NFL Most Rushing Yards Predictions, Odds, Best Bets 2022

• Last year’s winner – Indy Colts RB Jonathan Taylor – is this season’s odds-on favorite
• For the Titans’ Derrick Henry to win this title, he must stay healthy unlike in last season
• This season, the award presentation will happen on Saturday, February 11, 2023

NFL Most Rushing Yards Odds

Odds taken from DraftKings. Click on the links below to head to the sportsbook and place your bet.

NFL Most Rushing Yards Pick

With the QB position up in the air in Cleveland, expect them to lean heavily on their run game and if Chubb can stay healthy he is their go-to man on the ground.

Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns (+350)

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The NFL has certainly become a passing league, but that game plan requires a steady counterbalance with the run game to keep defenses in check, and the RB who generates the most yards in a season is recognized at the end of every season, the goal for most pro backs.

Last year’s winner – Indy Colts RB Jonathan Taylor – is also this season’s odds-on favorite, challenged closely by a two-time winner of this distinction – Tennessee Titan’s RB Derrick Taylor – two backs in their prime who could easily have the season of their career in 2022.

One key to winning this prestigious rushing title is getting snaps and staying healthy which is tough to do while getting pummeled, so here we examine the favorites for this honor and briefly evaluate their odds and predictions for becoming the NFL Total Rushing Yards Champ of 2022.

Good luck – win big!

NFL Most Rushing Yards Predictions

Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts

Despite the Indianapolis Colts failing to make the playoffs in 2021, their star RB Jonathan Taylor had himself a breakout season while posting the most yards of any running back (1,811) as well as leading the league in carries (332), rushing TDs (18), and rushing yards per game (106.5).

Not bad for just his second season in the league, the 23-year old Taylor a former Wisconsin playmaker where he was a 2x Unanimous All-American and 3x Consensus All-Big Ten, a 5’ 10 226 pound bull who can run the 40-yard dash in 4.39 seconds, a deadly combo for defenders.

The Colts will have Matt Ryan under center this season, a veteran QB who knows exactly how valuable a dual threat RB and checkdown receiver like Taylor is in the backfield, the third-year pro now with 76 catches for 659 yards 3 TDs, his most productive seasons could still be ahead.

Derrick Henry, RB, Tennessee Titans

Besides the Colts Jonathan Taylor, the AFC South has another of the league’s top runners on this list, the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry, a two-time winner of this NFL Most Rushing Yards Award and he was on his way to a third one when his 2021 got cut short with an injury.

Henry is becoming a rarity at his position at 28-years old with the RB taking some of the most brutal punishment in games of all the football positions, but except for last season he has been a durable and dependable player, including showing up post-rehab for the postseason last year.

For two straight seasons – 2019-2020 – Henry led the league in carries, rushing yards, and yards per game, so expect a healthy him to begin to carry a similar load in 2022, his presence in the backfield a huge plus for HC Mike Vrabel and QB Ryan Tannehill as the Titans battle to win.

Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns

Though he missed three games last season due to injury, Cleveland Browns RB Nick Chubb had the 2nd most rushing yards during 2021 averaging 5.5 yards per carry and almost 90 yards per game, and he might have been even more productive had their pass game been on point.

Last year, Cleveland suffered from poor QB play with Baker Mayfield battling a shoulder injury all season, so the Browns running was an obvious option that defenses could game plan around making Chubb’s productive season even more impressive, numbers that are typical for him.

In Chubb’s four NFL seasons, he has posted 1,000+ rushing yards each year (that is if you count his 996 yard rookie season), a back who shares the backfield with RB Kareem Hunt, and both will be a help to whichever QB ends up being under center for the Browns this season.

Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota Vikings

Fourth on the list here is a true dual-threat back, Minnesota Vikings’ RB Dalvin Cook, a veteran 3x Pro-Bowler who is about to play in his sixth NFL season who hurts defenses on the ground and through the air with his speed and power making him difficult to tackle in the open field.

Last year Cook only played in 13 games due to a dislocated shoulder, that season with 249 carries for 1,159 yards and 6 TDs along with 34 catches for 224 yards, production that could not keep the shaky Vikings from earning just an 8-9 record and avoiding the playoffs again.

Cook is 5’ 10” and 210 pounds so he is large enough to take a hit, but he is still fast enough (4.49 second 40-yard dash speed) to be dangerous on the run, the Florida State alum a 2x first-team All American and All-ACC while playing there, his off the field persona equally impressive.

Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

If you watched the Super Bowl last season, you remember the Cincinnati Bengals RB Joe Mixon who carried the ball 15 times for 72 yards and caught 5 passes for just a yard in that loss, this sixth-year pro ready to have another breakout season if he can stay healthy.

Mixon has proven to be mostly durable during his NFL career, but in 2020 he only played in six games due to a foot injury that forced him onto IR, and that was just after the Bengals’ front office agreed to extend his contract for four years at $48 million, a tough way to follow that deal.

In his six NFL seasons, Mixon has carried the ball over 1,100 times for 33 touchdowns plus he has caught 171 balls for 1,322 yards and 8 touchdowns, a dual threat who helps QB Joe Burrow in times of trouble as a checkdown receiver who uses his 6’ 1” 220 body to keep things fair.

Who Was the NFL Most Rushing Yards Leader in 2021?

In 2021, the NFL’s Total Rushing Yards leader was Jonathan Taylor of the Indy Colts, his first time winning the award and he was perhaps fortunate that the 2-time winner the previous two seasons – Derrick Henry of the Titans – was injured and could not compete for the accolade.

Plenty of RBs have won this award twice in their career (17) and some have won it three times (8) and four times (6) but only the Cleveland Browns Jim Brown has won this award eight times between 1957 and 1965, a record that most likely will never be broken in the future.

Last season, the Cleveland Browns’ RB Nick Chubb posted the 2nd most rushing yards (1,259) in just 14 games, and the Cincinnati Bengals RB Joe Mixon had the third-best production in 2021 (1,205 yards), a tough season to come out on top as Taylor (1,811 yards) did.

How is the Winner of the Award Decided?

A nationwide panel of fifty members of the AP who cover the NFL on a regular basis selects the winner of the NFL Most Rushing Yards award at the end of the season before the playoffs.

The league will announce the winner at the NFL Honors Presentation, which is held the night before the Super Bowl is played.

This season, the presentation will happen on Saturday, February 11, 2023, and as usual, it will not be televised for the public, but chances are the names of the winners will leak out so keep checking back for all the latest news and updates.