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MarShawn Lloyd has been little more than an idea for his two years in Green Bay.
A 2024 third round pick out of USC, Lloyd has seen the field for just one regular season game in the intervening two years. He’s been injured so much we can’t even given him the Christian Watson caveat. We can’t say “he’s good when he’s healthy” because he’s been so rarely healthy.
But assuming (and, granted, it’s a big assumption at this point) he stays healthy and can actually get on the field, what could a role for MarShawn Lloyd actually look like this year? What can he bring to the Packers?
Athleticism has never been a problem for Lloyd. He posted a 8.62 Relative Athletic Score after a solid combine in the leadup to the 2024 draft, highlighted by his 4.46 second 40-yard dash.
Lloyd’s 40 time is noteworthy not because it’s especially quick, but because of how he moves his mass. It’s no secret that Brian Gutekunst prefers bigger bodied backs, often sacrificing a little bit of speed for power. But Lloyd demands no such sacrifice, and Speed Score shows us why.
Speed score rates players based not just on how quickly they run, but on how quickly they run for their weight. A heavier player who runs a 4.5-second 40-yard dash will have a higher speed score than a player who’s lighter but puts up a 4.4.
Speed Score is scaled so that a score of 100 approximates a “fast” player, regardless of mass. But the better you move your mass, the higher you’ll score. Aaron Jones, for instance, scored a 100.8 for putting up a 4.49-second 40-yard dash at 205 pounds. But Lloyd scores a 109.2 because he ran a tick faster than Jones, but 15 pounds heavier.
That’s a long way of saying it, but Lloyd’s primary value is as an explosive, change-of-pace back, which is something the Packers really haven’t had since Jones himself was wrongfully slotted into the Packers’ number two running back job in 2017.
Emanuel Wilson has handled the bulk of the non-Josh Jacobs reps the last couple of seasons, and he’s essentially a replacement-level back, both from an athleticism standpoint and as a ballcarrier. I think his athleticism was the biggest limiting factor to his game, but Lloyd (again, if he remains healthy) should have no such limitation.
Wilson carried the ball 103 times in 2024 and another 125 times in 2025, averaging 4.9 and 4.0 yards per carry, respectively. With more athleticism to burn, Lloyd shouldn’t have trouble matching those figures.
What’s more, Lloyd is probably a better receiver than Wilson at this point in his career. We, obviously, don’t have much to go on at the NFL level, but in college Lloyd averaged a bit over a catch per game, an average dragged down considerably by a three-catch season in 2021.
Wilson, meanwhile, was not much to write home about as a receiver. In 2024 and 2025 combined, he managed just 26...
