Rookie RBs w/1300 rushing yards; only 1000 yard season

[Bryan]

I can only find one RB who had over 1300 yards rushing as a rookie and never again topped the 1000 yard mark in his career. Even Mike Anderson of the Broncos put together another 1000-yard season after his big rookie year. I thought there would be more 'shooting star' RBs with big rookie years. Does anyone know/can anyone find other RBs who fit this criteria?

[74_75_78_79_]

He wasn’t a rookie, but Barry Foster’s 1st season as a starter he rushed for 1,690 and you know the rest.

[JWL]

Don Woods ran for 1162 yards as a Chargers rookie in 1974 and never came close to having another 1000 yard rushing season.

[bachslunch]

Robert Edwards gained 1115 rushing yards in his rookie year (1998) with the Patriots, then blew out his knee in a Pro Bowl NFL flag football game at the end of the year. He only played one more season in the NFL four years later, gaining 107 yards.

He also played three years in the CFL (2005-2007) before his career ended for good.

[JeffreyMiller]

A bit shy of 1,300, but Terry Miller of the Bills gained 1,060 in his rookie year, then went down to 484, then 35, then 4 ... then out of the league ...

[Rupert Patrick]

Reuben Mayes rushed for 1353 yards as a rookie for the Saints in 1986, rushed for 917 in 1987 (the strike wiped out his chances of 1000), and his career went downhill after that point.

Steve Slaton in 2008 was the only other rookie to go over 1200 yards (1282) and never top 1000 yards again.

I have found 21 running backs who topped the 1000-yard mark as a rookie but never rushed for 1000 yards again. The most famous one-year wonders were Ickey Woods and Joe Delaney, and one could argue Beattie Feathers. The best career of the 21 was either Cookie Gilchrist or Kevin Mack. I left out active running backs like Saquon Barkley.

I did a quick little historical study of 1,000 yard rushers. Here are the bullet points:

From 1933 to 2018 there have been according to my count a total of 639 1000-yard rushing seasons, and in the average 1000-yard season, he rushed for 1252 yards.

A total of 248 different players have rushed for 1000 or more yards in a season.

Breaking it down by quantity, 110 have only rushed for 1,000 once, 51 have done it twice, 31 three times, 17 four times, 11 five times, 7 six times, 9 seven times, 7 have done it eight times, 1 nine times (Frank Gore), three have done it 10 times (Sanders, Curtis Martin, Payton) and Emmitt Smith rushed for 1000 yards 11 times.

[Todd Pence]

Paul Robinson of the 1968 Bengals became the only 1,000-yard rusher ever for an expansion squad, never came close again.

[SixtiesFan]

Paul Zimmerman wrote that many running backs were never better than in their rookie year.

[sluggermatt15]

Cadillac Williams ran for 1,178 yards as a rookie in 2005 with the Bucs, never hit more than 798 in any other season.

[BD Sullivan]

Rashaan Salaam had 1,074 with the 1995 Bears, then followed with seasons of 496 and 112 before ending his career with the 1999 "new" Browns.

Ickey Woods gained 1,066 with the Bengals in 1988, then blew out his knee and never had than 268 in three more seasons.

Boobie Clark had 988 as a rookie in 1973 with the Bengals and then had a high of 671 during the next three years before falling off the map.

Trent Richardson had 950 yards and 11 touchdowns for the 2012 Browns, then had less than 600 in each of the next two years and was out of the NFL.