NFL Insider: Will the NFL Rushing Record Ever Be Broken?

I was sitting down the other day thinking about some of the current NFL running backs and started thinking about Tennessee Titan’s running back Chris Johnson.  I thought about the season that he had last year and what he was doing this year and considered all the yards he had piled up so far.  

Granted, it may not seem like much when you are comparing him to some of the great running backs in NFL history like Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton but he’s had a good career so far and has as good a chance as any at breaking the all time NFL rushing record.

But does he “really” have a chance at beating Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s yardage leader?  

The odds are clearly against Johnson and almost every other modern era running back.  Why? Here are a few reasons why there may never be another running back that breaks the NFL’s rushing record.

1.  Longevity is gone in the NFL-Sure, there are some players that stick around for a while like quarterback Brett Favre and linebacker Ray Lewis but running backs take the most pounding of any player at any position and do not last as long (career-wise) as other players do. The days of the long time franchise running back have come to an end.

The average career for an NFL player is 3-5 years and there isn’t a running back in the NFL that will be able to break the record in that amount of time. And with the abuse that a running back takes, they are lucky to last the full five years.

2.  Teams use a two back offense much more now-The use of a two back offense in the NFL has reduced the number of carries that both backs get thus reducing the total number of yards that they will get in a season and over their career. Some great examples of two back systems include Jammal Charles and Thomas Jones in Kansas City along with Shonn Greene and LaDanlian Tomlinson in New York with the Jets.

Neither of these players is any kind of threat to the rushing record and would have to spend many more years in the NFL in order to break that record. That isn’t going to happen. Using two running backs is very advantageous for the offense but for the individual running back, it cuts down on their rushing yards and makes impossible to become a record breaking running back.

3.  Money is a big motivator-In the NFL, you are at all aware of what happens typically, players tend to want to rip up their contracts once they have a good season with a team and demand more money. What does this do in terms of not allowing running backs to break rushing records? It puts bad feelings between the club and the player in place and may either force the club to trade the player or cause enough bad feelings that the team subconsciously reduces the running back’s role on offense.

Players that demand trades or are traded because they don’t fit well with the team that they are on lose their “edge” and don’t end up being too much of a threat to become a record breaker. Granted, this doesn’t happen too often to running backs but it’s a career change and one that could set them back.

4.  Injuries are too frequent-You could lump this under longevity but teams are much more cautious with their players when they get hurt and thanks to the depth at the running back position that most teams have as well as the quality of that depth. Teams are much more willing to sit their star running back to let him heal rather than let him play injured. This has a definite impact on the ability of a running back to challenge for the NFL rushing record.

Things just aren’t like they used to be back in the days when Smith broke the NFL’s rushing record. Those long standing players, guys that are with their teams for ten or more seasons are gone. These days running backs are lasting about five seasons before they are either let go or move on to another team to fade away.

What are your thoughts? Do you think someone will eventually break the NFL’s rushing record?