I’m not a big fan of Frank Gore. He’ll be 33 in a couple of weeks, and isn’t this guy just done? Great back, but I wonder if any other team would even sign him if the Colts released him. But as I look at the numbers from last year, I notice that he was at least almost a yard per carry better than the other running backs on that team last year.
I find that to be a number to look at. You look at the effectiveness of a player, and then you measure it against the other running backs on the same team. They were running behind the same offensive line, so if the players are similar, their per-carry averages should be in the same ballpark.
So I decided to run the same number for all the running backs. They appear below. Not all of them, but the 69 with at least 50 carries. Of these guys, two thirds have at least 100 carries. The guys with 50-99 attempts have a black dot in front of their name.
Anyway, for each guy I’ve listed his rushing attempts and his per-carry average. Then I’ve listed the per-carry average of the other running backs on his team (that’s after removing quarterbacks, wide receivers and the running back himself).
The final number shows the difference between the individual and the other guys in his own backfield.
The big leaders in this category were both rookies in the NFC West – Thomas Rawls and Todd Gurley, who were both close to 2 yards better than their team’s other running backs. Three other backs were more than a yard better with at least 100 attempts – Ryan Mathews, Giovani Bernard and Mark Ingram.
While Ameer Abdullah didn’t have a great rookie year, note that he was almost a yard better than Detroit’s other backs.
On the negative end, Jeremy Hill, Marshawn Lynch, Charchandrick West and DeMarco Murray were the big losers (among 100-carry guys) coming in about a yard behind the other running backs on their teams.
| RUNNING BACKS VS. OTHERS ON SAME TEAM | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Att | Avg | Others | Diff |
| Thomas Rawls | 147 | 5.65 | 3.68 | 1.97 |
| Todd Gurley | 229 | 4.83 | 3.11 | 1.72 |
| • Spencer Ware | 72 | 5.60 | 4.10 | 1.50 |
| • Jonathan Grimes | 56 | 5.04 | 3.60 | 1.44 |
| Ryan Mathews | 107 | 5.04 | 3.76 | 1.28 |
| Giovani Bernard | 154 | 4.74 | 3.52 | 1.22 |
| • Karlos Williams | 93 | 5.56 | 4.38 | 1.18 |
| Mark Ingram | 166 | 4.63 | 3.48 | 1.15 |
| • Dexter McCluster | 55 | 4.49 | 3.48 | 1.01 |
| Ameer Abdullah | 143 | 4.17 | 3.21 | .96 |
| Carlos Hyde | 115 | 4.09 | 3.17 | .92 |
| • Jamaal Charles | 71 | 5.13 | 4.24 | .89 |
| Frank Gore | 260 | 3.72 | 2.86 | .86 |
| Rashad Jennings | 195 | 4.43 | 3.62 | .81 |
| Chris Ivory | 247 | 4.33 | 3.55 | .78 |
| • Jerick McKinnon | 52 | 5.21 | 4.44 | .77 |
| LeGarrette Blount | 165 | 4.26 | 3.52 | .74 |
| T.J. Yeldon | 182 | 4.07 | 3.34 | .73 |
| C.J. Anderson | 152 | 4.74 | 4.05 | .69 |
| Lamar Miller | 194 | 4.49 | 3.83 | .66 |
| • Tevin Coleman | 87 | 4.51 | 3.90 | .61 |
| LeVeon Bell | 113 | 4.92 | 4.33 | .59 |
| • Bilal Powell | 70 | 4.47 | 3.96 | .51 |
| Justin Forsett | 151 | 4.25 | 3.75 | .51 |
| Matt Forte | 218 | 4.12 | 3.63 | .49 |
| • Donald Brown | 59 | 3.88 | 3.47 | .41 |
| Isaiah Crowell | 185 | 3.82 | 3.53 | .29 |
| • Shane Vereen | 61 | 4.26 | 3.99 | .27 |
| • Denard Robinson | 67 | 3.97 | 3.73 | .24 |
| Latavius Murray | 266 | 4.01 | 3.87 | .14 |
| Eddie Lacy | 187 | 4.05 | 3.94 | .11 |
| Charles Sims | 107 | 4.94 | 4.83 | .11 |
| James Starks | 148 | 4.06 | 3.95 | .11 |
| Darren McFadden | 239 | 4.56 | 4.45 | .11 |
| David Johnson | 125 | 4.65 | 4.57 | .08 |
| Alfred Blue | 183 | 3.81 | 3.77 | .04 |
| Doug Martin | 288 | 4.87 | 4.84 | .03 |
| DeAngelo Williams | 200 | 4.54 | 4.51 | .03 |
| • Mike Tolbert | 62 | 4.13 | 4.10 | .03 |
| Adrian Peterson | 327 | 4.54 | 4.52 | .02 |
| Antonio Andrews | 143 | 3.64 | 3.67 | -.03 |
| Jonathan Stewart | 242 | 4.09 | 4.14 | -.05 |
| • Shaun Draughn | 76 | 3.46 | 3.52 | -.06 |
| Duke Johnson | 104 | 3.64 | 3.73 | -.09 |
| Melvin Gordon | 184 | 3.48 | 3.58 | -.10 |
| • Tim Hightower | 96 | 3.91 | 4.04 | -.13 |
| • Danny Woodhead | 98 | 3.43 | 3.57 | -.14 |
| Devonta Freeman | 265 | 3.98 | 4.16 | -.18 |
| Alfred Morris | 202 | 3.72 | 3.92 | -.20 |
| • Joique Bell | 90 | 3.46 | 3.76 | -.30 |
| • Darren Sproles | 83 | 3.82 | 4.16 | -.34 |
| Javorius Allen | 137 | 3.75 | 4.09 | -.34 |
| Ronnie Hillman | 207 | 4.17 | 4.52 | -.35 |
| Jeremy Langford | 148 | 3.63 | 4.02 | -.39 |
| • Joseph Randle | 76 | 4.12 | 4.63 | -.51 |
| • Chris Polk | 99 | 3.37 | 3.91 | -.54 |
| LeSean McCoy | 203 | 4.41 | 4.97 | -.56 |
| Matt Jones | 144 | 3.40 | 4.05 | -.65 |
| • Brandon Bolden | 63 | 3.29 | 4.02 | -.73 |
| Chris Johnson | 196 | 4.15 | 5.00 | -.85 |
| DeMarco Murray | 193 | 3.64 | 4.50 | -.86 |
| Charcandrick West | 160 | 3.96 | 4.86 | -.90 |
| • Khiry Robinson | 56 | 3.21 | 4.15 | -.94 |
| Marshawn Lynch | 111 | 3.76 | 4.71 | -.95 |
| • David Cobb | 52 | 2.81 | 3.82 | -1.01 |
| Jeremy Hill | 223 | 3.56 | 4.65 | -1.09 |
| • Arian Foster | 63 | 2.59 | 4.00 | -1.41 |
| • Andre Williams | 88 | 2.92 | 4.37 | -1.45 |
| • Tre Mason | 75 | 2.76 | 4.65 | -1.89 |
—Ian Allan