Christian McCaffrey is having a big year. He’s on pace to go over 1,000 yards as both a runner and a receiver. But the pass-catching work has been a lot more impressive than the traditional running.
McCaffrey is averaging only 3.7 yards per attempt. He has averaged more than 3.2, in fact, in less than half of his game.
While some of this falls on play calling and the offensive line, his backup has tended to run it just fine. Brian Robinson is averaging a yard more per carry. It makes me wonder how that offense would work if Robinson got put in the lineup for a few games. He doesn’t have the same pass-catching ability or versatility, but he might be better at just banging out some yards.
With running backs, I like guys who are more productive than their backups. DeVon Achane is averaging 2.2 more yards than Ollie Gordon, and Jahmyr Gibbs is averaging 1.7 more than David Montgomery.
McCaffrey used to be one of those backs, but he doesn’t seem to be that anymore.
There are 22 teams that have two running backs with at least 40 attempts. McCaffrey is the only starter from those teams who has a backup who’s averaging over a yard more per carry.
| STARTING RUNNING BACKS VS. BACKUPS (yards per att) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Starter | Avg | Backup | Avg | Diff |
| MIA | DeVon Achane | 5.49 | Ollie Gordon | 3.28 | 2.21 |
| DET | Jahmyr Gibbs | 6.14 | David Montgomery | 4.44 | 1.69 |
| NE | TreVeyon Henderson | 4.73 | Rhamondre Stevenson | 3.19 | 1.54 |
| ATL | Bijan Robinson | 4.96 | Tyler Allgeier | 3.64 | 1.32 |
| CAR | Rico Dowdle | 5.01 | Chuba Hubbard | 3.72 | 1.28 |
| SEA | Kenneth Walker | 4.61 | Zach Charbonnet | 3.47 | 1.14 |
| DEN | J.K. Dobbins | 5.05 | RJ Harvey | 4.00 | 1.05 |
| JAC | Travis Etienne | 4.82 | Bhayshul Tuten | 3.81 | 1.02 |
| TB | Rachaad White | 3.98 | Bucky Irving | 3.34 | .64 |
| LAR | Kyren Williams | 4.68 | Blake Corum | 4.16 | .52 |
| ARI | Zonovan Knight | 3.06 | Michael Carter | 3.00 | .06 |
| CHI | D'Andre Swift | 4.57 | Kyle Monangai | 4.66 | -.09 |
| NYG | Tyrone Tracy | 3.86 | Cam Skattebo | 4.06 | -.20 |
| GNB | Josh Jacobs | 3.83 | Emanuel Wilson | 4.04 | -.20 |
| KC | Kareem Hunt | 3.94 | Isiah Pacheco | 4.22 | -.28 |
| WAS | Bill Croskey-Merritt | 4.37 | Chris Rodriguez | 4.65 | -.28 |
| MIN | Jordan Mason | 4.58 | Aaron Jones | 4.87 | -.29 |
| LAC | Kimani Vidal | 4.34 | Omarion Hampton | 4.76 | -.41 |
| PIT | Jaylen Warren | 4.28 | Kenneth Gainwell | 4.73 | -.45 |
| HOU | Woody Marks | 3.67 | Nick Chubb | 4.14 | -.47 |
| NO | Alvin Kamara | 3.60 | Kendre Miller | 4.11 | -.51 |
| SF | Christian McCaffrey | 3.67 | Brian Robinson | 4.72 | -1.05 |
—Ian Allan