With the 2017 season in the books, let’s run down the players who history will remember as the leaders in various key metrics. Yesterday we looked at the passing numbers from 2017, so let’s focus on other individual stats today.
Running Backs
Carries
Le’Veon Bell led the NFL with 321 carries; LeSean McCoy was second with 287 carries. Bell had 21.4 rushing attempts per game, but it was Ezekiel Elliott who led the NFL with 24.2 carries per game. In the last 10 years, only twice has a running back had at least 24 carries per game: Elliott in 2017 and his predecessor in Dallas, DeMarco Murray in 2014.
Rushing Yards
Both Todd Gurley (1,305 rushing yards) and Le’Veon Bell (1,291) sat out the final week of the season, which allowed Kansas City’s Kareem Hunt to win the rushing title with 1,327 yards. A stat that may only interest me: this marks the end of a five-season streak where an NFC RB had won the rushing crown; the last AFC RB before Hunt to do it was Maurice Jones-Drew. And the last non-AFC South RB to do it before Hunt? LaDainian Tomlinson.
Courtesy of a six-game suspension, Elliott was limited to just 10 games this year, but he did lead the NFL in rushing yards per game with 98.3. Hunt was fourth with 82.9.
Rushing Touchdowns
Los Angeles RB Todd Gurley led the NFL with 13 rushing touchdowns; Saints RB Mark Ingram had 12, and no other player hit double digits.
Yards per Carry
Kamara was not easy to bring down in 2017.
First Downs
Le’Veon Bell led all rushers with 74 rushing first downs. Gurley was second with 66.
Long Runs
Kareem Hunt and LeSean McCoy tied for the lead with 12 carries of 20+ yards. Jets running back Bilal Powell led all players with 4 carries of 40+ yards.
Fumbles
Gurley led all running backs with five fumbles. Dion Lewis (180) and Powell (178) had the most carries among running backs without a fumble.
Receivers
Miami’s Jarvis Landry led the NFL with 112 receptions, although his 8.8 yards per catch average taints the glow of that mark. Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown missed the final 2 and a half games of the season with a calf injury, but he still finished first in receptions per game with 7.2 (Landry had 7.0).
Brown also led the league in receiving yards with 1,533. Julio Jones was second with 1,444, but Brown’s per-game lead was remarkable. He averaged 109.6 yards per game (and averaged 116.1 yards per game through 13 games; he was injured early in the 14th game), while Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins was second with 91.9 yards per game.
Hopkins led the NFL with 174 targets in 15 games this season, or 11.6 per game. Brown had 163 targets in 14 games, so he slightly edged out Hopkins for the lead in targets per game (also 11.6).
Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen led the NFL in receiving first downs with 74; Brown was second with 71, and Saints sophomore Michael Thomas was third with 70. Thomas set a Saints franchise record with 104 receptions and became the first New Orleans player to hit the 100-reception mark in a season. And as predicted before the season, he did set the mark for most receiving yards by a wide receiver in the Brees era in New Orleans.
Kansas City wide receiver Tyreek Hill led all receivers with 9 receptions of 40+ yards. Antonio Brown led all receivers with 27 receptions of 20+ yards.
Detroit’s Marvin Jones, who averaged just 12.9 yards per catch in Cincinnati, averaged 16.9 yards per catch last season in Detroit and a league-high 18.0 yards per reception in 2017. Jacksonville’s Keelan Cole, an undrafted rookie free agent from Kentucky Wesleyan, was second with 17.8 yards per catch.
Tight Ends
Travis Kelce led all tight ends with 83 receptions and 122 targets. Giants rookie Evan Engram was second with 115 targets, while Indianapolis’ Jack Doyle was second with 80 receptions.
Kelce had 1,038 receiving yards, one of just two tight ends to top 900 receiving yards. But it was Rob Gronkowski who led all tight ends in the category, with 1,084 on 69 receptions. Gronkowski did all his receiving work in 13 games: he missed two games this year (one due to injury vs. Tampa Bay; one due to suspension vs. Miami) and did not see a target in the week 17 finale against the Jets.
Seattle’s Jimmy Graham led all TEs with 10 touchdowns; Gronkowski, Kelce, Zach Erts, and Kyle Rudolph were all tied for second with eight.
Gronk also led all TEs (min: 32 receptions) with a 15.71 yards per catch average. Rookie O.J. Howard in Tampa Bay averaged 16.62 on 26 catches, so he did not qualify, but Washington’s Vernon Davis was second with 15.07 yards per catch on 43 grabs.
Defensive Players
Tennessee Titan safety Kevin Byard and Lions cornerback Darius Slay led all players with 8 interceptions. Byard finished second with 130 interception return yards, behind Kansas City’s Marcus Peters (137 on 5 interceptions).
Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins and Seahawks cornerback Justin Coleman were the league leaders with two pick sixes.
Slay also led the NFL with 26 passes defended.
Jacksonville’s Yannick Ngakoue led the NFL with 6 forced fumbles. Tampa Bay LB Lavonte David and Rams DT Aaron Donald were tied for second with five.
Lavonte David easily led the way with 5 fumble recoveries. Only one other player, Detroit’s Tahir Whitehead (4), had more than three.
Chandler Jones had a remarkable season in Arizona. He led all players in sacks with 17.0, with Jacksonville’s Calais Campbell and Dallas DE Demarcus Lawrence tied for second with 14.5. Jones also led all players in tackles for loss with 28; Jadeveon Clowney was second with 21. And Jones led all players with 33 quarterback hits; Campbell was second with 30.
But it was Demarcus Lawrence who led all players with defensive sack yards, with a whopping 160. Jones was second with 113; no other player had above 100. That was the most sack yards by a defensive player since Jason Taylor had 162.5 back in 2002.
Jets LB Demario Davis and Seattle LB Bobby Wagner both led the way with 97 tackles. Including assists, Preston Brown led all players with 144 total tackles.