Alvin Kamara, And The Best Running Backs Over The Last Year

by Chase Stuart on October 4, 2018

The table below shows the main statistics for the top running backs from week 5 of the 2017 season through week 4 of the 2018 season:

Rk	Player	G	Rsh	Rush Yd	YPC	Rec	Rec Yd	TD	YFS	YFS/G
1	Ezekiel Elliott	10	239	1132	4.74	25	276	9	1408	140.8
2	Le'Veon Bell	11	234	967	4.13	68	557	8	1524	138.5
3	Todd Gurley	15	272	1281	4.71	59	748	18	2029	135.3
4	Alvin Kamara	16	161	920	5.71	97	1015	17	1935	120.9
5	Saquon Barkley	4	56	260	4.64	27	193	3	453	113.3
6	Melvin Gordon	16	284	1213	4.27	69	578	14	1791	111.9
7	Mark Ingram	12	188	954	5.07	43	291	12	1245	103.8
8	Adrian Peterson	9	185	684	3.7	14	166	5	850	94.4
9	Leonard Fournette	11	207	826	3.99	28	196	6	1022	92.9
10	Kareem Hunt	16	275	1114	4.05	44	357	9	1471	91.9
11	LeSean McCoy	15	240	1007	4.2	46	326	8	1333	88.9
12	Marshawn Lynch	15	230	1040	4.52	27	184	9	1224	81.6
13	Christian McCaffrey	15	132	617	4.67	80	602	7	1219	81.3
14	Dion Lewis	16	211	993	4.71	45	298	9	1291	80.7
15	Devonta Freeman	11	132	616	4.67	30	261	3	877	79.7
16	Phillip Lindsay	4	45	267	5.93	5	45	2	312	78
17	Joe Mixon	12	164	669	4.08	25	266	5	935	77.9
18	Jerick McKinnon	12	141	544	3.86	43	381	5	925	77.1
19	Jordan Howard	16	277	1073	3.87	23	153	6	1226	76.6
20	Chris Carson	3	45	177	3.93	5	50	1	227	75.7
21	Chris Thompson	9	59	235	3.98	45	430	3	665	73.9
22	Alex Collins	16	232	925	3.99	31	257	9	1182	73.9
23	Carlos Hyde	16	258	904	3.5	46	277	11	1181	73.8
24	David Johnson	4	56	187	3.34	13	104	3	291	72.8
25	Frank Gore	16	235	909	3.87	27	236	3	1145	71.6
26	Jay Ajayi	14	194	844	4.35	23	152	5	996	71.1
27	Lamar Miller	16	228	856	3.75	34	261	5	1117	69.8
28	Dalvin Cook	3	36	98	2.72	9	107	0	205	68.3
29	Sony Michel	3	49	196	4	2	6	1	202	67.3
30	Kerryon Johnson	4	38	216	5.68	11	53	1	269	67.3
31	Orleans Darkwa	12	158	698	4.42	16	103	5	801	66.8
32	Isaiah Crowell	16	202	890	4.41	28	156	6	1046	65.4
33	Latavius Murray	16	221	868	3.93	20	140	8	1008	63
34	Bilal Powell	15	168	702	4.18	24	231	4	933	62.2
35	C.J. Anderson	15	184	752	4.09	19	181	3	933	62.2
36	DeMarco Murray	11	142	444	3.13	33	238	6	682	62
37	Kenyan Drake	17	163	748	4.59	39	287	5	1035	60.9
38	Jamaal Williams	16	191	686	3.59	28	283	6	969	60.6
39	Tevin Coleman	15	181	657	3.63	24	230	9	887	59.1
40	Matt Breida	16	126	707	5.61	26	238	4	945	59.1
41	Matt Forte	9	80	287	3.59	31	235	3	522	58
42	T.J. Yeldon	14	98	458	4.67	44	349	5	807	57.6
43	Duke Johnson	16	84	331	3.94	63	570	5	901	56.3
44	Mike Davis	9	92	344	3.74	21	160	2	504	56
45	Royce Freeman	4	44	219	4.98	1	5	3	224	56
46	Derrick Henry	16	191	729	3.82	13	138	5	867	54.2
47	Giovani Bernard	16	121	524	4.33	49	333	5	857	53.6
48	Samaje Perine	12	129	460	3.57	20	176	2	636	53
49	Kapri Bibbs	4	23	82	3.57	14	128	1	210	52.5
50	Rex Burkhead	11	83	332	4	29	236	7	568	51.6

Saints running back Alvin Kamara has emerged from change of pace star to one of the most impactful offensive players in the NFL. Over the last year, Kamara has a remarkable 1,015 receiving yards and 920 rushing yards, all while averaging 5.71 yards per carry. Remove the game against the Falcons where Kamara was limited to 6 snaps due to an early injury, and he’s averaging 127.2 yards from scrimmage over the last calendar year.

The other top backs around Kamara include Le’Veon Bell, perhaps the best running back in football, and high first round picks such as Ezekiel Elliott, Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon, and now Saquon Barkley. That makes Kamara’s success even more unbelievable, since he was not a star in college. In fact, Kamara had just 1,977 yards from scrimmage in 24 games with Tennessee, and only 683 receiving yards! Kamara has 715 receiving yards in his last 10 games alone, and that includes the injury game against Atlanta.

Kamara has played 20 career games, and has now topped 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards. Very few players have ever averaged 50 rushing yards/game, 50 receiving yards/game, and 5.0 yards per carry in a season, but Kamara has now done that for an impressive 20 game stretch.

Oh, and he’s scored 20 touchdowns in 20 games, too.

Tagged as: Alvin Kamara, Todd Gurley

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