Finding This Year’s Kyren Williams
Finding This Year’s Kyren Williams (2024)
Kyren Williams came from nowhere last season to become one of the most valuable assets in all of fantasy football. He was the definition of a league winner. Now we’re on the hunt to find this year’s Kyren Williams. We’re looking for those running backs who can go from late round pick to fantasy football superstar. While Williams was taken in the final rounds of drafts last season—sometimes going undrafted altogether—I’ve loosened the criteria a bit for the purposes of this exercise. The group of running backs I’m looking at are from the later rounds and aren’t currently at the top of the depth chart. There’s a world in which they can get there, though. And if they do, they have the chance to make a Kyren Williams-level impact on fantasy football.
More: 10 Players I’m Not Ready To Give Up On In Dynasty
Trey Benson
Trey Benson may begin the season backing up James Conner, but it feels inevitable that he will be starting games at some point. After all, Conner is 29-years old and has never made it through a full season and has played more than 13 games just once in his career. Benson is absolutely going to get on the field as a rookie. It’s not out of the question that Benson just outright takes over the backfield at some point during 2024, either, leapfrogging Conner for the RB1 job. At worst, he is one of the few elite handcuffs in fantasy football. At best, he is a league winner. Either way, he is going to have an impact and needs to be targeted in drafts.
The Cardinals are shaping up to be one of the better offenses, which, like we saw with Kyren Williams last season, will only enhance the ceiling outcome for Benson. Good offenses are where these league-winner seasons are born. And Benson has all the elements we look for: quality offense with touchdown scoring upside, a clear path to touches, size (he’s 216 lbs), and elite athleticism. Benson is shaping up to be the best zero rb target in redraft leagues this summer with the upside to break fantasy football and become this year’s Kyren Williams.
Kimani Vidal
Kimani Vidal joins a Chargers backfield that consists of only Gus Edwards, JK Dobbins, who is coming off multiple serious lower body injuries, and Isaiah Spiller. Vidal has the size to be an NFL workhorse with impressive size-adjusted speed and burst. He is a between-the-tackles runner with the explosive traits to break off chunk plays. He follows his blockers well and is rarely tackled for loss yardage. Once he’s in the open field with a head of steam, Vidal is difficult to bring down. And even when you get hands on him, Vidal is always driving his legs and pushing forward to squeeze out one extra yard or two. That probably reminded Jim Harbaugh of Blake Corum
It’s not hard to see Vidal ascending up the Chargers depth chart quickly and leading this backfield in touches as a rookie. And we know the Chargers want to run the ball a ton, so there will be plenty of touches to be had. And with Justin Herbert leading the offense, the touchdown opportunities will be plentiful—something that made a big difference in Kyren Williams’ 2023 season. That could be Vidal in 2024.
Rico Dowdle
Rico Dowdle shared the Cowboys backfield last year and will do it again in 2024. However, with Tony Pollard gone and Ezekiel Elliott back, Dowdle could see an increase in touches from a year ago. We all know Zeke has been flirting with Father Time for several seasons now so it wouldn’t be a surprise for injury or underperformance to force him to take a backseat to Dowdle by mid season. And believe it or not, Dowdle was efficient in his opportunities last season. He ranked 16th among running backs in yards per target, according to FantasyPros. He will almost certainly see more targets with Pollard gone. Dowdle was also top-24 in yards per touch, top-20 in evaded tackles per touch and EPA, and top-10 in yards created per touch (PlayerProfiler.com).
The Cowboys should continue to be one of the better offenses in the NFL. Good offenses mean lots of yards and touchdowns. Lots of yards and touchdowns mean lots of fantasy points to go around. If Dowdle proves to be more effective than Elliott, he will have an opportunity to emerge as a league-winner in fantasy football.
Roschon Johnson
Roschon Johnson was one of my favorite rookies from the 2023 class. He is a big, powerful running back who somehow created production behind Bijan Robinson at Texas. He is a natural in the receiving game, both as a pass-catcher and in protection. We saw some flashes of that in his rookie campaign. However, it was an overall disappointing first year for Johnson. He ran for just 352 yards on 81 carries and was mostly relegated to RB3 duties behind Khalil Herbert and D’Onta Foreman. If it weren’t for an untimely concussion, though, things could have been much different for Johnson.
Still, Johnson managed three top-24 fantasy performances in five weeks to close out the season. He did that by catching 15 passes from Weeks 12-17. He totaled more than 50 yards in four of those five games.
With the offseason signing of D’Andre Swift it’s hard to see a clear path to a significant role for Johnson right now. But Swift was underwhelming from an efficiency standpoint last season and Johnson did enough late in the year to warrant an opportunity at the RB2 job. That could turn into a prominent role as a high-end handcuff or eventual starter in what is expected to be a much improved Bears offense with the additions of Keenan Allen and Caleb Williams. A second half emergence could propel Johnson to a late-season RB1 status and make him this year’s Kyren Williams.
Jaylen Wright
In theory Jaylen Wright is in crowded backfield. But so was Kyren Williams at this time last year. We don’t have to squint too hard to see a path to similar fantasy production for Wright. All that is standing in his way of a significant workload is a tiny Devon Achane, who suffered multiple injuries as a rookie, and a 32-year old Raheem Mostert who has had a laundry list of injuries throughout his career. And who’s to say Wright doesn’t beat out those guys anyway?
Wright ran an incredible 4.38 40-time at the NFL Combine and he jumped out of the stadium. There are few teams that know how to maximize that type of speed and explosion better than Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins. They will be able to accentuate his strengths and mask his weaknesses as well as any organization. With the touchdown scoring potential in the Miami offense, there might be no better candidate to be this year’s Kyren Williams than Jaylen Wright.
Chase Brown
I was a big Chase Brown fan coming out of Illinois last year. I appreciated his explosive traits and 4.43 speed while possessing the requisite size to be an NFL workhorse. His rookie season got off to a slow start, but he flashed big-play ability as his opportunities increased late in the season. Brown ended the season with only 44 carries but he averaged more than four yards per tote and caught 14 of his 15 targets. He ranked No. 12 among qualified running backs in yards after contact per attempt and No. 16 in missed tackles forced per attempt (FantasyPros). Brown was incredibly explosive with a 9.1% breakaway run rate. Only De’Von Achane broke a long run at a higher rate (PlayerProfiler). He was also top-12 in fantasy points per opportunity (0.91), per PlayerProfiler.
That all culminated in an RB10 finish in Week 14 when he totaled 105 yards and a touchdown against the Colts. He added three other top-36 finishes between Weeks 13-18. Remember, this was all done on limited touches, which could be a foreshadowing of what’s to come when he is in a much more significant role in 2024. In fact, Brown had just three games with 10 or more touches. He averaged 11.3 fantasy points in those three outings (FantasyPros).
Now, Brown is expected to see a greater opportunity in his second season. He will begin the year behind Zack Moss. Moss is coming off a productive year with the Colts where he had several boom performances in relief of Jonathan Taylor. However, Moss has never been “the guy” in an NFL offense outside of those spot starts. If he regresses back to his old ways or can’t handle being the every week workhorse, Chase Brown is next in line. That could be all it takes for Brown to become this year’s Kyren Williams. He has the athleticism, the receiving upside, plus plenty of touchdown scoring opportunity, in what should be an above average Bengals offense, to make it happen.
Bonus: Blake Corum
Who better to be “the next Kyren Williams” than the guy the Rams drafted in the third round to be the next Kyren Williams?
Which running back has your vote to become this year’s Kyren Williams? Join us on Discord and let’s discuss!
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