MarShawn Lloyd: Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups

SHOOTING TRAIN: Must Add all leagues

LISTED IN: 26% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Green Bay Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd is a potential game-changer among running backs that you can get for free in most leagues. His hamstring injury scared off many managers, but starting Packers RB Josh Jacobs was horribly inefficient for most of the Packers' Week 1 game.

Jacobs had a major efficiency dip in 2023 and looked terrible for most of the season. His fantasy value was only salvaged by massive volume, and after Jacobs went down, Raiders RB Zamir White took over and arguably produced better results than Jacobs. That alone should be a major red flag, but Jacobs' inefficiency was really bad.

Josh Jacobs was THE most inefficient running back in the league in 2023⤵️

👎-40.5EPA (#142)
👎2.89 yards per touch (#50)
👎2.1% breakaway run rate (#48)

But… he faced the defenders with the highest average in the penalty area (7.2)👀

Are you drafting him now that he's a Packers RB?📢 pic.twitter.com/Jux8ez5pdR

— PlayerProfiler (@rotounderworld) July 28, 2024

It's generally not a good idea to rely on inefficient running backs to continue to get a lot of work volume. Another key point is that Lloyd was basically the opposite of Jacobs in 2023. Jacobs rarely forces missed tackles and is one of the least elusive backs in the NFL. The same cannot be said for Lloyd.

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐍 𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐘𝐃

𝐔𝐒𝐂 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤

#𝟏 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐋𝐞𝐧 𝟒𝟎 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐤𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐤𝐫.

#𝟏 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐀𝐂-𝟏𝟐 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟏𝟕 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 +𝟏𝟓 𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬

#𝟏 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐀𝐂-𝟏𝟐 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟏𝟖𝟖.𝟒 𝐄𝐥𝐮𝐤𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐧𝐠

𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭… pic.twitter.com/ScuJBo7X7c

— Trojan Football ✌️fan (@TrojanFBx) 2 November 2023

While Jacobs received a hefty contract for the 2024 offseason, the Packers have an easy opt-out after one year, so he's not even a sure bet in 2025. Get Lloyd while you can. If he gets healthy, he could be a real asset in Matt LaFleur's excellent running game scheme.