LeSean McCoy doesn’t have breakaway 4.3 speed, but he was the best “breakaway” running back in the AFC last season.
Pro Football Focus sent this tweet on the AFC running backs who hit the most big plays in 2016:
Melvin Gordon is big play threat every time he touches the ball pic.twitter.com/LGQ50sEoI3
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) July 4, 2017
How about the runners in the NFC? Ezekiel Elliott had 22 runs of 15 or more yards. He led the NFL with 322 carries. McCoy had 234. The Bears’ Jordan Howard, who had an underrated rookie campaign in the shadow of Elliott, had 19 runs of 15-plus yards on 252 rushing attempts. Devonta Freeman of the Falcons had 16 “big” runs on 227 carries.
As for 30-plus yard runs, only Jay Ajayi had more (6) than McCoy and Crowell (4). Two of Ajayi’s 30-plus yard bursts came against the Bills last season.
As for runs of 10 yards or more, Elliott led the way with 48. That means Elliott had a 10-plus yard gain on 14.9% of his carries last year. McCoy’s percentage was 14.5%.