Kenneth Walker III led the NFL with 173 rushing yards in Week 1 of the 2026 regular season. Jahmyr Gibbs ranked second with 156 yards, and Derrick Henry finished third with 144. Seven players reached 100 rushing yards during the opening week.
This leaderboard covers the top 25 Week 1 rushing totals. It includes every player from Walker at No. 1 through Rhamondre Stevenson at No. 25, with shared ranks used for equal yardage totals.
For a broader historical comparison, see our most rushing yards in NFL history leaderboard.
Table of Contents
- Scope and Ranking Method
- Top 10 NFL Week 1 Rushing Leaders
- What Stands Out From the Leaderboard
- Complete Top 25 Leaderboard
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- Related Articles
Scope and Ranking Method
The ranking uses individual rushing yards recorded during Week 1 of the 2026 NFL regular season. Receiving yards, return yards and other forms of offense are excluded.
Rushing yards alone determine placement. Attempts, touchdowns, yards per carry, position and game result provide context, but they do not change the order.
Players with equal totals share a competition rank, and the next rank skips the appropriate number of places. Breece Hall and Ashton Jeanty share fifth, Saquon Barkley and Bijan Robinson share ninth, Kaelon Black and Caleb Williams share 14th, and Blake Corum and Jaxson Dart share 22nd. Stevenson holds the No. 25 cutoff with 51 yards, two more than the next player.
Top 10 NFL Week 1 Rushing Leaders
T-9. Saquon Barkley: 83 Yards
Saquon Barkley opened the season with 83 rushing yards on 15 carries for the Philadelphia Eagles. His 5.5 yards per attempt were the better efficiency mark among the two players tied for ninth, and a 42-yard gain accounted for just over half of his total.
Barkley did not score a rushing touchdown, but he needed six fewer carries than Bijan Robinson to reach the same yardage.
T-9. Bijan Robinson: 83 Yards
Bijan Robinson matched Barkley with 83 yards on 21 carries for the Atlanta Falcons. Seven of his runs produced first downs, compared with two for Barkley, showing that identical yardage totals can come from very different rushing profiles.
Because the leaderboard ranks only total rushing yards, Robinson and Barkley remain tied despite the differences in volume and first-down production.
8. Jonathan Taylor: 98 Yards
Jonathan Taylor finished two yards short of the 100-yard mark, gaining 98 on 19 carries for the Indianapolis Colts. He averaged 5.2 yards per attempt and scored two rushing touchdowns.
Taylor’s combination of yardage and scoring made his performance more productive than the raw No. 8 placement might suggest. In this list, however, Kyle Monangai’s exact 100-yard total keeps Taylor outside the top seven.
7. Kyle Monangai: 100 Yards
Kyle Monangai reached exactly 100 yards on only 10 carries for the Chicago Bears. His 61-yard touchdown was the longest run by any player in the top 25, one yard longer than Walker’s 60-yard score.
The long touchdown drove Monangai’s 10.0-yard average, but he still contributed 39 yards on his other nine carries. He also established the lower boundary of Week 1’s seven-player 100-yard group.
T-5. Breece Hall: 102 Yards
Breece Hall rushed for 102 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries for the New York Jets. He gained 4.6 yards per attempt and produced seven rushing first downs.
Hall finished only two yards ahead of Monangai and matched Jeanty exactly. That shared total creates the first tie in the top 10 and moves the following position from fifth to seventh.
T-5. Ashton Jeanty: 102 Yards
Ashton Jeanty also recorded 102 yards, reaching the mark on 23 carries for the Las Vegas Raiders. He did not score, but seven of his attempts moved the chains.
Jeanty needed one more carry than Hall to produce the same total. Their matching yardage is the only factor that determines the shared No. 5 ranking.
4. D’Andre Swift: 124 Yards
D’Andre Swift gained 124 yards on 18 carries for the Chicago Bears, an average of 6.9 per attempt. He also scored three rushing touchdowns, tying Henry for the most among the top 25.
Swift finished 20 yards behind Henry but 22 ahead of the two players tied for fifth. His performance also helped Chicago place two running backs in the top seven.
3. Derrick Henry: 144 Yards
Derrick Henry rushed for 144 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries for the Baltimore Ravens. His exact 6.0-yard average combined high volume, efficiency and scoring.
Henry finished 12 yards behind Gibbs and 29 behind Walker, but he created a 20-yard gap over Swift in fourth. For a longer view of his standing among current players, see our active NFL rushing-yard leaders.
2. Jahmyr Gibbs: 156 Yards
Jahmyr Gibbs carried 29 times for 156 yards and two touchdowns for the Detroit Lions. No player in the top 25 received more rushing attempts, and Gibbs converted 14 of those carries into first downs.
His 5.4-yard average was strong under that workload. Gibbs finished 12 yards ahead of Henry but 17 behind Walker.
