nfl rushing leaders in attempts per game

Emmitt Smith had 19.51 rush attempts per game played in his career.

Interpreted as:
NFL rushing leaders in rushing attempts per game
NAMEATT/GPRUSH YDSATTGPYPCRUSH YDS/GRUSH TDREC YDSRECTRGAVGREC YDS/GREC TD
1Emmitt Smith
E. Smith
19.51
18,355
4,409
226
4.2
81.2
164
3,224
515
130
6.3
14.3
11
2Walter Payton
W. Payton
20.2
16,726
3,838
190
4.4
88.0
110
4,538
492
9.2
23.9
15
3Frank Gore
F. Gore
15.5
16,000
3,735
241
4.3
66.4
81
3,985
484
696
8.2
16.5
18
4Barry Sanders
B. Sanders
20.01
15,269
3,062
153
5.0
99.8
99
2,921
352
8.3
19.1
10
5Adrian Peterson
A. Peterson
17.55
14,918
3,230
184
4.6
81.1
120
2,474
305
423
8.1
13.4
6
6Curtis Martin
C. Martin
20.94
14,101
3,518
168
4.0
83.9
90
3,329
484
409
6.9
19.8
10
7LaDainian Tomlinson
L. Tomlinson
18.67
13,684
3,174
170
4.3
80.5
145
4,772
624
868
7.6
28.1
17
8Jerome Bettis
J. Bettis
18.12
13,662
3,479
192
3.9
71.2
91
1,449
200
100
7.2
7.5
3
9Eric Dickerson
E. Dickerson
20.52
13,259
2,996
146
4.4
90.8
90
2,137
281
7.6
14.6
6
10Derrick Henry
D. Henry
17.4
13,018
2,662
153
4.9
85.1
122
1,801
189
245
9.5
11.8
5
11Tony Dorsett
T. Dorsett
16.97
12,739
2,936
173
4.3
73.6
77
3,554
398
8.9
20.5
13
12Jim Brown
J. Brown
19.99
12,312
2,359
118
5.2
104.3
106
2,499
262
9.5
21.2
20
13Marshall Faulk
M. Faulk
16.11
12,279
2,836
176
4.3
69.8
100
6,875
767
606
9.0
39.1
36
14Edgerrin James
E. James
20.46
12,246
3,028
148
4.0
82.7
80
3,364
433
584
7.8
22.7
11
15Marcus Allen
M. Allen
13.61
12,243
3,022
222
4.1
55.1
123
5,411
587
9.2
24.4
21
16Franco Harris
F. Harris
17.05
12,120
2,949
173
4.1
70.1
91
2,287
307
7.4
13.2
9
17Thurman Thomas
T. Thomas
15.81
12,074
2,877
182
4.2
66.3
65
4,458
472
29
9.4
24.5
23
18Fred Taylor
F. Taylor
16.56
11,695
2,534
153
4.6
76.4
66
2,384
290
348
8.2
15.6
8
19Steven Jackson
S. Jackson
17.27
11,438
2,764
160
4.1
71.5
69
3,683
461
627
8.0
23.0
9
20John Riggins
J. Riggins
16.66
11,352
2,916
175
3.9
64.9
104
2,090
250
8.4
11.9
12
21Corey Dillon
C. Dillon
17.45
11,241
2,618
150
4.3
74.9
82
1,913
244
278
7.8
12.8
7
22O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson
17.81
11,236
2,404
135
4.7
83.2
61
2,142
203
10.6
15.9
14
23LeSean McCoy
L. McCoy
14.45
11,102
2,457
170
4.5
65.3
73
3,898
518
665
7.5
22.9
16
24Warrick Dunn
W. Dunn
14.75
10,967
2,669
181
4.1
60.6
49
4,339
510
594
8.5
24.0
15
25Ricky Watters
R. Watters
18.21
10,643
2,622
144
4.1
73.9
78
4,248
467
176
9.1
29.5
13
StatMuse has season-level data for rush attempts and 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

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NFL 2025 Rankings

NFL Fantasy 2025

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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