The NFC West is poised to be one of the best divisions in football in 2019, and there’s going to be a lot of offense. All four teams have exciting quarterbacks, and there will be plenty of shootouts.
Last week we ranked the best receivers in the division, and today we’ll be taking a look at the top running backs. Heading into this season, here are the six best running backs in the NFC West:
1. Todd Gurley, Rams
All the injury talk in the world isn’t enough to displace Gurley here. The 2017 Offensive Player of the Year has been the subject of countless headlines this offseason, all of them speculating about his knee. There’s been more pushback on the rumors recently, as Gurley finally addressed the media at minicamp earlier this week.
Gurley downplayed any concern over his knee, and his good friend Melvin Gordon insisted the media has been blowing the issues out of proportion. Gurley wasn’t himself down the stretch last season, but a few weeks of off-play isn’t nearly enough to dethrone him here.
Gurley should remain one of the league’s most dynamic playmakers in 2019, even if the Rams scale back his workload just a little bit. Gurley is still only 24, and the panic has almost certainly been overblown.
2. David Johnson, Cardinals
Johnson broke out with a monster year in 2016, but has had a very disappointing two years since. In 2017, his last season with Bruce Arians, he missed all but one game due to a wrist injury suffered in Week 1.
Last year, he came back healthy but fell victim to the Cardinals’ anemic offense. Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was fired early on, and head coach Steve Wilks was canned after the season. The entire year was a train-wreck for Arizona, so Johnson can’t be blamed for not producing.
The offensive line was a mess, and the play-calling lacked any sort of creativity. Now paired with Kliff Kingsbury, Johnson should be able to get back to his 2016 level. The Cardinals, for whatever reason, refused to have Johnson running routes out of the backfield, and that will surely change with Kingsbury in charge.
3. Chris Carson, Seahawks
Speaking of breakout years, Carson had one last season. He rushed for 1,151 yards and nine touchdowns, and helped re-establish a Seahawks running game that had been dormant ever since Marshawn Lynch left. He did it all in just 14 games, and was banged up a lot of the year.
Seattle committed to a run-first ideology under new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, and it’ll be interesting to see if they stick with that in 2019. Carson was often electric as a runner last year, but the team caught a lot of flak for not letting Russell Wilson throw the ball more late in the season, and Carson carried the ball 13 times for just 20 yards in their playoff loss to the Cowboys. He’ll also have to worry about fending off a challenge for playing time from last year’s first-round pick, Rashaad Penny.
4. Tevin Coleman, 49ers
Coleman is entering his first season in the NFC West, signing with the 49ers this offseason after spending the first four years of his career in Atlanta. Coleman has a longstanding relationship with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan from their time with the Falcons together, and Shanahan is clearly excited about reuniting with him.
There’s a lot of depth in the 49ers’ backfield, but Coleman’s role should be locked in. He has always been a great pass-catcher out of the backfield, and Shanahan loves to get his backs involved in the passing game. Coleman had 11 touchdowns the last time he was paired with Shanahan, and he could be in for another big year in 2019.
5. Jerick McKinnon, 49ers
McKinnon will also be making his NFC West debut this season, a year later than anticipated. The 49ers gave him a substantial contract last offseason, but his 2018 campaign was unfortunately ended before it started by a torn ACL.
McKinnon missed the entire year, but he should be back at full strength this season. San Francisco’s management has shown a lot of confidence in him, publicly declaring he’ll be on the roster in 2019 even though they could’ve gotten out of his contract fairly easily. He’ll have to contend with Coleman and Matt Breida for touches, but the former Viking should be in for a bounce-back year.
6. Rashaad Penny, Seahawks
You could argue this spot should go to Breida, but his injury history is concerning and he’ll be buried behind Coleman and McKinnon on the depth chart to start the year. Penny had a disappointing rookie year, but the San Diego State product was still a first round pick for a reason.
The Seahawks invested so much draft capital in Penny, that they aren’t going to admit defeat anytime soon. Penny struggled to earn playing time early on, but he actually looked really good when given more opportunities late in the year. Overall, he ended up averaging 4.9 yards per carry on 85 attempts.
Recent reports have indicated that Penny has made a lot of progress, and he lost 15 pounds this offseason. The Seahawks likely want to reduce Carson’s workload a bit, so we should see a lot more of Penny in his sophomore season.
