who has the most rookie rushing yards for the lions ever

Barry Sanders has rushed for the most yards by a rookie for the Lions, with 1,470 yards in 1989.

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Regular season

	NAME	RUSH YDS	SEASON	TM	GP	ATT	YPC	RUSH YDS/G	RUSH TD	REC YDS	REC	TRG	AVG	REC YDS/G	REC TD
1	Barry Sanders B. Sanders	1,470	1989	DET	15	280	5.3	98.0	14	282	24		11.8	18.8	0
2	Billy Sims B. Sims	1,303	1980	DET	16	313	4.2	81.4	13	621	51		12.2	38.8	3
3	Kevin Jones K. Jones	1,133	2004	DET	15	241	4.7	75.5	5	180	28	41	6.4	12.0	1
4	Kevin Smith K. Smith	976	2008	DET	16	238	4.1	61.0	8	286	39	54	7.3	17.9	0
5	Jahmyr Gibbs J. Gibbs	945	2023	DET	15	182	5.2	63.0	10	316	52	71	6.1	21.1	1
6	Mel Farr M. Farr	860	1967	DET	13	206	4.2	66.2	3	317	39		8.1	24.4	3
7	Mikel Leshoure M. Leshoure	798	2012	DET	14	215	3.7	57.0	9	214	34	48	6.3	15.3	0
8	Garry James G. James	688	1986	DET	16	159	4.3	43.0	3	219	34		6.4	13.7	0
9	Lawrence Gaines L. Gaines	659	1976	DET	14	155	4.3	47.1	4	130	23		5.7	9.3	1
10	Kerryon Johnson K. Johnson	641	2018	DET	10	118	5.4	64.1	3	213	32	39	6.7	21.3	1
11	Ameer Abdullah A. Abdullah	597	2015	DET	16	143	4.2	37.3	2	183	25	38	7.3	11.4	1
12	Jahvid Best J. Best	555	2010	DET	16	171	3.2	34.7	4	487	58	80	8.4	30.4	2
13	D'Andre Swift D. Swift	521	2020	DET	13	114	4.6	40.1	8	357	46	57	7.8	27.5	2
14	James Jones J. Jones	475	1983	DET	14	135	3.5	33.9	6	467	46		10.2	33.4	1
15	Nick Pietrosante N. Pietrosante	447	1959	DET	10	76	5.9	44.7	3	140	16		8.8	14.0	0
16	Rick Kane R. Kane	421	1977	DET	14	124	3.4	30.1	4	186	18		10.3	13.3	0
17	Howard Cassady H. Cassady	413	1956	DET	12	97	4.3	34.4	0	83	9		9.2	6.9	0
18	Elmer Schaake E. Schaake	412	1933	POR	10	125	3.3	41.2	0	23	4		5.8	2.3	1
19	Derrick Moore D. Moore	405	1993	DET	13	88	4.6	31.2	3	169	21		8.0	13.0	1
20	Bill Bowman B. Bowman	397	1954	DET	12	96	4.1	33.1	2	288	34		8.5	24.0	2
21	Doak Walker D. Walker	386	1950	DET	12	83	4.7	32.2	5	534	35		15.3	44.5	6
22	Bo Scarbrough B. Scarbrough	377	2019	DET	6	89	4.2	62.8	1	5	1	4	5.0	0.8	0
23	Don McIlhenny D. McIlhenny	372	1956	DET	9	87	4.3	41.3	3	70	8		8.8	7.8	2
24	Fred Enke F. Enke	365	1948	DET	12	74	4.9	30.4	0	6	1		6.0	0.5	0
25	Altie Taylor A. Taylor	348	1969	DET	10	118	2.9	34.8	0	86	13		6.6	8.6	0

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StatMuse has season-level data for rushing yards going back to the 1932 season.

