Yards From Scrimmage Gray Ink and Walter Payton

by Chase Stuart on July 16, 2018

in HOF, Rushing

On Saturday, I wrote about Gray Ink for rushing yards, and showed the career leaders using the methodology described in that post. Today, we do the same but for Yards from Scrimmage.

One interesting player is LeSean McCoy, who continues to look like a Hall of Famer. He ranked 15th in Rushing Yardage Gray Ink, which puts him comfortably in the group of Hall of Fame rushers. This is due to a number of strong seasons: he led the NFL in rushing in 2013, ranked 3rd in 2014, 4th in 2011 and 2017, and 6th in 2016. He also has a good chance (he needs 1700 more rushing yards with the Bills) of becoming just the third player with 5,000 rushing yards with two different teams.

Well, McCoy also ranks 15th in Yards from Scrimmage Gray Ink. He led the NFL in YFS in 2013, and ranked 4th in 2010 and 2017 and 5th in 2011 and 2016. He leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage since entering the league, too.

The table below shows the top 100 players in Gray Ink in terms of Yards From Scrimmage:

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Rk	Running Back	First Yr	Last yr	Raw Value	Value	HOF
1	Walter Payton	1975	1987	78	73.1	HOF
2	Barry Sanders	1989	1998	75	71.3	HOF
3	Jim Brown	1957	1965	83	65.7	HOF
4	Don Hutson	1935	1945	81	53.3	WR
5	LaDainian Tomlinson	2001	2011	53	53	HOF
6.5	Thurman Thomas	1988	2000	52	48.8	HOF
6.5	Eric Dickerson	1983	1993	52	48.8	HOF
8	Marshall Faulk	1994	2005	48	46.7	HOF
9	Adrian Peterson	2007	2017	46	46	Fut HOF
10	Emmitt Smith	1990	2004	48	45.4	HOF
11	O.J. Simpson	1969	1979	44	40.2	HOF
12	Tony Dorsett	1977	1988	42	39.4	HOF
13	Jerry Rice	1985	2004	40	37.8	WR
14	Curtis Martin	1995	2005	38	37.3	HOF
15	LeSean McCoy	2009	2017	36	36	Not El.
16	Tiki Barber	1997	2006	36	36	Not in Hall
17	Ricky Watters	1992	2001	37	35.7	Not in Hall
18	Edgerrin James	1999	2009	35	34.7	Not in Hall
19	William Andrews	1979	1986	35	32.8	Not in Hall
20	Marcus Allen	1982	1997	34	31.9	HOF
21	Larry Brown	1969	1976	35	31.7	Not in Hall
22	Clinton Portis	2002	2010	31	31	Not in Hall
23.5	Roger Craig	1983	1993	31	29.1	Not in Hall
23.5	Ottis Anderson	1979	1992	31	29.1	Not in Hall
25	Ray Rice	2008	2013	29	29	Not El.
26	Lydell Mitchell	1972	1980	31	28.7	Not in Hall
27	Lenny Moore	1956	1967	38	27.8	HOF
28	Chuck Foreman	1973	1980	30	27.6	Not in Hall
29	Leroy Kelly	1964	1973	30	26.8	HOF
30	Terrell Davis	1995	2001	27	26.2	HOF
31.5	Le'Veon Bell	2013	2017	26	26	Not El.
31.5	Matt Forte	2008	2017	26	26	Not El.
33	Cliff Battles	1932	1937	40	25.9	HOF
34	Priest Holmes	1997	2007	26	25.8	Not in Hall
35	Lawrence McCutcheon	1972	1981	28	25.8	Not in Hall
36	Lance Alworth	1962	1972	29	25.2	WR
37	Herschel Walker	1986	1997	26	24.4	Not in Hall
38.5	Arian Foster	2009	2016	24	24	Not El.
38.5	Jamaal Charles	2008	2017	24	24	Not El.
40	Clem Daniels	1960	1968	28	23.8	Not in Hall
41	Earl Campbell	1978	1985	25	23.4	HOF
42	Shaun Alexander	2000	2008	23	22.9	Not in Hall
43	Eddie George	1996	2004	23	22.5	Not in Hall
44	Billy Sims	1980	1984	23	21.6	Not in Hall
45	Steve Van Buren	1944	1951	29	21.4	HOF
46	Dutch Clark	1931	1938	33	21.3	WR
47	Jerome Bettis	1993	2005	22	21.1	HOF
48	Antonio Brown	2010	2017	21	21	WR
49	Calvin Hill	1969	1981	23	20.8	Not in Hall
50	Joe Perry	1948	1963	30	20.8	HOF
51	Wilbert Montgomery	1977	1985	22	20.6	Not in Hall
52	Maurice Jones-Drew	2006	2014	20	20	Not El.
53	Ahman Green	1998	2009	20	19.8	Not in Hall
54	Tuffy Leemans	1936	1943	30	19.5	HOF
55	Jim Taylor	1958	1967	23	19.4	HOF
56	Don Maynard	1958	1973	22	19.4	WR
57	Abner Haynes	1960	1967	23	19.3	Not in Hall
58	Frank Gifford	1952	1964	28	19.3	HOF
59	Ron Johnson	1969	1975	21	19	Not in Hall
60	Jamal Lewis	2000	2009	19	19	Not in Hall
61	Charlie Garner	1994	2004	19	18.8	Not in Hall
62.5	Neal Anderson	1986	1993	20	18.8	Not in Hall
62.5	Curt Warner	1983	1990	20	18.8	Not in Hall
64	Gale Sayers	1965	1971	21	18.3	HOF
65	Ernie Caddel	1933	1938	28	18.2	Not in Hall
66	Floyd Little	1967	1975	20	18.1	HOF
67.5	Marshawn Lynch	2007	2017	18	18	Not El.
67.5	Steven Jackson	2004	2015	18	18	Not El.
69	Ollie Matson	1952	1966	26	17.9	HOF
70	Timmy Brown	1959	1968	21	17.7	Not in Hall
71	Chet Mutryn	1946	1950	22	17.1	Not in Hall
73	Calvin Johnson	2007	2015	17	17	WR
73	Larry Johnson	2003	2011	17	17	Not in Hall
73	DeMarco Murray	2011	2017	17	17	Not El.
75	Ricky Williams	1999	2011	17	16.9	Not in Hall
76	Marion Motley	1946	1955	22	16.7	HOF
77	Hugh McElhenny	1952	1964	24	16.5	HOF
78.5	Julio Jones	2011	2017	16	16	WR
78.5	Frank Gore	2005	2017	16	16	Not El.
80	Mike Garrett	1966	1973	17	15.3	Not in Hall
81	Dan Towler	1950	1955	22	15.1	Not in Hall
82	Bobby Mitchell	1958	1968	19	15.1	HOF
83.5	Brian Westbrook	2002	2010	15	15	Not in Hall
83.5	Doug Martin	2012	2017	15	15	Not El.
85.5	Bronko Nagurski	1930	1943	23	14.8	HOF
85.5	Spec Sanders	1946	1950	19	14.8	Not in Hall
87	Jim Benton	1938	1947	20	14.4	WR
88	Jim Nance	1965	1973	16	14.1	Not in Hall
89	James Brooks	1981	1992	15	14.1	Not in Hall
90	Charley Hennigan	1960	1966	16	13.5	WR
91	Hoyle Granger	1966	1972	15	13.4	Not in Hall
92	Gerald Riggs	1982	1991	14	13.1	Not in Hall
93	Greg Pruitt	1973	1984	14	13	Not in Hall
94	Otis Armstrong	1973	1980	14	12.8	Not in Hall
95	John Brockington	1971	1977	14	12.7	Not in Hall
96	Johnny Strzykalski	1946	1952	16	12.5	Not in Hall
97	Billy Howton	1952	1963	18	12.4	WR
98	Michael Irvin	1988	1999	13	12.3	WR
99.5	James Wilder	1981	1990	13	12.2	Not in Hall
99.5	Joe Cribbs	1980	1988	13	12.2	Not in Hall

