Career Rushing Yards Over “Worst Starter” Baseline

by Chase Stuart on May 29, 2015

Last year, DeMarco Murray led the NFL with 1,845 rushing yards. The 32nd-ranked rusher last season rushed for 570 yards, which means Murray rushed for 1,275 yards more than the Nth-ranked rusher, with N representing the number of teams in the NFL. That’s obviously excellent, although not quite the best of all time.

That honor, as regular readers could have guessed, belongs to O.J. Simpson. In 1973, Simpson rushed for an incredible 2,003 yards, while the 26th-ranked rusher in the 26-team NFL rushed for 655 yards. As a result, Simpson is credited with 1,348 yards over the Nth-ranked rusher. Then again, remember that this was a 14-game NFL season; we need to pro-rate that number to 16 games to make for a fairer comparison. That brings Simpson’s season up to +1,540, slightly edging out Adrian Peterson‘s 2012 season (2,097, 564, +1533).

What if we use that methodology for every player during every season of his career? That, to me, is an improvement on just a list of the career rushing leaders, since we don’t give players any benefit for junk seasons. That may be the only thing this list is an improvement on — after all, it is still based on only one statistic — but hey, it’s Friday. Below are the career grades for the top 150 running backs (note that by default, the table only displays the top 25). I have also listed for each back his career rushing yards and his rank in that category.

