TheWinz
Footballguy
Jim Brown was the first RB to have 300+ touches, when he had 314 in 1959. That was during a 12-game season, so he averaged 26.2 touches. In today's 17-game season, that would be 445 touches. Brown remained the touch king for the early 1960's, when the league increased to 14 games. He had a high of 351 touches in 1961, which extrapolates to 426 touches for a 17-game season. The league remained a 14-game season until 1978, when they added 2 more games. But, from 1970 thru 1977, every season saw a 300+ RB. Lydell Mitchell's 372 would become 452 over 17 games. In the 2nd year of the 16-game season, Walter Payton finally hit the 400-touch mark. Five years later, James Wilder set the record with 492, which will never be beaten (unless the season is 20 games). For the next 30 years after Wilder's wild season (1985 thru 2014), the average high was 411 touches, which figures out to 437 touches in a 17-game season.
Looking at the numbers above, the top RB's pretty much stayed the same from the late 1950's thru the early 2010's. Sure, there were outliers like James Wilder, but for the most part, the top RB's were getting 25-26 touches per game. Since DeMarco Murray's 449 touches in 2014, only 2 RB's managed 400+ touches, with CMC being the most recent in 2019. We switched to 17 games in 2021, and the 25-touch season went out the window. Over the last 3 seasons, the highest we've hit was 23.1 touches per game when Josh Jacobs had 393 touches in 2022. Last year top dog Christian McCaffrey had only 339 touches. Sure, he only played in 16 games, but that's still only 21.2 touches per game.
It's obvious the top workhorses are getting less touches, but at what number (touches per game) would you draw your line in the sand to be considered a bellcow?
Looking at the numbers above, the top RB's pretty much stayed the same from the late 1950's thru the early 2010's. Sure, there were outliers like James Wilder, but for the most part, the top RB's were getting 25-26 touches per game. Since DeMarco Murray's 449 touches in 2014, only 2 RB's managed 400+ touches, with CMC being the most recent in 2019. We switched to 17 games in 2021, and the 25-touch season went out the window. Over the last 3 seasons, the highest we've hit was 23.1 touches per game when Josh Jacobs had 393 touches in 2022. Last year top dog Christian McCaffrey had only 339 touches. Sure, he only played in 16 games, but that's still only 21.2 touches per game.
It's obvious the top workhorses are getting less touches, but at what number (touches per game) would you draw your line in the sand to be considered a bellcow?