As NFL teams increasingly conclude that running backs are not particularly important to building a winning team, running backs have largely become an afterthought in the 2024 NFL draft.
It would be a shock if any running back goes in the first round: At DraftKings, zero running backs going in the first round is a -1600 favorite. Any running backs going in the first round is a +800 underdog.
The player with the best odds to be the first running back selected is Florida State’s Trey Benson, who is +210 at FanDuel. Texas’s Jonathon Brooks is at +250, Michigan’s Blake Corum is at +380, Tennessee’s Jaylen Wright is +500, and USC’s Marshawn Lloyd is +650.
But don’t expect to hear any of those names called on the first night of the draft. The running backs will almost certainly have to wait until Day 2 to get picked.
