[V30crewcab]

I have a pretty big front yard, but its all covered in trees. I used to just not mess with the leaves, but they are like a foot thick by the time they all fall, then the grass is slow to grow in the spring. the last 3 years I've been sucking them up and dumping them in the woods, but it also has been sucking up the dusty topsoil, so now I have more treeroots showing.
I'm considering just mowing the crap out of them this year and see what happens, but thats alot of mulch on the yard. should I pick up some of them and leave some? What do you do? everyone tells me thats why my yard doesn't grow good because of the leaves on it but it really hasn't changed since I been picking them up.