For the first six weeks of the 2026 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers were without their top running back, Josh Jacobs, while he was on the Commissioner’s Exempt List after a domestic violence-related arrest during the offseason.
Now, Green Bay will be without Jacobs again for at least another two weeks, as he suffered a finger injury and underwent surgery. Now, MarShawn Lloyd, Kaleb Johnson, and Pierre Strong Jr. are once again the Packers’ primary running back options heading into a critical Week 10 divisional matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.
Johnson and Lloyd have both been among the most added running backs in Yahoo Sports fantasy leagues today, given that they’ll both likely see re-expanded roles with Jacobs on the sidelines.
Results and Usage
Lloyd got the first crack at being Green Bay’s primary option. In Week 1, he took 13 carries to Johnson’s seven and turned them into 37 yards, while Johnson managed 29. Overall, in the first six weeks of the season, Lloyd led the team in carries twice, Johnson twice, and Strong once, and Lloyd and Johnson tied once. But regardless of which running back led the team, no Packers back was effective; Johnson’s 42 rushing yards in Week 4 represented the high-water mark. Johnson finally topped that number in Week 9, turning his 14 carries into 68 yards and a score after Jacobs left the game early and Lloyd missed the game with an injury.
Lloyd is the only of the three running backs who’s taken enough snaps to qualify by Pro Football Focus’ standards, and he ranks second-to-last among 62 backs, including the fourth-lowest running grade and the second-lowest receiving grade. He’s also lost 1.53 yards per attempt relative to expectations, the worst mark in football, and he ranks third-to-last in success rate and dead last in yards per attempt. In his limited sample size, Johnson has been the best running back on the roster, as his 59.4 offense grade would rank 52nd if he did qualify and his 4.1 yards per attempt barely below league-average, but that bar is exceptionally low.
Future Outlook
The only week this season in which any currently healthy Green Bay running back has been particularly fantasy-viable was Week 5, when Lloyd managed a pair of touchdowns to record 16.7 DraftKings DFS points. Lloyd, Johnson, and Strong have only surpassed the 10-FPT threshold once each, and although Jacobs recorded at least 20 FPTS in each of his first two games, he was even more inefficient with his touches than Lloyd. Packers backs are only fantasy-viable by scoring touchdowns, but within the 20-yard line, Jordan Love has attempted as many passes (48) as the team has combined runs. Inside the 10, Green Bay has passed (23) more times than it has run (21).
I expect Matt LaFleur to continue leaning heavily on the passing game. This season, the Packers rank fifth in passing attempts and second-to-last in rushing attempts, and Love has been rather good, leading the league in passing yards while ranking ninth in passer rating and eighth in QBR. Love has also posted the 11th-highest offense grades among qualified quarterbacks, and he clearly has excellent rapport with both Christian Watson and Matthew Golden, who rank third and fourth league-wide in receiving yards. Watson has scored on all three of his catches inside the 10-yard line, and Golden has scored on three of his four. Green Bay’s best offensive performance of the season came in Week 9 against the New England Patriots, when Watson had 171 receiving yards and Golden 164 and each found paydirt once.
Although I’d expect Johnson to take the bulk of the carries in Week 10, especially if Lloyd isn’t 100%, neither is worth starting against Brian Flores’ vaunted defense. The Vikings have limited opposing running backs to the eighth-fewest FPTS per game, including (critically for the Packers’ running backs) just five total touchdowns in eight games. They’ve been especially dominant in the red zone, allowing a touchdown on only 26.3% of trips inside the 20. Plus, while Minnesota has allowed plenty of possession time due to its atrocious offense, that unit will almost certainly improve with Kirk Cousins likely to start ahead of Carson Wentz. I’d expect another long afternoon for Johnson’s fantasy managers.
