Jerome Ford

From practice-squad rookie to RB1 — Ford's 2023 was a Chubb-injury breakout: 830 rushing yards, 9 total TDs.

Ford was a 5th-round pick from Cincinnati who barely touched the ball as a rookie. Then Nick Chubb's catastrophic Week 2 knee injury in 2023 handed him the keys — and he responded with 830 rushing yards, 213 carries, and 9 total TDs in 18 games (incl. playoffs).

Why it matters. Backup RBs almost never see a full starter's workload mid-season — Chubb's injury forced the Browns to hand Ford 213 carries with no warning, and he kept the offense functional enough to reach the playoffs. Everything in his career profile traces back to that one stretch.

Career YPC: 4.2 — quietly efficient on a small sample, but the volume year (2023) dragged it down.

The headline number is 2024's 5.4 YPC on 104 carries — Ford in a clear timeshare with Chubb's recovery was wildly efficient. But the moment volume scaled in 2023 (213 carries), the YPC dropped to 3.9.

2025 has been a depth-chart story: Ford has slid behind rookie Quinshon Judkins (230 carries, lead back) in the rotation, with just 24 carries for 73 yards in 13 games. He's still active as a receiving option (26 receptions).

Why it matters. YPC is the cleanest one-number read on whether a back is creating yards or just absorbing carries. Ford's 2024 mark (5.4) was elite on limited volume; his 2023 mark (3.9) is what 200+ carry seasons usually look like — the volume itself drags the average down because defenses key on the lead back.

Two career 100-yard rushing games — both in his 2023 breakout, both AFC North road trips.

Both 100-yard games came on the road in the AFC North — Week 2 at Pittsburgh (16-106) and Week 10 at Baltimore (17-107) — and both featured a concentrated 16–17 carry workload. Ford has never crossed 100 rushing yards in a game since.

He came close several times (92, 84, 84) but never broke through again across his next two seasons.

Why it matters. 100-yard rushing games are a coarse but durable measure of lead-back impact. Ford's two both came in the same season, both on the road against playoff-caliber division opponents — a real signal that when he was the offense's first option, he could deliver against quality fronts. The drought since underscores how narrow his window was.

Receiving role outlasted the rushing role — in 2025 he has more catches (26) than carries (24).

Career receiving line: 111 catches for 662 yards and 5 TDs in 58 games — a real complementary pass-catching profile. In 2025, with Chubb gone and Quinshon Judkins handling early downs, Ford has flipped into a third-down/passing-down specialist: more catches than carries this year, the only season of his career where that's true.

Why it matters. Most backup RBs lose their roster spot when they lose first-down work. Ford has survived the Judkins takeover by retaining the third-down passing role — the rare backfield slot that doesn't require lead-back size or burst. It's why he's still active despite running just 1–2 times per game.

2024 efficiency was elite: 5.43 YPC — 4th-best among all RBs with 100+ carries, behind only Henry, Gibbs, and Barkley.

In 2024 — the season Chubb returned and Ford settled into a clear timeshare — Ford ranked 4th in YPC among all 46 NFL running backs with at least 100 carries. The three names ahead of him won OPOY (Barkley), led the league in rushing two years running (Henry), and earned an All-Pro nod (Gibbs).

The asterisk: he got there on the lowest carry volume in the top-15 (104). But it's a real efficiency signal that he carried back into 2025 — he just hasn't been given the touches to prove it again.

Why it matters. Top-5 YPC seasons are how backup-tier backs turn into starters the following year. Ford finished 2024 next to three of the best backs in football on a per-carry basis — the gap between him and them in 2025 is almost entirely workload (Judkins got the carries; Ford got the third-down role). It's the most quietly impressive line on his resume.