Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

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Innovative Statistics

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RUNNING BACKS 2007

Regular season totals, playoffs not included

Revised as of 8/31/2012

Running backs are ranked according to DYAR, or Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement. This gives the value of the performance on plays where this RB carried/caught the ball compared to replacement level, adjusted for situation and opponent and then translated into yardage. DYAR (and its cousin, YAR, which isn't adjusted based on opponent) is further explained here.

The next statistic given is DVOA, or Defense-adjusted Value Over Average. This number represents value, per play, over an average running back in the same game situations. The more positive the DVOA rating, the better the player's performance. Negative DVOA represents below-average offense. DVOA (and its cousin, VOA, which isn't adjusted based on opponent) is further explained here.

The simple version: DYAR means a running back with more total value. DVOA means a running back with more value per play.

Effective Yards, listed in red, translate DVOA into a yards per attempt figure. This provides an easy comparison: in general, players with more Effective Yards than standard yards played better than standard stats would otherwise indicate, while players with fewer Effective Yards than standard yards played worse than standard stats would otherwise indicate. Effective Yards are not the best way to measure total value because they are more dependent on usage than DYAR.

The final statistic is Success Rate. This number represents the player's consistency, measured by successful running plays (the definition of success being different based on down and distance) divided by total running plays. A player with higher DVOA and a low success rate mixes long runs with downs getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage. A player with lower DVOA and a high success rate generally gets the yards needed, but doesn't often get more. Success Rate is further explained here. It is not adjusted for opponent.

  • These numbers do not separate the performance of a running back from the performance of his offensive line. (You'll find numbers that try to do that on this page.) Be aware that one will affect the other.
  • All fumbles are considered equal, whether recovered by the offense or defense.

Clicking on a player's name will bring you to his FO player page with advanced stats through the most recent season.

