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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/Kruger-Dunning on 2023-12-18 17:58:42.
The production drop-off of recent star RBs (Derrick Henry, Ezekiel Elliot, maybe Jonathan Taylor) continue to show that elite running backs have a limited shelf life. Over the last 10 years, the NFL rushing leader made it 8 seasons on average before they hit the wall (arbitrary definition: from rookie year, the last season they produced more than 600 yards).
- Arian Foster (2010): 6 seasons
- Maurice Jones-Drew (2011): 8 seasons
- Adrian Peterson (2012, 2015): 14 seasons
- Leshawn McCoy (2013): 9 seasons
- DeMarco Murray (2014): 7 seasons
- Ezekiel Elliot (2016, 2018): 8 seasons?
- Kareem Hunt (2017): 4 seasons
Frank Gore had 16 seasons until his last 600 yard year. Definitionally, he was double the career of an elite running back, 4x a Kareem Hunt, and almost 3x an Arian Foster. This by itself has to be a Hall of Fame-worthy accomplishment due to the rarity of it occurring. The way that teams treat RBs now (either running them into the ground or load sharing) means that it may never happen again. This is probably going to be a similar situation to how MLB history has 50 or 60 win pitchers before they started mandating rest.