Brett Williams Ryan Poh

Selected 5 elite NFL running backs: Eddie George Ricky Williams Curtis Martin Marshall Faulk Jerome Bettis Researched each players yards per carry and looked at their first 9 years in the NFL Graphed yards per carry by number of years in the NFL. Looked for years with steep drop offs in Yards per Carry for each player and looked for similarities between the players

George seems to have a steep drop off in yards per carry after his 5 th season.

Faulk seemed to do opposite of George Increase in yards per carry after 4 th season

Martin had no clear drop off or increase Cycle of good and bad years

No real drop off with Bettis either Series of good and bad years

Again no real drop off that lead to consistently bad years

All of these running backs played in the current era. Football has evolved, become more violent and physically taxing for players, especially running backs. All had relatively long careers (9-13 years) How many carries does it take until the yards per carry drops?

Rush YPC Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Dallas

Rush YPC Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis

Rush YPC New England New England New England NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets

Rush YPC St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh

Rush YPC New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans Miami Miami Miami Miami Miami Miami Miami

Eddie George saw a notable drop in YPC after 1763 carries. Marshall Faulks YPC didnt experience any large drop; however his rushes per season dropped dramatically after 2155 carries. Curtis Martins stats were similar to Marshall Faulks in respect to the lessening of a load, for him after 3298 carries. Unlike Marshall Faulk, his YPC did drop dramatically in that final season. Jerome Bettis is another example of the trend. His YPC stayed high throughout his career, but after 2461 carries his rushes per season dropped. Ricky Williams is an oddity. His stats show that his YPC and attempts fluctuate, and that it may not be age, but wear that affect the running back the most. At 2323 carries, he is approaching the point where we can expect things to slow down.

Running backs experience intense contact on nearly every play, more than any other position. This constant wear and tear deteriorates their bodies, making it difficult to maintain production. Eddie George was the only example that did not have a gradual lessening of the workload. This seems to be a large factor into why his YPC dropped so quickly. Also, backs like Eddie George and Jerome Bettis employed a violent, physical running style in which they actively sought out contact.

From these examples, no concrete number can be determined However, we do see that this effect should begin sometime after 1700 carries How the back manages carries after this amount is what will determine if his YPC will suffer