The Bills trade for LeSean McCoy, the Eagles sign DeMarco Murray, and suddenly the league’s last two rushing champions are both at new addresses. (If the Vikings decide to move on from Adrian Peterson, then it will even more unbelievably be the last three.) This kind of move is rare – you just don’t see it.
Since the NFL moved to the 16-game schedule in 1978, only 11 running backs have won rushing titles, then gone on to play for other teams.
The track record of these guys hasn’t been great, but most have been at the end of the road, declining physically – like Maurice Jones-Drew and Chris Johnson last year, and LaDainian Tomlinson and Emmitt Smith in the not-too-distant past.
With both Murray and McCoy, those guys will be 27 years old at the end of the season.
With these other transplanted rushing champs, only six were under 29 years old at the end of the season, and all of those guys went over 1,000 yards (Edgerrin James, Jamal Lewis, and George Rogers and Eric Dickerson twice each).
TRANSPLANTED RUSHING CHAMPIONS (since 1978) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Age | Runner | Rec | Run | Tot | TD |
1984 | 29 | Earl Campbell, N.O. | 0 | 190 | 190 | 0 |
1985 | 30 | Earl Campbell, N.O. | 88 | 643 | 731 | 1 |
1985 | 27 | George Rogers, Wash. | 29 | 1096 | 1125 | 7 |
1986 | 28 | George Rogers, Wash. | 24 | 1203 | 1227 | 18 |
1987 | 29 | George Rogers, Wash. | 23 | 613 | 636 | 6 |
1987 | 27 | Eric Dickerson, Ind. | 133 | 1011 | 1144 | 5 |
1988 | 28 | Eric Dickerson, Ind. | 377 | 1659 | 2036 | 15 |
1989 | 29 | Eric Dickerson, Ind. | 211 | 1311 | 1522 | 8 |
1990 | 30 | Eric Dickerson, Ind. | 92 | 677 | 769 | 4 |
1991 | 31 | Eric Dickerson, Ind. | 269 | 536 | 805 | 3 |
1993 | 33 | Eric Dickerson, Atl. | 58 | 91 | 149 | 0 |
1992 | 32 | Eric Dickerson, Rdrs. | 85 | 729 | 814 | 3 |
1993 | 33 | Marcus Allen, K.C. | 238 | 764 | 1002 | 15 |
1994 | 34 | Marcus Allen, K.C. | 349 | 709 | 1058 | 7 |
1995 | 35 | Marcus Allen, K.C. | 210 | 890 | 1100 | 5 |
1996 | 36 | Marcus Allen, K.C. | 270 | 830 | 1100 | 9 |
1997 | 37 | Marcus Allen, K.C. | 86 | 505 | 591 | 11 |
2003 | 34 | Emmitt Smith, Ariz. | 107 | 256 | 363 | 2 |
2004 | 35 | Emmitt Smith, Ariz. | 105 | 937 | 1042 | 9 |
2006 | 28 | Edgerrin James, Ariz. | 217 | 1159 | 1376 | 6 |
2007 | 29 | Edgerrin James, Ariz. | 204 | 1222 | 1426 | 7 |
2008 | 30 | Edgerrin James, Ariz. | 85 | 514 | 599 | 3 |
2009 | 31 | Edgerrin James, Sea. | 19 | 125 | 144 | 0 |
2011 | 34 | Ricky Williams, Balt. | 83 | 444 | 527 | 2 |
2014 | 29 | Maurice Jones-Drew, Oak. | 71 | 96 | 167 | 0 |
2014 | 29 | Chris Johnson, NYJ | 151 | 663 | 814 | 2 |
—Ian Allan