These are dark days for running backs… Their value is at an all-time low—and week after week they continue to be disparaged by the talking heads in the media.
To make matters worse—there are a number of established backs who are now at risk of losing their starting jobs.
Talk about adding insult to injury!
Let’s take a look at 10 NFL running backs that could get beat out by their backup this season!
Kenneth Walker III
2022 was a big year for the Seattle Seahawks… The team really rallied together in the first year after the painful, public divorce with Russell Wilson—and Kenneth Walker III was a big part of that.
The rookie running back really stepped up in a big way when Rashaad Penny went down with an injury—and finished the year with nine rushing touchdowns and over 1000 yards.
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All in all—it was a great year. We are not trying to take anything away from him… But Walker is already banged up in training camp thanks to a gnarly groin injury that has him listed as week-to-week.
Unfortunately for Walker—Seattle snagged Zach Charbonnet, a very talented running back out of UCLA in the second round.
And usually—a team won’t take a running back that high in the draft unless they have big plans to use him in the offense on a regular basis…
Between that rule of thumb—and Walker’s injury—we may very well see Charbonnet as the go-to guy in Seattle sooner rather than later.
Raheem Mostert
Raheem Mostert is coming off a 2022 campaign in which he played 16 games, a rare feat for him. His production was solid too. He led the Dolphins in carries with 181, rushing yards with 891, and tacked on 31 catches and five total touchdowns.
But Mostert staying on the field is far from a safe bet. The man has been on and off the injury list ever since he got into the league.
It is also well known that second-year head coach, Mike McDaniel is not happy with what their rushing attack looked like in 2022… And though he took a fair portion of the blame, you have to think that he will be looking to make as many changes as he needs to in order to make that facet of the offense more effective.
With Mostert barely holding onto the job as is, he could easily be replaced from within, perhaps by Jeff Wilson, or via trade.
Brian Robinson
Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson was a fantastic story last year. He narrowly avoided tragedy before the season after getting wounded by gunshots—and rallied back to action by the middle of the season.
Truly a remarkable story…
But the NFL is a cold business—and now that there is a new sheriff in town with Eric Bienemy running the offense, Robinson may quickly find himself falling out of favor with his new coach.
There have been A LOT of whispers that Robinson may not fit the scheme that Bienemy is looking to run—and that the new coach might favor Antonio Gibson more because of his skillset. Gibson is speedy, shifty—and plays exceptionally in space, both as a runner and a receiver
After all, Gibson played wide receiver in college! There are few running backs in the league with hands at his level… He could be exactly the piece that Bienemy is looking for to revitalize what was a paltry offense in 2022.
And that would be bad news for Brian Robinson.
Khalil Herbert
People were expecting big things out of Khalil Herbert in the Windy City this year after his breakout season in 2022.
Despite starting just one game—and missing four total—he was able to amass 731 yards and four touchdowns on the ground for a somewhat inconsistent Bears offense.
I can understand why Bears fans are excited about Herbert. After all, a mark of 5.7 yards per carry is no joke!
With the departure of David Montgomery, the Bears lead back last year, Herbert was expected to be the de facto starter heading into the 2023 season.
But there is a very real chance that Herbert loses the starting job in Chicago within weeks of getting it.
Chicago is deep at running back this year… They brought in a talented rookie through the draft in Roschon Johnson. The fourth-rounder played behind Bijan Robinson, who was widely considered to be the best back in the country all year—so he doesn’t have the same laundry list of accomplishments you would typically expect out of a rookie running back.
But when he saw action, he was extremely effective and he’ll be heading into his NFL career with relatively low tread on his tires.
Chicago also acquired D’Onta Foreman, who has looked very legit during his two extended stretches as a starter—first for Tennessee when Derrick Henry was out with an injury, then in Carolina after the mid-season departure of Christian McCaffrey.
Based on how outspoken Foreman has been about wanting to be the full-time starter… Telling the media that he has no intention of taking a “backseat” to Herbert. is heading into the season with a serious target on his back! Khalil Herbert is going to have his work cut out for him if he wants to hang onto this job all year long, that’s for sure!
Alexander Mattison
Alexander Mattison has been patiently biding his time in Minnesota behind Dalvin Cook ever since the Vikings snagged him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, out of Boise State.
To this point, he hasn’t gotten more than 134 attempts in a single season, but he’s been a fairly reliable backup behind Cook, who always seems to miss a couple of games here and there due to injury.
But that said, Mattison hasn’t exactly looked like the same kind of superstar talent that Cook was for Minnesota—so he may have some issues trying to live up to the expectations that the fans and the organization have come to have for the team’s running backs.
The Vikings already seem to be hedging their bet on Mattison, by bringing in a speedster through the 2022 Draft in Ty Chandler, whose 4.38 speed should pose a very real threat to Mattison’s dreams of becoming the full-time starter.
