 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. We’ve always known him to be capable of this type of performance, but he often got lost in the shuffle in Cincinnati, where the Joe Burrow-led passing attack was king. Now in a branch of the Shanahan offense, Mixon’s abilities were on full display in his first game outside of Cincy. With good offensive line play and a passing game led by C.J. Stroud, Mixon is in great position to have his best season yet. We’ve seen a mere glimpse of what he’ll do in Bobby Slowik’s offense. I think the man could put on a show against the Bears in the Sunday-night spotlight.
Top 15 running backs
Former NFL rushing leader and current NFL Network analyst Maurice Jones-Drew will survey all running backs and rank his top 15 each week of the 2024 season. His rankings are based on this season’s efforts. Here is MJD’s list heading into Week 2.
2024 stats: 1 game | 30 att | 159 rush yds | 5.3 ypc | 1 rush TD | 3 rec | 19 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
Sunday’s performance marked the first game in Mixon’s career with 30-plus carries and an average of at least 5 yards a pop. His impact was surely felt by the Texans … and missed by the Bengals, who managed just 70 rushing yards in a shocking home loss to the Patriots.
2024 stats: 1 game | 24 att | 109 rush yds | 4.5 ypc | 2 rush TDs | 2 rec | 23 rec yds | 1 rec TD | 0 fumbles lost
We don’t need to completely rehash Barkley’s superb Week 1 performance, so I’ll just leave these two nuggets from the NFL Research department here:
- Barkley scored the first touchdown in Brazil in NFL history on an 18-yard reception. Other players to score the first NFL touchdowns outside of United States: Bucs WR Julio Jones (Germany in 2022), Dolphins TE Anthony Fasano (Canada in 2008), Giants QB Eli Manning (England in 2007) and Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald (Mexico in 2005).
- Barkley is one of nine individuals to score three total touchdowns in a player’s team debut in the Super Bowl era.
2024 stats: 1 game | 25 att | 120 rush yds | 4.8 ypc | 1 rush TD | 3 rec | 6 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
Who saw the Patriots beating Cincy on the road? (Put your hand down. I don’t believe you.) The Pats earned this one, though, with a physical performance. At the center of the winning effort was Stevenson, who had a career-high 25 carries for 120 yards and a 3-yard touchdown — marking his fourth career game (and first since Week 15 of 2022) with 100-plus rush yards and at least one rush TD. New England will likely lean on this guy as Jerod Mayo works through the quarterback situation.
2024 stats: 1 game | 20 att | 103 rush yds | 5.2 ypc | 1 rush TD | 2 rec | 6 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
Walker began his 2024 campaign with one of the best performances of his career, racking up 103 rush yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. He had zero games last season with 100 rush yards and at least one rush TD. Hopefully, the abdomen injury that forced him to leave late in the fourth quarter isn’t serious.
2024 stats: 1 game | 14 att | 94 rush yds | 6.7 ypc | 1 rush TD | 2 rec | 15 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
Ahead of Week 1, Jones said, “I feel like every year, I’m getting better and better; and last year, I felt like I was just about to start entering my prime.” He convinced me as much with his Vikings debut. He finished the day just shy of 100 rushing yards, but hit paydirt to open Minnesota’s scoring and caught his two targets from Sam Darnold. Minnesota has a much-improved backfield from last season, and a lot of that has to do with Jones.
2024 stats: 1 game | 17 att | 91 rush yds | 5.4 ypc | 1 rush TD | 1 rec | 2 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
The Lions put on a rushing master class in the lone overtime possession Sunday night. Seven of their eight plays came on the ground, and Montgomery was responsible for 45 of the 70 yards on the drive, including the 1-yard, game-winning touchdown. Clearly, Monty was fresh after not having a single touch in the fourth quarter. This Detroit offense is about as balanced as it gets, with Montgomery and backfield mate Jahmyr Gibbs setting the tone on the ground.
2024 stats: 1 game | 16 att | 84 rush yds | 5.3 ypc | 0 rush TDs | 2 rec | 20 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
After a slow first quarter, Jacobs found his groove to finish with more than 100 scrimmage yards in his first game as a Packer. He especially excelled against light boxes (six or fewer defenders), with 77 of his 84 rush yards coming on such plays, per Next Gen Stats. He’ll likely face more loaded boxes moving forward with the injury to Jordan Love, who’s set to miss multiple weeks.