RUSHING: Minimum 100 rushes, 49 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Runs Yards EYds TD FUM Suc
Rate		 Rk
B.Westbrook PHI 339 1 285 1 20.1% 3 18.8% 278 1,333 1,555 7 0 53% 7
L.Tomlinson SD 285 2 250 2 13.8% 11 13.9% 315 1,474 1,578 15 0 45% 28
B.Jacobs NYG 230 3 227 4 18.1% 5 21.6% 201 1,017 1,059 4 4 57% 4
A.Peterson MIN 229 4 209 5 16.8% 6 17.3% 238 1,344 1,158 12 5 45% 29
J.Addai IND 221 5 227 3 12.0% 15 14.7% 260 1,071 1,347 12 0 55% 6
M.Barber DAL 221 6 177 8 18.8% 4 15.4% 203 984 1,144 10 1 49% 13
L.Maroney NE 201 7 187 6 16.6% 7 17.6% 185 835 999 6 0 58% 2
K.Watson CIN 184 8 157 9 13.6% 12 16.0% 178 763 915 7 2 56% 5
E.Graham TB 167 9 157 10 10.3% 18 11.4% 221 901 1,108 10 0 50% 11
F.Taylor JAC 164 10 143 11 10.5% 17 9.8% 223 1,225 1,017 5 2 45% 32
R.Brown MIA 160 11 182 7 21.3% 2 28.8% 119 602 704 4 0 51% 9
J.Lewis CLE 149 12 47 25 2.4% 24 -0.6% 298 1,304 1,287 9 4 45% 31
J.Norwood ATL 137 13 128 12 27.6% 1 26.0% 101 615 569 1 0 49% 15
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Runs Yards EYds TD FUM Suc
Rate		 Rk
F.Gore SF 128 14 56 23 4.4% 22 -0.6% 260 1,102 1,080 5 3 42% 39
K.Keith IND 125 15 120 13 15.2% 9 16.8% 121 533 691 3 1 58% 1
R.Grant GB 124 16 119 14 10.9% 16 9.7% 189 954 910 8 1 47% 17
N.Davenport PIT 119 17 93 17 16.2% 8 15.5% 107 500 630 5 1 52% 8
D.Ward NYG 111 18 92 18 13.0% 14 12.4% 125 598 629 3 2 46% 20
D.Williams CAR 106 19 96 16 13.8% 10 14.6% 143 716 619 4 0 41% 41
C.Brown TEN 100 20 102 15 13.4% 13 15.9% 102 463 546 5 1 57% 3
C.Taylor MIN 95 21 80 19 8.4% 20 8.1% 157 848 692 7 5 46% 27
S.Young DEN 89 22 68 22 9.4% 19 7.4% 140 759 625 1 1 43% 35
M.Jones-Drew JAC 85 23 68 21 3.7% 23 5.3% 167 770 804 9 1 46% 25
E.James ARI 83 24 38 29 -1.1% 27 -3.1% 323 1,230 1,302 7 4 46% 23
J.Fargas OAK 82 25 75 20 1.5% 25 2.2% 222 1,009 926 4 3 46% 21
M.Morris SEA 63 26 33 30 1.3% 26 -0.6% 141 629 622 4 2 51% 10
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Runs Yards EYds TD FUM Suc
Rate		 Rk
M.Lynch BUF 59 27 20 33 -4.8% 33 -4.0% 280 1,115 1,077 7 1 45% 30
C.Portis WAS 57 28 13 34 -3.4% 31 -5.3% 325 1,252 1,276 11 6 46% 22
A.Stecker NO 55 29 49 24 5.0% 21 4.7% 114 444 548 5 1 50% 12
K.Jones DET 52 30 -6 35 -1.6% 28 -4.1% 153 581 652 8 2 47% 18
T.Henry DEN 42 31 46 26 -2.7% 30 1.0% 167 691 672 4 3 46% 24
R.Dayne HOU 33 32 45 27 -4.2% 32 -0.5% 195 771 809 6 2 48% 16
K.Smith KC 25 33 42 28 -2.6% 29 3.3% 112 407 452 2 0 49% 14
W.McGahee BAL 21 34 21 32 -7.6% 38 -3.2% 294 1,207 1,047 7 4 42% 38
J.Chatman MIA 16 35 -9 37 -7.0% 37 -6.6% 128 515 483 1 0 41% 40
J.Jones DAL 16 36 -7 36 -6.5% 35 -6.9% 164 603 558 2 0 37% 48
S.Jackson STL 14 37 -32 39 -7.0% 36 -8.5% 238 1,000 862 5 4 43% 33
L.White TEN 13 38 23 31 -5.7% 34 -3.1% 303 1,115 1,126 7 5 46% 26
T.Jones NYJ -3 39 -83 44 -10.9% 39 -11.4% 310 1,126 1,082 1 2 43% 34
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Runs Yards EYds TD FUM Suc
Rate		 Rk
L.Jordan OAK -26 40 -26 38 -13.1% 42 -8.9% 145 549 468 3 1 37% 47
W.Parker PIT -34 41 -58 41 -11.9% 40 -10.7% 320 1,290 1,005 2 4 42% 37
L.Johnson KC -38 42 -58 40 -13.5% 43 -14.5% 158 559 497 3 1 41% 42
A.Peterson CHI -43 43 -72 43 -13.0% 41 -16.8% 151 511 488 3 2 38% 45
C.Benson CHI -63 44 -71 42 -16.0% 45 -14.7% 196 676 585 4 4 40% 43
Sh.Alexander SEA -67 45 -114 47 -17.0% 46 -19.0% 207 716 614 4 2 38% 46
D.Foster CAR -71 46 -89 46 -14.7% 44 -13.7% 247 893 751 3 5 43% 36
R.Bush NO -72 47 -86 45 -18.6% 47 -18.2% 157 569 464 4 7 46% 19
R.Johnson CIN -75 48 -137 48 -19.1% 48 -25.8% 170 497 492 3 3 39% 44
W.Dunn ATL -116 49 -147 49 -20.0% 49 -21.9% 227 721 635 4 2 37% 49