If Mattison can secure the starting job throughout the season and help the Vikings toward a playoff run—it will be a great story, no doubt… All I’m saying is that he is going to have his work cut out for him.
Miles Sanders
There have been a lot of changes down in Charlotte this offseason… The Panthers traded up to the first overall pick in the draft to snag Bryce Young—the promising former Alabama quarterback—AND acquired former Eagles running back, Miles Sanders.
The general consensus at the time of the signing was that based on his resume, he would get slotted into RB1 in Carolina no problem.
But there is still a very legitimate understudy in the Panthers locker room, in Chuba Hubbard.
Hubbard really shined in 2021, when Carolina’s then-starter, Christian McCaffrey went down with an injury. Sanders, who has had his fair share of injuries over the years, needs to find a way to stay on the field—because with enough time to stunt his game, Hubbard may never cede the starting job back to Sanders.
Dameon Pierce
When Houston took Dameon Pierce in the fourth-round out of Florida, the team had modest expectations for him, but he actually was one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise abysmal 2022 season for the Texans.
He played just 13 games because a late-season ankle injury left him sidelined for four games, but the rookie back managed to amass 939 yards and four touchdowns.
Considering how little support he had on that offensive unit—that is a solid performance.
But it doesn’t seem like the Texans are sold on making him their bell cow back in 2023… At least not based on the acquisition of former Bills starting running back, Devin Singletary.
Houston also has a brand new head coach in DeMeco Ryans—and a new OC, Bobby Slowik. Not to mention a TON of new faces on the offensive side of the ball.
Pierce may very well have to win this job outright again! After all, the Texans didn’t invest much in him… If there is a better option, they will take it.
Rhamondre Stevenson
Now… This one might come a bit of a surprise because Rhamondre Stevenson is coming off a pretty special 2022 season in which he averaged five yards a carry for 1040 rushing yards—and chipped in 69 receptions for 421 yards and another tudder.
But—with Bill Belichick at the helm, no running back is ever safe… And this rings particularly true heading into the 2023 season with the recent acquisition of Cowboys superstar running back, Ezekiel Elliott.
Just because New England signed Zeke—that doesn’t mean that it is a forgone conclusion that Stevenson is going to lose his job. In recent years, he hasn’t looked like the same dynamic playmaker he was coming out of Ohio State.
But you have to think that acquisition is making Stevenson a little nervous… If he doesn’t get off to a good start this year—or, God forbid, if he fumbles the ball—the Patriots now have a super legitimate option to swap in for him.
Javonte Williams
Broncos picked up Samaje Perine. He’s definitely capable of taking over lead duties.
Javonte Williams was one of the hottest names on the block heading into the 2022 NFL season… he had just completed an exciting rookie campaign that saw him post over 1200 all-purpose yards… and with the addition of Russell Wilson, people seemed to think that the flood gates might open up for the young running back.
And, well, we all know how that went… Wilson had the single worst year of his professional career and the Broncos offense was one of the most pathetic units we’ve seen in YEARS.
Things went equally sideways for Williams, who in addition to fighting through the sludge of a woefully incompetent offense, also succumb to a nasty knee injury. Four games into the year he tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL.
Granted, nowadays that isn’t the career death sentence that it once was… But the former second-round pick is certainly going to have his work cut out for him, Greg Scholz of The Athletic wrote recently, “such a wicked combo of injuries doesn’t only affect knee stability but also its side-to-side movement,” adding that they would “lean on a more conservative approach and predict an Optimal Recovery Time closer to Week 5.”
This delay to Williams’ return to action is further complicated by a new head coach coming into town—Sean Payton, as well as the acquisition of former Bengals running back Samaje Perine.
Perine is proven—at least on an interim basis… If he balls out at the beginning of the season, like some expect him to, Williams might end up losing the job entirely.
Isiah Pacheco
The running back position has been a bit of a revolving door in Kansas City since Andy Reid came to town… In fact, despite having one of the best offenses around—the Chiefs haven’t had a 1000-yard rusher since 2017, when Kareem Hunt was still toting the rock for them and went for over 1300 yards.
That was so long ago that Alex Smith was still the team’s starting quarterback, not Patrick Mahomes!
After his rookie campaign saw 830 rushing yards on just 170 attempts, plus a number of dynamic plays in the postseason, there seems to be a growing belief in the NFL media that Isiah Pacheco could be the back to change that…
But I wouldn’t be so sure!
The Chiefs didn’t invest too much into him as a 7th round pick, and they’ve proven that they can have success with a lot of different running backs in recent years.
At this point in his career, Andy Reid isn’t afraid to changes something up if it isn’t working—or even if he just sees another guy lighting it up in practice that could be a gamechanger on Sundays. And the team still has Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerrick McKinnon on the roster—giving Coach Reid very viable options if he chooses to do so.
Which NFL running back do you think is most likely to lose their starting job in the coming weeks?
