The Browns signed D'Onta Foreman yesterday, and I'm interested. Nick Chubb suffered an ugly knee injury last season that required multiple surgeries, and seems unlikely to be healthy at the start of the season. Foreman gets no respect, but he should.
The Browns still have Jerome Ford, and I suppose he'll enter training camp as the favorite to start. But Ford wasn't so impressive that he couldn't be pushed (or surpassed) by Foreman. Ford averaged 4.0 yards per carry, but had more bad games than good. In eight of his 18 games (including the playoffs) he averaged under 2.5 per attempt. In the playoff loss to Houston, he carried 9 times for 17 yards, and was no better in the Week 16 win (15 carries, 25 yards).
Foreman never worked out for the Texans, who selected him in the third round way back in 2017. He suffered an Achilles injury that year, and it basically sidelined him for the next two seasons; he appeared in only one game before latching onto the Titans in 2020. That year he was active for six games, carrying it just 22 times (with Derrick Henry rushing for over 2,000 yards).
But when Henry got hurt the next season, Foreman was a really impressive fill-in. As the lead back down the stretch, he rushed for over 100 yards in three of the final six games. He signed with Carolina in the offseason, and was even better after the Panthers traded away Christian McCaffrey. He rushed for over 100 yards five times the second half of the season, with 5 TDs.
Some teams might have wanted to keep that around, but not Carolina. They gave big money to Miles Sanders, letting Foreman sign with Chicago. The Bears made him a healthy scratch until Khalil Herbert got injured -- at which point Foreman reeled off 80-yard rushing performances in three of the next five games, with 3 TDs.
What exactly does the guy have to do to get a second contract with a team?
Over the past three seasons, on three different teams, Foreman in his 20 starts has averaged over 72 rushing yards. Only six running backs with that many starts have averaged more than he has. Three of those guys were players he started out or will start out behind (Henry, McCaffrey and Chubb).
| RUNNING BACKS PER START, 2021-2023 (20-PLUS GAMES) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Att | Run | Rec | Total | TD |
| Jonathan Taylor | 36 | 18.9 | 93.8 | 16.5 | 110.3 | 0.9 |
| Nick Chubb | 33 | 16.9 | 89.5 | 13.2 | 102.7 | 0.7 |
| Derrick Henry | 41 | 20.7 | 88.8 | 18.7 | 107.5 | 0.9 |
| Christian McCaffrey | 39 | 15.6 | 77.0 | 41.6 | 118.6 | 0.9 |
| Dalvin Cook | 31 | 17.0 | 76.3 | 17.6 | 93.9 | 0.5 |
| Josh Jacobs | 45 | 17.6 | 74.0 | 23.2 | 97.2 | 0.6 |
| D'Onta Foreman | 20 | 16.2 | 72.2 | 7.5 | 79.6 | 0.4 |
| Kenneth Walker | 26 | 16.3 | 69.6 | 15.8 | 85.3 | 0.7 |
| Saquon Barkley | 43 | 16.4 | 66.7 | 20.5 | 87.2 | 0.6 |
| Travis Etienne | 29 | 15.3 | 66.1 | 23.0 | 89.2 | 0.6 |
