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Factoid

Christian McCaffrey

McCaffrey generates yards but not wins

Christian McCaffrey is piling up yards; he might even make a run in Week 17 at Chris Johnson’s single-season record for yards from scrimmage. But those yards haven’t resulted in the Panthers winning many games; they’re sitting at 5-10.

That seems weird. You would think if a running back was gobbling up a bunch of yards (and scoring 18 touchdowns) his team would be tending to win games. But that hasn’t been the case.

Checking into the numbers of other running backs who’ve gone over 2,000, it hasn’t been all that unusual with other backs either.

Since 2000, 35 running backs have gone over 2,000 combined yards. Only 20 of those players came from teams that finished with winning records. (Seven of those teams finished 8-8, while the other eight finished with losing records.)

Only two others came from teams finishing with records worse than 6-10 – LaDainian Tomlinson off the 4-12 Chargers in 2003, and Saquon Barkley off the 5-11 Giants last year.

Carolina host New Orleans in Week 17. That’s a meaningful game for the Saints, so there will be no cheap yards given away. But some chance the Panthers try to help McCaffrey break the all-time record for yards. He’s 215 behind Chris Johnson.

2,000-YARD RUNNING BACKS
YearPlayerRecordRunRecTotalTD
2009Chris Johnson, Tenn.(8-8)2,0065032,50916
2005Tiki Barber, NYG(11-5)1,8605302,39011
2003LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D.(4-12)1,6457252,37017
2006Steven Jackson, St.L.(8-8)1,5288062,33416
2006LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D.(14-2)1,8155082,32331
2012Adrian Peterson, Minn.(10-6)2,0972172,31412
2000Edgerrin James, Ind.(10-6)1,7095942,30318
2019Christian McCaffrey, Car.(5-10)1,3619332,29418
2002Priest Holmes, K.C.(8-8)1,6156722,28724
2003Jamal Lewis, Balt.(10-6)2,0662052,27114
2014DeMarco Murray, Dall.(12-4)1,8454162,26113
2003Ahman Green, G.B.(10-6)1,8833672,25020
2010Arian Foster, Hou.(6-10)1,6166042,22018
2002Ricky Williams, Mia.(9-7)1,8533632,21617
2014LeVeon Bell, Pitt.(11-5)1,3618542,21511
2006Larry Johnson, K.C.(9-7)1,7894102,19919
2000Marshall Faulk, St.L.(10-6)1,3598302,18926
2006Frank Gore, S.F.(7-9)1,6954852,1809
2002LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D.(8-8)1,6834892,17215
2001Priest Holmes, K.C.(6-10)1,5556142,16910
2003Deuce McAllister, N.O.(8-8)1,6415162,1578
2001Marshall Faulk, St.L.(14-2)1,3827652,14721
2013LeSean McCoy, Phil.(10-6)1,6075392,14611
2006Tiki Barber, NYG(8-8)1,6624652,1275
2016David Johnson, Ariz.(7-8-1)1,2398792,11820
2003Priest Holmes, K.C.(13-3)1,4206902,11027
2007Brian Westbrook, Phil.(8-8)1,3337712,10412
2004Tiki Barber, NYG(6-10)1,5185782,09615
2005Larry Johnson, K.C.(10-6)1,7503432,09321
2017Todd Gurley, LAR(11-5)1,3057882,09319
2011Ray Rice, Balt.(12-4)1,3647042,06815
2009Ray Rice, Balt.(9-7)1,3397022,0418
2004Edgerrin James, Ind.(12-4)1,5484832,0319
2018Saquon Barkley, NYG(5-11)1,3077212,02815
2018Ezekiel Elliott, Dall.(10-6)1,4345672,0019

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index