Fantasy Football Stats – 8 Interesting Stats from 2024
The 2024-2025 fantasy football season is officially in the books. Now, all of our attention will be focused on upcoming off-season events such as the 2025 NFL Draft. Today, we’ll be taking a look back at some of the most interesting fantasy football stats from the 2024 season.
Fantasy Football – 8 Interesting Stats from 2024
Starting this list off, we will feature the best running back from the 2024-2025 NFL season. Not just the best running back from this year, but Super Bowl Champion running back as well. Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles racked up an insane 2,005 rushing yards and was the RB1 overall in fantasy football. Continue reading to check out these 8 interesting stats from the 2024 season.
Saqon Barkley – RB Philadelphia Eagles
1) Saquon Barkley is the 54th player to score 20 touchdowns from scrimmage in a season (including playoffs).
Of those 54 players, he is the only one whose average score exceeded 30 yards at 32.5. Notably, the next two closest are receivers Mark Clayton in 1984 (29.0) and Jerry Rice in 1989 (28.7), one of the greatest wide receivers of all time. Just in case you don’t remember, Barkley is a running back and not a wide receiver which makes this stat truly incredible.
2) Saquon Barkley had seven touchdowns of 60+ yards. He was also stopped at the one-yard line 11 times.
In 2025, will Barkley be stopped at the one-yard line as often as he was in 2024? More importantly, will he be vultured by Jalen Hurts and the “Tush Push” as often? Or will he simply find the end zone more often? Will he be able to continue these long touchdowns in 2025? Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how this turns out next year.
Kyren Williams – RB Los Angeles Rams
3) In 2023 Christian McCaffrey, Rachaad White, and Travis Etienne had the most touches in the league. In 2024, Kyren Williams (389) and Barkley (482) had the most touches among position players. The fact that Barkley almost reached 500 touches (including playoffs) is mind-blowing.
We know how McCaffrey, White, and Etienne fared in 2024. Unfortunately, poorly. Will Williams and Barkley be resigned to the same fate?
3 Running Backs Top 12 in Both Rushing and Receiving Yards
4) In 2024, there were only three running backs who were top 12 in rushing and receiving. One name shouldn’t be a surprise. However, the other two names might surprise you. The three running backs are Bijan Robinson, James Conner, and Chuba Hubbard.
Moving forward, you would think Robinson and Hubbard (with no Jonathon Brooks next year) are in a good position to repeat this feat in 2025. How about Conner? He will be 30 years old by the time the next season begins. Additionally, Trey Benson‘s future is up in the air as well. Will they use and abuse Conner or will this turn into some ugly running back by committee?
Only 4 Running Backs have at least 1,000 Yards Every Season since 2010
5) Only four running backs have gained at least 1,000 total yards in each of their first six seasons in the NFL since 2010. Alvin Kamara, Josh Jacobs, Ezekiel Elliott and David Montgomery. All things considered, I doubt anybody would have guessed that Montgomery would have been on this list.
For all the Jahmyr Gibbs love out there, Montgomery isn’t going anywhere in 2025. Will Montgomery hinder Gibbs significantly? More importantly, will he prevent him from becoming the RB1? Or can Gibbs achieve that lofty status while sharing the backfield with Montgomery?
2024 Saw the Most Total Rushing Fantasy Points for RBs since 2011
6) 2024 had the most total rushing fantasy points for running backs since 2011. It truly was a resurgence of the running back position in fantasy football this past season.
Furthermore, 18 running backs scored more than 200 half PPR points in 2024 compared to 11 wide receivers. Unfortunately, injuries to many key wide receivers such as Nico Collins, A.J. Brown, and Puka Nacua played a part. Additionally, the lack of major injuries to running backs (outside of Christian McCaffrey) helped to elevate the running back position this past season.
Clearly, 2024 was not the year for the Zero RB strategy that many have used successfully in the past. However, there may have been some success with this strategy with the likes of Bucky Irving, Chase Brown, and Chuba Hubbard. If you utilized a Hero RB strategy, odds are your fantasy season was more successful. In total, 6 running backs saw more than 300 touches this year.
Will the early rounds in the 2025 fantasy football drafts be heavily dominated by the running back position and dominated by the Hero RB strategy? Or was the 2024 season simply an outlier?
Brock Bowers – Las Vegas Raiders
7) Las Vegas rookie sensation Brock Bowers saw 153 targets last season. The only other players to have more targets than Bowers were Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Malik Nabers, Drake London, and Garrett Wilson. Just in case you didn’t notice, all those players are wide receivers.
Here are some more numbers to demonstrate what a monstrous and record-breaking season that Bowers had in 2024. Impressively, he had a 24% target share for the Raiders. That was the same as Nico Collins for the Houston Texans. Additionally, he was targeted 28% of the time on the team’s first reads which was the same as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Mike Evans. Finally, he had the same yards after the catch (YAC) as the Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Will Bowers be able to continue his dominance next season as a sophomore? Will the Raiders bring in a top wide receiver free agent? Will they draft a talented rookie like Ashton Jeanty to become the focal point of the offense? If so, can it be offset with the addition of a quarterback who will look to outperform 2024’s trio of Gardiner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell, and Desmond Ridder?
Jalen McMillan – WR Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8) From Weeks 1-13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie wide receiver Jalen McMillan had 13 receptions, ran a route on only 54% of plays, and was the WR112. However, from Weeks 14-18, he had 24 receptions, an 80% route participation, saw 20% targets per route run, and was the WR7. Keep in mind, that Evans was back from injury during this time.
It is not uncommon for rookie wide receivers to start off the season slowly and pick up their game and production as the season goes on. However, McMillan’s second half resurgence was truly remarkable. Especially with Evans back on the field getting fed the ball to hit his 1,000 yards.
Will the Buccaneers draft or sign another receiver in the offseason? Will the offense remain as explosive as it was the past few seasons heading into 2025 with their third offensive coordinator in as many seasons? Time will tell.
In the end, statistics are a beautiful and sometimes convoluted thing. You need to determine for yourself which way the data will swing you. Will it convince you to see the “good” in a player or the “bad?” Keep these 8 interesting stats from 2024 in the back of your head next year when you head into your fantasy football drafts.
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