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More Lions Stats

Team Leaders

PASS

802

Goff

RUSH

307

Gibbs

REC

228

St. Brown

Team Rankings

PPG

31.0

3rd

OPP PPG

31.7

32nd

RUSH YDS/G

120.7

9th

PASS YDS/G

267.3

7th

2026 Division Standings

TEAM	W	L	PCT
Vikings	3	0	1.000
Lions	2	1	.667
Bears	1	1	.500
Packers	1	2	.333

Schedule

DATE	MATCHUP			TIME (ET)
Sun 10/4	DET	@	CAR	8:20 PM
Sun 10/11	DET	@	ARI	4:25 PM
Sun 10/25	GB	@	DET	4:25 PM
Sun 11/1	MIN	@	DET	1:00 PM
Sun 11/8	DET	@	MIA	1:00 PM

Last Game

Jets

1 - 2

Final

Lions

2 - 1

Sun 27 Sep 2026

NFL 2026 Leaders

Pass Yards Leaders

939

Young

917

Shough

872

Stafford

Rush Yards Leaders

360

Walker

349

Robinson

346

Cook

Rec Yards Leaders

405

Smith-Njigba

375

Olave

358

Adams

Pass TD Leaders

9

Purdy

9

Cousins

8

Shough

Rush TD Leaders

6

Allen

6

Henry

4

Gibbs

Rec TD Leaders

6

Smith-Njigba

5

St. Brown

4

Watson

QB Rating Leaders

133.1

Purdy

127.3

Lock

116.1

Goff

Sack Leaders

6.0

Rousseau

4.0

Anderson

4.0

Graham

NFL 2026 Rankings

PPG Rankings

33.7

32.7

31.0

30.7

29.7

Opp PPG Rankings

12.0

13.7

16.7

17.0

Total Yards Rankings

424.5

417.7

416.3

401.7

399.3

398.7

Rush Yards Rankings

212.5

173.0

167.3

155.0

153.3

136.3

Pass Yards Rankings

313.0

305.7

295.0

281.3

276.0

270.7

Sack Leaders

14.0

12.0

11.0

10.0

9.0

NFL Fantasy 2026

Fantasy RB Rankings

80.3

Gibbs

69.9

Henry

68.2

Walker

Fantasy WR Rankings

77.1

Smith-Njigba

52.8

St. Brown

52.4

Watson

Fantasy TE Rankings

35.4

Kittle

35.1

Kelce

33.3

Johnson

Fantasy K Rankings

42

McPherson

39

McLaughlin

38

Shrader

NFL 2026 Betting

Best Record ATS

3-0

2-0-1

2-1

Worst Record ATS

0-3

0-2

0-3

NFL 2026 Standings

NFC East	W	L	T	PCT
Eagles	2	0	0	1.000
Giants	2	1	0	.667
Cowboys	1	2	0	.333
Commanders	1	2	0	.333
NFC North	W	L	T	PCT
Vikings	3	0	0	1.000
Lions	2	1	0	.667
Bears	1	1	0	.500
Packers	1	2	0	.333
NFC South	W	L	T	PCT
Panthers	1	2	0	.333
Saints	1	2	0	.333
Falcons	1	2	0	.333
Buccaneers	0	3	0	.000
NFC West	W	L	T	PCT
49ers	3	0	0	1.000
Seahawks	2	1	0	.667
Rams	1	2	0	.333
Cardinals	1	2	0	.333

AFC East	W	L	T	PCT
Bills	3	0	0	1.000
Jets	1	2	0	.333
Patriots	1	2	0	.333
Dolphins	0	3	0	.000
AFC North	W	L	T	PCT
Steelers	2	1	0	.667
Ravens	2	1	0	.667
Browns	2	1	0	.667
Bengals	2	1	0	.667
AFC South	W	L	T	PCT
Jaguars	2	1	0	.667
Colts	1	2	0	.333
Titans	0	3	0	.000
Texans	0	3	0	.000
AFC West	W	L	T	PCT
Chiefs	3	0	0	1.000
Raiders	3	0	0	1.000
Broncos	2	1	0	.667
Chargers	0	3	0	.000