PlayerProfiler is home to award-winning dynasty rankings and tools. Our Dynasty Deluxe package includes complete Dynasty Rankings, Rookie Rankings, Trade Analyzer, Draft Planner, Mock Drafts, and more. Check it out. Below, Joel Ybarra delves into the week-winning performances of the best fantasy RBs of 2024.
Week Winners = League Winners
Nothing tells the story of a fantasy football season quite like the boom-scoring weeks. We owe our successes in a given season to monster-scoring performances that help us accumulate weekly wins. The best fantasy RBs are usually thought of as those who finish the season at the top of the position in average scoring, but the game is played in weekly matchups. We need to win weeks. League winners are week winners – those who win matchups with elite scoring output.
Running backs are the anchors of fantasy rosters, and are often the players who define a fantasy season when utilized as a centerpiece of their team’s offense in a given season. The best fantasy running backs are capable of shouldering a huge workload and hitting the 20-point scoring mark multiple times in a season. They can produce 30- or even 40-point scoring booms with volume and efficiency in the run and pass game, in addition to touchdown production.
Just as in this Wide Receiver Boom Weeks article, we look at 20-plus points and 24-plus point scoring performances. 30 or more points is another interesting threshold. There were just 20 such 30-point scoring booms during the 2024 season. Those are week-winning performances.
RB Consistency | 20-point Boom Weeks
Here are the running backs who notched at least four 20-point weeks during the 2024 season.
Consistency is key at the RB position. You want a back who will bolster your lineup with high usage and production week in and week out. There were an average of 7.8 20-point performances each week in 2024. If you did not have a running back who scored at least that many points, it was that much less likely you won your matchup without a scoring explosion at another position.
Bijan Robinson was the most consistent running back of 2024, with nine weeks over 20 PPR points. De’Von Achane and Josh Jacobs both recorded eight 20-plus performances. Achane hit some ceiling games, with two 30-point weeks. Neither Robinson nor Jacobs hit a 30-point spike week on the season. As we will see, Saquon Barkley had higher ceiling games but was less consistent than Robinson, Achane, and Jacobs on a week-to-week basis.
24-point Boom Weeks
Here are the players who recorded at least three 24-point performances throughout the 2024 season.
Barkley was king of the boom week in 2024, going over 100 scrimmage yards in all but three games and scoring multiple touchdowns six different times. He led all RBs in 24-point weeks. There was an average of 4.4 24-point RB scoring performances each week of the season, making that scoring threshold more likely to secure fantasy managers’ weekly wins.
Week Winners | 30-point Boom Weeks
14 running backs recorded a 30-plus point scoring week in 2024.
These elite 30-point scoring weeks were what set Barkley apart in 2024. He recorded five 30-point weeks over the course of the season. Only two other running backs had more than one 30-point week: Henry and Achane.
Running Back Dead Zone ADP Values
Of the running backs who notched a significant number of boom weeks in 2024, one of the greatest ADP values was Derrick Henry, drafted as the RB9 at the end of the second round (24 overall).
Others were drafted outside the first three rounds: James Cook and Josh Jacobs (round four), Joe Mixon (round five), and Chase Brown (round nine). Each of those recorded at least four 20-point weeks each. Jacobs had eight, Mixon six, Brown fiv,e and Cook four. That made for some elite scoring output available in the running back dead zone (typically rounds three through seven).
Team Context | RBs in New Places
Several of these running backs who put up ultra-prolific scoring weeks were on new teams in 2024: Barkley, Henry, Jacobs, and Mixon. The uncertainty of those new situations likely depressed their ADP. Barkley, Henry, and Jacobs all went into better offenses, however. Mixon went to a comparable offense with a competent quarterback. Henry and Jacobs were values coming into the season, going at the end of the second and the fourth, respectively. That is likely also due to them finishing as RB2s (RB16 and RB18) in 2023.
Team context is important. Just ask the managers who rostered Barkley and Henry this season. They won leagues in large part due to the production of those two backs who found themselves in favorable offenses. We knew the players themselves were capable of explosive plays. Henry was No. 1 in Explosive Play Rating and Barkley No. 3. They landed on teams with historically solid offensive line play, allowing them to get to the second level and rack up yards and touchdowns. Volume is key in running back production, but explosive play ability is what wins weeks and leagues.
See a breakdown of week-winning performances by wide receivers here: Week Winners | Elite Wide Receiver Scoring Performances