Written by: Jesse Morse, MD
Decided to do a deep dive into how many games NFL running backs missed due to injury over the past nine years. I only took into account the currently active and NFL running backs, obviously not adding the 2025 rookies.
In total, there were 64 players on the list.
The average length of career currently for a running back who is active is four years.
The average running back on the list missed 13 games, about 3.3 games per season.
I further broke this down by how many times each running back finished in the top 10 using PPR scoring, and then finished in the top 5, and finally what percentage of their seasons did they finish in the top 10.
When this was refined to players that had completed at least three NFL seasons, then the average number of seasons was 5.2, average games missed was almost 17, on average about 3.2 games missed per season.
For the RBs who have played in 4+ seasons, the average games missed was 3.4 per season.
On average, it looks like running backs over the past decade missed about 3.3 games per season.
If you look at which active running backs have missed the most games, you will recognize a couple of the top names, including Raheem Mostert, JK Dobbins, and Christian McCaffrey. Mostert is the longest tenured RB in the NFL, completing 10 seasons amazingly. The only player on the top 10 list who has played less than five NFL seasons is Elijah Mitchell. Saquon Barkley has missed the 10th most games with 26, averaging 3.7 games per season.
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Over a minimum of two seasons, there have been 15 running backs that have averaged missing at least 4.3 games per season. This list includes top 10 names like CMC, Kyren Williams and Nick Chubb, as well as several players that have suffered one or two significant injuries over their short career, likely Keaton Mitchell, Elijah Mitchell, Kendre Miller and JK Dobbins.
Trying to figure out who is the most efficient throughout their career in completing the season in the top 10 (PPR), you will see a reliable Ironman at the top: Alvin Kamara.
Kamara has only missed 12.8% of his games over his eight NFL seasons, finishing in the top 10 in 75% of those seasons. There is definitely a correlation here.
Despite suffering multiple significant injuries, both Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley have completed 62% and 57% top 10 seasons, respectively. Other veteran running backs found on this list, including Zeke, Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor.
For running backs that have played at least one NFL season, both Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs have completed 100%/both of their seasons in the top 10. Fellow younger RBs that have finished at least 50% of their seasons in the top 10 include Kyren Williams (66%), De’Von Achane (50%) and Chase Brown (50%).
Finally, which RBs have missed the least % of games throughout their NFL careers. The only RB that has played in 3+ seasons and never missed a game is Najee Harris.
Digging deeper, which RBs have missed the fewest % of games plus have been in the NFL for 5+ seasons. Tony Pollard has only missed 5 games in 6 seasons. Devin Singletary is right behind him with 6 games missed in 6 seasons, and Antonio Gibson has only missed 6 games in 5 seasons. The problem is, 2 of those 3 haven’t been elite, Pollard really only had 1 elite season (2022).
If we expand the search parameters to played at least 2 seasons and also finished in the top 10 in PPR at least 2 times, the list begins to answer the most important question.
Which RBs have been able to stay healthy but also be elite (meaning they had multiple top 10 seasons)?
This narrows the list down to 16 names. These are the best of the best. The 2 young studs in Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs, and then there’s a list of veterans ranked by how healthy their careers were.
Look at who is listed last on the list: Christian McCaffrey. An elite player who has struggled to stay healthy.
Besides Bijan & Jahmyr, the only other RB who played less than 5 seasons is Kyren Williams. The majority of the players are seasoned veterans at the end of their careers, including Ezekiel Elliott, Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, Austin Ekeler, Aaron Jones, Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb.
There are a couple very intriguing names as it pertains to 2025, namely Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Joe Mixon, James Conner and Jonathan Taylor.
Over the next couple of months I will work on breaking down each of these guys to determine which ones to target, and which ones to avoid on 2025.