Single Season Yards From Scrimmage Over “Worst Starter” Baseline

by Chase Stuart on June 4, 2015

Yesterday, we looked at the career leaders in yards from scrimmage over “worst starter.” Today, let’s look at the single-season list.

Chris Johnson set the single-season record for yards from scrimmage in 2009, when he totaled an incredible 2,509 yards. But that’s not the record for YFS in a season on a per-game basis. That ranks only third in NFL history, behind O.J. Simpson in 1975 (not his more famous ’73 season) and Priest Holmes in 2002.

Holmes missed two games due to injury that season, while Simpson set his during a 14-game schedule. As it turns out, Simpson — who set the record for rushing yards over “worst starter” in 1973 — is your single-season yards from scrimmage over “worst starter” king based on his work in 1975.

In ’75, the 26th-ranked player in YFS gained 890 yards, while Simpson rushed for 1,817 yards and gained another 426 yards through the air. With a total of 2,243 yards from scrimmage, Simpson therefore gained 1,353 more yards than the “worst starter” or 1,546 more yards once we pro-rate to a 16-game season.

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Rk	Player	Year	Tm	Lg	Rush Yd	Rec Yd	YFS	Tms	Baseline	Diff	LgGm	Pro-Rated
1	O.J. Simpson	1975	BUF	NFL	1817	426	2243	26	890	1353	14	1546
2	Walter Payton	1977	CHI	NFL	1852	269	2121	28	854	1267	14	1448
3	Chris Johnson	2009	TEN	NFL	2006	503	2509	32	1157	1352	16	1352
4	Jim Brown	1963	CLE	NFL	1863	268	2131	14	967	1164	14	1330
5	O.J. Simpson	1973	BUF	NFL	2003	70	2073	26	947	1126	14	1287
6	Marshall Faulk	1999	STL	NFL	1381	1048	2429	31	1147	1282	16	1282
7	LaDainian Tomlinson	2003	SDG	NFL	1645	725	2370	32	1108	1262	16	1262
8	Tiki Barber	2005	NYG	NFL	1860	530	2390	32	1146	1244	16	1244
9	Barry Sanders	1997	DET	NFL	2053	305	2358	30	1121	1237	16	1237
10	DeMarco Murray	2014	DAL	NFL	1845	416	2261	32	1077	1184	16	1184
11	Otis Armstrong	1974	DEN	NFL	1407	405	1812	26	784	1028	14	1175
12	Eric Dickerson	1984	RAM	NFL	2105	139	2244	28	1070	1174	16	1174
13	Jamal Lewis	2003	BAL	NFL	2066	205	2271	32	1108	1163	16	1163
14	Adrian Peterson	2012	MIN	NFL	2097	217	2314	32	1154	1160	16	1160
15	James Wilder	1984	TAM	NFL	1544	685	2229	28	1070	1159	16	1159
16	Thurman Thomas	1992	BUF	NFL	1487	626	2113	28	966	1147	16	1147
17	Marcus Allen	1985	RAI	NFL	1759	555	2314	28	1169	1145	16	1145
18	Ahman Green	2003	GNB	NFL	1883	367	2250	32	1108	1142	16	1142
19	Le'Veon Bell	2014	PIT	NFL	1361	854	2215	32	1077	1138	16	1138
20	Jim Brown	1958	CLE	NFL	1527	138	1665	12	817	848	12	1131
21	Steven Jackson	2006	STL	NFL	1528	806	2334	32	1209	1125	16	1125
22	Harry Clarke	1943	CHI	NFL	556	535	1091	10	529	562	8	1124
23	LaDainian Tomlinson	2006	SDG	NFL	1815	508	2323	32	1209	1114	16	1114
24	Arian Foster	2010	HOU	NFL	1616	604	2220	32	1109	1111	16	1111
25	Jim Brown	1965	CLE	NFL	1544	328	1872	14	909	963	14	1101

Showing 1 to 25 of 300 entries

Walter Payton and Barry Sanders lead the way with 9 seasons apiece in the top 300, although as you learned yesterday, Payton still has a big edge over Sanders. That’s because of the top 10 seasons by the duo (all in the top 125), 7 came from Payton.

O.J. Simpson has two top-5 seasons; no one else has two in the top 15. Jim Brown has three top-25 seasons; no one else has three in the top 40, and Priest Holmes and Marshall Faulk are the only others with three top-50 seasons. Brown is the only player with 4 top-50 seasons; and Eric Dickerson is the only other player with four top-75 seasons. Brown has five top-65 seasons; Payton is the only other player with five top-100 seasons (next is Emmitt Smith, whose fifth best season is all the way down at 154). But that’s when Brown passes the baton to Payton: the Bears legend has six top-100 seasons, which nobody else can match (Brown’s 6th best year was #123).

The Texans have four seasons in the top 300, which puts the following in some perspective. The Bengals have just one season — James Brooks, 1986 — in the top 300. Brooks ranked 3rd in yards from scrimmage that season, the only time any Bengal has ever ranked in the top 3 in that category. The Dolphins have just two top-300 seasons: Ricky Williams in ’02 and ’03. In fact, the single-season YFS leaders for Miami is just a really weird-looking list. Tampa Bay also has just two top-300 seasons, and only two times when a player gained 1,650 or more yards from scrimmage.

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