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San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey. Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

NFL futures: Odds and a bet on who will lead league in rushing this season

By Griffin Carroll | Last updated 5/23/24

We continue down our next NFL futures path by looking at which individuals offer us the best value to lead the league in rushing yardage. The running back depth in this league is impressive, and we saw our fair share of explosive young backs take the league by storm.

We've also seen stars on the move, which adds up to an exciting list of futures bets to consider for this coming season's rushing title.

Favorites to lead NFL in Rushing Yards

Regular season only, odds courtesy of DraftKings.

Christian McCaffrey (+275)
Jonathan Taylor (+600)
Saquon Barkley (+650)
Breece Hall (+800)
Derrick Henry (+1200)
Kyren Williams (+1200)
Bijan Robinson (+1200)
Josh Jacobs (+1600)
De'Von Achane (+2000)
Jahmyr Gibbs (+2000)

It was Christian McCaffrey who topped the league in rushing last year, finishing with 1.459 yards despite sitting out Week 18. Next closest was Derrick Henry, and then Kyren Williams, the latter of which is impressive considering he played just 11 games.

We have had some movement in the running back market this offseason, and there's no shortage of exciting young backs who could be worth backing to take home the regular season rushing title in 2024-25.

Our favorite bet(s)

De'Von Achane (+2000)

Consider what De'Von Achane did for a moment. Last year as a rookie, despite seeing 8+ carries in just seven games, Achane finished 25th in rushing yards with 800, and among RBs with 50+ carries, he easily led the NFL in yards per rush with an astronomical 7.8 YPC.

Now, imagine what Achane could do with a more involved workload. There was a three-game stretch from the end of September to mid-October where Achane turned 37 carries into 455 yards (12.3 YPC) and five touchdowns.

At just 22, why in the world would Miami lean on 32-year old Raheem Mostert when they could see what Achane could pull off with a larger workload?

The runner took the world by storm last season, and we're excited to see what he can do in his sophomore campaign under the unique running style that Mike McDaniel deploys in Miami.

Long-shot: Tyjae Spears (+10000)

This is the definition of a long shot, but at 100-1, we like a small bet on Tennessee's Tyjae Spears. ICYMI, Derrick Henry is no longer on the Titans, which opens up a cavalcade of carries for this Tennessee offense.

Henry led the NFL in rush attempts last year, which he did for four straight seasons (besides 2021 when he played only eight games).

Now, Tony Pollard did join Tennessee this past offseason, but he looked uninspiring for long-stretches of play in Dallas last season. One injury, and Spears would seem to take center-stage on a team that likes to run, and in limited action, Spears showed quite a bit of pop last year. Spears averaged 4.5 yards per carry on 100 attempts.

On a run-centric team, you could do a lot worse than +10000 on a futures bet.

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