Should You Draft MarShawn Lloyd in Fantasy Football?
I get why you’re asking about MarShawn Lloyd in 2026. Josh Jacobs is on the exempt list. We don’t know when he’s going to come back, but we know he’s missing time to start the year. He doesn’t count against Green Bay’s roster count right now, so they’re in no real rush to go through this legal process, which could get messy. He could miss the whole year. We might never see Jacobs again. We could see him in November. Who knows?
But for right now, Lloyd is the RB1 in Green Bay, an offense that we expect to be functional and one that’s leaned into the run of late. But that’s just because over the last two years they’ve had Josh Jacobs at the controls of it. They’ve had an elite running back. They’ve been able to kind of baby bird this offense to Jordan Love. I expect that to change in a major way. They’re going to unleash Jordan Love and potentially change this entire offense.
Before you get too excited about Lloyd and bumping him up into the 20s at the position, I’d pump the brakes a little bit. They traded for Kaleb Johnson, who carries the exact same draft capital that Lloyd does, just a year earlier. We’ll see where we go there. I don’t know what we’re looking at volume-wise. I’d be shocked if they give him the Jacobs role. We haven’t seen Lloyd stay healthy at the NFL level. Neither he nor Johnson is overly versatile.
There’s a lot to work through, and I don’t think the schedule’s that great, and it gets tough later. Even if Jacobs is out for the season, you’re talking about a late bye, you get the Rams late, you get the Houston Texans during the fantasy Super Bowl. I don’t think we’re looking at some kind of tremendous value.
Yes, he should be rostered. Yes, his value goes up because of this. And yeah, he’s probably in the flex conversation for the first month or two of the season before we know what this looks like in a full-time role. The truth is we don’t know what an RB1 role looks like on Lloyd, and we don’t know if he can sustain it and hold up. His body hasn’t been able to hold up in any capacity through the first few seasons of his career.
We’ll see where this goes, but I’m not going to be the person in my league overextending for Lloyd. If he falls to me, if there are 35 running backs off the board already and he’s still sitting there staring me square in the face, fine. You could talk me into it. I’m not getting him into the 20s. I’m not drafting him as a starter. I’m drafting him as gravy, as depth that could potentially hold the line. But what’s to say Green Bay doesn’t bring in a veteran? There are plenty of those backs out there to be had.
To me, Lloyd is a more stashy type than somebody who’s going to seriously swing your league in a tremendous fashion. I’ll pass on Jacobs right now. If he comes back, we’ll see. You can draft him in the very, very late rounds at this point. I do think he should be on a roster, not counted on for anything, and that’s how I’m going with this backfield.
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MarShawn Lloyd’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Lloyd was a third-round pick in 2024 and has just 7 more professional touches than I do, a scrawny researcher who retired from football as a 7-year-old after shredding my ankle.
We have no evidence that he can withstand an NFL beating, but we really don’t need it. We need him to survive for this Josh Jacobs suspension, and then we can move on. Chris Brooks looms, and he’ll get work, but I like Lloyd to lead this team in touches, and that’s valuable in an offense that has looked to establish the run game.
I do think they lean into what Jordan Love brings to the table, and that’s good news for Lloyd.
Over the past two seasons, Love ranks fifth in passer rating when throwing beyond the sticks. That can only be the case if the ground game is getting respect, especially against a blitz-heavy scheme like what Minnesota runs annually.
I don’t think we get a vintage Jacobs game from Lloyd this week, but he did pick up 7.1 yards per carry in his final collegiate season. Something in the range of 14 to 17 touches for 70 yards and the best bet in this backfield to score is well within reason, and that puts him on the flex radar.
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Where Lloyd Ranks Among 2026 Running Backs
- Chuba Hubbard | CAR
- Tony Pollard | TEN
- Kenny Gainwell | TB
- Jonathon Brooks | CAR
- Jacory Croskey-Merritt | WAS
- MarShawn Lloyd | GB
- Rico Dowdle | PIT
- Blake Corum | LAR
- Jordan Mason | MIN
- Kyle Monangai | CHI
- Rachaad White | WAS
Compare him against the rest of the board in PFN's Full PPR Running Back Rankings.
