The 2007 season was the ultimate fantasy of the immobile quarterback lover. No quarterback rushed for 400 yards, after at least one quarterback did so in each of the ten prior seasons. Just as importantly, the top quarterbacks were all pocket passers: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Tony Romo (only 129 rushing yards that season), Brett Favre, Jon Kitna, Peyton Manning, Matt Hasselbeck, Derek Anderson, Jay Cutler, Kurt Warner, and Eli Manning were the top 12 leaders in passing yards. As a group, those dozen quarterbacks rushed for just 67 yards, led by Cutler’s staggering 205 rushing yards.
But it was only seven years earlier that the mobile quarterback wave was taking the NFL by storm. Six quarterbacks hit the 400-yard rushing mark: Donovan McNabb (629), Rich Gannon (529), Daunte Culpepper (470), Kordell Stewart (436), Jeff Garcia (414), and Steve McNair (403). Of the top ten leaders in passing yards, only Vinny Testaverde and Kerry Collins failed to rush for at least 100 yards, and the top 12 leaders in passing yards rushed for an average of 236 yards.
Since 2012, the mobile quarterback has re-emerged. So how do we test how much each quarterback has run since 1950? Here’s what I did.
1) Calculate the percentage of league-wide passing yards by each player in each season. For example, Russell Wilson was responsible for 2.70% of all passing yards in 2014.
2) Calculate the weighted average league-wide rushing yards for each season. So we take the result in step 1 and multiply that by each player’s number of rushing yards. For Wilson, this means multiplying 2.7% by 849 for a result of 22.9 rushing yards. Perform this calculation for each player in each season and sum the results to obtain a league-wide total. For 2014, this total was 159.7 rushing yards (obviously Wilson was the biggest contributor among quarterbacks).
3) For non-16 game seasons, pro-rate to 16 games.
Perform this calculation for each season since 1950, and you get the following results:
As you can see from the chart, the 2000 and 1951 seasons were the two most “run-heavy” among quarterbacks. We already discussed 2000; in 1951, it was Tobin Rote (523 yards), Charlie Trippi, and Bobby Layne (9.1% of all NFL passing yards, 290 rushing yards) were the big reasons for that. And remember, the NFL was a 12-team league back then and played 12-game seasons.
Finally, here’s the same data in table form:
| Year | Rush Yds |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 159.7 |
| 2013 | 159.5 |
| 2012 | 156.8 |
| 2011 | 133 |
| 2010 | 118.2 |
| 2009 | 93.2 |
| 2008 | 104.8 |
| 2007 | 81.3 |
| 2006 | 109.3 |
| 2005 | 90.9 |
| 2004 | 119.7 |
| 2003 | 106.4 |
| 2002 | 157.2 |
| 2001 | 166.4 |
| 2000 | 183.9 |
| 1999 | 118.8 |
| 1998 | 129.4 |
| 1997 | 121.5 |
| 1996 | 103 |
| 1995 | 94.5 |
| 1994 | 89.3 |
| 1993 | 113 |
| 1992 | 118 |
| 1991 | 92.1 |
| 1990 | 151.9 |
| 1989 | 130.6 |
| 1988 | 120 |
| 1987 | 99.7 |
| 1986 | 94.8 |
| 1985 | 84.7 |
| 1984 | 92.9 |
| 1983 | 101.8 |
| 1982 | 101.4 |
| 1981 | 95.5 |
| 1980 | 118 |
| 1979 | 109 |
| 1978 | 99.1 |
| 1977 | 106.4 |
| 1976 | 112.5 |
| 1975 | 102.3 |
| 1974 | 100.3 |
| 1973 | 106 |
| 1972 | 150.7 |
| 1971 | 101.2 |
| 1970 | 90.9 |
| 1969 | 83.6 |
| 1968 | 98.3 |
| 1967 | 102.2 |
| 1966 | 104.9 |
| 1965 | 103.4 |
| 1964 | 121.1 |
| 1963 | 125.2 |
| 1962 | 121.2 |
| 1961 | 117.6 |
| 1960 | 126.4 |
| 1959 | 119.1 |
| 1958 | 135.9 |
| 1957 | 133.7 |
| 1956 | 159.9 |
| 1955 | 167.9 |
| 1954 | 106.2 |
| 1953 | 122.4 |
| 1952 | 164.7 |
| 1951 | 183.3 |
| 1950 | 165.4 |