RUSHING, OTHERS: 20-99 rushes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Runs Yards EYds TD FUM
S.Morris NE 98 86 15.0% 16.1% 85 384 480 3 0
P.Thomas NO 89 71 34.6% 30.5% 50 251 322 1 0
C.Buckhalter PHI 84 69 21.8% 20.7% 62 313 361 4 0
D.Dorsey CIN 73 71 68.6% 74.2% 21 183 190 0 0
K.Faulk NE 68 56 14.7% 14.6% 62 265 327 0 0
H.Evans NE 60 35 20.3% 18.8% 34 121 252 3 0
F.Jackson BUF 60 63 19.6% 21.1% 58 300 298 0 0
A.Bradshaw NYG 59 42 50.8% 36.4% 23 190 182 1 0
T.J.Duckett DET 53 53 12.4% 13.4% 65 335 323 3 1
D.Walker HOU 47 41 11.3% 12.1% 58 264 282 1 0
D.Wynn GB 46 24 13.2% 5.6% 50 203 250 4 0
J.Harrison CLE 46 50 40.2% 47.6% 23 142 153 0 0
J.Wright CLE 42 42 5.7% 10.5% 60 277 286 1 1
L.Weaver SEA 40 36 16.3% 15.7% 33 146 207 1 0
C.Williams TB 38 25 11.3% 6.2% 54 208 273 3 1
L.Booker MIA 36 25 15.5% 12.1% 28 125 169 0 0
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Runs Yards EYds TD FUM
A.Green HOU 33 29 3.7% 4.5% 70 260 298 2 0
L.Washington NYJ 28 29 2.2% 4.7% 71 353 282 3 1
M.Moore MIN 24 26 33.1% 35.0% 20 114 96 0 1
D.Rhodes OAK 20 29 -1.2% 3.9% 75 302 308 1 1
B.Leonard STL 16 -12 -4.9% -9.0% 86 303 305 0 0
D.Sproles SD 12 15 1.0% 4.5% 37 164 141 2 0
R.Droughns NYG 11 -40 -6.7% -8.4% 85 274 410 6 1
M.Sellers WAS 11 -1 -1.9% -3.0% 26 78 153 2 0
T.Bell DET 8 1 -5.7% -6.0% 44 182 167 1 1
S.Gado HOU 8 -18 -7.6% -13.0% 53 150 206 4 0
A.Hall DEN 8 -18 -3.7% -12.6% 44 213 167 2 1
M.Bennett KC 5 -4 -3.7% -6.8% 60 237 225 1 0
B.Jackson GB 3 -22 -8.7% -11.7% 75 267 264 1 0
M.Pittman TB 3 0 -4.8% -5.9% 68 286 231 0 0
D.Wright BUF 2 8 -5.8% -0.2% 29 94 115 0 0
G.Jones JAC 2 6 -5.5% -3.0% 42 119 169 2 0
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Runs Yards EYds TD FUM
A.Pittman STL 2 -12 -8.0% -12.0% 38 139 127 0 0
M.Hicks SF -1 -4 -9.6% -10.0% 21 117 62 1 1
V.Morency GB -2 -6 -8.0% -10.6% 29 108 90 0 0
C.Henry TEN -12 0 -13.3% -6.5% 31 119 92 2 0
D.McAllister NO -12 -18 -21.0% -23.5% 24 92 62 0 1
A.Echemandu HOU -13 -16 -22.6% -21.6% 20 85 53 0 1
L.Betts WAS -13 -25 -12.4% -12.4% 92 337 305 1 1
K.Eckel NE -17 -26 -20.0% -22.0% 33 90 102 2 0
M.Robinson SF -20 -16 -26.5% -20.6% 26 121 61 0 1
P.Holmes KC -29 -27 -26.0% -21.3% 46 137 101 0 0
C.Dawson IND -30 -35 -31.5% -36.7% 30 64 56 1 0
A.Thomas BUF -30 -28 -28.7% -23.8% 36 89 84 0 0
M.Smith BAL -30 -48 -19.5% -22.8% 75 264 197 2 1
G.Wolfe CHI -34 -37 -40.4% -40.8% 31 85 36 0 0
J.J.Arrington ARI -36 -40 -43.2% -43.7% 26 78 31 0 0
M.Turner SD -52 -48 -27.4% -23.1% 71 316 153 1 1

