The Quarterback with the highest percentage of their total yards that came from running the ball (since the merger) is a Chicago Bear, but not the one you’re thinking of. In 1972 Bears starting QB, Bobby Douglass managed to scrap together 2,039 total yards with 48% of those yards coming from running the ball (1,071 yards passing, 968 yards rushing). Bobby Douglass remains the only quarterback since the merger with 2K total yards to have a rushing yard % above 40%.
The guy we were thinking of is Justin Fields, of course. It is widely known that he runs for a lot of yards, and he passes for relatively few yards. Fields was the player I had in mind when I researched this data. Last season, Fields regularly threw for less than 200 yards but put together many highlight plays with his legs. He even had two games where he ran for more yards than he threw for. His performances were polarizing and led to debates between people who enjoyed his athleticism and his potential vs those who think quarterbacks should be able to throw the ball on time and on target. His record-breaking season (most rushing yards in a regular-season game for a QB with 178, most rushing yards in a single-season for the Bears 1,143) led to 38% of his total yards coming from running the ball. This is the 2nd highest % and is 6 percentage points ahead of Michael Vick’s 2006 season.
There are 14 Quarterbacks who have had at least 20% of their total yards coming from running the ball. These 14 QBs had 22 seasons meeting this criterion led by Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson each with four seasons.
Criteria: since the merger, QBs with min of 2'000 total yards, Total yards = passing yards - sack yards + rushing yards)
If you're wondering what the median % is, it is 3.6%. The average QB in the 3.6% group ran for 114 yards and passed for 3,081 yards. The medium group includes guys like Mac Jones, Trent Green, Danny White, Baker Mayfield, and oddly enough 35-year-old Randall Cunningham (27-year-old Randall Cunningham is in the 20%+ group in his 1990 season).
Who has the lowest % of total yards from rushing? In 1971, Bowns QB Bill Nelson threw for 2,097 yards and had 18 negative rushing yards, for a rushing contribution of -0.9%. Other QBs with at least -0.5% are Jim Miller-2001, Dan Fouts-1984, Peyton Manning-2014, Steve DeBerg-1991, Peyton Manning-2013, Dan Marino-1985, Nick Mullens-2018, Ken Stabler-1980.
Note this is not a post in support of or against QBs who run a lot. I'll leave it to you all to calculate how many Super Bowls were won from guys on this list (or not won from guys on this list) and form your narratives. This is just some research and a dataviz on interesting seasons where athleticism from QBs was disproportionate to their passing contributions.
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