Younger Runners

The top running backs in the NFL have undergone a change in recent years. They've gotten younger. Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, and Frank Gore are still playing but they are drifting into the background. It happens. The 2017 running back draft class was hailed as a very good one even before each member of it was assigned to a team. Through three games the expected quality of the rookie runners has shown on the field. It's easily spotted among the rushing league's rushing leaders.

Rank	Player	Team	Att	Yards	Avg
1	Kareem Hunt	KC	47	401	8.5
2	Dalvin Cook	MIN	61	288	4.7
3	Carlos Hyde	SF	49	253	5.2
4	Todd Gurley	LAR	63	241	3.8
5	C.J. Anderson	DEN	53	235	4.4
6	Devonta Freeman	ATL	52	227	4.4
7	Jordan Howard	CHI	45	199	4.4
7	Leonard Fournette	JAC	57	199	3.5
9	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	55	192	3.5
10	DeMarco Murray	TEN	35	184	5.3
11	Lamar Miller	HOU	49	182	3.7
12	Le'Veon Bell	PIT	52	180	3.5
13	Derrick Henry	TEN	38	171	5.2
14	Chris Carson	SEA	37	166	4.5
15	Ameer Abdullah	DET	46	163	3.5
16	Jonathan Stewart	CAR	45	162	3.6
17	Tarik Cohen	CHI	24	157	6.5
18	Javorius Allen	BAL	43	152	3.5
19	Melvin Gordon	LAC	44	146	3.3
20	Mike Gillislee	NE	45	145	3.2
20	Frank Gore	IND	49	145	3.0

In terms of experience the above players break down like this.

Rookies

Kareem Hunt

Dalvin Cook

Leonard Fournette

Chris Carson

Tarik Cohen

The top two and five of the top 20 ground-gainers in the league are rookies.

2nd Year
Jordan Howard
Ezekiel Elliott
Derrick Henry

3rd Year
Todd Gurley
Ameer Abdullah
Javorius Allen
Melvin Gordon

4th Year
Carlos Hyde
Devonta Freeman

5th Year
C.J. Anderson
Le'Veon Bell
Mike Gillislee

6th Year
Lamar Miller

7th Year
DeMarco Murray

10th Year
Jonathan Stewart

13th Year
Frank Gore

Jonathan Stewart and Frank Gore represent the "old guys" but running back is turning into a "young guys" game. The majority of the top rushers (through 3 games) have barely scratched their NFL careers. 12 of the top 20 have played less than three seasons. And most, if not all, look like they have some staying power. Although many thought highly of Trent Richardson after his rookie season. In a league that seems to lean on the pass more each season there are a whole bunch of young running backs that are making their presence felt. 

Total QBR Through 3 Games

There are so many ways to quantify a quarterback's performance. ESPN uses a Total Quarterback Rating. They're number-crunchers have been crunching quarterback numbers for this rating since 2006. Here's their Total QBR's for the 32 quarterbacks through the first three games of the 2017 season.

