It’s a big case study week here at Acme Packing Company. This time, I want to pin down the outlook for MarShawn Lloyd, a third-round running back who has just played one game in two seasons and will seemingly be shut down by the Green Bay Packers at the end of this week.
Here was the criteria that I wanted to find:
- A running back who was taken in the last 25 drafts
- A back who was a top 100 pick
- A back who has played 10 or fewer games in their first two years in the NFL
In total, I found that 10 of those players (besides Lloyd) exist. I think you can make the argument that two of them were able to “turn it around,” but one of those two was really just buried
on the depth chart more than anything else.
Let’s go player-by-player, explaining why these backs played so few games to start their NFL careers and what happened after their second year in the league.
Jonathon Brooks
No matter what happens with Lloyd, he probably won’t be the biggest swing and miss from the 2024 running back class. The top back selected in that class was Jonathan Brooks with the 46th overall pick, even though he was coming off an ACL tear in November of his final year of college football.
While Brooks’ camp stated that he would be ready for the start of training camp of his rookie year, he wasn’t activated until Week 14 of the 2024 season. He played just three games before suffering another non-contact ACL tear to the same knee and going on the injured reserve.
In 2025, he started camp on the physically unable to perform list and has spent the entire year there. So far, he’s only registered nine carries for 22 yards in the NFL, all between his first and second ACL tears.
Tyrion Davis-Price
This was more of a story of talent than injury. Tyrion Davis-Price was graded as the 271st overall player in the 2022 class on the consensus board, but he was surprisingly taken 93rd overall by the San Francisco 49ers. Kyle Shanahan simply cannot have a normal backfield.
Price played in six games as a rookie and one game in 2023 before being waived. In total, he had 40 carries for 120 yards for the 49ers. He played in one other game with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024 (three carries for seven yards) and is now out of the league. Davis-Price actually had a cup of coffee with the Green Bay Packers in 2025, signing with the Packers’ camp roster from August 12th to 26th.
He’s now a member of the Birmingham Stallions of the United Football League.
Darrynton Evans
After being taken 93rd overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2020 draft, Darrynton Evans had three stints on the injured reserve in his first two years in the NFL. He recorded 16 carries for 61 yards for the Titans (over six games) before being waived in March of 2022.
Since then, he’s had shots with four teams and has posted 49 carries for 188 yards over 18 games. Since 2022, he’s been signed and released from the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears several times (eight total) and had a stint with the Indianapolis Colts. As far as being on this list goes, that’s an above-average result.
Most recently, he was a Bill from March 13th to August 19th, when he was placed on the injured reserve and was later released with an injury settlement.
Derrius Guice
The 59th overall pick of the 2018 draft, Derrius Guice tore his ACL in his rookie season with Washington. He returned for the season opener of the 2019 season, but tore his meniscus after the 10-carry, 18-yard performance and went on the injured reserve while he underwent surgery and rehab for the injury. He returned to the field in Week 11, playing with the team through Week 14, before injuring his knee a third time, this time an MCL sprain, which ended his season.
In 2020, his third year in the league, he was waived by Washington after he was charged with domestic violence. His stint in Washington amounted to 42 carries for 245 yards and two touchdowns. While the charges were eventually dropped, the NFL suspended him for six games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, and he has yet to sign with an NFL club since then.
In 2023, he spent time with the Vegas Knight Hawks of the Indoor Football League. He rushed 15 times for 42 yards over three games in that league before his release from the team.
Ryan Williams
The 2011 38th overall pick, Ryan Williams, ruptured his patella tendon in his rookie season, which kept him off the field that entire year. He played in five games in 2012, recording 58 rush attempts for 164 yards, before suffering a shoulder injury that ended his second campaign.
After just two years, the Arizona Cardinals waived him. He later signed with the Dallas Cowboys, where he spent 2014 as a practice squad member, but never saw regular-season action. In June of 2015, he suffered another knee injury, was placed on the injured reserve by Dallas and then was later waived with an injury settlement. He has not played football since then.
Kenny Irons
This is the only player on the list who has played fewer games than MarShawn Lloyd has. In his first preseason game, Kenny Irons tore his ACL. He never recovered fully from that injury, as he was waived with an injury designation from the Cincinnati Bengals the following July, reverted to the physically unable to perform list and then reached an injury settlement with the team.
Less than a year after his torn ACL, Irons was out of the league completely and never got another opportunity in the NFL, despite being taken 49th overall in the 2007 draft.
Chris Henry
After playing five games as a rookie, 50th overall pick Chris Henry received a four-game substance abuse suspension from the league. After serving that suspension, he returned to play two more games for the Tennessee Titans, where he posted 31 rushing attempts for 119 yards and two touchdowns.
In his second year, Henry only played one game for the Titans, with injuries not seemingly being an issue. He not only made the team in 2008 but also in 2009, before being released in late September of 2009. Still, he only had one more carry, a three-yard gain, after his rookie season with the Titans.
He wound up making the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks rosters in 2009 and 2010, but he never had another carry at the NFL level.
Eric Shelton
As a rookie in 2005, 54th overall pick Eric Shelton broke his foot, which ended his first NFL campaign before it could get off the ground. In 2006, he played nine games for the Carolina Panthers, amounting to eight carries for 23 yards. The next year, the Panthers cut Shelton at the cutdown deadline.
He signed with Washington as a reserve/futures player (similar to a practice squadder) for the 2008 season, but suffered a neck injury and was eventually released from their injured reserve with an injury settlement on August 15th.
Rudi Johnson
The 2000 SEC Player of the Year was taken 100th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals, but the start of his career didn’t pan out great, mostly because of the Bengals’ depth chart at the time. In his first two seasons in the league, he was stuck behind Corey Dillon, who carried the ball 654 times. Backup running back Brandon Bennett only carried the ball 83 times over those two seasons, leaving reserve Rudi Johnson with just 17 carries over nine games.
After those two seasons, Johnson played eight more years with the Bengals and Detroit Lions, posting 1,500 rushes for 5,912 yards and 49 touchdowns, including a Pro Bowl season in 2004, his first year as a full-time starter.
Johnson recently passed away at the age of 45.
Reuben Droughns
The 81st pick of the 2000 draft, Reuben Droughns suffered a shoulder separation in the preseason opener, which ended his rookie season immediately. The next year, he played in just nine games (30 carries for 72 yards) for the Lions and was waived by Detroit in 2002, but caught on with the Denver Broncos.
Despite only playing nine games in the first two years of his career, Droughns played six more years in the NFL with the Broncos, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants. He wound up recording 899 rush attempts for 3,530 yards and 19 touchdowns after his two years with the Lions.
As far as injury-impacted players who were limited in their first two years in the league (Rudi Johnson’s situation was more of a depth chart issue than anything else), this is probably the best outcome on the list. I guess this is what we’re hoping for with Lloyd.
