The running back position continues to be one of the more fascinating ones in the NFL and one that comes with great turnover every season. While some contend that it's one of the most replaceable spots in football, others will point to dominant seasons from several elite running backs this year as proof of what these players can add to a team. One item we can all agree on is that the position is rather fungible, and players that emerge for chapters of the season or even the entirety of a campaign may offer completely different outputs the next year.
The 2016 season brought us a host of new faces at the position and saw several more take the jump to the next level. All of these players experienced different degrees of defensive attention on their runs.
One of the Next Gen Stats we have here measures performance against stacked defensive fronts. This gives us a running back's yards per attempt on non-red zone carries when there are eight or more defenders in the box. The metric helps us get a sense of how a running back performed against crowded fronts, whether it be from extra defensive attention or the formations the offenses deploy. As with any stat, but especially this one, context is key and we'll attempt to dilute that context with each player.
Notes: Only running backs with 35 or more carries against eight-plus defenders in the box qualified for these rankings (19 total running backs). We'll also make reference to a few different personnel packages and formations here, so below is a guide if you need a refresher...
11 personnel: one running backs, one tight end
12 personnel: one running back, two tight ends
21 personnel: two running backs, one tight end
22 personnel: two running backs, two tight ends
I-formation: Running backs lined up behind a fullback
1) Jay Ajayi, Miami Dolphins (6.36 yards per carry)
When Adam Gase left
Jay Ajayi behind in Miami for a road trip to Seattle back in Week 1 literally no one could have predicted that he would go on to be the fourth-leading rusher in the NFL. The
Dolphins were off to a 1-4 start before Ajayi's breakout 204-yard, two touchdown game in Week 6, an outing he outdid the next week by putting 214 rushing yards on the
Bills. The aggressive Boise State product gave the
Dolphins an identity, one in a physical mold that they never had in the Joe Philbin years.
One of the most powerful running backs in the NFL,
Jay Ajayi broke tackles left and right this season while leaving defenders helpless in his wake. Naturally, as the year wore on, teams began to dedicate extra attention to Ajayi by stacking the box, but even that was not enough to slow him down. He managed an NFL-best 6.36 yards per carry against eight-plus man boxes, which he saw on 19.3 percent of his non-red zone carries. He became an expert at making the defense pay for crowding the line of scrimmage by getting loose into the secondary for big plays. Ajayi managed three runs of 20-plus yards when facing stacked boxes.
The
Dolphins have to hope the long-term concerns
regarding Ajayi's knee that caused him to fall to the fifth-round on draft day hold off a bit longer. They've stumbled onto, without question, one of the 10 best pure runners in the NFL.
10) Lamar Miller, Houston Texans (4.23 yards per carry)
Lamar Miller faced a stacked box on 22.6 percent of his non-red zone carries (13th out of 19) in 2016. While that's not one of the highest rates, it is notable when you consider what kind of formations the
Texans often deployed. Houston ranked eighth in plays run with three wide receivers on the field and a whopping 48 percent of their run plays came out of those packages. Defenses typically can't reasonably stack the box when there are more than two wide receivers on the field. That just goes to show you what little respect the opposition had for quarterback
Brock Osweiler. Not completely off the hook, Miller was only reasonably effective in his first true workhorse season, and clearly worn down under the workload by the end of the year. The 2016 free agent addition only broke one run of 15-plus yards against stacked fronts despite his explosive reputation heading into this season.
