James Conner has outscored Chase Edmonds 5-0 so far, and I think that trend is going to continue. Conner is a bigger, more physical runner, making him a better option around the goal line.
Below see the rushing stats for plays inside the 5-yard line (thru Week 5 – not including the Thursday night game). Conner so far has 7 carries on plays inside the 5-yard line. That’s just 1 short of the league lead. Edmonds, on the other hand, has only 1 carry all year in that part of the field.
The two big backs in the AFC South (Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor) both have 8 carries on plays inside the 5. Ezekiel Elliott is the only other running back with 7 such attempts.
On the stats below, they’re home cooked. That is, these are stats we put together on our own. So we’ve taken the liberty of including 2-point conversions. Those are meaning plays (even if the league doesn’t consider them to be official “plays”). So the column below that’s labeled “touchdowns” more accurately should read “touchdowns combined with 2-point conversions”.
Only 11 running backs in the league have at least 5 carries inside the 5-yard line, and the Browns oddly have two of them.
On the final column of the chart, you’re seeing the team totals (attempts, yards, TD)
| PLAYERS WITH 4-PLUS CARRIES INSIDE 5-YARD LINE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tm | Player | No | Yds | TD | Team |
| TEN | Derrick Henry | 8 | 9 | 4 | 9-10-5 |
| IND | Jonathan Taylor | 8 | 4 | 1 | 9-4-1 |
| ARI | James Conner | 7 | 10 | 5 | 12-14-7 |
| DAL | Ezekiel Elliott | 7 | 7 | 4 | 11-15-6 |
| BAL | Lamar Jackson | 7 | 2 | 2 | 9-10-3 |
| LAC | Austin Ekeler | 6 | 14 | 5 | 7-14-5 |
| CLE | Nick Chubb | 6 | 9 | 1 | 14-28-7 |
| LAR | Darrell Henderson | 5 | 9 | 3 | 7-11-4 |
| CLE | Kareem Hunt | 5 | 8 | 3 | 14-28-7 |
| HOU | Mark Ingram | 5 | 4 | 1 | 6-9-2 |
| NE | Damien Harris | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6-3-1 |
| PIT | Najee Harris | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6-5-3 |
| CAR | Sam Darnold | 4 | 12 | 4 | 8-11-4 |
| JAX | James Robinson | 4 | 9 | 3 | 9-18-4 |
| CHI | Damien Williams | 4 | 8 | 2 | 9-19-5 |
| NYG | Daniel Jones | 4 | 8 | 3 | 10-9-5 |
| WAS | Antonio Gibson | 4 | 6 | 3 | 10-17-5 |
| WAS | J.D. McKissic | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10-17-5 |
| NYJ | Ty Johnson | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9-9-4 |
| GB | Aaron Jones | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6-7-3 |
| DET | D'Andre Swift | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6-3-3 |
| MIA | Malcolm Brown | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9-6-2 |
And for anyone wishing to pick through the team totals, I’m listing those below. It’s early (these teams become more meaningful as more games are played) but there are a few numbers that catch my eye.
In Kansas City, Clyde Edwards-Helaire hasn’t had a carry inside the 5-yard line all year. The back who’ll replace him this week, Darrel Williams, already has 3 such carries.
San Francisco is the only team that’s used six different ball carriers in this part of the field.
For players who have more than half of their teams rushing attempts inside the 5, I’ve got them tagged with black dots.
In the large chart below, players are arranged alphabetically by team.
| TEAM-BY-TEAM RUSHING INSIDE 5-YARD LINE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tm | Player | No | Yds | TD |
| ARI | • J.Conner | 7 | 10 | 5 |
| ARI | K.Murray | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| ARI | R.Moore | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| ARI | C.Edmonds | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| ATL | • M.Davis | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| ATL | M.Ryan | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| BAL | • L.Jackson | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| BAL | L.Murray | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| BAL | T.Williams | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| BUF | J.Allen | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| BUF | Z.Moss | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| BUF | M.Trubisky | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| BUF | D.Singletary | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| CAR | S.Darnold | 4 | 12 | 4 |
| CAR | C.McCaffrey | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| CAR | C.Hubbard | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| CAR | R.Freeman | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| CHI | D.Williams | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| CHI | D.Montgomery | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| CHI | J.Fields | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| CHI | M.Goodwin | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| CHI | K.Herbert | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| CIN | • J.Mixon | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| CIN | J.Burrow | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| CLE | N.Chubb | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| CLE | K.Hunt | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| CLE | B.Mayfield | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| CLE | J.Landry | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| CLE | A.Janovich | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| DAL | • E.Elliott | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| DAL | A.Cooper | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| DAL | T.Pollard | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| DAL | D.Prescott | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DAL | C.Lamb | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| DEN | Jav.Williams | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| DEN | M.Gordon | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| DET | • D.Swift | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| DET | J.Williams | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| GB | • A.Jones | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| GB | A.Rodgers | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| GB | A.Dillon | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| HOU | • M.Ingram | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| HOU | P.Lindsay | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| IND | • J.Taylor | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| IND | C.Wentz | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| JAX | J.Robinson | 4 | 9 | 3 |
| JAX | T.Lawrence | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| JAX | C.Hyde | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| KC | • D.Williams | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| KC | P.Mahomes | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| LAC | • A.Ekeler | 6 | 14 | 5 |
| LAC | L.Rountree | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| LAR | • D.Henderson | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| LAR | S.Michel | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| LAR | M.Stafford | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| LV | J.Jacobs | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| LV | P.Barber | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| LV | A.Ingold | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| LV | D.Carr | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MIA | M.Brown | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| MIA | J.Brissett | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| MIA | M.Gaskin | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MIA | T.Tagovailoa | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| MIN | A.Mattison | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| MIN | D.Cook | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MIN | C.Ham | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NE | • D.Harris | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| NE | B.Bolden | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| NO | T.Hill | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| NO | A.Kamara | 2 | -5 | 0 |
| NYG | D.Jones | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| NYG | D.Booker | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| NYG | S.Barkley | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| NYG | E.Engram | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| NYJ | T.Johnson | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| NYJ | Mi.Carter | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| NYJ | Z.Wilson | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| NYJ | M.Carter | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| PHI | J.Hurts | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| PHI | M.Sanders | 3 | -5 | 0 |
| PHI | K.Gainwell | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| PIT | • N.Harris | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| PIT | J.Smith-Schuster | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| SEA | • C.Carson | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| SF | T.Lance | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| SF | J.Hasty | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| SF | J.Garoppolo | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SF | K.Juszczyk | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SF | T.Sermon | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SF | E.Mitchell | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TB | L.Fournette | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| TB | C.Godwin | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| TB | T.Brady | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| TB | R.Jones | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TEN | • D.Henry | 8 | 9 | 4 |
| TEN | R.Tannehill | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| WAS | A.Gibson | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| WAS | J.McKissic | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| WAS | T.Heinicke | 3 | 6 | 1 |
—Ian Allan