Jonathan Taylor had a season for the ages. Here are the top 10 yards per carry seasons by a running back with at least 300 carries:
| Games | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Age | Draft | Tm | Lg | Year ▼ |
G | GS | Att | Yds | Y/A | TD | Y/G |
| 1 | Jonathan Taylor | 22 | 2-41 | IND | NFL | 2021 | 17 | 17 | 332 | 1811 | 5.45 | 18 | 106.5 |
| 2 | Adrian Peterson | 27 | 1-7 | MIN | NFL | 2012 | 16 | 16 | 348 | 2097 | 6.03 | 12 | 131.1 |
| 3 | Chris Johnson | 24 | 1-24 | TEN | NFL | 2009 | 16 | 16 | 358 | 2006 | 5.60 | 14 | 125.4 |
| 4 | Frank Gore | 23 | 3-65 | SFO | NFL | 2006 | 16 | 16 | 312 | 1695 | 5.43 | 8 | 105.9 |
| 5 | Barry Sanders* | 29 | 1-3 | DET | NFL | 1997 | 16 | 16 | 335 | 2053 | 6.13 | 11 | 128.3 |
| 6 | Barry Sanders* | 26 | 1-3 | DET | NFL | 1994 | 16 | 16 | 331 | 1883 | 5.69 | 7 | 117.7 |
| 7 | Eric Dickerson* | 24 | 1-2 | RAM | NFL | 1984 | 16 | 16 | 379 | 2105 | 5.55 | 14 | 131.6 |
| 8 | Walter Payton* | 23 | 1-4 | CHI | NFL | 1977 | 14 | 14 | 339 | 1852 | 5.46 | 14 | 132.3 |
| 9 | O.J. Simpson* | 28 | 1-1 | BUF | NFL | 1975 | 14 | 14 | 329 | 1817 | 5.52 | 16 | 129.8 |
| 10 | O.J. Simpson* | 26 | 1-1 | BUF | NFL | 1973 | 14 | 14 | 332 | 2003 | 6.03 | 12 | 143.1 |
He joined Jim Brown, Jim Taylor, O.J. Simpson, Walter Payton, and Clinton Portis as the only players to average 100 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD per game while having a YPC average of at least 5.4. But perhaps most remarkably, he won the rushing crown by over 500 yards. If that sounds like a lot to you, it’s because it is. The last time a player run the rushing crown by such a large margin was Simpson back in his record-breaking 2,000 yard 1973 season.
The graph below shows how many more rushing yards the NFL leader in rushing yards gained in each season compared to the runner up in that category. Taylor had 1,811 rushing yards, a 552-yard edge over Cleveland’s Nick Chubb and his 1,259 rushing yards.
Now, two small caveats. One: Derrick Henry, of course, got injured. Henry averaged 117.1 rushing yards per game in the Titans first 8 games of the season. He still finished 9th in the NFL in rushing yards despite missing nine games. The other small caveat? There was a 17th game this season, of course. On a per-game basis, his edge becomes slightly less impressive. In 2009, Chris Johnson rushed for 2,006 yards, a 590-yard edge over Steven Jackson and his 1,416 yards. That’s a 36.9 rushing yards per team game edge, just ahead of the +32.5 mark set by Taylor this year.
Still, in the Super Bowl era — or more precisely, the post-Jim Brown era — Taylor’s +32.5 mark would stand as the 5th best mark, behind Simpson’s +61.4 in ’73, another big year from Simpson in ’75, Walter Payton in ’77, and Johnson in ’05. Here is the same chart as above, but using per scheduled team game marks as opposed to raw totals.
It was a truly legendary season for Taylor, who led all players in rushes, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. He also finished in the top 5 in yards per carry among running backs. But perhaps nowhere was his dominance more evidence than compared to what every other rusher did in 2021.