Every NFL fan hears the same thing when discussing the state of today’s league: “It’s a passing league,” says nearly everyone and their momma. Because of this statement, and more likely fact, the state of running backs in the NFL is not a good one. The most dominant teams of the past several season have had quarterbacks such as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, all of whom have thrown for 5,000 yards at least once in the last several years. Running backs do not always naturally fit into passing offenses and help to improve it with their own catching capabilities. The main reason running backs have lost their place is because running is no longer relative to winning.
Dominant running backs in the NFL have one problem: Their numbers do not correlate to wins. Receiving yards actually do because they are a part of the quarterback’s passing yards, clearly. When Chris Johnson rushed for 2,006 yards in 2009, his team did not make the playoffs. Instead, the Titans went 8-8; all of their wins came in the second half of their season after their 0-6 start and week 7 bye. Now Tennessee did have an excellent turn around, but, outside of recording the 5th most rushing yards in a single season at that time, there was nothing CJ2K could do to put his team into the playoffs.
Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been one of the most dominant running backs in the NFL since entering in 2007 with 1,341 rushing yards. In fact, All Day’s nick name should turn into “All The Time” because that’s how often he gets the ball. He has undoubtedly carried his team on his back for the past seven seasons and recorded over 10,000 rushing yards in that time span. The negative side of this is that only once has his production turned into wins for his team.
In 2012, Peterson was only eight yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record. He had 2,097 rushing yards, 12 touchdowns and averaged six yards a carry which is running at its best, all this occurring after an ACL tear the previous season. He received an MVP award and led his team to an 11-5 record with a playoff berth, but then the Packers knocked his team out the first round. The only time he went deep into the playoffs was in 2009 when future Hall of Famer Brett Favre was quarterbacking his team. Outside of having the quarterback with the most passing yards and touchdowns in NFL history on his team, Peterson never experienced such success before or after Favre’s stay with the team.
The last example of greatness gone to waste is Jamaal Charles of Kansas City. Now Charles doesn’t have nearly as much production as All Day, but what he does have in common is that outside of his ACL tear-ending year in 2011, he only has one season without 1,000 rushing yards. Charles has the highest average of yards per attempt for a running back in NFL history at 5.6 yards per rush. Yet he’s only been to the playoffs twice in his career with Kansas City.
The truth is that running backs must do more than their position implies in today’s game. Charles is one of those running backs that is capable of doing so. He has nearly 2,000 receiving yards in his six-year career, but, again, he only has two playoff berths. With running backs still coming into the prime of their careers, such as LeSean McCoy, who has almost 5,500 yards in 5 season, and those still coming into league, such as Eddie Lacy, who just began his NFL career last season with 1,178 rushing yards, the changing of their position roles implies that being a dominant runner just isn’t getting it done anymore.
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