It has become part of conventional wisdom, I think, to suggest that teams are using running backs as receivers more than ever before. But that continues to not be supported by the evidence. Last year, I looked at the average receiving yards gained in each season by “running backs” in the NFL. Yes, I put running backs in quotes because I didn’t actually look at running backs because, well, positional designations can be a bit tricky the farther back in NFL history you go.
But here is what I did do, and let’s use 2017 as an example. Last year, Kareem Hunt led all players in rushing yards with 1,327. That represented 2.4% of all rushing yards in the NFL last season by all players who gained at least one rushing yard. Hunt was also a good receiver, adding 455 yards through the air. So when figuring out how many receiving yards the “average running backs” gained, 2.4% of that figure will be assigned 455 yards. Todd Gurley rushed for 2.3% of all NFL rushing yards and had 788 receiving yards; therefore, 2.3% of the “average running back” will be credited with 788 receiving yards. Le’Veon Bell was at 2.3% and 655 yards. Add those three together, and 7.0% of the receiving yards by the average running back will be based on an average of 633 receiving yards.
That’s a lot, but there were also eleven running backs with 750+ rushing yards and less than 250 receiving yards: LeGarrette Blount, Latavius Murray, Jordan Howard, Marshawn Lynch, Jay Ajayi, Bilal Powell, Isaiah Crowell, Alex Collins, Dion Lewis, C.J. Anderson, and Frank Gore. In 2016, the “average running back” had 228 receiving yards; in 2017, that number jumped to… 231 receiving yards. By comparison, in 2002, it was 292 receiving yards.
Now, what does this analysis miss? Running backs like Duke Johnson (348 rushing yards, 693 receiving yards), Christian McCaffrey (435, 651), Washington’s Chris Thompson (294, 510), Theo Riddick (286, 444) and James White (171, 429) who were very good receiving running backs but didn’t do much work on the ground. But I’d argue that those players existed, although in the stud running back era teams did rely more on one back for everything. For example, in 1985, there was Lionel James (516 rushing yards, 1,027 receiving yards), Butch Woolfolk (392, 814), Herman Hunter (121, 405), Timmy Newsome (252, 361), and Rich Erenberg (67, 326).
But I do think there may be something to this theory, which is why I added the word starting to the front of this post. There were 6 running backs with 500+ receiving yards last season, and 13 running backs with 400+ receiving yards. Those numbers are a bit high in the modern era, although not extraordinarily so:
What do you guys think?