most ypg yards by rb all-time

Emmitt Smith has the most career rushing yards by a running back, with 18,355 yards.

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