James Conner has outscored Chase Edmonds 5-0 so far, and I think that trend is going to continue. Conner is a bigger, more physical runner, making him a better option around the goal line.

Below see the rushing stats for plays inside the 5-yard line (thru Week 5 – not including the Thursday night game). Conner so far has 7 carries on plays inside the 5-yard line. That’s just 1 short of the league lead. Edmonds, on the other hand, has only 1 carry all year in that part of the field.

The two big backs in the AFC South (Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor) both have 8 carries on plays inside the 5. Ezekiel Elliott is the only other running back with 7 such attempts.

On the stats below, they’re home cooked. That is, these are stats we put together on our own. So we’ve taken the liberty of including 2-point conversions. Those are meaning plays (even if the league doesn’t consider them to be official “plays”). So the column below that’s labeled “touchdowns” more accurately should read “touchdowns combined with 2-point conversions”.

Only 11 running backs in the league have at least 5 carries inside the 5-yard line, and the Browns oddly have two of them.

On the final column of the chart, you’re seeing the team totals (attempts, yards, TD)

PLAYERS WITH 4-PLUS CARRIES INSIDE 5-YARD LINE
TmPlayerNoYdsTDTeam
TENDerrick Henry8949-10-5
INDJonathan Taylor8419-4-1
ARIJames Conner710512-14-7
DALEzekiel Elliott77411-15-6
BALLamar Jackson7229-10-3
LACAustin Ekeler61457-14-5
CLENick Chubb69114-28-7
LARDarrell Henderson5937-11-4
CLEKareem Hunt58314-28-7
HOUMark Ingram5416-9-2
NEDamien Harris5216-3-1
PITNajee Harris5226-5-3
CARSam Darnold41248-11-4
JAXJames Robinson4939-18-4
CHIDamien Williams4829-19-5
NYGDaniel Jones48310-9-5
WASAntonio Gibson46310-17-5
WASJ.D. McKissic45110-17-5
NYJTy Johnson4319-9-4
GBAaron Jones4226-7-3
DETD'Andre Swift4116-3-3
MIAMalcolm Brown4109-6-2

And for anyone wishing to pick through the team totals, I’m listing those below. It’s early (these teams become more meaningful as more games are played) but there are a few numbers that catch my eye.

In Kansas City, Clyde Edwards-Helaire hasn’t had a carry inside the 5-yard line all year. The back who’ll replace him this week, Darrel Williams, already has 3 such carries.

San Francisco is the only team that’s used six different ball carriers in this part of the field.

For players who have more than half of their teams rushing attempts inside the 5, I’ve got them tagged with black dots.

In the large chart below, players are arranged alphabetically by team.

TEAM-BY-TEAM RUSHING INSIDE 5-YARD LINE
TmPlayerNoYdsTD
ARI• J.Conner7105
ARIK.Murray302
ARIR.Moore130
ARIC.Edmonds110
ATL• M.Davis231
ATLM.Ryan121
BAL• L.Jackson722
BALL.Murray151
BALT.Williams130
BUFJ.Allen361
BUFZ.Moss302
BUFM.Trubisky141
BUFD.Singletary110
CARS.Darnold4124
CARC.McCaffrey2-10
CARC.Hubbard100
CARR.Freeman100
CHID.Williams482
CHID.Montgomery272
CHIJ.Fields131
CHIM.Goodwin110
CHIK.Herbert100
CIN• J.Mixon342
CINJ.Burrow100
CLEN.Chubb691
CLEK.Hunt583
CLEB.Mayfield151
CLEJ.Landry151
CLEA.Janovich111
DAL• E.Elliott774
DALA.Cooper151
DALT.Pollard141
DALD.Prescott100
DALC.Lamb1-10
DENJav.Williams3-31
DENM.Gordon211
DET• D.Swift411
DETJ.Williams222
GB• A.Jones422
GBA.Rodgers141
GBA.Dillon110
HOU• M.Ingram541
HOUP.Lindsay151
IND• J.Taylor841
INDC.Wentz100
JAXJ.Robinson493
JAXT.Lawrence381
JAXC.Hyde210
KC• D.Williams342
KCP.Mahomes151
LAC• A.Ekeler6145
LACL.Rountree100
LAR• D.Henderson593
LARS.Michel121
LARM.Stafford100
LVJ.Jacobs232
LVP.Barber231
LVA.Ingold100
LVD.Carr100
MIAM.Brown410
MIAJ.Brissett321
MIAM.Gaskin100
MIAT.Tagovailoa131
MINA.Mattison120
MIND.Cook111
MINC.Ham100
NE• D.Harris521
NEB.Bolden110
NOT.Hill231
NOA.Kamara2-50
NYGD.Jones483
NYGD.Booker321
NYGS.Barkley221
NYGE.Engram1-30
NYJT.Johnson431
NYJMi.Carter242
NYJZ.Wilson2-11
NYJM.Carter130
PHIJ.Hurts332
PHIM.Sanders3-50
PHIK.Gainwell121
PIT• N.Harris522
PITJ.Smith-Schuster131
SEA• C.Carson232
SFT.Lance372
SFJ.Hasty251
SFJ.Garoppolo111
SFK.Juszczyk110
SFT.Sermon111
SFE.Mitchell100
TBL.Fournette241
TBC.Godwin121
TBT.Brady111
TBR.Jones100
TEN• D.Henry894
TENR.Tannehill111
WASA.Gibson463
WASJ.McKissic451
WAST.Heinicke361

—Ian Allan