RK	PLAYER	PTS ADDED	PASS	RUN	PENALTY	TOTAL EPA	QB PLAYS	RAW QBR	TOTAL QBR
1	Tom Brady, NE	11.0	17.5	-1.1	1.6	21.9	139	75.3	76.5
2	Case Keenum, MIN	5.5	8.1	0.6	0.6	10.5	82	72.1	75.8
3	Matt Ryan, ATL	6.6	10.2	1.9	0.6	16.6	112	69.7	71.2
4	Jared Goff, LAR	5.5	12.6	-0.8	0.5	13.0	100	68.7	68.5
5	Matthew Stafford, DET	7.2	13.1	4.7	-0.1	20.1	130	68.7	64.6
6	Deshaun Watson, HOU	6.0	3.5	6.6	1.3	14.6	114	67.8	64.2
7	Carson Wentz, PHI	4.8	9.5	3.1	1.9	18.5	152	60.9	63.7
8	Drew Brees, NO	4.2	10.8	0.0	-0.0	11.9	118	62.3	60.8
	Dak Prescott, DAL	5.6	8.8	3.2	0.5	13.9	132	64.5	60.8
10	Tyrod Taylor, BUF	3.6	4.5	6.0	0.5	14.4	110	61.4	59.6
RK	PLAYER	PTS ADDED	PASS	RUN	PENALTY	TOTAL EPA	QB PLAYS	RAW QBR	TOTAL QBR
11	Trevor Siemian, DEN	3.1	8.2	2.3	0.2	14.3	129	58.3	58.8
12	Marcus Mariota, TEN	2.3	8.4	2.9	1.4	13.5	125	56.4	56.6
13	Ben Roethlisberger, PIT	3.7	8.1	1.2	3.4	15.7	130	60.0	55.4
14	Josh McCown, NYJ	1.6	4.2	2.8	0.1	10.6	106	55.5	53.2
15	Aaron Rodgers, GB	3.1	6.7	4.1	1.5	17.3	176	56.2	52.7
16	Alex Smith, KC	1.3	5.6	1.4	-0.4	12.6	113	54.2	51.7
17	Jacoby Brissett, IND	3.3	4.6	3.8	0.8	11.1	90	62.7	50.9
18	Carson Palmer, ARI	-1.7	8.2	0.0	0.9	12.9	163	46.4	50.8
19	Philip Rivers, LAC	0.4	8.7	0.0	1.8	12.0	128	51.0	49.5
20	Russell Wilson, SEA	0.3	6.4	4.6	0.3	14.0	146	50.7	49.0
RK	PLAYER	PTS ADDED	PASS	RUN	PENALTY	TOTAL EPA	QB PLAYS	RAW QBR	TOTAL QBR
21	Blake Bortles, JAX	-2.0	2.1	1.8	1.6	6.1	105	43.3	48.1
22	Jameis Winston, TB	-0.6	2.8	-0.8	1.2	4.7	82	47.6	47.3
23	Kirk Cousins, WSH	-0.1	6.7	-0.6	0.8	10.7	119	49.6	47.0
24	Derek Carr, OAK	-2.4	4.8	-1.7	1.2	6.5	107	42.0	43.9
25	Eli Manning, NYG	-4.2	3.5	0.0	0.7	8.0	135	39.3	42.6
26	Jay Cutler, MIA	-2.4	3.3	-0.2	-0.1	4.9	88	40.5	42.0
27	Mike Glennon, CHI	-9.3	-0.9	-0.7	-0.2	2.7	125	26.0	27.8
28	Brian Hoyer, SF	-8.8	-4.4	1.5	0.6	3.2	123	26.7	27.2
29	DeShone Kizer, CLE	-15.4	-6.4	1.2	1.1	-0.3	148	18.6	26.6
30	Cam Newton, CAR	-7.0	-3.4	2.8	-0.3	3.8	111	29.0	25.6
RK	PLAYER	PTS ADDED	PASS	RUN	PENALTY	TOTAL EPA	QB PLAYS	RAW QBR	TOTAL QBR
31	Joe Flacco, BAL	-4.8	-0.4	0.0	0.5	3.0	86	31.3	24.1
32	Andy Dalton, CIN	-13.2	-6.6	-0.6	0.5	-1.4	114	16.2	16.6

Glossary

• * Season Leaders: On pace for 320 action plays.
• * All-time data reflects 2006 onwards.
• PTS ADDED: Number of points contributed by a quarterback over the season, accounting for QBR and how much he plays, above the level of an average quarterback.
• PASS: Clutch-weighted expected points added on plays with pass attempts.
• RUN: Clutch-weighted expected points added through rushes.
• PENALTY: Clutch-weighted expected points added on penalties.
• TOTAL EPA: Total clutch-weighted expected points added.
• QB PLAYS: Plays on which the QB has a non-zero expected points contribution. Includes most plays that are not handoffs.
• RAW QBR: Total Quarterback Rating, which values quarterback on all play types on a 0-to-100 scale.
• TOTAL QBR: Opponent adjusted QBR.

I've given most quarterback ratings little more than a curious glance in recent years. That's mostly do to the simple fact that it's been a while since the Minnesota Vikings have had a quarterback that's held a prominent spot on any quarterback ratings list. That's changed this year. Case Keenum is #2. If Sam Bradford's terrific opening game performance was factored into Keenum's two-game numbers the Vikings, as a team, might hold the top spot on ESPN's Total QBR. It's been a fun start to the 2017 season but it's still just a start. There's a long way to go.