If you were to ask most what the definition of a workhorse running back you will usually get a consensus answer in that they are running backs with over 300 carries in a season. During the 2012 NFL season, a total of five running backs eclipsed this mark - Arian Foster (351), Adrian Peterson (348), Alfred Morris (335), Doug Martin (319), and Marshawn Lynch (315).

But how do these individual running backs attempts compare to their overall teams rushing attempts? How spread out is teams running game and how much relies upon a single running back?

We decided to look at all qualifying running backs (100+ attempts) and compare their rushing attempts for the season to the total rushing attempts of their team to determine the percentage of team attempts given to each running back (% of Team ATT).

We found that a total of 20 NFL teams give over half of their rushing attempts to a single running back with three teams giving over 70% of their rushing attempts to a single rusher - Doug Martin (76.7%), Chris Johnson (73%) and Adrian Peterson (71.6%).

Here is the complete list for the 2012 NFL season:



Additionally, here is a breakdown of each team by the percentage of attempts by the top rusher on the team:

Team % of Att By Top Rusher Buccaneers 76.7% Titans 73.0% Vikings 71.6% Texans 69.1% Browns 67.4% Bengals 64.7% Redskins 64.5% Rams 62.7% Seahawks 58.8% Falcons 58.7% Ravens 57.9% Raiders 57.4% Chiefs 57.0% Jets 55.9% Patriots 55.4% Lions 55.0% Giants 54.0% Bears 52.8% 49ers 52.4% Dolphins 51.6% Eagles 48.4% Colts 48.0% Bills 46.8% Cowboys 45.4% Chargers 44.8% Saints 42.2% Steelers 37.9% Panthers 37.4% Broncos 34.7% Cardinals 31.3% Packers 31.2% Jaguars 28.2%



As you can see from above, a total of 12 teams give less than 50% of their total rushing attempts to a single rusher with six teams being under 40% with the Jaguars being the only team falling under 30%.