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Clearly a rushing quarterback

How do you identify who is a rushing quarterback? On the surface, rushing yards per game seems like a pretty simple and easy way to do it.  Michael Vick is the career leader in rushing yards per game by a quarterback, at 42.7. [1]Although Spec Sanders would be number one if you were inclined to label him a quarterback. Robert Griffin (39.8), Cam Newton (39.6), Russell Wilson (34.1), and Colin Kaepernick (33.3) are the next five quarterbacks on the career rushing yards/game list after Vick. [2]Bob Hoernschemeyer, Tuffy Leemans, and Charley Trippi also all averaged more than 25 passing yards per game and at least 35 rushing yards per game.

That seems to work pretty well, I suppose. But what about Bobby Douglass? He averaged 40.5 rushing yards per game with the Bears in 61 games but only 45 starts; he played in 30 more games the rest of his career that torpedoed his career average to 29.2. Or Greg Landry, who averaged 24.5 rushing yards per game with the Lions, but whose career averaged is only 18.5 because of time spent as a backup.

And here’s the really tricky part. Today’s quarterbacks pass more than ever. If a quarterback runs 6 times and passes 34 times in 2018, does that make him less run-happy than a quarterback who ran 6 times and passed 24 times in 1981? I think it might: the 1981 QB ran on 20% of plays, while the 2018 QB will run on 15% of his plays. But it is not necessarily intuitive (or correct) to identify rushing quarterbacks by how much they rush for relative to their passing.

So that’s what I did today: I calculated both the rushing yards per game and the rushing yards per pass attempt career averages for all quarterbacks with at least 1,000 pass attempts.  Here’s how to read the table below (which shows the top 100 rushing quarterbacks by this metric), using Bobby Douglass as an example. Douglass rushed 410 times in his career for 2,654 yards, a 6.47 YPC average. He played in 91 games, meaning he averaged 29.2 yards per game. He threw only 1,178 passes, however; as a result, Douglass averaged an incredible 2.25 rushing yards for every pass attempt in his career. That’s the best in NFL history, and Vick is the only one who is even close.

QuarterbackRushRush YdYPCGRush Yd/GPass AttRush Yd/PA
Bobby Douglass41026546.479129.211782.25
Michael Vick87361097.0014342.732171.90
Robert Griffin27516706.074239.812101.38
Colin Kaepernick37523006.136933.316921.36
Tyrod Taylor30617145.605730.112711.35
Cam Newton82843205.2210939.634211.26
Kordell Stewart55528515.1412223.423581.21
Russell Wilson57832755.679634.128341.16
Greg Landry43026556.1714618.223001.15
Randall Cunningham77549286.3616130.642891.15
Vince Young28214595.176024.313041.12
Tobin Rote63531284.9314921.029071.08
Steve Young72242395.8716925.141491.02
Al Dorow24811504.646916.712070.95
Jack Concannon21710264.739011.411100.92
Steve Fuller1869084.889010.110660.85
Daunte Culpepper51126465.1810425.431990.83
Vince Evans21111295.359312.113900.81
Steve McNair66935905.3716122.345440.79
David Garrard38017464.598620.322810.77
Roger Staubach41022645.5213117.329580.77
Doug Flutie33816344.839118.021510.76
Marcus Mariota1549135.934221.712740.72
Jim Harbaugh56127874.9717715.739180.71
Mike Phipps25412785.0311910.717990.71
Bobby Layne61124514.0117514.037000.66
David Woodley2018564.265814.813000.66
Donovan McNabb61634595.6216720.753740.64
Frank Ryan31013584.3812610.821330.64
Jim McMahon33816314.8311913.725730.63
Blake Bortles22314106.326222.722290.63
Jeff Blake41820274.8511917.032410.63
Steve Grogan44521764.8914914.635930.61
Christian Ponder1266395.073816.810570.60
Archie Manning38321985.7414914.836420.60
Jeff Hostetler31513904.4113410.423380.59
Tarvaris Jackson1716363.725910.810730.59
Lamar McHan2398493.551137.514420.59
David Carr30513284.359414.122670.59
Don Majkowski24811144.499012.419050.58
Jeff Garcia46521424.6112417.336760.58
Rich Gannon52124494.7015715.642060.58
Terry Bradshaw44422575.0816813.439010.58
Fran Tarkenton67536745.4424614.964670.57
Bert Jones24714295.7910214.025510.56
Rick Mirer24211304.678014.120430.55
Mike Pagel1368316.111286.515090.55
Aaron Rodgers52526705.0914917.948950.55
Andrew Luck28614425.047020.626510.54
Pete Beathard1316805.191106.212820.53
Billy Wade31813344.1912810.425230.53
Alex Smith52924334.6015615.646130.53
Don Meredith24212165.0210411.723080.53
Mark Brunell51324214.7219112.746400.52
Aaron Brooks36215344.249316.529630.52
Ryan Fitzpatrick45120754.6013115.840390.51
Billy Kilmer36215094.171708.929840.51
Joe Theismann35518155.1116710.936020.50
Jay Fiedler2198543.907611.217170.50
Ken Anderson39722205.5919211.644750.50
Rodney Peete27011394.2210311.123460.49
Ed Brown2659603.621546.219870.48
Jason Campbell24012045.029013.425180.48
Jim Zorn32215044.6714010.731490.48
John Elway77434074.4023414.672500.47
Josh Freeman2059464.616215.320480.46
Babe Parilli38315223.971898.133300.46
Blaine Gabbert1716313.694813.113970.45
Pat Haden1246094.91659.413630.45
Randy Johnson1145735.03757.612860.45
Gary Danielson1868574.611008.619320.44
Josh McCown23710794.559111.925180.43
Jake Plummer42818534.3314313.043500.43
Wade Wilson23910254.291258.224280.42
Bart Starr24713085.301966.731490.42
Dave Brown1896733.56719.516340.41
Ryan Tannehill21610654.937713.826370.40
Charlie Batch1726373.70817.916040.40
Mike Livingston1546804.42907.617510.39
Mark Malone1596283.95728.716480.38
Matt Cassel26610123.801059.626670.38
Kyle Boller1765723.25678.515190.38
Jack Kemp35611503.231229.430730.37
Tony Banks2468813.58969.223560.37
Eddie LeBaron2026503.221344.917960.36
Jim Plunkett32313374.141578.537010.36
Eric Hipple1455503.79876.315460.36
Doug Williams2208844.028810.025070.35
Bob Berry1094093.75785.211730.35
Len Dawson29412934.402116.137410.35
Johnny Unitas45017773.952118.451860.34
Jay Cutler38616824.3615311.049200.34
Otto Graham4058822.181267.026260.34
Jameis Winston1395103.674511.315440.33
Chris Chandler37113103.531807.340050.33
Earl Morrall2358783.742553.426890.33
Tim Couch1245564.48629.017140.32
Tony Eason1345033.75905.615640.32
James Harris1213673.03834.411490.32
Kent Graham1214243.50815.213390.32

