MarShawn Lloyd 2024 Dynasty Rookie Profile

MarShawn Lloyd 2024 Dynasty Rookie Draft Profile

Position: RB

School: USC

Class: RS-Junior 

Date of Birth: January 5, 2001

Height: 5-9  Weight: 220 lbs

Athletic Testing

Bio

MarShawn Lloyd attended DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland where he traveled from his home in Delaware daily for school. There, he was a track & field athlete as well as a football star. After high school, Lloyd went to the University of South Carolina as a four-star recruit in the class of 2020. Before he could step on the field, though, Lloyd tore the ACL in his left knee on the second day of camp. That forced him to redshirt his freshman season. Lloyd returned to a backup role behind Kevin Harris and Zaquandre White in 2021. He only carried the ball 64 times and caught three passes. 

With both Harris and White leaving for the NFL in 2022, it was Lloyd’s turn to lead the backfield. He played in nine games and carried the ball 111 times for 573 yards and nine touchdowns. He added another 176 yards and two touchdowns on 18 receptions. Following the season, Lloyd entered the transfer portal and made the move across the country to join the USC Trojans. In 11 games, Lloyd amassed 820 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 116 carries. He also had 232 receiving yards on just 13 receptions.

MarShawn Lloyd declared for the NFL Draft after the season and was widely regarded as the best running back during Senior Bowl week practices.

College Stats

MarShawn Lloyd College Stats Courtesy of sports-reference

Positives

+Speed

+Acceleration 

+Explosive 

+Agility 

+Flashed potential to expand his role in the passing game

Negatives

-Upright runner

-Ball security 

-Tries to create the big play too often

-Displays poor vision at times

-Sometimes is indecisive behind the line of scrimmage 

-Lacks some power 

-12.8% touchdown share

-1.28 yards per team play

-4.1% reception share

Highlight Reel

Archetype: One-Cut Slasher

NFL Comp: Lamar Miller

Yards Per-Formance Score: 58.3 (55th-percentile)

Draft Projection: Fourth Round

Bottom Line:

MarShawn Lloyd is one of the best running backs in the 2024 draft class from a raw talent perspective. He has good size at 217 lbs, he has the speed and explosion to create breakaway runs, and the lateral agility to work his way through traffic with ease. Some scouts have expressed concern about his vision behind the line of scrimmage, though it was an area he showed improvement on in 2023.

Once he finds the hole he wants to hit, Lloyd uses his exceptional explosive traits to burst through the hole and quickly get to the next level of the defense. At that point, Lloyd becomes his most dangerous. He is elusive enough to make guys miss in the open field with the speed to take one to the house at any time. He is also difficult to bring down with just arm tackles once he gets a head of steam. 

In the passing game, Lloyd was underwhelming from a production standpoint during his career. However, he has flashed enough ability to think he could expand his game in that area at the next level. In fact, while he only caught 13 passes in 2023, Lloyd averaged almost 18 yards per reception. At minimum, he will be a check-down and screen game option that can turn up the field and create a splash play.

Lloyd was never able to emerge as a true feature back at the collegiate level. He may not get that opportunity in the NFL, either, but he has the upside to be a significant contributor in a committee backfield. It’s hard to pinpoint where NFL teams will decide to draft him, considering a big part of the evaluation on Lloyd will be based on the “potential” of his raw athletic traits. However, if he continues to impress throughout the pre-draft process like he did at the Senior Bowl, Lloyd will wind up a Day Two pick. That draft capital will go a long way in determining his rookie draft ADP as well. But as things stand now, Lloyd is looking like a high upside pick around the 2 / 3 turn. 

NEXT: Audric Estime 2024 Dynasty Rookie Profile

Resources: DLF, PlayerProfiler, PFN, PFF, TDN

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