most career rushing yards by first round picks

Emmitt Smith has the most career rushing yards by a 1st round pick, with 18,355 yards.

NAMERUSH YDSGPATTYPCRUSH YDS/GRUSH TDREC YDSRECTRGAVGREC YDS/GREC TD
1Emmitt Smith
E. Smith
18,355
226
4,409
4.2
81.2
164
3,224
515
130
6.3
14.3
11
2Walter Payton
W. Payton
16,726
190
3,838
4.4
88.0
110
4,538
492
9.2
23.9
15
3Barry Sanders
B. Sanders
15,269
153
3,062
5.0
99.8
99
2,921
352
8.3
19.1
10
4Adrian Peterson
A. Peterson
14,918
184
3,230
4.6
81.1
120
2,474
305
423
8.1
13.4
6
5LaDainian Tomlinson
L. Tomlinson
13,684
170
3,174
4.3
80.5
145
4,772
624
868
7.6
28.1
17
6Jerome Bettis
J. Bettis
13,662
192
3,479
3.9
71.2
91
1,449
200
100
7.2
7.5
3
7Eric Dickerson
E. Dickerson
13,259
146
2,996
4.4
90.8
90
2,137
281
7.6
14.6
6
8Tony Dorsett
T. Dorsett
12,739
173
2,936
4.3
73.6
77
3,554
398
8.9
20.5
13
9Jim Brown
J. Brown
12,312
118
2,359
5.2
104.3
106
2,499
262
9.5
21.2
20
10Marshall Faulk
M. Faulk
12,279
176
2,836
4.3
69.8
100
6,875
767
606
9.0
39.1
36
11Edgerrin James
E. James
12,246
148
3,028
4.0
82.7
80
3,364
433
584
7.8
22.7
11
12Marcus Allen
M. Allen
12,243
222
3,022
4.1
55.1
123
5,411
587
9.2
24.4
21
13Franco Harris
F. Harris
12,120
173
2,949
4.1
70.1
91
2,287
307
7.4
13.2
9
14Fred Taylor
F. Taylor
11,695
153
2,534
4.6
76.4
66
2,384
290
348
8.2
15.6
8
15Steven Jackson
S. Jackson
11,438
160
2,764
4.1
71.5
69
3,683
461
627
8.0
23.0
9
16John Riggins
J. Riggins
11,352
175
2,916
3.9
64.9
104
2,090
250
8.4
11.9
12
17O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson
11,236
135
2,404
4.7
83.2
61
2,142
203
10.6
15.9
14
18Warrick Dunn
W. Dunn
10,967
181
2,669
4.1
60.6
49
4,339
510
594
8.5
24.0
15
19Jamal Lewis
J. Lewis
10,607
131
2,542
4.2
81.0
58
1,879
221
298
8.5
14.3
4
20Thomas Jones
T. Jones
10,591
180
2,678
4.0
58.8
68
2,023
308
410
6.6
11.2
3
21Eddie George
E. George
10,441
141
2,865
3.6
74.0
68
2,227
268
269
8.3
15.8
10
22Marshawn Lynch
M. Lynch
10,413
149
2,453
4.2
69.9
85
2,214
287
391
7.7
14.9
9
23Ottis Anderson
O. Anderson
10,273
182
2,562
4.0
56.4
81
3,062
376
8.1
16.8
5
24Ricky Williams
R. Williams
10,009
147
2,431
4.1
68.1
66
2,606
342
466
7.6
17.7
8
25Chris Johnson
C. Johnson
9,651
130
2,163
4.5
74.2
55
2,255
307
424
7.3
17.3
9
StatMuse has season-level data for rushing yards going back to the 1932 season.

More Cowboys Stats

Team Leaders

PASS

4,552

Prescott

Dak Prescott

RUSH

1,201

Williams

Javonte Williams

REC

1,429

Pickens

George Pickens
Team Rankings

PPG

27.7

7th

OPP PPG

30.1

32nd

RUSH YDS/G

125.6

9th

PASS YDS/G

278.5

1st

2025 Division Standings
TEAMWLTPCT
11
6
0
.647
Cowboys Cowboys
7
9
1
.441
5
12
0
.294
4
13
0
.235
Last Game
DAL Cowboys

7 - 9 - 1

17

Final

34

NYG Giants

4 - 13

Sun 4 Jan 2026

NFL 2025 Leaders

NFL 2025 Rankings

NFL Fantasy 2025

NFL 2025 Betting

NFL 2025 Standings

AFC EastWLTPCT
14
3
0
.824
Bills Bills - w
12
5
0
.706
7
10
0
.412
Jets Jets - e
3
14
0
.176
AFC NorthWLTPCT
10
7
0
.588
8
9
0
.471
6
11
0
.353
5
12
0
.294
AFC SouthWLTPCT
13
4
0
.765
12
5
0
.706
Colts Colts - e
8
9
0
.471
3
14
0
.176
AFC WestWLTPCT
14
3
0
.824
11
6
0
.647
6
11
0
.353
3
14
0
.176
NFC EastWLTPCT
11
6
0
.647
7
9
1
.441
5
12
0
.294
4
13
0
.235
NFC NorthWLTPCT
Bears Bears - y
11
6
0
.647
9
7
1
.559
9
8
0
.529
Lions Lions - e
9
8
0
.529
NFC SouthWLTPCT
8
9
0
.471
8
9
0
.471
8
9
0
.471
6
11
0
.353
NFC WestWLTPCT
14
3
0
.824
Rams Rams - w
12
5
0
.706
49ers 49ers - w
12
5
0
.706
3
14
0
.176