Green Bay Packers Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Packers handcuff is whoever sits directly behind MarShawn Lloyd on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Green Bay's third-down back is Chris Brooks and the job is protection, not receiving: 135 pass snaps, 24.4% of the team's, but only 17 targets — under the 25 needed for a receiving rate to mean anything. Josh Jacobs drew 44 targets while playing 48.0% of the pass snaps against 53.4% of snaps overall, a tilt of -5.4.

This is the least settled availability question of any lead back here, and not for medical reasons. The reporting below sets out what is known and what is not; on the field, Jacobs has played 77 of 85 team games across 5 seasons, 90.6%.

The role is a full one: 234 carries on 53.4% of the snaps, though at -0.03 yards over expected per carry — 37th of 49 — the efficiency was middling.

Chris Brooks is the back with a record: 19.0% of the snaps, 65th among running backs, and 31 of 51 team games across 3 seasons — 60.8%, which is its own caution. Pierre Strong's availability line is 39 of 51. MarShawn Lloyd and Damien Martinez have no 2025 record at all.

A modest share, and now it sits atop the depth chart.

Brooks took 19.0% of the snaps, 65th among running backs — roughly one snap in five. Jacobs took 53.4%, the largest share in the room last season.

The depth chart has since turned over: Jacobs has dropped from the top spot to fourth, Brooks has moved up to second, Kaleb Johnson has moved to third, and MarShawn Lloyd is now listed first. Lloyd still has no measurable snap share on record, and the question about him remains whether his body lasts a season, not what he can do. Jacobs' own status has changed too, from DNR to NA.

There is a third-down back. Whether he is a passing-down back depends on what you want from one.

Jacobs played 48.0% of the pass snaps against 53.4% of snaps overall — a tilt of -5.4, so he does come off. He still drew 44 targets, 2.93 a game, catching 36 for 282 yards.

Brooks takes a real share of those snaps — 135, 24.4%, 58th among running backs — but drew only 17 targets in 17 games, 1.00 a game. That is a back on the field to keep the quarterback clean.

Which means the receiving snaps on third down belong to nobody in particular. That is unusual, and it is the thing to watch if Lloyd's speed ever survives a full camp.

Reporting from a previous season, kept because a role a player has already held is the best evidence available about the one he might hold next. It describes 2025, not now.

Lloyd missed the entire 2025 season after a groin strain on the first training camp practice, followed by two hamstring strains and a calf sprain. (ESPN, 2026-05-28)

Chris Brooks handled third-down pass protection in 2025, filled the fullback role in two-back sets and was a core special-teams contributor. (Packers On SI, 2026-06-16)

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-08-17. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

Josh Jacobs was arrested in May and released the following day without charges being filed; he denied the allegations through his attorneys, and as of July 22 no charges had been filed (Forbes, 2026-07-22).

Jacobs could face review under the league's personal conduct policy regardless of how the matter resolves, leaving his availability unsettled (ESPN, 2026-05-28).

Jacobs took part in all three weeks of the offseason practice program, with head coach Matt LaFleur saying Jacobs has been great and it has been great to have him around (Packers On SI, 2026-07-09).

MarShawn Lloyd worked with the Meyer Institute of Sport, where testing tied his recurring lower-body problems to overcompensation stemming from a college knee injury, and he built a new offseason plan with Green Bay's training staff (Packers.com, 2026-07-21).

Lloyd got through the offseason program without a setback, showing burst out of the backfield and explosive one-cut ability (Packers.com, 2026-07-21).

Running backs coach Ben Sirmans said Lloyd is being groomed as the change-of-pace complement to Jacobs, giving the offense something alongside him and doing things the other backs cannot in terms of speed and quickness (ESPN, 2026-06-24).

LaFleur on Lloyd: he has done everything in his power to put himself in the best possible position, and now he has to go out there and prove it through camp and the preseason (ESPN, 2026-05-28).

Chris Brooks re-signed in March and moves up as the top backup after Green Bay let Emanuel Wilson leave in free agency (Packers.com, 2026-07-21).

Brooks is the designated third-down pass protector and the unofficial fullback in two-back sets; offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said he can protect, he can run the ball, and he does a really nice job when the offense plays with two tailbacks (Packers On SI, 2026-06-16).

Green Bay's pre-camp depth chart lists Jacobs first, Brooks second and Lloyd third, with the No. 2 job identified as the room's main battle (Packers On SI, 2026-07-21).

Green Bay added no veteran or drafted running back this offseason after Emanuel Wilson signed with Seattle, and the team's first camp practice is July 29 (Packers On SI, 2026-07-21).