| Miles Sanders | 34 | 13.4 | 65.1 | 9.3 | 74.4 | 0.4 |
| Joe Mixon | 47 | 16.1 | 65.0 | 24.1 | 89.0 | 0.8 |
| Isiah Pacheco | 25 | 13.8 | 64.6 | 14.6 | 79.2 | 0.5 |
| Najee Harris | 51 | 16.4 | 64.1 | 17.0 | 81.1 | 0.5 |
| Dameon Pierce | 20 | 16.5 | 63.3 | 12.5 | 75.8 | 0.3 |
| James Conner | 41 | 14.5 | 62.8 | 20.5 | 83.3 | 0.9 |
| James Cook | 22 | 12.7 | 62.3 | 23.4 | 85.7 | 0.4 |
| David Montgomery | 43 | 15.0 | 62.0 | 17.1 | 79.0 | 0.6 |
| Raheem Mostert | 31 | 12.6 | 61.4 | 12.2 | 73.5 | 0.8 |
| Breece Hall | 24 | 12.6 | 60.7 | 33.7 | 94.4 | 0.6 |
| Alvin Kamara | 41 | 15.7 | 60.7 | 34.0 | 94.7 | 0.5 |
| Aaron Jones | 43 | 12.2 | 59.9 | 23.7 | 83.6 | 0.5 |
| Brian Robinson | 26 | 14.4 | 58.0 | 16.5 | 74.5 | 0.5 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | 31 | 12.8 | 57.9 | 21.8 | 79.7 | 0.4 |
| Tony Pollard | 48 | 12.0 | 56.9 | 21.2 | 78.1 | 0.4 |
| Ezekiel Elliott | 37 | 14.6 | 56.5 | 14.5 | 71.1 | 0.8 |
| Devin Singletary | 43 | 12.4 | 55.9 | 15.3 | 71.2 | 0.4 |
| James Robinson | 20 | 12.3 | 55.4 | 13.4 | 68.8 | 0.6 |
| Damien Harris | 25 | 12.2 | 55.3 | 9.1 | 64.4 | 0.7 |
| Chuba Hubbard | 31 | 13.9 | 54.6 | 14.7 | 69.4 | 0.4 |
| Rachaad White | 25 | 14.5 | 54.2 | 28.2 | 82.3 | 0.4 |
| Jamaal Williams | 33 | 13.8 | 53.5 | 7.4 | 61.0 | 0.6 |
| D'Andre Swift | 42 | 11.4 | 52.5 | 25.1 | 77.6 | 0.5 |
| Austin Ekeler | 47 | 12.5 | 52.2 | 38.4 | 90.6 | 1.0 |
| Leonard Fournette | 29 | 12.7 | 51.0 | 33.6 | 84.6 | 0.6 |
| Javonte Williams | 37 | 12.6 | 50.8 | 16.8 | 67.6 | 0.3 |
| Antonio Gibson | 33 | 12.7 | 49.3 | 20.3 | 69.6 | 0.5 |
| Gus Edwards | 25 | 11.2 | 49.1 | 7.2 | 56.3 | 0.7 |
| Zack Moss | 21 | 10.8 | 48.4 | 11.8 | 60.2 | 0.5 |
| AJ Dillon | 40 | 11.7 | 47.7 | 15.1 | 62.8 | 0.4 |
| Melvin Gordon | 26 | 11.3 | 47.5 | 16.8 | 64.3 | 0.5 |
| Latavius Murray | 21 | 10.3 | 47.4 | 6.8 | 54.2 | 0.4 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson | 28 | 10.4 | 46.3 | 23.9 | 70.1 | 0.7 |
| Darrell Henderson | 23 | 11.0 | 44.7 | 15.8 | 60.4 | 0.6 |
| Michael Carter | 27 | 9.4 | 38.1 | 20.9 | 59.0 | 0.3 |
| Kareem Hunt | 25 | 8.0 | 34.2 | 15.4 | 49.5 | 0.4 |
| Kenyan Drake | 22 | 7.3 | 33.2 | 17.2 | 50.4 | 0.4 |
| Kenneth Gainwell | 20 | 4.3 | 21.7 | 9.9 | 31.6 | 0.3 |
Foreman doesn't get used much in the passing game, which prevents him from hanging with a lot of other backs in PPR formats. Ford caught 44 passes and 5 touchdowns last year, which made him grade out better in fantasy leagues than his modest rushing production (including just 4 TDs) would suggest. However this backfield shakes out, Ford will probably get the receiving work. (Kareem Hunt is gone.)
But I don't think anyone should be surprised if Foreman emerges as the better runner, and main beneficiary if (when) Chubb isn't healthy at the start of the season. Eventually some team is going to decide he's a pretty capable back.
--Andy Richardson