MarShawn Lloyd was a popular sleeper in fantasy football drafts last season. Josh Jacobs was a veteran changing teams, and the Green Bay Packers used Day 2 draft capital on Lloyd. Unfortunately, the rookie was never able to get going as he couldn’t stay on the field. Now finally healthy, does Lloyd offer fantasy upside as a late-round dart throw?
MarShawn Lloyd Fantasy Outlook
Typically, once a player enters the NFL, we prioritize his professional performance over college work. We can’t exactly do that with Lloyd because we have so little to analyze.
Lloyd played in exactly one game as a rookie, carrying the ball six times for 15 yards and catching one pass for three yards. There’s just nothing to glean from seven touches.
Just reminder of the kind of RB Marshawn Lloyd is
pic.twitter.com/rXK7SsIXON— Eli Berkovits (@BookOfEli_NFL) June 21, 2025
The major problem for Lloyd was a series of poorly timed injuries, one after the other, that prevented him from ever getting going. Lloyd dealt with a preseason hamstring strain. He sprained his ankle in his lone game back. Then, he came down with appendicitis when getting ready to return, which wound up ending his season.
Marshawn Lloyd went to the same facility Christian Watson went to this offseason for soft tissue injuries
Watson missed 11 games from hamstring issues in 2022 and 2023. After visiting the facility he missed 0 games in 2024 due to hamstring issues pic.twitter.com/yszmri9GoA
— Chris Wecht (@ChrisWechtFF) June 19, 2025
While Lloyd was out, Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks held their own as the backs behind Josh Jacobs. But what really happened was the Packers went run-heavy and fed Jacobs 301 carries. It’s safe to assume they want Lloyd to be good enough to take some of the pressure off of Jacobs, who posted an impressive 17.2 fantasy points per game last season.
A confluence of factors led to the Packers being the most run-heavy team in the league last season. Despite not having a rushing quarterback in the mold of Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts, the Packers led the NFL in neutral game script run rate at 53%. If they lean on the run again, there could be enough work for Lloyd to have some standalone value, plus the contingent upside in the event of a Jacobs injury.
What would benefit Lloyd is if he could develop into an asset as a pass catcher. Unfortunately, he didn’t do much of it in college, with just 31 receptions across his final 20 collegiate games.
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Ultimately, Lloyd is another name near that bucket of handcuff running backs with similar ADPs. However, I have him buried at RB65.
In the wake of him sustaining yet another injury at training camp, I’ve seen enough. There are plenty of handcuffs with similar upside who don’t have five different injuries to their name in less than one calendar year. He’s coming off the board around RB61, but I’m out.
Frank Ammirante’s MarShawn Lloyd Fantasy Projection
MarShawn Lloyd came out of college as a touted prospect who put up 820 rushing yards on 7.1 yards per carry in his junior year at USC. There was even some hype that Lloyd would take away some touches from Josh Jacobs’ last season.
However, the former third-round pick had his year washed out due to injury. But he’s healthy now and reportedly looking great in camp.
This doesn’t mean that I think Lloyd will take away work from Jacobs, who was terrific in his Packers debut last year. However, this is absolutely a terrific late-round handcuff for your fantasy team.
Lloyd is virtually free in drafts, making him a great stash at the end of your bench. If Jacobs were forced to miss time, there’s a lot of upside here as an explosive back in an offense that is expected to be much-improved now that Jordan Love is healthy.
