InIn one of the first posts at Football Perspective, I looked at the leaders in rushing yards over every 10-year period. The question asked in that article was who would ultimately lead the NFL in rushing yards from 2012 to 2021. We can now answer that question.
The answer may surprise you. I suggested that Trent Richardson was the obvious favorite. Among the names I offered as potential candidates were Mark Ingram, Dion Lewis, Jacquizz Rodgers, LeSean McCoy, Beanie Wells, DeMarco Murray, Doug Martin, David Wilson, Ronnie Hillman, Lamar Miller, Isaiah Pead, Kendall Hunter, and LaMichael James. I said that we could not rule out college stars like Marcus Lattimore or Michael Dyer or Montee Ball or Malcolm Brown or De’Anthony Thomas.
I said Ray Rice and Ryan Mathews, at 25-year-old in 2012, were probably too old to consider. That logic applied to 26-year-old stars Arian Foster and Marshawn Lynch. And while they may have been stud running backs, a quartet of 27-year-olds in Maurice Jones-Drew, Matt Forte, Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson were clearly too old to consider.
I did not include Ezekiel Elliott or Derrick Henry, as both players were still in high school. As it turns out, barring injury in 2021, they will both finish in the top 5 of rushing yards from 2012 to 2021 despite both entering the league in 2016. Ingram, who was a 2nd-year player in 2012, will fall to 6th when Henry and Elliott pass him. The top 3? In a big surprise, the 27-year-old Peterson — then still recovering from a torn ACL — will wind up third on the list, and just over 300 yards away from the decade-lead. I named the 24-year-old McCoy one of the top candidates, and he will wind up 2nd on the list. But the leader in rushing yards from 2012 to 2021?
He was not on my initial list. And that’s not because he was not yet in the NFL. When I wrote that article, there had never been a player who was 26 years or older at the start of a 10-year period to lead the league in rushing for the upcoming decade. To be safe, I looked at but eliminated the 26 and 27 year old running backs. I did not even consider including someone older than 27 years old, because if anything, the NFL had been gearing towards younger and younger running backs. In other words, I made a rookie mistake: I counted out Frank Gore.
Gore led the NFL in rushing yards from 2005 to 2014; Peterson led the NFL in rushing yards for the 10-year periods beginning in 2006, 2007, and 2008. McCoy was the king from 2009 to 2018 and 2010 to 2019. But the tortoise could not be ignored: Frank Gore not only led the NFL in rushing yards from 2011 to 2020, but he will also go on to lead the NFL in rushing yards from 2012 to 2021, barring something very odd from happening over the next three months.
The table below shows the leader over every 10-year period, with AAFC, AFL, and NFL statistics all lumped together. The “Beg Exp” shows how much NFL experience had at the start of the decade, with rookie seasons being a 1. So Barry Sanders, a rookie in 1989, gets a -2 in ’86, a -1 in ’87, and a 0 in ’88, before his 1 in his rookie season of 1989.
| Years | Rush Yds | Player | Beg Age | Beg Exp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932--1941 | 3860 | Clarke Hinkle | 23 | 1 |
| 1933--1942 | 3529 | Clarke Hinkle | 24 | 2 |
| 1934--1943 | 3132 | Tuffy Leemans | 22 | -1 |
| 1935--1944 | 3132 | Tuffy Leemans | 23 | 0 |
| 1936--1945 | 3132 | Tuffy Leemans | 24 | 1 |
| 1937--1946 | 2697 | Pug Manders | 24 | -1 |
| 1938--1947 | 2813 | Steve Van Buren | 18 | -5 |
| 1939--1948 | 3758 | Steve Van Buren | 19 | -4 |
| 1940--1949 | 4904 | Steve Van Buren | 20 | -3 |
| 1941--1950 | 5533 | Steve Van Buren | 21 | -2 |
| 1942--1951 | 5860 | Steve Van Buren | 22 | -1 |
| 1943--1952 | 5860 | Steve Van Buren | 23 | 0 |
