Two years ago, after week 15 of the regular season, I noted the following:
Antonio Brown has 1,586 receiving yards, most in the NFL, which puts him on pace for 1,813 receiving yards this season.
Adrian Peterson has 1,314 rushing yards, most in the NFL, which puts him on pace for 1,502 rushing yards in 2015.
That’s pretty weird. In general, the rushing leader usually gains more rushing yards than the receiving yardage leader picks up through the air. From 1970 to 2014, the receiving yards leader “outgained” the rushing yards leader in only 10 of 45 seasons. And in only three of those years did the receiving leader “win” by more than 100 yards: in 1999 (Marvin Harrison had 1663 receiving yards; his teammate Edgerrin James had 1553 rushing yards), 1990 (Jerry Rice over Barry Sanders, 1502 to 1304), and 1982 (Wes Chandler over Freeman McNeil in the strike-shortened season, 1032to 786). On a per-game basis, it’s tough to beat what Chandler did, but Brown is on pace to become the first receiving leader since the merger (in fact, the first in the NFL since 1952) to “outgain” the rushing leader by over 300 yards.
By the end of the year, Julio Jones led the league in receiving with 1,871 yards, while Peterson rushed for “only” 1,485 receiving yards. So that was an odd year where the receiving leader finished with nearly 400 more yards than the rushing leader.
Last season, T.Y. Hilton led the NFL with 1,448 receiving yards, while Ezekiel Elliott had 1,631 rushing yards despite missing one game.
But this year? Well, Brown is at it again. Through 13 games, Pittsburgh had the leading rushing and receiver in the NFL. Brown had a whopping 1,509 receiving yards while Le’Veon Bell led the NFL with “only” 1,105 rushing yards. That was a massive 404 yard difference after just 13 games! In game 14 (which, of course, takes place in week 15), Brown was injured and is likely out for the rest of the regular season. So through 15 games, Bell has 1,222 rushing yards and Brown has 1,533 receiving yards.
There’s a chance Brown winds up leading the NFL without taking another snap this year, or that DeAndre Hopkins passes him (1,313 yards with two games to play). Either way, this is likely another season where the receiving leader will outgain the rushing leader.
But also noteworthy: right now, the leading receiver on 22 of the NFL’s 32 teams has more yards than that team’s leading rusher. The Bills (LeSean McCoy) rushing leader has 600 more yards than the team’s receiving leader (Charles Clay), making them one of just 7 teams where the rushing leader has 100+ more yards than the receiving leader. Three teams — the Cardinals, Vikings, and Texans — have their receiving leader with 500+ more yards than their rushing leader. Take a look:
In the graph above, the black column represents the difference between the team’s rushing leader and receiving leader. I haven’t run the numbers for prior years, but my assumption is that most years, for most teams, the rushing leader has outgained the receiving leader.
What do you guys think?