With the stats in front of me, I’m reminded that running backs were unusually lucky with injuries in the just-completed season. There were 11 featured running backs who started all 17 games – almost twice as many as ever before.
A reasonable drafter in August might have chosen to stay away from Christian McCaffrey and Kenneth Walker, given their extensive histories of injuries. But both were able to go the distance.
Tony Pollard, James Cook, Kyren Williams, Chase Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs don’t seem like rugged backs – they’re smaller guys. They all started all 17 games. Derrick Henry is 31, but he answered the bell for all 17 games.
We got up to 11 backs total – 12 if including fullback Kyle Juszczyk. In each of the three previous years, only 6 running backs started 17 games. And in 2021 (the first season they played 17 games) only three were able to do it.
I speak, of course, only in ballpark terms. Here, I make not attempt to make note of guys choosing to sit out in Week 17, or in others being healthy for all 17 but not being on the field for the first play of the game in some weeks for whatever reason. But we can paint with a general brush and say there were fewer running back injuries last year.
I expect we’ll be moving back to our usual levels in the upcoming season, probably with only a half dozen players at this position starting every game.
It’s tough staying healthy at this position. In the 17-game era, only six times have we seen a running back start 17 games, then come back and do it again the next year. Najee Harris has done it three times, Derrick Henry has down it twice, and Bijan Robinson has got the sixth.
In the following chart, the 2025 players are tagged with black dots. Players starting 17 games for a second straight season appear in bold. The final column of the chart shows the number of games the player started in the previous season.
| RUNNING BACKS STARTING 17 GAMES | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | Run | Rec | Tot | TD | Prev |
| 2021 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 23 | 1,200 | 467 | 1,667 | 10 | R |
| 2021 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 26 | 1,002 | 287 | 1,289 | 12 | 15 |
| 2021 | Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 22 | 1,811 | 360 | 2,171 | 20 | 13 |
| 2022 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 24 | 1,034 | 229 | 1,263 | 10 | 17 |
| 2022 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 28 | 1,121 | 395 | 1,516 | 7 | 15 |
| 2022 | Austin Ekeler, LAC | 27 | 915 | 722 | 1,637 | 18 | 16 |
| 2022 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 27 | 1,173 | 295 | 1,468 | 10 | 13 |
| 2022 | Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 24 | 1,653 | 400 | 2,053 | 12 | 14 |
| 2022 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 27 | 1,525 | 239 | 1,764 | 13 | 14 |
| 2023 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 25 | 1,035 | 170 | 1,205 | 8 | 17 |
| 2023 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 29 | 1,167 | 214 | 1,381 | 12 | 16 |
| 2023 | Joe Mixon, Cin. | 27 | 1,034 | 376 | 1,410 | 12 | 14 |
| 2023 | Rachaad White, T.B. | 24 | 990 | 549 | 1,539 | 9 | 8 |
| 2023 | Tony Pollard, Dall. | 26 | 1,005 | 311 | 1,316 | 6 | 4 |
| 2023 | Travis Etienne, Jac. | 24 | 1,008 | 476 | 1,484 | 12 | 12 |
| 2024 | Derrick Henry, Balt. | 30 | 1,921 | 193 | 2,114 | 18 | 17 |
| 2024 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 26 | 1,043 | 283 | 1,326 | 6 | 17 |
| 2024 | Aaron Jones, Min. | 30 | 1,138 | 408 | 1,546 | 7 | 11 |
| 2024 | Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 22 | 1,456 | 431 | 1,887 | 15 | 16 |
| 2024 | D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 25 | 959 | 386 | 1,345 | 6 | 15 |
| 2024 | Josh Jacobs, G.B. | 26 | 1,329 | 342 | 1,671 | 16 | 13 |
| 2025 | • Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 23 | 1,478 | 820 | 2,298 | 11 | 17 |
| 2025 | • Derrick Henry, Balt. | 31 | 1,595 | 150 | 1,745 | 16 | 17 |
| 2025 | • Ashton Jeanty, L.V. | 22 | 975 | 346 | 1,321 | 10 | R |
| 2025 | • Tony Pollard, Ten. | 28 | 1,082 | 206 | 1,288 | 5 | 16 |
| 2025 | • James Cook, Buff. | 26 | 1,621 | 291 | 1,912 | 14 | 16 |
| 2025 | • Kyren Williams, LAR | 25 | 1,252 | 281 | 1,533 | 13 | 16 |
| 2025 | • Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 26 | 1,585 | 378 | 1,963 | 20 | 13 |
| 2025 | • Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 25 | 1,027 | 282 | 1,309 | 5 | 11 |
| 2025 | • Chase Brown, Cin. | 25 | 1,019 | 437 | 1,456 | 11 | 10 |
| 2025 | • Christian McCaffrey, S.F. | 29 | 1,202 | 924 | 2,126 | 17 | 4 |
| 2025 | • Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 23 | 1,223 | 616 | 1,839 | 18 | 4 |
Reports indicate the Seahawks won’t tag Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker (pictured). That will make for some very interesting discussions regarding his value. He’s explosive, but he’s got some limitations in the passing game and as a tackle breaker, and he’s had all kinds of problems staying healthy in his first three seasons.
—Ian Allan
