Light Box Rate Leaders
Light Box Rate — 2026 NFL leaders, updated Oct 2, 2026. Travis Etienne (NO) led the league in light box rate at 76.7%, ahead of 35 other qualifying players. Based on verified play-level charting from FTN Data via nflverse, regular season only. Through Week 3 of the 2026 season.
Light box rate is the share of a running back's designed runs that met a box of six or fewer defenders, counted by FTN's charters. Scrambles and quarterback runs are excluded. A light box is space the offense earned — usually by spreading the field or by a passing game the defense respects — so the stat describes what a back was given, not what he did with it. Rank 1 saw the most light boxes. It is not the inverse of the stacked box board, which counts eight or more defenders from Next Gen Stats tracking. In season every figure here is season to date, and before Week 4 it rests on two or three games — a gap of a few points between neighbours is noise until the sample grows.
| # | Player | G | Light% | Light | Runs | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travis Etienne | 3 | 76.7% | 23 | 30 | |
| 2 | Christian McCaffrey | 3 | 62.9% | 22 | 35 | |
| 3 | Chuba Hubbard | 3 | 61.0% | 25 | 41 | |
| 4 | Jaylen Warren | 3 | 60.5% | 23 | 38 | |
| 5 | Jeremiyah Love | 3 | 56.1% | 23 | 41 | |
| 6 | Saquon Barkley | 3 | 55.9% | 19 | 34 | |
| 7 | Jonathan Taylor | 3 | 54.5% | 36 | 66 | |
| 8 | Omarion Hampton | 3 | 54.0% | 27 | 50 | |
| 9 | Kyle Monangai | 3 | 53.3% | 16 | 30 | |
| 10 | Kaelon Black | 3 | 52.0% | 13 | 25 | |
| 11 | Jacory Croskey-Merritt | 3 | 51.1% | 24 | 47 | |
| 12 | Jadarian Price | 3 | 50.0% | 14 | 28 | |
| 13 | Bhayshul Tuten | 3 | 48.8% | 21 | 43 | |
| 14 | Javonte Williams | 3 | 48.8% | 21 | 43 | |
| 15 | J.K. Dobbins | 3 | 48.6% | 17 | 35 | |
| 16 | D'Andre Swift | 3 | 48.1% | 26 | 54 | |
| 17 | Jahmyr Gibbs | 3 | 47.7% | 31 | 65 | |
| 18 | Kenneth Walker III | 3 | 47.7% | 31 | 65 | |
| 19 | De'Von Achane | 3 | 47.1% | 16 | 34 | |
| 20 | Bijan Robinson | 3 | 43.9% | 29 | 66 | |
| 21 | Brian Robinson | 3 | 43.3% | 13 | 30 | |
| 22 | Cam Skattebo | 3 | 42.0% | 21 | 50 | |
| 23 | Breece Hall | 3 | 40.0% | 20 | 50 | |
| 24 | Tony Pollard | 3 | 39.5% | 15 | 38 | |
| 25 | Ashton Jeanty | 3 | 38.1% | 24 | 63 | |
| 26 | James Cook | 3 | 37.9% | 22 | 58 | |
| 27 | Chase Brown | 3 | 36.7% | 18 | 49 | |
| 28 | Aaron Jones | 3 | 36.5% | 19 | 52 | |
| 29 | Quinshon Judkins | 3 | 35.7% | 15 | 42 | |
| 30 | Bucky Irving | 3 | 30.0% | 12 | 40 | |
| 31 | Rhamondre Stevenson | 3 | 29.0% | 9 | 31 | |
| 32 | Derrick Henry | 3 | 24.2% | 16 | 66 | |
| 33 | Kyren Williams | 3 | 23.7% | 9 | 38 | |
| 34 | Blake Corum | 3 | 17.9% | 5 | 28 | |
| 35 | David Montgomery | 3 | 16.2% | 6 | 37 | |
| 36 | Emanuel Wilson | 3 | 15.6% | 5 | 32 |
Other seasons
Choosing between two of these players?
Both men's 2025 production side by side, and which of them rests on inputs that historically repeat.
More leaderboards
- Rushing Yards Over Expected
- Target Share
- Running Back Receiving Efficiency
- Completion Percentage Over Expected
- Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt
- Quarterback Pressure Rate
- Defensive Blitz Rate
- Quarterbacks vs Man and Zone Coverage
- Pass Rate Over Expected
- Clean-Core Rating
- Usage vs Production
- Team Expected Points Added
- Quarterback EPA per Dropback
- QB Composite Rating
- Air Yards Share
- Stacked Box Rate
- Regression Flags
- Weighted Opportunity Rating
- Snap Share
- Pass-Snap Share
- Receiving Yards per Pass Snap
- Availability
- Tight End Receiving Efficiency
- Tight End Average Depth of Target
- Stat Stickiness
- Play-Action Rate
- Pre-Snap Motion Rate
- Drop Rate
- Contested Catch Rate
- Interception-Worthy Throw Rate
- Quarterback-Fault Sack Rate
- Quarterback Intended Air Yards
- Team Air Yards and Passing Volume
- Receiver Separation and Cushion
- Wide Receiver Receiving Efficiency
- Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate
- Goal-Line Usage
- Quarterback Deep Ball
- Team Pace
- Screen Pass Rate
- No-Huddle Rate
- RPO Rate
- Quarterbacks vs the Blitz
- Throwaway Rate
- Catchable Throw Rate
- Out-of-Pocket Rate
- Time to Throw
- Aggressiveness
Follow Light Box Rate. When this board moves, you'll know — what changed, week over week.
Use Muffed in your AI
Ask Claude or ChatGPT football questions and get these verified figures back, with sources. Add https://muffed.ai/api/mcp — free, no account, no API key.