2024 stats: 1 game | 15 att | 83 rush yds | 5.5 ypc | 1 rush TD | 5 rec | 27 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
The Saints wasted no time racing out to 30 unanswered points before Carolina finally got on the board with a field goal as time expired in the first half. Kamara led the team in carries (15), rush yards (83), targets (five, tied with Rashid Shaheed) and receptions (five), and scored his first rush TD of the season (the 55th of his career). He looked spry in this contest, a welcome sight after the last few years.
2024 stats: 1 game | 10 att | 135 rush yds | 13.5 ypc | 1 rush TD | 3 rec | 4 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
I didn’t know what exactly we would see from Dobbins in his first game back since tearing his Achilles a year ago with Baltimore, but he looked ready to prove he’s a top-tier running back when healthy. Dobbins made the most of his 10 carries by rushing for 135 yards — the second-most ground yards in a game in his career. He had several huge gains in Sunday’s win over Las Vegas — most notably, the 61-yard run late in the fourth quarter to set up the Chargers’ final touchdown.
2024 stats: 1 game | 19 att | 71 rush yds | 3.7 ypc | 0 rush TDs | 3 rec | 32 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
Cook picked up right where he left off last season by piling up 103 scrimmage yards in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals. In 2023, Cook had eight games with at least 100 total yards (third-most among NFL running backs). The second-year pro should be a major part of Buffalo’s game plan each week, especially with Josh Allen adjusting to life without Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis.
2024 stats: 1 game | 28 att | 147 rush yds | 5.3 ypc | 1 rush TD | 1 rec | 5 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
With Christian McCaffrey out, Mason didn’t waste his opportunity to shine in prime time, posting a career-high 147 rush yards, including a thunderous 5-yard touchdown run, on 28 carries. While he finished with the second-most rushing yards in Week 1, the hard-nosed ball-carrier ranks 12th here because his usage is bound to go down once McCaffrey returns. And there is also the fact that nine different players have rushed for 100-plus yards in a game under Kyle Shanahan. Don’t get me wrong: Mason deserves his flowers for Monday night’s display, but there are a few other things to consider.
2024 stats: 1 game | 16 att | 82 rush yds | 5.1 ypc | 1 rush TD | 3 rec | 12 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
In his first game as a Titan, Pollard racked up 82 rush yards, highlighted by a 26-yard touchdown run to open scoring in the first quarter. It wasn’t his only big pickup of the game, as he had another gain of 14 yards on the ground. He looked fresh and it was a solid start to a potential bounce-back campaign.
2024 stats: 1 game | 18 att | 68 rush yds | 3.8 ypc | 0 rush TD | 5 rec | 43 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
The Falcons’ offense struggled to find consistency with new quarterback Kirk Cousins. In the veteran signal-caller’s defense, he was navigating his first game back from injury and going against certified game-wrecker T.J. Watt. While every offensive Falcon was somewhat limited by the the quarterback’s underwhelming play, Robinson fared the best. He led the team in rush yards, receptions and scrimmage yards. It won’t get easier this coming Monday night in Philadelphia, but Bijan and the Falcons will look to build.
2024 stats: 1 game | 16 att | 50 rush yds | 3.1 ypc | 1 rush TD | 3 rec | 33 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
Conner showed off his hard-nosed play style early against the Bills, notching a 22-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter and then finding the end zone on a 3-yard rush in the second. Perhaps his best play of the day came in the second half, though, when he broke several tackles on a 20-yard scamper to get the Cardinals into the red zone. It was a solid start for the veteran, who has now recorded 80-plus scrimmage yards in six straight games dating back to Week 13 of last season. Now, the Cards just need to finish strong to get that dub.
2024 stats: 1 game | 12 att | 73 rush yds | 6.1 ypc | 0 rush TDs | 0 rec | 0 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost
The biggest storyline out of the Jaguars’ backfield was Travis Etienne’s lost fumble at the goal line late in the third quarter, a miscue that truly changed a game Jacksonville ultimately lost. But let’s not forget about Bigsby’s solid outing, which was highlighted by a tough 26-yard run when the Jags were pinned against their own end zone in the third quarter. Expect him to be a key part of the offensive equation moving forward.
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