RJ Harvey Fantasy Overview

2024 Summary

College Production

An ACL tear wiped out all of 2021, which would have been Harvey’s sophomore season at Central Florida. He returned to become the team’s best back over the next three years, though.

Harvey ranked third among 2022 Golden Knights in carries but racked up 6.7 yards per carry vs. just 3.9 for the team’s lead back. He also tied for the backfield lead in receptions (22) but delivered 9.8 yards per catch to 5.5 for the other guy.

Harvey then dominated rushing work the next two years:

• 226 carries, 1,416 yards, 6.3 YPC, 16 TDs in 2023
• 232 carries, 1,577 yards, 6.8 YPC, 22 TDs in 2024

Harvey added 39 more receptions over those two seasons, plus four TD catches. He averaged 11.8 yards per reception for his college career.

Efficiency Metrics

According to Pro Football Focus, Harvey tied for eighth in yards per rush last year among 161 FBS backs who carried at least 100 times.

He also landed 31st in yards after contact per carry and tied for eighth in total missed tackles forced, while tying for 16th in carries.

Harvey led all of FBS last season in runs of 10+ yards.

Strong Athletic Testing

Harvey measured just 5’8 at the Combine (eighth-percentile historically) and 205 pounds (25th). But the combo gave him a 76th-percentile body mass index (BMI).

Harvey also tested very well. His 4.4-second 40 time stands 96th percentile historically for the position and produced a 91st-percentile speed score. Harvey added an 85th-percentile vertical and 91st-percentile broad jump, displaying his explosive lower body.

2025 Expectations

Projected Role & Competition

HC Sean Payton clearly isn’t worried about the size of his second-round pick.

“If you watch his stature, I mean, he’s put together pretty well,” Payton said in early May. “So there’s a difference between a small runner and a short runner. We’re not interested in the small runners, but we’re OK with the short runners.”

Payton has already praised both the rushing ability – “When you look at the running skill set, it was, ‘wow,’ and explosive runs, all of those things” – and said he plans to play Harvey on third downs, despite some pass-protection struggles in college.

“There’s a lot we can do … to really suit his strengths,” the coach said.

The backfield looks ready to give Harvey as many touches as he’s ready to claim.

Supporting Cast

Harvey takes over the spot vacated by Javonte Williams after a lackluster season for the vet. Williams’ 70 targets ranked second on the team, though. And his 8.2 carries per game led the team.

Jaleel McLaughlin trailed him at 7.1 carries and a mere 1.5 receptions per game. The latter marked a slight dip vs. McLaughlin’s rookie year, and he declined from 5.2 yards per catch to only 3.2.

Audric Estime logged a mere 76 carries and five targets as a fifth-round rookie. Payton says he wants to get the second-year RB more involved, but we’ll see exactly how that pans out. Tyler Badie and Blake Watson remain in the mix as well.

The Broncos added just third-round rookie Pat Bryant to a WR corps that didn’t offer much outside of Courtland Sutton and a late-season Marvin Mims TD binge.

TE Evan Engram was the biggest pass-catching addition overall and appears headed for plenty of work as Payton’s newest “joker.”

Coaching & Offensive Scheme

Payton has talked up the “joker” as a RB or TE with strong short-range receiving skills and good run-after-catch ability. Harvey reportedly impressed Broncos evaluators in those areas as well. And although he’ll typically work a similar range of the field as Engram, there’s room for the TE to work over the middle and Harvey to lead the backfield receiving.

Payton’s offenses have leaned more toward the run (19th in pass rate last year) since his final few years in New Orleans – after ranking among the pass-friendliest offenses in Drew Brees’ prime.

Production & Efficiency Trends

Payton has been a HC for 17 seasons between New Orleans and Denver. Harvey’s just the fourth RB his teams have drafted among the first three rounds. The previous three:

• Reggie Bush
• Mark Ingram
• Alvin Kamara

Bush – the second overall pick in 2006 – racked up 155 carries and 121 targets as a rookie and finished 10th among RBs in PPR points per game.

Kamara drew 100+ targets in three of his first four seasons after arriving in Round 3, topped 80 catches in all four of those seasons, and debuted as the RB3 in total PPR points in 2017.

Ingram got off to a slower start after arriving late in Round 1 but then put together five strong seasons in New Orleans before leaving for Baltimore in his age-30 campaign.