RECEIVING: Minimum 25 passes, 58 players ranked

  • Passes includes all passes to this receiver, complete and incomplete.
  • Catch Rate is the percentage of passes completed to this receiver.
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
B.Westbrook PHI 188 1 221 1 12.3% 23 16.9% 120 771 902 5 75% 1
R.Brown MIA 167 2 166 2 55.0% 1 54.4% 46 389 514 1 85% 0
M.Jones-Drew JAC 157 3 140 5 37.0% 5 31.3% 55 407 546 0 73% 1
J.Addai IND 150 4 143 4 42.6% 2 39.7% 50 365 501 3 84% 0
K.Faulk NE 149 5 154 3 32.0% 8 33.5% 59 383 542 1 80% 1
L.Tomlinson SD 133 6 107 9 15.1% 20 9.4% 86 475 601 3 70% 0
F.Gore SF 122 7 114 7 17.1% 16 15.1% 69 436 532 1 77% 1
J.Lewis CLE 106 8 99 10 36.6% 6 33.0% 39 248 371 2 77% 0
L.Weaver SEA 97 9 89 12 20.9% 12 17.9% 52 313 400 0 75% 0
C.Portis WAS 95 10 111 8 15.1% 19 19.9% 58 389 433 0 81% 0
A.Peterson MIN 93 11 114 6 41.3% 3 53.4% 29 267 314 1 69% 0
T.Jones NYJ 90 12 77 16 40.6% 4 32.8% 34 217 304 1 82% 0
L.Booker MIA 87 13 90 11 27.9% 9 29.2% 36 237 330 0 78% 0
A.Peterson CHI 73 14 81 14 7.9% 26 10.4% 65 420 387 0 78% 1
J.Jones DAL 72 15 83 13 36.4% 7 44.2% 26 203 251 0 88% 0
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
J.Wright CLE 67 16 72 17 18.9% 14 20.9% 37 233 286 0 65% 0
J.Fargas OAK 67 17 55 21 27.5% 10 20.5% 32 188 253 0 72% 0
C.Taylor MIN 66 18 70 18 16.4% 17 18.4% 43 281 291 0 67% 0
M.Morris SEA 62 19 54 22 20.9% 13 16.2% 32 213 256 1 72% 0
J.Norwood ATL 61 20 61 19 14.0% 22 14.4% 41 275 281 0 73% 0
A.Stecker NO 59 21 50 23 8.7% 25 5.3% 43 215 308 0 86% 0
L.Jordan OAK 58 22 81 15 15.9% 18 27.9% 34 247 257 0 82% 0
N.Davenport PIT 51 23 58 20 25.8% 11 30.8% 27 184 198 2 67% 0
W.Parker PIT 49 24 47 24 14.7% 21 13.3% 32 191 226 0 75% 0
K.Watson CIN 49 25 32 29 0.1% 31 -4.7% 67 374 355 0 78% 1
R.Bush NO 47 26 19 35 -5.8% 33 -10.5% 98 417 516 2 74% 0
M.Lynch BUF 46 27 45 26 17.2% 15 16.8% 26 184 200 0 69% 1
J.Griffith OAK 42 28 30 30 5.3% 28 -0.1% 36 165 242 1 72% 0
J.J.Arrington ARI 42 29 46 25 6.5% 27 8.7% 39 241 233 1 74% 0
W.McGahee BAL 40 30 30 31 1.3% 30 -2.6% 49 231 273 1 88% 0
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
F.Jackson BUF 39 31 41 27 12.0% 24 13.2% 30 190 190 0 73% 0
M.Smith BAL 37 32 35 28 5.1% 29 4.3% 34 192 214 0 79% 0
B.Leonard STL 18 33 14 36 -5.4% 32 -7.3% 39 183 192 0 77% 0
S.Young DEN 17 34 23 33 -6.4% 34 -3.9% 43 231 202 0 81% 1
L.Washington NYJ 17 35 20 34 -8.0% 37 -6.9% 51 213 246 0 71% 0
L.Betts WAS 13 36 11 38 -7.4% 35 -8.4% 33 172 166 1 67% 0
E.James ARI 10 37 10 40 -9.1% 38 -9.3% 39 196 172 0 64% 1
K.Smith KC 9 38 10 39 -7.4% 36 -6.9% 29 148 119 0 76% 0
S.Jackson STL 5 39 -4 45 -12.2% 39 -15.3% 52 271 209 1 73% 2
K.Jones DET 3 40 11 37 -12.7% 41 -9.5% 44 197 181 0 73% 0
R.Dayne HOU 2 41 -8 47 -12.4% 40 -19.7% 26 112 108 0 65% 0
M.Barber DAL -5 42 28 32 -15.4% 42 -4.9% 55 273 216 2 82% 2
L.White TEN -5 43 1 42 -17.0% 43 -13.2% 31 114 108 0 65% 0
V.Morency GB -9 44 -3 43 -18.0% 44 -15.1% 39 199 133 0 77% 1
D.Ward NYG -10 45 -9 48 -18.6% 46 -18.0% 40 179 137 1 65% 0
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
L.Johnson KC -11 46 -4 44 -18.5% 45 -15.7% 42 186 141 1 71% 0
B.Jacobs NYG -14 47 -10 49 -20.4% 47 -18.4% 38 174 124 2 61% 1
M.Pittman TB -17 48 -20 51 -21.2% 49 -22.6% 39 191 126 0 67% 1
D.Foster CAR -20 49 -20 52 -23.2% 50 -23.6% 36 180 109 1 69% 2
Sh.Alexander SEA -21 50 -35 55 -29.6% 55 -39.9% 25 76 52 1 56% 0
D.Williams CAR -23 51 -33 54 -24.8% 51 -29.4% 39 176 104 1 64% 1
C.Benson CHI -27 52 -5 46 -31.2% 56 -17.2% 28 120 55 0 64% 0
E.Graham TB -27 53 4 41 -20.7% 48 -12.8% 70 321 230 0 71% 1
V.Leach HOU -28 54 -44 56 -26.6% 53 -33.8% 33 108 99 2 76% 2
J.Chatman MIA -29 55 -20 50 -27.3% 54 -22.8% 37 161 96 0 73% 1
W.Dunn ATL -37 56 -54 57 -26.0% 52 -31.6% 59 238 142 0 63% 0
R.Grant GB -39 57 -27 53 -32.2% 57 -26.9% 37 145 71 0 81% 1
K.Wilson KC -74 58 -75 58 -40.3% 58 -40.9% 50 184 47 1 48% 2

