Who Has The Most Rushing Yards In The NFL?
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We all know that running the ball is a key part of any winning football team. But who are the NFL’s top rushing leaders? Read on to find out!
Emmitt Smith
Emmitt Smith is a former American football running back who played for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL) for fifteen seasons. Smith is the NFL’s all-time rushing yards leader, with 18,355 career rushing yards.
Rushing Yards
Emmitt Smith is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. He played running back for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals from 1990 to 2004. Smith is the only back in NFL history to rush for more than 18,000 yards. He also holds the record for most rushing yards in a single season, with 2,105 yards in 1995.
Touchdowns
Emmitt Smith holds the NFL record for most career rushing touchdowns with 164. He played for the Dallas Cowboys from 1990 to 2002, and is considered one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. In his 15-year career, Smith amassed 18,355 rushing yards and had 21 100-yard rushing games.
Barry Sanders
Barry Sanders was a running back for the Detroit Lions from 1989 to 1998. He was known for his quickness, agility, and elusiveness. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time. He is the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing yards per game.
Rushing Yards
In 1993, Sanders had the second highest rushing yards total in a season, with 1,883.
Touchdowns
BarrySanders had 99 touchdowns in his pro career, which spanned 10 seasons from 1989 to 1998. He ranks 8thall-time in rushing TDs and his 2,053 career rushing yards are the 4thmost in NFL history.
Walter Payton
From 1977 to 1987, Payton was the NFL’s premier rushing back, gaining more yards than any other player in that span. In fact, his 10,262 yards from scrimmage during that 11-year period were the most in NFL history.
Rushing Yards
Walter Payton ran for 16,726 yards in his 13-year NFL career, an average of 1,287 yards per season. He is the only player in NFL history to average more than 1,200 rushing yards per season for his career. Payton averaged 4.4 yards per carry and had 110 rushing touchdowns in his career. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.
Touchdowns
Payton rushed for a touchdown in every game he played in during his NFL career, a total of 110 times.
Eric Dickerson
Eric Dickerson is a former NFL running back who played for the Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts, and the Oakland Raiders. He was drafted in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft. Dickerson is the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing yards with 11,226.
Rushing Yards
In American football, the distinction of most career rushing yards gained has been held by many different players. The record is currently held by Emmitt Smith, who rushed for 18,355 yards over the course of his career. Dickerson’s single-season record of 2,105 yards (set in 1984) stood for 23 years before being broken by Adrian Peterson in 2007. He also holds the NFL’s rookie rushing record with 1,808 yards gained during the 1983 season.
Touchdowns
Eric Dickerson ran for 13,259 yards and scored 78 touchdowns during his Hall of Fame career. He played for the Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Raiders and Atlanta Falcons.
Adrian Peterson
Adrian Peterson is an American football running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Vikings seventh overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. Peterson ran for 1,760 yards in his rookie season, then an NFL record for a rookie. In 2010, he became the fifth fastest player to run for 5,000 yards, doing so in his 51st game.
Rushing Yards
In American football, the rushing yards leader is the annual leader in rushing yards determined by the highest regular season rushing total. The record for most rushing yards in a season is 2,105, set by Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. Dickerson’s record was broken by Jamal Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens in 2003, who rushed for 2,106 yards. Lewis’ record was one yard more than Dickerson’s because NFL players began using an alternate game-day jersey starting in 2002 that featured numbers on both the front and back of their jerseys; thus allowing running backs to accumulate additional yardage if they were able to break a tackle and continue running with visible momentum. Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings holds the third-place position with 2,097 rushing yards during the 2012 NFL season.
Touchdowns
Peterson has rushed for 100+ yards 37 times in his career, tied with Barry Sanders and Walter Payton for the 4th most 100+ yard rushing games in NFL history. He also has 6 games with at least 200 rushing yards, tied with O.J. Simpson and Earl Campbell for the 5th most 200+ yard games in NFL history. In 2010, he became the fifth fastest player to reach 7,500 career rushing yards (109th game). In 2012, Peterson became the sixth fastest player to reach 8,000 career rushing yards (124th game).
