More and more teams are going to the running back by committee approach. That’s what we all tend to agree on, especially with teams like the Saints and Patriots going with three running backs.
But is it really true? Do teams really divide up the carries much more than they did in the past?
When you get out the numbers, it’s not readily apparent. If you look at the number of 1,000-yard rushers or 100-yard games, you don’t see big shifts. I’ve posted those numbers in the past.
Here’s another way to look at it. Consider the average number of carries by the top 10 running backs in the league (that is, the 10 guys with the most rushing attempts).
Over the last four years, top-10 rushers have averaged 297 carries per season. That’s actually 19 more carries than in the first four years of the ‘90s.
Maybe RBBC is a little more popular right now than in some past years, but it’s certainly nothing new.
Here are the numbers, so average number of carries for the 10 busiest backs each season since 1990.
| AVERAGE CARRIES FOR TOP-10 BACKS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Att | Rank |
| 1990 | 252 | 24 |
| 1991 | 272 | 23 |
| 1992 | 304 | 18 |
| 1993 | 282 | 22 |
| 1994 | 319 | 13 |
| 1995 | 329 | 7 |
| 1996 | 326 | 9 |
| 1997 | 320 | 11 |
| 1998 | 345 | 1 |
| 1999 | 319 | 12 |
| 2000 | 336 | 5 |
| 2001 | 325 | 10 |
| 2002 | 328 | 8 |
| 2003 | 345 | 2 |
| 2004 | 335 | 6 |
| 2005 | 340 | 3 |
| 2006 | 338 | 4 |
| 2007 | 305 | 17 |
| 2008 | 311 | 15 |
| 2009 | 298 | 19 |
| 2010 | 312 | 14 |
| 2011 | 285 | 20 |
| 2012 | 307 | 16 |
| 2013 | 284 | 21 |
On that chart, I’ve got the average number of carries, but I’ve also listed the rank (showing how it compares to the other years in this 24-season sample). The worst two years were in 1990 and 1991, with just 252 and 272 carries.
Recently, the numbers have been trending down some. The 2011 and 2013 seasons both are in the bottom 5 in this group. Some of that can be attributed, perhaps, to teams like the Saints and Patriots. But a big chunk can also be tied to teams simply passing more and running less.
Note that the golden age for running backs seems to have occurred between 1995 and 2006. All 12 of the most popular seasons occurred in that 12-season block, with the 12 lesser seasons coming before and after. In a lot of those seasons, those top-10 backs averaged over 320 carries per season. Now it’s tough to get them over 300.
I’ve stated my own theory on this before, and I will repeat again. The RBBC concept, I think, is fueled by the decline of the fullback. Teams don’t have guys like John L. Williams and Matt Suhey anymore. Those guys used to run for a few hundred yards. Now a lot of teams don’t even carry fullbacks, so it forces them to make more use of their No. 2 tailbacks. (It’s not really physically feasible to ask your starting running back to carry a superhuman workload.) It’s not so much that teams are looking to rotate their tailbacks more, it’s just that there’s a need to have somebody else pick up some of the work.
The other driver is the direction of the game in general. Teams are passing more now and running less. Fewer running plays means fewer attempts for the tailbacks.
I believe those leading rusher guys are also catching a few more passes than they did 20 years ago, so that’s also a factor. There are limits how often you can ask one guy to handle the ball at the game’s most physically demanding position.
—Ian Allan