I saw a news item yesterday talking about how there were three 1,500-yard rushers in the NFL this season, and none of their teams made the playoffs. It was making the point that having a top running back didn't necessarily translate into team success. It depends how you look at it.
While it's true that those top rushers -- Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb -- labored for teams left out of the playoff field, a whole lot of the league's top performers at running back did do their work for teams currently still playing. Because running is only part of what they do; a lot of them are also critical components of their team's passing game.
Look at the league's top running backs in terms of total yards -- rushing production, and also receiving. In 2022, of the league's 30 top running backs in terms of total yardage, half of them (15) are on the league's 14 playoff representatives. That includes 1o of the top 14 in total yardage last year other than Jacobs, Henry and Chubb. And three of those four whose teams missed the playoffs, plus Henry, were knocked out on the final weekend of the season (Aaron Jones, Najee Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson).
| 2022'S TOP RUNNING BACKS (TOTAL YARDS) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Run | No | Rec | TD | Tot |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 1653 | 53 | 400 | 12 | 2053 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 1538 | 33 | 398 | 13 | 1936 |
| Christian McCaffrey, S.F. | 1139 | 85 | 741 | 13 | 1880 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 1525 | 27 | 239 | 13 | 1764 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 1312 | 57 | 338 | 10 | 1650 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 915 | 107 | 722 | 18 | 1637 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 1121 | 59 | 395 | 7 | 1516 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 1173 | 39 | 295 | 10 | 1468 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 1040 | 69 | 421 | 6 | 1461 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | 1125 | 35 | 316 | 5 | 1441 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 897 | 57 | 490 | 4 | 1387 |
| Tony Pollard, Dal. | 1007 | 39 | 371 | 12 | 1378 |
| Miles Sanders, Phi. | 1269 | 20 | 78 | 11 | 1347 |
| Najee Harris, Pit. | 1034 | 41 | 229 | 10 | 1263 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 814 | 60 | 441 | 9 | 1255 |
| Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 1050 | 27 | 165 | 9 | 1215 |
| Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 668 | 73 | 523 | 6 | 1191 |
| Tyler Allgeier, Atl. | 1035 | 16 | 139 | 4 | 1174 |
| Jamaal Williams, Det. | 1066 | 12 | 73 | 17 | 1139 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 801 | 34 | 316 | 6 | 1117 |
| Dameon Pierce, Hou. | 939 | 30 | 165 | 5 | 1104 |
| Devin Singletary, Buf. | 819 | 38 | 280 | 6 | 1099 |
| Raheem Mostert, Mia. | 891 | 31 | 202 | 5 | 1093 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 782 | 46 | 300 | 8 | 1082 |
| Jeff Wilson, Mia. | 860 | 22 | 185 | 6 | 1045 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 861 | 28 | 143 | 4 | 1004 |
| AJ Dillon, G.B. | 770 | 28 | 206 | 7 | 976 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dal. | 876 | 17 | 92 | 12 | 968 |
| Isiah Pacheco, K.C. | 830 | 13 | 130 | 5 | 960 |
| D'Onta Foreman, Car. | 914 | 5 | 26 | 5 | 940 |
Running backs often get the short end of the contract stick, they seldom win MVP awards, and they don't get nearly the credit or acclaim of quarterbacks or even some of the elite wide receivers. But a lot of the league's playoff teams are there in large part because of those players' contributions. Even if they weren't running for 1,500 yards.
--Andy Richardson