so....what's a thousand yards worth these days anyway?

oaken1

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hey fellas. Myself, like most of you, have been watching nfl since Nixon,,,longer for a few of you.
During that time the nfl has always used 1000 yards as a measuring stick for success. we as fans not only accepted it but we came to embrace it.

a THOUSAND yards.

Man thats something.

or at least it was....back in 1973 when O.J. ran for 2000. But he did it in 14 games. Not 16...14.

so even though the world embraced the thousand yard season I have always felt that 1300 was a better bar for a really good back.... or WR.
But now we have 17 games....and even talk of 18 in the near future.
so why are we still using the thousand yard season as a reason to give guys massive new contracts? More games means more opportunities so of course they should get more yards.

so I went back and looked at O.J., Marcus, and Emmit.... some of you know I am a huge Marcus Allen fan..and dudes numbers really took a hit after his rookie contract,...for those in the know it was Al forcing him to play on his rookie deal...and Marcus suing the league for free agency...Al didnt like that so he did everything he could to destroy Marcus career short of cutting him...because if he did that then Marcus could go play somewhere else...
anyway, I digress..... even during the down times the yards per touch remained fairly consistent. Looking at Smith and O.J. and it was the same.
at 15 touches...with a 5.4 yard average...a RB would have 80 yards a game....and a 1360 yard season. with 17 games. That doesnt seem entirely impressive... the tricky part is the 5.4 yd average. of course..he could do the same with 20 touches and a 4.0 average....

but an 4.0 average...20 carries... thats pretty mundane isnt it?? I mean, I know we run less overall..so few backs get 20 carries anymore...even when 20 carries was the norm a 5.0yd average was expected.
I mean honestly... the nfl passes more..ncaa passes more...so where the fudge are these guys learning to shut down the run? They're not.
Piss poor offensive coordinators are losing sight of run concepts...IMHO.

with wide receivers the disparity is even worse. I mean come on...we have all seen those guys who run down field..catch the ball...and fall down or step out of bounds. No jukes, no head fakes, no broken tackles;;where he caught it is where the play ends.... but dude still gets 10, 15, 20 yards on his stat sheet.
are we so sad that a guy doing that 4 or 5 times a game...gets 1400 yards,,and suddenly he is worth 30 million?
60 yards a game is a thousand yard season...60... anyone else remember when backups used to get 60 yards?? I mean hell, we once let a backup QB run for 60 on a single play.

we need to raise the bar fellas................... 82 yards a game... thats a 1400 yard season.
THAT makes a solid RB...or wr... that dude is worth a contract.
over 5.0 per carry...over 10.0 per catch.......and give him a bonus for YAC
 

slanidrac16

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hey fellas. Myself, like most of you, have been watching nfl since Nixon,,,longer for a few of you.
During that time the nfl has always used 1000 yards as a measuring stick for success. we as fans not only accepted it but we came to embrace it.

a THOUSAND yards.

Man thats something.

or at least it was....back in 1973 when O.J. ran for 2000. But he did it in 14 games. Not 16...14.

so even though the world embraced the thousand yard season I have always felt that 1300 was a better bar for a really good back.... or WR.
But now we have 17 games....and even talk of 18 in the near future.
so why are we still using the thousand yard season as a reason to give guys massive new contracts? More games means more opportunities so of course they should get more yards.

so I went back and looked at O.J., Marcus, and Emmit.... some of you know I am a huge Marcus Allen fan..and dudes numbers really took a hit after his rookie contract,...for those in the know it was Al forcing him to play on his rookie deal...and Marcus suing the league for free agency...Al didnt like that so he did everything he could to destroy Marcus career short of cutting him...because if he did that then Marcus could go play somewhere else...
anyway, I digress..... even during the down times the yards per touch remained fairly consistent. Looking at Smith and O.J. and it was the same.
at 15 touches...with a 5.4 yard average...a RB would have 80 yards a game....and a 1360 yard season. with 17 games. That doesnt seem entirely impressive... the tricky part is the 5.4 yd average. of course..he could do the same with 20 touches and a 4.0 average....

but an 4.0 average...20 carries... thats pretty mundane isnt it?? I mean, I know we run less overall..so few backs get 20 carries anymore...even when 20 carries was the norm a 5.0yd average was expected.
I mean honestly... the nfl passes more..ncaa passes more...so where the fudge are these guys learning to shut down the run? They're not.
Piss poor offensive coordinators are losing sight of run concepts...IMHO.

with wide receivers the disparity is even worse. I mean come on...we have all seen those guys who run down field..catch the ball...and fall down or step out of bounds. No jukes, no head fakes, no broken tackles;;where he caught it is where the play ends.... but dude still gets 10, 15, 20 yards on his stat sheet.
are we so sad that a guy doing that 4 or 5 times a game...gets 1400 yards,,and suddenly he is worth 30 million?
60 yards a game is a thousand yard season...60... anyone else remember when backups used to get 60 yards?? I mean hell, we once let a backup QB run for 60 on a single play.

we need to raise the bar fellas................... 82 yards a game... thats a 1400 yard season.
THAT makes a solid RB...or wr... that dude is worth a contract.
over 5.0 per carry...over 10.0 per catch.......and give him a bonus for YAC
I see yards per carry as the measuring stick. I’ve been crying for a the Cards to get another rb similar to Connor because, as you stated, 17 games is brutal. Add to that players being made to play more and more on Thursday nights.
Connor is going to break down somewhere along the line. He’s a thumper and we do not have his replacement on this team.
A 1000 yards? Give me two running
backs with 750-800 yards and you’ve got something.
 

RON_IN_OC

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1000 yards today is only 58.8 yards per game. IMO, the threshold to be considered average should be no less than 65 yards per game, or 1100 yards per season. To be considered above average/elite, it should be 75 yards per game average or 1300 yards per season.
 

WakeForestCard

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1000 yards today is only 58.8 yards per game. IMO, the threshold to be considered average should be no less than 65 yards per game, or 1100 yards per season. To be considered above average/elite, it should be 75 yards per game average or 1300 yards per season.
Only 15 players had over 1100 receiving yards last year (16 in 2021). I think that's a pretty high standard to be considered 'average'.

1300 for elite makes sense. Last year there were 8 that hit that total (6 in 2021).
 
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oaken1

oaken1

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I see yards per carry as the measuring stick. I’ve been crying for a the Cards to get another rb similar to Connor because, as you stated, 17 games is brutal. Add to that players being made to play more and more on Thursday nights.
Connor is going to break down somewhere along the line. He’s a thumper and we do not have his replacement on this team.
A 1000 yards? Give me two running
backs with 750-800 yards and you’ve got something.
agree... because you also have to factor in catches. Those guys I posted stats on had their rushing numbers but also added 4-700 yards in receiving to go with it.
2 guys in the 750 rushing and 550 receiving would be nice... the hardest part about finding a RB in my opinion is getting a guy who can post that production but also lead block and pick up the blitz in pass protection.
 

CardsFan88

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14 games = 1000
16 games = 1142
17 games = 1215

Apples to Apples

Or by reverse
1000 yards in 17 games is equivalent to 824 yards in 14 games.

Of course, OJ Simpson had over 2000 yards in 14 games. 143.1 ypg
In 17 games that would be 2432 yards. That would be killing it.
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