1950's RB usage percentage

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Bryan
Posts: 2509
Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:37 am

1950's RB usage percentage

Post by Bryan »

Out of boredom of every sporting event being cancelled, I crunched numbers of some 1950’s RBs to come up with a ‘usage percentage’, which is simply taking their career all-purpose yardage totals and figuring out what percentage of that total is comprised of rushing, receiving, punt return and kick return yards. The selection of RBs was somewhat random. Here are the results:

Joe Perry, Niners main team (Rushing% = 78, Receiving% = 16, Kick Return% = 6, Punt Return% = 0)
Perry was the starting point, because his workload was like that of a modern day ‘bell cow’…mostly rushing attempts, some receptions from just being on the field, and very little ST usage.

John Henry Johnson, Niners/Steelers (81/18/0/1)
JH had the highest rushing percentage of the RBs I looked at. I was surprised that he was never used as a kick returner…his size/speed would have served him well in that role.

Hugh McEllhenny, Niners (46/29/8/17)
Was never ‘fed’ the ball, but was always a punt return threat and often times would line up as a flanker. His PR yardage total more than doubled the next highest RB I looked at.

Frank Gifford, Giants (37/55/6/2)
Had the strangest usage, as his receiving was significantly higher than his rushing. Not counted in this was Gifford’s 823 passing yards, which was much greater than the next highest RB in this list (Hornung 383). It was strange that seemingly every RB had some type of passing yardage…I guess the HB option was a regular occurrence in that era…but Gifford’s total was impressive. Gifford also had 112 INT return yards, which was 2nd highest on this list.

Paul Hornung, Packers (68/27/5/0)
Had low overall yardage totals and his percentages featured a relatively high rushing rate, which may be do to the Packers offense being so ground-oriented. Hornung’s versatility isn’t measured well here…he was a good passer, great blocker, and scored points as a kicker.

Lenny Moore, Colts (42/49/9/0)
I wasn’t surprised to see Moore have a higher receiving percentage, but I was very surprised that he wasn’t more of a threat as a returner. The Colts never used him on returns at all until Moore was at the end of his career. Not sure why that was.

Ollie Matson, Cards (40/25/29/5)
He was the reason why I looked into this, because he would be dominant in one game and then the next game he would carry the ball only 5 times. Has the most impressive all-around totals...5000 rushing yards, 3000+ receiving, 4000+ returns. He even had 51 INT return yards and 119 passing yards. He was a premier KR guy. I think if you look at Matson’s season-by-season rushing totals, you don’t get the full picture of his talents.

Glenn Davis, Rams (35/39/20/6)
VT Smith, Rams (17/26/37/21)
Tommy Kalminar, Rams (21/11/48/11)
Dick Hoerner, Rams (63/34/1/0)

I wanted to see how the Rams deployed their ‘scatbacks’ and compare it to regular RB Dick Hoerner. I was surprised that even on a team with Fears and Hirsch, guys like Davis and Smith had such a high receiving percentage. Davis and Smith’s role in the 3 WR offense is pretty revolutionary. Vitamin T had the lowest run percentage of anyone on this list, as he was an excellent punt and kick returner. Tommy Kalminar didn’t touch the ball as much, but he was also a good return man.

Buddy Young, Yanks (28/28/36/7)
I was hoping to find someone with an exactly equal distribution, and Buddy Young was the closest to it. Had a very productive career with nearly 10,000 APY while nearly every team he played for would fold. A very good kick returner and an excellent receiver.

Dickie James, Redskins (21/18/50/10)
Similar to Young in that he had nearly 10,000 APY on dreadful teams. Had the highest KR% on the list, as the majority of his yards came on returns. His 142 INT return yards was the highest on the list as well.

Dub Jones, Browns (39/50/8/3)
A weird player who may have been the first guy with a relative 50/50 split of his rushing and receiving yards. Part of his high receiving% was due to the Browns offense, but he also was pretty special in his athleticism.

Bobby Mitchell, Browns/Skins (19/56/19/6)
I threw him in at the end after seeing a spectacular highlight film of Mitchell. I thought he had spent the majority of his career strictly as a flanker, but that was not the case. He was incredibly effective as a RB and also was a great return man. Impressive.
SixtiesFan
Posts: 854
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:04 pm

Re: 1950's RB usage percentage

Post by SixtiesFan »

At Pro Football Reference, I checked the numbers of Tom Tracy (1956-64). He's a forgotten RB, but to me, interesting. His career yardage totals aren't high, but he passed for more yards than Gifford, with 854. Tracy's passing numbers were 24-67, 35.8%, 854 yards, 6 TDs, 5 intercepted. Five of his six TD passes were for 50 yards or more.

Tom (The Bomb) Tracy's biggest moment was playing for the Lions in the 1957 Lion-49er Division playoff game, which the Lions won overcoming a 27-7 deficit in the second half. Tracy scored two touchdowns, the second a 58-yard run that made it 27-21.
RRMarshall
Posts: 279
Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:12 pm

Re: 1950's RB usage percentage

Post by RRMarshall »

I've always considered Mitchell one of the unsung/underrated players of the era. Here's my Hall of the Very Good nomination.

Bobby Mitchell, Browns/Skins (19/56/19/6)
I threw him in at the end after seeing a spectacular highlight film of Mitchell. I thought he had spent the majority of his career strictly as a flanker, but that was not the case. He was incredibly effective as a RB and also was a great return man. Impressive.
BD Sullivan
Posts: 2318
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 1:30 pm

Re: 1950's RB usage percentage

Post by BD Sullivan »

RRMarshall wrote:I've always considered Mitchell one of the unsung/underrated players of the era. Here's my Hall of the Very Good nomination.

Bobby Mitchell, Browns/Skins (19/56/19/6)
I threw him in at the end after seeing a spectacular highlight film of Mitchell. I thought he had spent the majority of his career strictly as a flanker, but that was not the case. He was incredibly effective as a RB and also was a great return man. Impressive.
Mitchell was elected to the HOF in 1983, so there's no need to recognize him in the HOVG.
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