The top 102 running backs by career rushing yards, NFL
How the NFL's greatest running backs rose, peaked, and declined
Every season of the 102 running backs with the most career rushing yards on Pro-Football-Reference, from their first year to their last. Half of them had their best season between ages — and —, and the group's average climbs fast, peaks early, and falls off steeply, years sooner than in baseball.
Running backs
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Seasons played
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Average career, in seasons
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Average age in best season
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Average rushing yards in best season
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Rushing yards by season of career, all 102 running backs
Each thin line is one back's seasons. The thick line is the average of everyone who played that season, and the shaded band holds the middle half of them. Bars along the bottom count how many backs are in each point. Point at the chart to see the numbers.
- Average
- Middle half of backs
- Each back
- Highlighted back
- Bo Jackson
- Bo Jackson, projected full-time and healthy
Yards per carry and rushing yards per game count a season only with at least — carries, so a few runs can't swing a line. The average is drawn where at least — backs have a season. Seasons were 12 games until 1960, 14 until 1977, 16 until 2020, and 17 since 2021, so counting stats run higher in longer seasons. The page's address keeps your choices, so you can share a view.
Every back's arc
The same stat and line-up as the chart above, one small chart each, in order of career rushing yards. All share one scale, and the dot marks each back's best season for the stat. Choose one to highlight it above.
Careers at a glance
Rank is among these 102 running backs. All-time rank is Pro-Football-Reference's career rushing yards rank, with quarterbacks and everyone else in it. Best season is the season with the most rushing yards. Choose a row to highlight that back in the charts.
What if Bo Jackson had played football full time, and stayed healthy?
Bo Jackson played for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1987 to 1990, joining them each fall once the baseball season was over, so he never played a full NFL season. A hip injury in a playoff game in January 1991 ended his football career. He isn't one of the 102, so his lines on the chart are kept out of the averages.
Projected from the backs whose seasons from 25 to 28 looked most like his, a full-time, healthy Bo Jackson would have finished with about — rushing yards and — rushing touchdowns in — games. That would put him —, and about — all-time on Pro-Football-Reference's career rushing list. The last spot on this page takes — yards.
His actual and projected careers
| Career | Games | Carries | Rush yds | Yds/carry | Rush TD | Rec | Rec yds | Rec TD | Scrimmage yds | Total TD | AV |
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Why it isn't higher: per game, he was about as productive as the 102 at the same ages, and more explosive. From 25 to 28 he ran for — yards a game at — yards a carry, against — yards a game at — a carry for the 102. What he lacked was time. He played — games in those four seasons, where the backs most like him played —, and he started at 25, after college and baseball, where the 102 started at — on average. Running backs wear down fast, so the projection adds only a few seasons after 28.
Hall of Fame: of the — players on Pro-Football-Reference's career rushing list within 1,000 yards of his projection (— to —), — are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Season by season
| Season | Age | Team | Games | Carries | Rush yds | Yds/carry | Rush TD | Rec | Rec yds | Scrimmage yds | Total TD | AV |
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How the projection works: the 10 backs among the 102 whose rushing yards per game and yards per carry from 25 to 28 were most like Bo's were —. Each projected season gives him those 10 backs' average games at that age, counting a back who had retired as zero, so the seasons shrink as their careers ended. From 25 to 28 he plays them at his own per-game rate; from 29 on, his rate changes as theirs did from what they did at 25 to 28. His real seasons are part-time, so the projected ones from 1987 to 1990 are bigger than the real ones. All-time ranks count everyone on Pro-Football-Reference's list, quarterbacks included.
About the data
- Who's in it
- Pro-Football-Reference's career leaders in rushing yards who played running back or fullback: everyone in order down its list, leaving out the quarterbacks and others, until there were 100, and then the next two after Neal Anderson: Ken Willard and Deuce McAllister (Michael Vick, between them, is a quarterback). That's 102. Active backs' arcs aren't finished.
- Approximate Value (AV)
- Pro-Football-Reference's single number for a player's season, worth comparing across positions and years, much like WAR in baseball.
- Seasons
- One row per regular season, using the season totals for a player who changed teams. Years a player missed entirely leave a gap. Age is the player's age as Pro-Football-Reference lists it for the season.
- Years from best season
- Lines each back up on his season with the most rushing yards, at 0, whatever stat is shown.
- Bo Jackson
- His real seasons from his Pro-Football-Reference page, and a projection of a full-time, healthy career, worked out on this page as the Bo Jackson section explains. A projection is an estimate, not a record.
- Source
- Stats from Pro-Football-Reference.com: its career rushing yards leaders and each player's rushing and receiving table, downloaded November 8, 2026. Hall of Fame is as Pro-Football-Reference marked it then.