Okay, so I wanted to figure out the deal with the average height of NFL running backs. You know, just one of those things that gets stuck in your head and you gotta find the answer.
First off, I started poking around the internet, just Googling stuff like “average height NFL running back” and things like that. Found some websites talking about it, saying the average is around 5’10” or 5’11”. Some even had it down to the decimal, like 70.66 inches, which is just over 5’10”.
Then I thought, “Well, just knowing the average is kinda boring.” I wanted to see if this actually mattered. Like, are taller running backs better? Are shorter ones faster? So I dug a little deeper.
I started looking at individual player stats. I made a big list of all the running backs I could find, noting their height and how many yards they rushed for. I used this website that had a ton of data.
- Pulled up a list of all active NFL running backs.
- Started writing down their heights, one by one.
- Looked at their stats, like yards per carry and total rushing yards.
Honestly, it took forever. There are a lot of running backs in the NFL! And some of these websites were a real pain to navigate. But I kept at it, copying and pasting stuff into my spreadsheet.
After hours of this, I finally had a decent amount of data. I’m no math whiz, so I just used the spreadsheet to calculate the average height. And guess what? It was pretty much what those websites said, around 5’10” or 5’11”.
But here’s the interesting part. I looked at the tallest running backs, like, there are a few guys listed at 6’2″ or taller and checked their stats. And I did the same for some of the shorter guys. I didn’t really see any clear pattern. Some tall guys were great, some weren’t. Same with the shorter guys.
My conclusion?
It seems like height isn’t everything for a running back. There are so many other things that matter, like speed, strength, agility, and just plain old skill. My little experiment didn’t prove anything for sure, but it was a fun way to spend a few hours. And hey, now I can say I know a thing or two about the average height of NFL running backs! Maybe it’ll come in handy at trivia night sometime.