So is this method better? One “drawback” is that it identifies Daunte Culpepper as less of a rushing quarterback than Steve Fuller despite Culpepper averaging 25.4 rushing yards per game and Fuller just 10.1. But there are some extenuating factors. Culpepper started 100 of 105 career games; Fuller started 42 of 90 career games. In Fuller’s 42 starts, he averaged 19.0 rushing yards per game. And in those 42 starts, he averaged 21.9 pass attempts and 3.8 rushing attempts per game.

In Culpepper’s 100 starts, he averaged 26.2 rushing yards per game, but he also averaged 31.6 pass attempts and 5.1 rushing attempts per game. So in their starts, Fuller rushed on 14.9% of his rushes/passes, while Culpepper rushed on 13.9% of his rushes/passes. And Fuller averaged 0.86 rushing yards per pass attempt in his starts, while Culpepper averaged 0.83 rushing yards in his starts.

But while I follow the logic, I certainly don’t feel convinced that Fuller was more of a rushing quarterback than Culpepper. It seems like the sort of argument that would get you laughed at in a bar. So what do you guys think?

Oh, and perhaps before you answer, let me give you two more pieces of data to consider in Tim Tebow and Terrelle Pryor. He didn’t play long enough to qualify, but Tebow averaged 28.3 rushing yards per game, which would rank 9th on the list between Douglass and Culpepper. But he also rushed for 989 yards in his career despite throwing just 361 passes; that’s a 2.74 rushing yards/pass attempt average, which would rank first by a large margin. Pryor averaged 15.0 rushing yards per game, but also 2.08 rushing yards per pass attempt. This makes me feel better about this metric.

And finally, there are 10 quarterbacks who have averaged at least 2.0 rushing yards per pass attempt in a single season since the merger, minimum 150 pass attempts. Vick, Cunningham, and Douglass have two spots apiece, while Pryor, Griffin, Tebow, and Landry have the other four slots.

References

References
1 Although Spec Sanders would be number one if you were inclined to label him a quarterback.
2 Bob Hoernschemeyer, Tuffy Leemans, and Charley Trippi also all averaged more than 25 passing yards per game and at least 35 rushing yards per game.
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