5 Touchdown-Reliant Running Backs

Photo: Andrew Nelles, USA Today Sports

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Touchdown scoring can be highly variant from year to year. Those who score high touchdowns in one season can struggle to do so the following season, even on a similar volume. One way to look at these players is how they scored in non-touchdown statistics compared to their overall scoring. Another is the percentage of a player’s production that came from touchdowns. Below are running backs who were highly dependent on touchdowns in 2021, looking at whether they will repeat in 2022.

Damien Harris

42% of Damien Harris’s scoring came from touchdowns in 2021, the most touchdown-reliant player at the position. Harris finished RB14 but was RB31 in non-touchdown scoring. Harris is a free agent in 2023 and shares a backfield with Rhamondre Stevenson. The Patriots ran 56% of the time in the redzone, the seventh-highest rate in the league, with running backs contributing 88% of the time in the redzone, the fifth-highest rate for the position. Overall, the offense presents an opportunity for red-zone work for Harris in 2022, which he will need to finish to repeat his high-end RB2 finish from 2021.

James Conner

41.9% of James Conner’s scoring came from touchdowns, the second-most in the league. With 15 touchdowns, Conner finished second, tied with Harris. While the touchdown number is high, Conner has room to grow in the passing game without Chase Edmonds on the roster. Overall, Conner finished as RB5 in 2021 but was RB18 in non-touchdown scoring. Conner’s split with Darrel Williams in the passing game is a key preseason watch.

Austin Ekeler

Austin Ekeler finished RB3 in PPR scoring in 2021. He scored 34.7% of his points by touchdowns, the fourth-highest percentage of scoring to come from touchdowns. Ekeler would have finished RB4 in non-touchdown scoring despite the high touchdown production. Ekeler also finished second in the position in receptions (70) and has a lot of outs for an elite season.