In 1999, Marshall Faulk set the NFL record for yards from scrimmage in a season with 2,429. That mark still stands as the 2nd best in NFL history, and Faulk was truly dominant that season.

But while Faulk may have been the key cog in the St. Louis machine, he wasn’t the whole machine. St. Louis led the NFL in total yards, and had the most talented offense in the NFL. Faulk accounted for 36.6% of the Rams total offensive output that year, a huge number — but not a historically incredible one.

Consider what Maurice Jones-Drew did in 2011. The Jaguars were 5-11, and finished last by a mile in terms of total yards. Yet, somehow, Jones-Drew led the league in rushing with 1,606 yards, and ranked 2nd with 1,980 yards from scrimmage. No other Jaguar came within 1500 yards of Jones-Drew that year! The Jacksonville star was responsible for an incredible 44.2% of the team’s offensive output that season, the 2nd most in NFL history.

Now, what’s more impressive: being responsible for 44.2% of a bad offense, or 36.6% of a dominant one? That’s up to each reader to decide, but today, I wanted to look at workhorse yardage producers. The table below, which is fully sortable and searchable, shows the top 400 players in the statistic “percentage of team’s total yards from scrimmage”:

An interesting Faulk note: his best performance by this metric was not with the Rams, but came during his final season in Indianapolis, when he was responsible for 42.6% of all Colts yards.

O.J. Simpson has the top spot, and not by a small amount, although I think I am partial to Jones-Drew’s 2011 season as the most impressive. Simpson played on a team that didn’t pass the ball, even by dead ball, 1973 standards, so it was a little easier for him to carry such a large percentage of the pie. Consider that 8 players in the 26-team NFL that year make the top 400, compared to just 4 from the 32-team 2011 NFL season. The 2011 Jaguars were arguably a worse passing team than the ’73 Bills after adjusting for era, but still gained more yards through the air than on the ground because that’s the way the modern NFL works. Of course, we’re splitting hairs here: both Simpson and Jones-Drew carried their teams in remarkable ways.

Eric Dickerson is the only player with two seasons in the top 15. One other Dickerson note: while he has “only” five seasons in the top 400, he’s hurt by this analysis because his 1987 season — when he played for two teams — is excluded. But for those scoring at home, Dickerson gained 1,144 yards with the Colts that year, and during that stretch, the Colts totaled 3,175 yards. So Dickerson accounted for 36% of the 1987 Indianapolis offense when he was on the roster, which would have given him another top-75 season.

Dickerson has three seasons in the top 22; Jim Brown is the only other player with three top-25 seasons, and Tiki Barber is the only other player with three top-30 seasons. It’s incredible to think that for a 3-year stretch, Barber gained 40.4% of the Giants total offense. And the Giants offense was not bad (it was essentially average) at gaining yards, making Barber’s feat even more incredible. Barber gained 6,613 yards from scrimmage those three years: the only player to gain more yards in any three year period was Faulk (6,765 yards from ’99 to ’01, and 6,845 yards from ’98 to ’00). If Barber ever makes the Hall of Fame, that previous sentence will be the main reason why.

Dickerson’s 4th best season checks in at #33; Jim Brown’s 4th best year is just behind him at #34. In fact, Brown’s 5th best year — #42 on the list — comes ahead of any other player’s fourth best year (Walter Payton, with four top-45 seasons).

Brown is also the leader when it comes to a player’s sixth best season, and 7th best year, and 8th best, too. But Payton has a whopping 11 seasons in the top 300; no other player has even 10 seasons in the top 400, and Barry Sanders is the only one with 9 (his 9th best year ranks at #302).

Isaac Bruce’s 1995 season was really special: he gained 1,781 receiving yards, the 2nd most in NFL history at that time (now the 3rd). But that was the year Jerry Rice set the NFL single-season record, and Bruce didn’t even make the Pro Bowl that season! But Bruce exacts a measure of revenge here: he has the top single season by any wide receiver. In 1995, he was responsible for 32.4% of the Rams offense. He gained over 1,000 more yards than any other player on St. Louis! By comparison, Rice was responsible for 30.1% of the San Francisco offense that year, and “only” outgained the 49ers runner up in yards by 499.

Looking at other wide receivers, David Boston gained 32% of the Cardinals total yards in ’01. And, as regular readers know, Steve Smith’s 2005 season makes the cut as the third best performance by a wide receiver in the modern era based on this metric.

What stands out to you guys? What do you think of this “workhorse” metric?