most rushing yards since 1970

Since 1970, Emmitt Smith has rushed for the most yards, with 18,355 yards.

Interpreted as:
most rushing yards by a player since 1970
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
3Frank Gore
F. Gore
16,000
241
3,735
4.3
66.4
81
3,985
484
696
8.2
16.5
18
4Barry Sanders
B. Sanders
15,269
153
3,062
5.0
99.8
99
2,921
352
8.3
19.1
10
5Adrian Peterson
A. Peterson
14,918
184
3,230
4.6
81.1
120
2,474
305
423
8.1
13.4
6
6Curtis Martin
C. Martin
14,101
168
3,518
4.0
83.9
90
3,329
484
409
6.9
19.8
10
7LaDainian Tomlinson
L. Tomlinson
13,684
170
3,174
4.3
80.5
145
4,772
624
868
7.6
28.1
17
8Jerome Bettis
J. Bettis
13,662
192
3,479
3.9
71.2
91
1,449
200
100
7.2
7.5
3
9Eric Dickerson
E. Dickerson
13,259
146
2,996
4.4
90.8
90
2,137
281
7.6
14.6
6
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
12Marshall Faulk
M. Faulk
12,279
176
2,836
4.3
69.8
100
6,875
767
606
9.0
39.1
36
13Edgerrin James
E. James
12,246
148
3,028
4.0
82.7
80
3,364
433
584
7.8
22.7
11
14Marcus Allen
M. Allen
12,243
222
3,022
4.1
55.1
123
5,411
587
9.2
24.4
21
15Franco Harris
F. Harris
12,120
173
2,949
4.1
70.1
91
2,287
307
7.4
13.2
9
16Thurman Thomas
T. Thomas
12,074
182
2,877
4.2
66.3
65
4,458
472
29
9.4
24.5
23
17Fred Taylor
F. Taylor
11,695
153
2,534
4.6
76.4
66
2,384
290
348
8.2
15.6
8
18Steven Jackson
S. Jackson
11,438
160
2,764
4.1
71.5
69
3,683
461
627
8.0
23.0
9
19John Riggins
J. Riggins
11,352
175
2,916
3.9
64.9
104
2,090
250
8.4
11.9
12
20Corey Dillon
C. Dillon
11,241
150
2,618
4.3
74.9
82
1,913
244
278
7.8
12.8
7
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 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

NFL 2025 Scores & Schedule

Scores

DATEMATCHUPSCORE
Wed
10/8
@
17-34
Sat
10/11
@
13-11
Sat
10/11
@
27-31
Sat
10/11
@
17-3
Sat
10/11
@
9-23

Schedule

DATEMATCHUPTIME (ET)
Sat
1/17
@
4:30 PM
Sat
1/17
@
8:00 PM
Sun
1/18
@
3:00 PM
Sun
1/18
@
6:30 PM