Todd Gurley won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award last night, a well-deserved honor for the 1000-yard rusher. He was even more impressive when you consider he wasn't fully healthy at the start of the season.

Gurley was brought along slowly, playing behind Tre Mason initially. But once he took over, he was extremely productive. He averaged 85 rushing yards per game, which ranks 12th over the past 20 years among rookies with at least 800 rushing yards.

Rookie running backs since 1996, sorted by yards per game, are presented below. One other 2015 player on that list (Thomas Rawls).

ROOKIE RBS, YARDS PER GAME, 1996-PRESENT
YearPlayer Team Att Yds Avg Yds/G TD
2004Julius Jones DAL 1978194.2102.47
2012Alfred Morris WAS 3351,6134.8100.813
1999Edgerrin James IND 3691,5534.297.113
1999Olandis Gary DEN 2761,1594.296.67
2007Adrian Peterson MIN 2381,3415.695.812
2002Clinton Portis DEN 2731,5085.594.215
2000Mike Anderson DEN 2971,4875.092.915
2012Doug Martin TB 3191,4544.690.911
2007Marshawn Lynch BUF 2801,1154.085.87
1996Eddie George HOU 3351,3684.185.58
2000Jamal Lewis BAL 3091,3644.485.26
2015Todd Gurley STL 2291,1064.885.110
2001Anthony Thomas CHI 2781,1834.384.57
2005Cadillac Williams TB 2901,1784.184.16
2008Chris Johnson TEN 2511,2284.981.99
1998Fred Taylor JAC 2641,2234.681.514
2008Steve Slaton HOU 2681,2824.880.19
2013Eddie Lacy GB 2841,1784.178.511
2010LeGarrette Blount TB 2011,0075.077.56
2008Matt Forte CHI 3161,2383.977.48
2001LaDainian Tomlinson SD 3391,2363.677.210
2004Kevin Jones DET 2411,1334.775.55
1999Ricky Williams NO 2538843.573.72
2001Dominic Rhodes IND 2331,1044.773.69
2003Domanick Williams HOU 2381,0314.373.68
1997Corey Dillon CIN 2331,1294.870.610
2014Jeremy Hill CIN 2221,1245.170.29
1996Karim Abdul-Jabbar MIA 3071,1163.669.811
1998Robert Edwards NE 2911,1153.869.79
2013Zac Stacy STL 2509733.969.57
2011DeMarco Murray DAL 1648975.5692
2006Joseph Addai IND 2261,0814.867.67
2013Le'Veon Bell PIT 2448603.566.28
2015Thomas Rawls SEA 1478305.663.84
2012Trent Richardson CLE 2679503.663.311
1997Fred Lane CAR 1828094.462.27

--Andy Richardson