most rushing yards in a players first 12 seasons

Walter Payton rushed for the most yards by a player in his first 12 seasons, with 16,193 yards.

Interpreted as:
most rushing yards by a player in a players first 12 seasons
NAMERUSH YDSGPATTYPCRUSH YDS/GRUSH TDREC YDSRECTRGAVGREC YDS/GREC TD
1Walter Payton
W. Payton
16,193
178
3,692
4.4
91.0
106
4,321
459
9.4
24.3
14
2Emmitt Smith
E. Smith
16,187
185
3,798
4.3
87.5
148
2,923
470
67
6.2
15.8
11
3Barry Sanders
B. Sanders
15,269
153
3,062
5.0
99.8
99
2,921
352
8.3
19.1
10
4Curtis Martin
C. Martin
14,101
168
3,518
4.0
83.9
90
3,329
484
409
6.9
19.8
10
5LaDainian Tomlinson
L. Tomlinson
13,684
170
3,174
4.3
80.5
145
4,772
624
868
7.6
28.1
17
6Adrian Peterson
A. Peterson
13,318
149
2,825
4.7
89.4
106
2,223
272
378
8.2
14.9
6
7Jerome Bettis
J. Bettis
13,294
180
3,369
3.9
73.9
82
1,409
196
96
7.2
7.8
3
8Eric Dickerson
E. Dickerson
13,259
146
2,996
4.4
90.8
90
2,137
281
7.6
14.6
6
9Frank Gore
F. Gore
13,065
180
2,965
4.4
72.6
74
3,427
414
607
8.3
19.0
16
10Derrick Henry
D. Henry
13,018
153
2,662
4.9
85.1
122
1,801
189
245
9.5
11.8
5
11Tony Dorsett
T. Dorsett
12,739
173
2,936
4.3
73.6
77
3,554
398
8.9
20.5
13
12Jim Brown
J. Brown
12,312
118
2,359
5.2
104.3
106
2,499
262
9.5
21.2
20
13Marshall Faulk
M. Faulk
12,279
176
2,836
4.3
69.8
100
6,875
767
606
9.0
39.1
36
14Edgerrin James
E. James
12,246
148
3,028
4.0
82.7
80
3,364
433
584
7.8
22.7
11
15Franco Harris
F. Harris
11,950
165
2,881
4.1
72.4
91
2,284
306
7.5
13.8
9
16Thurman Thomas
T. Thomas
11,938
173
2,849
4.2
69.0
65
4,341
456
5
9.5
25.1
22
17Fred Taylor
F. Taylor
11,540
146
2,491
4.6
79.0
66
2,378
288
345
8.3
16.3
8
18Steven Jackson
S. Jackson
11,438
160
2,764
4.1
71.5
69
3,683
461
627
8.0
23.0
9
19Corey Dillon
C. Dillon
11,241
150
2,618
4.3
74.9
82
1,913
244
278
7.8
12.8
7
20O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson
11,236
135
2,404
4.7
83.2
61
2,142
203
10.6
15.9
14
21LeSean McCoy
L. McCoy
11,102
170
2,457
4.5
65.3
73
3,898
518
665
7.5
22.9
16
22Warrick Dunn
W. Dunn
10,967
181
2,669
4.1
60.6
49
4,339
510
594
8.5
24.0
15
23Ricky Watters
R. Watters
10,643
144
2,622
4.1
73.9
78
4,248
467
176
9.1
29.5
13
24Jamal Lewis
J. Lewis
10,607
131
2,542
4.2
81.0
58
1,879
221
298
8.5
14.3
4
25Thomas Jones
T. Jones
10,591
180
2,678
4.0
58.8
68
2,023
308
410
6.6
11.2
3
StatMuse has season-level data for rushing yards going back to the 1932 season.

More Bears Stats

Team Leaders

PASS

3,942

Williams

Caleb Williams

RUSH

1,087

Swift

D'Andre Swift

REC

713

Loveland

Colston Loveland
Team Rankings

PPG

25.9

9th

OPP PPG

24.4

23rd

RUSH YDS/G

144.5

3rd

PASS YDS/G

234.8

12th

2025 Division Standings
TEAMWLTPCT
Bears Bears
11
6
0
.647
9
7
1
.559
9
8
0
.529
9
8
0
.529
Last Game
LAR Rams

2 - 0

20

Final

17

CHI Bears

1 - 1

Sun 18 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