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 10-24 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
B.Askew TB 85 89 63.1% 67.1% 20 175 254 0 90% 0
P.Thomas NO 53 61 25.1% 31.2% 23 152 205 1 83% 0
D.Walker HOU 43 38 31.1% 25.5% 15 81 157 0 87% 0
G.Jones JAC 41 30 17.0% 8.8% 19 99 180 2 58% 0
R.Johnson CIN 41 39 34.1% 32.3% 16 110 145 1 81% 0
C.Brown TEN 38 32 19.2% 13.9% 21 128 161 0 90% 0
M.Strong SEA 34 33 34.8% 33.1% 12 72 121 0 75% 0
L.Vickers CLE 33 21 7.8% -0.1% 24 91 180 2 54% 0
M.Robinson SF 29 25 31.8% 25.9% 13 73 104 0 85% 0
A.Cason DET 20 27 13.3% 23.1% 16 129 92 0 88% 1
T.Minor STL 19 22 7.8% 11.4% 17 86 103 0 71% 0
M.Hicks SF 17 13 6.5% 1.5% 16 86 96 0 88% 0
A.Thomas BUF 17 18 4.3% 4.9% 20 95 101 1 75% 0
D.Wynn GB 17 22 10.2% 17.9% 14 73 84 0 64% 0
S.Gado 2TM 15 11 8.3% 2.3% 13 106 82 0 92% 1
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
T.Smith ARI 15 17 10.3% 12.2% 11 59 78 0 64% 0
K.Keith IND 15 12 0.0% -3.0% 23 77 109 1 57% 0
G.Wolfe CHI 14 12 7.6% 3.6% 13 117 62 0 69% 1
B.Jackson GB 12 18 -3.7% 0.9% 22 130 110 0 73% 0
T.Richardson MIN 10 10 -1.8% -1.2% 16 89 78 0 69% 1
A.Green HOU 9 -2 -3.6% -15.9% 18 123 85 0 78% 0
M.Karney NO 9 4 -5.7% -10.3% 19 78 102 0 68% 0
A.Hall TEN 8 6 -0.9% -3.3% 12 60 60 0 75% 0
C.Buckhalter PHI 5 15 -9.8% -1.2% 21 87 94 0 57% 0
B.Hoover CAR 4 6 -8.7% -6.3% 14 58 69 0 71% 0
K.Hall GB 3 12 -9.6% 4.1% 11 49 52 0 73% 0
F.Taylor JAC 1 -5 -12.8% -20.6% 14 58 52 0 64% 0
M.Hedgecock 2TM -3 0 -18.2% -13.6% 12 52 44 0 58% 0
C.Davis PIT -4 -8 -19.5% -24.3% 14 49 44 0 86% 0
M.Sellers WAS -6 3 -18.0% -11.6% 24 117 87 1 71% 1
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
T.Tapeh PHI -6 0 -24.0% -14.3% 11 50 31 0 73% 0
T.Henry DEN -8 -1 -24.6% -15.9% 14 65 35 0 50% 0
M.Norris SF -10 -11 -30.1% -30.5% 11 38 24 0 55% 0
O.Mughelli ATL -12 -15 -33.8% -39.7% 10 36 17 0 60% 0
L.McClain BAL -13 -15 -30.1% -33.0% 13 55 30 1 69% 1
P.Holmes KC -13 -13 -39.4% -41.0% 10 17 9 0 50% 0
M.Bennett 2TM -18 -16 -29.5% -27.8% 23 107 44 1 70% 2
D.Sproles SD -20 -23 -44.3% -49.6% 12 31 6 0 83% 0
L.Neal SD -25 -24 -51.6% -50.7% 11 23 -4 1 73% 1
D.Rhodes OAK -25 -17 -40.8% -32.2% 18 70 14 0 61% 0
R.Droughns NYG -30 -22 -54.7% -43.8% 15 49 -10 0 47% 0
M.Shipp ARI -31 -31 -56.6% -57.9% 14 25 -12 0 29% 0
T.Bell DET -33 -34 -44.5% -45.6% 21 63 9 0 67% 0
C.Sapp DEN -34 -36 -39.8% -41.3% 20 51 23 1 70% 0
J.McKie CHI -35 -34 -49.0% -47.4% 15 33 -1 0 60% 0