In Week One, Christian McCaffrey ran for 152 yards in the 49ers’ win over the Steelers. He was the league’s leading rusher after the first week of the season, and he’s been the league’s leading rusher every week since.
If McCaffrey keeps the NFL rushing lead for four more weeks, he’ll be the first player since Emmitt Smith in 1995 to lead the NFL in rushing every week from the start of the season to the end.
McCaffrey will almost certainly do it if he stays healthy. He currently has a league-high 1,177 rushing yards. The No. 2 rusher in the league, Raheem Mostert, is 253 yards behind McCaffrey. That’s a lot of ground to make up in four games.
Only four times since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger has a player led the NFL in rushing after each week of the season. In addition to Smith in 1995, Walter Payton did it in 1977 and O.J. Simpson did it in both 1973 and 1975.