Rk	Runing Back	Car Rush Yd	Car Rush Rk	First Yr	Last Year	HOF	Value
1	Emmitt Smith	18355	1	1990	2004	Yes	9517
2	Walter Payton	16726	2	1975	1987	Yes	9364
3	Jim Brown	12312	9	1957	1965	Yes	9338
4	Barry Sanders	15269	3	1989	1998	Yes	9324
5	Eric Dickerson	13259	7	1983	1993	Yes	7270
6	Curtis Martin	14101	4	1995	2005	Yes	7258
7	LaDainian Tomlinson	13684	5	2001	2011	Not El.	6671
8	Tony Dorsett	12739	8	1977	1988	Yes	6007
9	Jerome Bettis	13662	6	1993	2005	Yes	5921
10	Edgerrin James	12246	11	1999	2009	No	5790
11	Adrian Peterson	10190	28	2007	2014	Not El.	5572
12	O.J. Simpson	11236	19	1969	1979	Yes	5530
13	Thurman Thomas	12074	14	1988	2000	Yes	5435
14	Franco Harris	12120	13	1972	1984	Yes	5217
15	Marshall Faulk	12279	10	1994	2005	Yes	5173
16	Eddie George	10441	26	1996	2004	No	5120
17	Ricky Watters	10643	22	1992	2001	No	5072
18	Corey Dillon	11241	18	1997	2006	No	5014
19	Tiki Barber	10449	25	1997	2006	No	4926
20	Fred Taylor	11695	15	1998	2010	Not El.	4917
21	Jamal Lewis	10607	23	2000	2009	No	4836
22	Earl Campbell	9407	33	1978	1985	Yes	4813
23	Clinton Portis	9923	30	2002	2010	Not El.	4667
24	Frank Gore	11073	20	2005	2014	Not El.	4663
25	Jim Taylor	8597	38	1958	1967	Yes	4636
26	Ottis Anderson	10273	27	1979	1992	No	4534
27	Shaun Alexander	9453	32	2000	2008	No	4424
28	Steven Jackson	11388	16	2004	2014	Not El.	4412
29	Chris Johnson	8628	36	2008	2014	Not El.	4189
30	Marcus Allen	12243	12	1982	1997	Yes	4107
31	Terrell Davis	7607	53	1995	2001	No	4063
32	Steve Van Buren	5860	91	1944	1951	Yes	3985
33	Ahman Green	9205	34	1998	2009	No	3927
34	Ricky Williams	10009	29	1999	2011	Not El.	3824
35	Marshawn Lynch	8695	35	2007	2014	Not El.	3786
36	John Riggins	11352	17	1971	1985	No	3733
37	Joe Perry	9723	31	1948	1963	Yes	3631
38	Warrick Dunn	10967	21	1997	2008	No	3524
39	Thomas Jones	10591	24	2000	2011	Not El.	3496
40	Gerald Riggs	8188	43	1982	1991	No	3302
41	Stephen Davis	8052	48	1996	2006	No	3287
42	George Rogers	7176	57	1981	1987	No	3275
43	Matt Forte	7704	51	2008	2014	Not El.	3265
44	Jamaal Charles	6856	61	2008	2014	Not El.	3262
45	Priest Holmes	8172	44	1997	2007	No	3260
46	Leroy Kelly	7274	56	1964	1973	Yes	3155
47	Terry Allen	8614	37	1991	2001	No	3142
48	Curt Warner	6844	63	1983	1990	No	3106
49	Chris Warren	7696	52	1990	2000	No	3081
50	Garrison Hearst	7966	49	1993	2004	No	3056
51	Arian Foster	6309	75	2009	2014	Not El.	3046
52	LeSean McCoy	6792	66	2009	2014	Not El.	3041
53	Maurice Jones-Drew	8167	45	2006	2014	Not El.	2989
54	William Andrews	5986	87	1979	1986	No	2980
55	Herschel Walker	8225	41	1986	1997	No	2870
56	Michael Turner	7338	55	2004	2012	Not El.	2862
57	Lawrence McCutcheon	6578	70	1972	1981	No	2842
58	Rodney Hampton	6897	59	1990	1997	No	2832
59	Robert Smith	6818	64	1993	2000	No	2799
60	Wilbert Montgomery	6789	67	1977	1985	No	2790
61	Lydell Mitchell	6534	71	1972	1980	No	2711
62	Willis McGahee	8474	39	2004	2013	Not El.	2639
63	Jamal Anderson	5336	111	1994	2001	No	2600
64	Freeman McNeil	8074	47	1981	1992	No	2579
65	Rudi Johnson	5979	88	2001	2008	No	2540
66	Gale Sayers	4956	132	1965	1971	Yes	2536
67	John Henry Johnson	6803	65	1954	1965	Yes	2534
68	Ray Rice	6180	78	2008	2013	Not El.	2528
69	Roger Craig	8189	42	1983	1993	No	2464
70	Larry Johnson	6223	76	2003	2011	Not El.	2445
71	Deuce McAllister	6096	81	2001	2008	No	2412
72	Billy Sims	5106	122	1980	1984	No	2380
73	Larry Brown	5875	90	1969	1976	No	2320
74	Wendell Tyler	6378	72	1977	1986	No	2317
75	Mike Pruitt	7378	54	1976	1986	No	2294
76	Joe Morris	5585	101	1982	1991	No	2279