1. Kenneth Walker III: 173 Yards
Kenneth Walker III finished Week 1 as the NFL rushing leader with 173 yards on 23 carries for the Kansas City Chiefs. His 7.5 yards per attempt were the second-highest average in the top 25 among players with at least 10 carries, trailing only Monangai.
Walker broke a 60-yard touchdown run and was the only player to surpass 160 rushing yards. His 17-yard advantage over Gibbs was also larger than the gap between Gibbs and Henry.
What Stands Out From the Week 1 Rushing Leaderboard
Seven Players Reached 100 Rushing Yards
Walker, Gibbs, Henry, Swift, Hall, Jeanty and Monangai all reached triple digits. Taylor came closest to joining them, finishing only two yards short at 98.
The distribution was top-heavy. Cam Skattebo ranked 11th with 81 yards, so the difference between seventh and 11th was 19 yards even though only four leaderboard places separated them.
The Top Three Formed a Clear Lead Group
Walker, Gibbs and Henry were the only players to rush for at least 140 yards. Henry’s 144-yard total stood 20 yards ahead of Swift, the largest gap between consecutive ranks inside the top 10.
The leader also finished 122 yards ahead of the top-25 cutoff. One game cannot establish a full-season hierarchy, but Week 1 gave Walker, Gibbs and Henry an immediate statistical advantage.
Chicago Placed Three Players in the Top 15
Swift ranked fourth with 124 yards, Monangai ranked seventh with 100, and quarterback Caleb Williams tied for 14th with 65. Those three players combined for 289 rushing yards represented in this leaderboard.
Chicago was the only team with two 100-yard rushers and the only team with three players inside the top 15. That concentration is more revealing than looking at Swift’s individual placement alone.
Two Quarterbacks Made the Top 25
Williams gained 65 yards on 10 carries to share 14th place, while Jaxson Dart rushed for 54 yards on 11 attempts to share 22nd. The other 23 players in the table are running backs.
The quarterback entries show why a league-wide rushing list should not be limited by position. Designed runs and scrambles count exactly the same as running-back carries in official rushing totals.
Four Yardage Totals Produced Shared Ranks
The top 25 contains ties at 102, 83, 65 and 54 yards. Competition ranking therefore skips Nos. 6, 10, 15 and 23.
The ties also create useful comparisons. Barkley reached 83 yards on 15 carries while Robinson needed 21, and Black reached 65 on 14 attempts while Williams needed 10. The leaderboard records equal totals without treating the underlying rushing performances as identical.
Complete Week 1 Top 25 Rushing Yards Leaderboard
| Rank | Player | Rushing Yards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenneth Walker III | 173 |
| 2 | Jahmyr Gibbs | 156 |
| 3 | Derrick Henry | 144 |
| 4 | D’Andre Swift | 124 |
| 5 | Breece Hall | 102 |
| 5 | Ashton Jeanty | 102 |
| 7 | Kyle Monangai | 100 |
| 8 | Jonathan Taylor | 98 |
| 9 | Saquon Barkley | 83 |
| 9 | Bijan Robinson | 83 |
| 11 | Cam Skattebo | 81 |
| 12 | Christian McCaffrey | 68 |
| 13 | Bhayshul Tuten | 66 |
| 14 | Kaelon Black | 65 |
| 14 | Caleb Williams | 65 |
| 16 | Jacory Croskey-Merritt | 63 |
| 17 | Tyler Allgeier | 61 |
| 18 | David Montgomery | 60 |
| 19 | Jordan Mason | 59 |
| 20 | James Cook | 57 |
| 21 | Chase Brown | 56 |
| 22 | Blake Corum | 54 |
| 22 | Jaxson Dart | 54 |
| 24 | Jadarian Price | 52 |
| 25 | Rhamondre Stevenson | 51 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who had the most rushing yards in NFL Week 1 of 2026?
Kenneth Walker III led the NFL with 173 rushing yards on 23 carries for the Kansas City Chiefs.
How many players rushed for at least 100 yards in Week 1?
Seven players reached 100 rushing yards: Kenneth Walker III, Jahmyr Gibbs, Derrick Henry, D’Andre Swift, Breece Hall, Ashton Jeanty and Kyle Monangai.
What was the cutoff for the Week 1 top 25?
Rhamondre Stevenson ranked 25th with 51 rushing yards. Chuba Hubbard was next with 49, so no additional player was tied at the cutoff.
How are ties ranked?
Players with the same rushing total share a rank. The next rank skips the number of places already occupied, which is why the table moves from fifth to seventh and from ninth to 11th.
Conclusion
Kenneth Walker III led NFL Week 1 with 173 rushing yards, followed by Jahmyr Gibbs at 156 and Derrick Henry at 144. The extended top 25 shows both the strength of that lead group and the variety beneath it, including four shared ranks, two quarterbacks and three Chicago players inside the top 15.
Related Articles
- Most Rushing Yards in NFL History
- Most Rushing Yards in a Single Season
- Most Rushing Yards Active Career Leaders
- Most Rushing Yards Per Game in NFL History
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