2026 Green Bay Packers Backfield: Josh Jacobs, MarShawn Lloyd, and Kaleb Johnson

In the early days of fantasy football, drafters had minimal teams, with their drafts coming the weekend before the regular season. As the fantasy market has grown over the past three decades, the quest for big prizes and more drafts has become a way of summer life for die-hard NFL fans. Each year, injuries happen late in August, crushing some fantasy teams, but the dark passenger in the room is self-inflicted off-the-field issues.

Josh Jacobs’ Uncertain 2026 Status

All summer, Josh Jacobs has had the risk tag next to his name due to a possible suspension. This weekend, the NFL placed him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, leaving his 2026 status in a wide range of outcomes. His charges were lowered to misdemeanors on Thursday, which seemed to be positive based on his initial arrest (five charges, with some falling in the felony category).

Drew Davenport (@DrewDavenportFF) does an excellent job covering legals matters for player issues off the field. I don’t want to steal his thoughts or lose something in the translation, so I would jump over to X and read up on his posts on Jacobs, especially if you still have drafts left.

What the Opportunity Means for MarShawn Lloyd

This summer, there have been many top high-stakes fantasy drafters fading Josh Jacobs, with the thought of finding a pot of gold by selecting MarShawn Lloyd later in drafts. Their foresight appears to have paid off in early opportunity, but he’s only taken 10 snaps (18 combined yards with one catch on seven touches) in the NFL over two seasons due to injuries. Therefore, I only consider him a placeholder name until Lloyd proves his worth on the field, with health being the key to his success.

Here’s a look at my player write-up on Lloyd coming out of college in 2024:

MarShawn Lloyd’s Scouting Profile

MarShawn Lloyd, Green Bay Packers

Lloyd only had 325 touches over three seasons with South Carolina and USC. He had 129 touches in each of his final two years in college, with his best success coming in 2023 (1,052 combined yards with nine touchdowns and 13 catches), thanks to gaining 7.1 yards per rush and 17.8 yards per catch. Lloyd had two impact showings (14/154 with one catch for negative four yards and 17/115/2 with three catches for 72 yards). USC gave him fewer than 10 rushes in seven of his 11 games.

His college career started with a torn ACL in his left knee in 2020 at South Carolina. Lloyd has a dig-in-the-dirt running style, meaning his power step drives his upfield acceleration when seeing daylight through the line of scrimmage. He will run with patience and the power to finish off his carries. Lloyd ran a 4.46 40-yard dash in this NFL Combine while benching 225 lbs. 25 times. I view him as a grinder back with flashes of explosive plays.

Fantasy Outlook: Lloyd brings more speed to the Packers’ backfield, but he is a third back with a power running style. He has a history of fumbling in college (eight over 325 touches), with a short resume in the passing game (34/452/2) while not grading well in pass protection. Green Bay will give him some chances, but AJ Dillon appears to have a more dependable foundation to his game. Lloyd is the 49th running back drafted in July with an ADP of 48. I have him projected for a minimal role until I see his play and summer reports out of Green Bay.

Lloyd’s Recent Injury History

Recent Injuries

2024

2025

At age 25, Lloyd has much to prove on the field, and an RB1 ranking on the Packers’ running back depth chart is a guarantee of success. His career path suggests his risk outweighs his potential reward, but opportunity knocks and believers don’t always see the injury light.

Why Green Bay Added Kaleb Johnson

Earlier this summer, I talked about Lloyd’s opportunity this year, while highlighting that Green Bay would bring in another back if Josh Jacobs were suspended. My early thought was James Conner or Trey Benson due to the depth at running back in Arizona. The Packers made a move this weekend to acquire Kaleb Johnson for running back depth.

The Lloyd fans paint him as a running back bust, while I would imagine any Jacobs drafters would love to secure Johnson in the first waiver period for a minimal investment. At the same time, anyone rostering should project their investment by chasing down in the free agent pool. For the rest of each fantasy league, I would not let either team have an easy out by buying their possible handcuff or future replacement.

Here’s my Johnson player write-up from last season:

Kaleb Johnson’s Scouting Profile

Kaleb Johnson, Pittsburgh Steelers

After a productive freshman season (151/779/6 with four catches for 21 yards), Johnson suffered an ankle injury in 2023, costing him three games with underwhelming results (117/463/3 – 4.0 yards per carry with three catches for 25 yards). His play was significantly improved last season (2025), resulting in career highs in rushing attempts (240), rushing yards (1,537), and touchdowns (21). He gained 6.0 yards per carry with an uptick in value as a receiver (22/188/2).

Johnson is a power runner with size (6’1” and 225 Lbs.). His 40-yard dash time (4.57) was well below that of the best running backs in this year’s draft class. He projects as an early-down runner with minimal value on passing downs. His pass protection isn’t ready to handle a third-down role.

Surprisingly, Johnson is more of a rhythm runner than an inside banger. He runs with patience and vision while having wide holes in college to finish some of his carries with big plays. His style appears confident, and he possesses the tools to excel in short-yardage situations and at the goal line. Over the long field, defenders have a significant edge over him in terms of speed.

Fantasy Outlook: The Steelers should be a good match for Johnson after losing Najee Harris to free agency in the offseason. Pittsburgh added him in the third round of last year’s draft, with a goal of leading their team in rushing attempts and scoring. Johnson ranked 26th at running back in late May. The Steelers should give him 250 rushing attempts and about 20 catches. I’ll set his bar at 1,200 yards with about seven scores, which will translate to about 200.00 fantasy points in PPR formats.

In 2025, Pittsburgh’s backs finished fifth in PPR scoring (463.00), but their backfield didn’t play out as expected. Coming into the year, Jaylen Warren appeared to be the top pass-catching back with rotational value in the run game. In the end, his rush explosiveness was higher than Kaleb Johnson's, and Kenny Gainwell outplayed his previous resume in all areas at age 27. The Steelers’ running back success was driven by high value in dump-off receptions in the passing game (115/834/5 on 133 targets).

How Johnson Fits the Packers’ Running Game

The Packers’ run game has been based on power over the past two years, suggesting that Johnson will get plenty of chances in 2026 if Green Bay has lost Josh Jacobs for the year. Later today, I’ll be updating my projections, and I will give Kaleb plenty of touches. I have to approach my next update as if Jacobs isn’t playing, while backtracking if news breaks in his favor over the next week.

Fantasy Draft and Waiver-Wire Strategy

For anyone drafting: Jordan Mason, Kyle Monangai, J.K. Dobbins, Chris Rodriguez, or Jacory Croskey-Merritt, I view Kaleb Johnson as having a similar running back profile – a volume runner with some value in scoring and a low ceiling in catches. At this point, he is worth a flier off the waiver wire, and I’ll push a little higher than most due to not being a starting fan of Chris Brooks, and I wouldn’t mind kicking the legs out of one of my competitors if I can at a reasonable price in FAAB leagues.

Final Fantasy Outlook

As for draft value, I’m thinking Johnson's new early outlook will fall in a range around Najee Harris and Katron Allen. His opportunity out of the gate should be better than the above two backs after getting up to speed with the Packers’ offense.