77	James Brooks	7962	50	1981	1992	No	2273
78	Don Perkins	6217	77	1961	1968	No	2267
79	Larry Csonka	8081	46	1968	1979	Yes	2244
80	Chuck Foreman	5950	89	1973	1980	No	2232
81	Alfred Morris	3962	202	2012	2014	Not El.	2178
82	Willie Parker	5378	109	2004	2009	No	2161
83	DeMarco Murray	4526	157	2011	2014	Not El.	2128
84	Chuck Muncie	6702	68	1976	1984	No	2126
85	Jim Nance	5401	107	1965	1973	No	2077
86	Mark van Eeghen	6651	69	1974	1983	No	2074
87	Travis Henry	6086	82	2001	2007	No	2055
88	Dan Towler	3493	251	1950	1955	No	2028
89	Neal Anderson	6166	79	1986	1993	No	1991
90	Paul Lowe	4995	128	1960	1969	No	1970
91	John Brockington	5185	115.5	1971	1977	No	1966
92	Cookie Gilchrist	4293	171	1962	1967	No	1962
93	DeAngelo Williams	6846	62	2006	2014	Not El.	1938
94	Joe Cribbs	5356	110	1980	1988	No	1925
95	Greg Bell	4959	131	1984	1990	No	1911
96	Earnest Byner	8261	40	1984	1997	No	1877
97	Clem Daniels	5138	119	1960	1968	No	1856
98	Calvin Hill	6083	83	1969	1981	No	1827
99	J.D. Smith	4672	146	1956	1966	No	1807
100	Greg Pruitt	5672	96	1973	1984	No	1795
101	Adrian Murrell	5199	114	1993	2003	No	1783
102	Floyd Little	6323	74	1967	1975	Yes	1761
103	Rick Casares	5797	94	1955	1965	No	1757
104	Cliff Battles	3511	248	1932	1937	Yes	1739
105	Delvin Williams	5598	100	1974	1981	No	1728
106	Duce Staley	5785	95	1997	2006	No	1683
107	Antowain Smith	6881	60	1997	2005	No	1678
108	James Wilder	6008	86	1981	1990	No	1671
109	Charlie Garner	7097	58	1994	2004	No	1667
110	Christian Okoye	4897	135	1987	1992	No	1664
111	Ken Willard	6105	80	1965	1974	No	1661
112	Marion Motley	4720	144	1946	1955	Yes	1659
113	Eddie Price	3292	274	1950	1955	No	1653
114	Tony Canadeo	4197	179.5	1941	1952	Yes	1635
115	Mike Garrett	5481	102	1966	1973	No	1573
116	Brian Westbrook	6335	73	2002	2010	Not El.	1559
117	Abner Haynes	4630	152	1960	1967	No	1529
118	Cedric Benson	6017	84	2005	2012	Not El.	1521
119	Spec Sanders	2900	334	1946	1950	No	1515
120	Barry Foster	3943	204	1990	1994	No	1513
121	Alan Ameche	4045	192	1955	1960	No	1499
122	Napoleon Kaufman	4792	140	1995	2000	No	1491
123	Marv Hubbard	4544	155	1969	1977	No	1481
124	James Stewart	5841	92	1995	2002	No	1452
125	Marion Butts	5185	115.5	1989	1995	No	1444
126	Earnest Jackson	4167	182	1983	1988	No	1444
127	Natrone Means	5215	113	1993	2000	No	1439
128	Dick Bass	5417	106	1960	1969	No	1433
129	Otis Armstrong	4453	159.5	1973	1980	No	1429
130	Pete Johnson	5626	99	1977	1984	No	1418
131	Ron Johnson	4308	167.5	1969	1975	No	1417
132	Ryan Grant	4148	184	2007	2012	Not El.	1413
133	Rashard Mendenhall	4236	177	2008	2013	Not El.	1362
134	Bill Brown	5838	93	1961	1974	No	1360
135	Mike Anderson	4067	190	2000	2007	No	1339
136	John David Crow	4963	129	1958	1968	No	1313
137	Errict Rhett	4143	185	1994	2000	No	1304
138	Gary Brown	4300	170	1991	1999	No	1298
139	Rueben Mayes	3484	252	1986	1993	No	1278
140	Dorsey Levens	4955	133	1994	2004	No	1271
141	Hoyle Granger	3653	229	1966	1972	No	1261
142	Bill Paschal	2430	403	1943	1948	No	1254
143	Reggie Bush	5465	103	2006	2014	Not El.	1250
144	Domanick Williams	3195	288	2003	2005	No	1246
145	Ryan Mathews	4061	191	2010	2014	Not El.	1225
146	Dave Hampton	4536	156	1969	1976	No	1222
147	Reuben Droughns	3602	238	2001	2008	No	1219
148	Karim Abdul-Jabbar	3411	258	1996	2000	No	1211
149	Fred Jackson	5646	97	2007	2014	Not El.	1179
150	Sam Cunningham	5453	104	1973	1982	No	1173

I’d be careful not to read too much into the list, but I think it’s a fun idea. What stands out to you?

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