Showing 1 to 100 of 100 entries

It should be no surprise to see Walter Payton, who is also the career leader in over the worst starter baseline. As you can see from the table below, Payton had 11 seasons where he ranked in the top 10 in yards from scrimmage (actually, the table only shows each player’s top 10 seasons! Payton and Don Hutson are the only player with 11 such years). Payton led the NFL in YFS in ’77 and ’78, had a runner-up performance in 1979, had four seasons where he ranked 3rd in YFS, and also a 4th, 5th, and two 9th-place performances. When it comes to yardage, nobody had as many big years as Payton:

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Running Back	Value	HOF	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Walter Payton	73.1	HOF	10 (73.1) - 1978	10 (73.1) - 1977	9 (73.1) - 1979	8 (73.1) - 1985	8 (73.1) - 1984	8 (73.1) - 1983	8 (73.1) - 1980	7 (73.1) - 1976	6 (73.1) - 1986	2 (73.1) - 1982
Barry Sanders	71.3	HOF	10 (71.3) - 1997	10 (71.3) - 1994	9 (71.3) - 1995	9 (71.3) - 1991	9 (71.3) - 1990	8 (71.3) - 1996	8 (71.3) - 1989	6 (71.3) - 1998	5 (71.3) - 1992	1 (71.3) - 1993
Jim Brown	65.7	HOF	10 (65.7) - 1965	10 (65.7) - 1964	10 (65.7) - 1963	10 (65.7) - 1961	10 (65.7) - 1959	10 (65.7) - 1958	8 (65.7) - 1962	8 (65.7) - 1960	7 (65.7) - 1957
Don Hutson	53.3	WR	10 (53.3) - 1944	10 (53.3) - 1942	10 (53.3) - 1941	9 (53.3) - 1943	9 (53.3) - 1939	8 (53.3) - 1945	8 (53.3) - 1940	7 (53.3) - 1938	6 (53.3) - 1937	2 (53.3) - 1936
LaDainian Tomlinson	52.96875	HOF	10 (53) - 2003	9 (53) - 2007	9 (53) - 2006	8 (53) - 2002	6 (53) - 2005	6 (53) - 2004	3 (53) - 2008	2 (53) - 2001
Thurman Thomas	48.8	HOF	10 (48.8) - 1992	10 (48.8) - 1991	10 (48.8) - 1990	10 (48.8) - 1989	9 (48.8) - 1993	3 (48.8) - 1994
Eric Dickerson	48.8	HOF	10 (48.8) - 1988	10 (48.8) - 1986	10 (48.8) - 1984	10 (48.8) - 1983	8 (48.8) - 1987	4 (48.8) - 1989
Marshall Faulk	46.7	HOF	10 (46.7) - 1999	10 (46.7) - 1998	9 (46.7) - 2001	9 (46.7) - 2000	7 (46.7) - 1994	3 (46.7) - 1997
Adrian Peterson	46	Fut HOF	10 (46) - 2012	10 (46) - 2008	8 (46) - 2015	8 (46) - 2009	7 (46) - 2007	3 (46) - 2010
Emmitt Smith	45.40625	HOF	10 (45.4) - 1995	10 (45.4) - 1993	9 (45.4) - 1992	8 (45.4) - 1994	8 (45.4) - 1991	2 (45.4) - 1996	1 (45.4) - 1998

Showing 1 to 10 of 100 entries

I’ll leave the commentary to you guys today.

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