| 1944--1953 | 5860 | Steve Van Buren | 24 | 1 |
| 1945--1954 | 5461 | Joe Perry | 18 | -2 |
| 1946--1955 | 6162 | Joe Perry | 19 | -1 |
| 1947--1956 | 6682 | Joe Perry | 20 | 0 |
| 1948--1957 | 7136 | Joe Perry | 21 | 1 |
| 1949--1958 | 7332 | Joe Perry | 22 | 2 |
| 1950--1959 | 7151 | Joe Perry | 23 | 3 |
| 1951--1960 | 6599 | Joe Perry | 24 | 4 |
| 1952--1961 | 6597 | Joe Perry | 25 | 5 |
| 1953--1962 | 7459 | Jim Brown | 17 | -3 |
| 1954--1963 | 9322 | Jim Brown | 18 | -2 |
| 1955--1964 | 10768 | Jim Brown | 19 | -1 |
| 1956--1965 | 12312 | Jim Brown | 20 | 0 |
| 1957--1966 | 12312 | Jim Brown | 21 | 1 |
| 1958--1967 | 11370 | Jim Brown | 22 | 2 |
| 1959--1968 | 9843 | Jim Brown | 23 | 3 |
| 1960--1969 | 8514 | Jim Brown | 24 | 4 |
| 1961--1970 | 7257 | Jim Brown | 25 | 5 |
| 1962--1971 | 6074 | Leroy Kelly | 20 | -1 |
| 1963--1972 | 6885 | Leroy Kelly | 21 | 0 |
| 1964--1973 | 7274 | Leroy Kelly | 22 | 1 |
| 1965--1974 | 7262 | Leroy Kelly | 23 | 2 |
| 1966--1975 | 8123 | O.J. Simpson | 19 | -2 |
| 1967--1976 | 9626 | O.J. Simpson | 20 | -1 |
| 1968--1977 | 10183 | O.J. Simpson | 21 | 0 |
| 1969--1978 | 10776 | O.J. Simpson | 22 | 1 |
| 1970--1979 | 10539 | O.J. Simpson | 23 | 2 |
| 1971--1980 | 10051 | O.J. Simpson | 24 | 3 |
| 1972--1981 | 10339 | Franco Harris | 22 | 1 |
| 1973--1982 | 10204 | Walter Payton | 19 | -1 |
| 1974--1983 | 11625 | Walter Payton | 20 | 0 |
| 1975--1984 | 13309 | Walter Payton | 21 | 1 |
| 1976--1985 | 14181 | Walter Payton | 22 | 2 |
| 1977--1986 | 14124 | Walter Payton | 23 | 3 |
| 1978--1987 | 12805 | Walter Payton | 24 | 4 |
| 1979--1988 | 11410 | Walter Payton | 25 | 5 |
| 1980--1989 | 11226 | Eric Dickerson | 20 | -2 |
| 1981--1990 | 11903 | Eric Dickerson | 21 | -1 |
| 1982--1991 | 12439 | Eric Dickerson | 22 | 0 |
| 1983--1992 | 13168 | Eric Dickerson | 23 | 1 |
| 1984--1993 | 11451 | Eric Dickerson | 24 | 2 |
| 1985--1994 | 9346 | Eric Dickerson | 25 | 3 |
| 1986--1995 | 10172 | Barry Sanders | 18 | -2 |
| 1987--1996 | 11725 | Barry Sanders | 19 | -1 |
| 1988--1997 | 13778 | Barry Sanders | 20 | 0 |
| 1989--1998 | 15269 | Barry Sanders | 21 | 1 |
| 1990--1999 | 13963 | Emmitt Smith | 21 | 1 |
| 1991--2000 | 14229 | Emmitt Smith | 22 | 2 |
| 1992--2001 | 13687 | Emmitt Smith | 23 | 3 |
| 1993--2002 | 12949 | Emmitt Smith | 24 | 4 |
| 1994--2003 | 11719 | Emmitt Smith | 25 | 5 |
| 1995--2004 | 13366 | Curtis Martin | 22 | 1 |
| 1996--2005 | 12614 | Curtis Martin | 23 | 2 |
| 1997--2006 | 11462 | Curtis Martin | 24 | 3 |
| 1998--2007 | 11607 | Edgerrin James | 20 | 0 |
| 1999--2008 | 12121 | Edgerrin James | 21 | 1 |
| 2000--2009 | 12490 | LaDainian Tomlinson | 21 | 0 |
| 2001--2010 | 13404 | LaDainian Tomlinson | 22 | 1 |
| 2002--2011 | 12448 | LaDainian Tomlinson | 23 | 2 |
| 2003--2012 | 10765 | LaDainian Tomlinson | 24 | 3 |
| 2004--2013 | 10681 | Steven Jackson | 21 | 1 |
| 2005--2014 | 11073 | Frank Gore | 22 | 1 |
| 2006--2015 | 11675 | Adrian Peterson | 21 | 0 |
| 2007--2016 | 11747 | Adrian Peterson | 22 | 1 |
| 2008--2017 | 10935 | Adrian Peterson | 23 | 2 |
| 2009--2018 | 10606 | LeSean McCoy | 21 | 1 |
| 2010--2019 | 10434 | LeSean McCoy | 22 | 2 |
| 2011--2020 | 9586 | Frank Gore | 28 | 7 |
There had been five players — HOFers Perry, Brown, Payton, Dickerson, and Smith — to lead the NFL in rushing yards for a decade during their ages 25 to 34 years. Nobody has ever done it during their age 26 to 35 years, but Gore has done it during his ages 27 to 36 and 28 to 37 years. Just remarkable. He will cede the crown from 2013 to 2022 to either Henry or Elliott next year, but Gore has pulled off one of the most unlikely feats in NFL history. He also became the first player to once again lead the NFL in rushing yards over multiple decades after losing the crown.