There are RBs who had a higher % of his team's carries, but I haven't written them down, unfortunately. None that averaged 7.6 ypc though, of course.
Yeah, but BTW that's one reason I didn't limit it to % of team carries--I was talking about % of team touches.
Some RB might have 80% of his team's carries, but if his team passes the ball 70% of the time, he's only got 24% of the team's touches (okay maybe slightly more if he's getting some receptions too).
Barry had >50% of the team's touches. The link in the longer post re: the NFL though was interesting... It looked at Eddie George, who had pedestrian ypc (I think it was 3.71) but for the first 7 years of his career with the Titans (a successful, winning, franchise through those years) was getting insane carry volume for an NFL team. Essentially his ypc wasn't stellar, but he was helping his team
win. Which was what got me thinking about volume. If the coach is giving someone insane volume--even if the ypc isn't amazing--he's probably doing it because it's working--and generally you think maybe that means the RB is pretty damn good.
And then when I looked at Sanders' volume in 1988 relative to the team overall? Holy shit! I think the coach basically said "feed him the damn rock until someone proves they can stop him." At that point it doesn't matter if he's at 6.0, 7.0, or 8.0 ypc. He's just so damn good that his production isn't a question of ypc stats. It's that he's an otherworldly talent who is a game-changer. You're not worried about ypc. You just give him the damn ball as much as you can because he's helping you win.
It's why it's hard to compare someone like him to a Reggie Bush or a Percy Harvin, who had higher ypc. Neither of them were truly the centerpiece of the offense. Bush was electric, an AMAZING talent in the open field. He was dynamite; just light the fuse and watch what happens. But he, never in his college or pro career, was a true workhorse RB. I'm not in any sense sure that if LenDale White didn't exist, and you gave him all of White's carries, that he either would have held up for a full season, or that he would have retained such a lofty ypc. Harvin? He was a gadget player listed as WR, who occasionally did double duty in the backfield. Situationally, Tebow was the primary RB. If you lined him up in a traditional RB role for 250+ carries per season, you think he's going to retain his lofty ypc? I don't. He'd be lucky to stay alive all season at his size.
I'm not going to say that a Reggie Bush or a Percy Harvin is an "a dime a dozen" type of player. They were electric. But I think Barry Sanders may be a one of one type of player.
