Top 25 Running Backs All Time
grote15
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Some debatable rankings but overall a pretty solid list, I thought, with Brown, Sanders and Payton ranked 1-2-3 and Smith 4th.
http://newarena.com/nfl/ranked-the-25-greatest-running-backs-of-all-time/?amxt=yvid2ob_avntp2
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
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Jim Brown #1 for sure.
Second on this list is always a tough call.
Sanders was amazing. I don't have a problem with him being at #2.
I have a problem with any list that doesn't have the All Time Rushing Leader at # 1!
Sanders was the greatest athlete the NFL has known. A true gentleman as well. Give me Emmitt though.
Agree 100%. Maybe we were indeed separated at birth
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Payton played more games and has more cumulative yards (and carries) but both Brown and Sanders have clear edges over Walter for their careers in both yards per carry and yards per game,
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I believe that Dimeman is referring to Smith.
Yes.......
You're right~I should have known he'd be referring to a Cowboy, LOL...I just assumed no one would ever try and put Smith at #1 with a straight face...my bad, lol..
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Smith's YPC and YPG are also decidedly lower than either Sanders or Brown, too.
But he did stick around for a long time, at least, so there's that..and he also had the benefit of running behind arguably the greatest OL in football history for the lion's share of his career...
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Jim Brown is not only the greatest running back, but in my opinion the greatest football player of all time.
I believe Smiths YPC were 1.0 full yard or so less then Sanders and Brown. Plus Smith hung on just to pad stats. I’m not a fan. His last seasons were embarrassing to the great player he was. I have him at a solid 4
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I forget the season, but Smith separated his shoulder in a game, and he not only stayed in that game, I don't think he missed any other games that season if I'm remembering it right.
i mean that injury is painful enough just walking around with it, let alone ramming into killer defensive players with it. Amazing heart and courage.
Too bad he had to play for the stinking Cowboys.
I remember that game. It was against the Giants, IIRC. Smith was a terrific back, no question about it, and I have no problem with him at #4 all time, either.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
No one put Hank Aaron #1 among outfielders when he was #1 in homers. Emmitt is the same way. Great player but... Barry, Jim, and Walter were better.
I don't know what list you all are on about. I saw Jim Brown , clicked next and I see Ben Rothlesburger number 20 , then otto graham below him . Somehow its nexting me into a reverse order QB list after brown.
Another stupid web page where you have to go one page at a time per person so they can jam a million ads down your throat.
Click here for slide show , how about just list them all on one page
The link only took me to #1 j brown He is the very best. I only place E S barely in top 10.
I remember Emmitt playing hurt and he had no lack of guts for sure.
He ran behind a bulldozer. Jim brown was the bulldozer
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What about Bo? Imagine if he had a full career in the NFL.
i'm slightly hungover and work has commenced, so i'm not about to read what anyone has written beyond the initial post.
plus i don't want dimeman augmenting the way my head feels with his Emmitt @ 1 harangue. (i seriously haven't looked but i know it's there.)
my 5, in order:
1 - Brown.......the per rush/per game stats + footage i've seen makes him a no-brainer
2 - Sanders.......had he run behind Emmitt's line and not retired prematurely, he'd have 20k+
3 - Payton.......had he run behind Emmitt's line, he'd have 20k+. as a Bears lifer, trust me on this one. for many years he a) played with signal callers whom most of you wouldn't be able to distinguish from Adam, and b) he didn't even have a poor man's Herman Moore to stretch the defense
4 - E Smith
5 - Tomlinson
and i'm questioning whether or not i'm still drunk, because every time i click on that link it goes from Jim Brown @ 1 to Big Ben @ 20. that is a serious trip right there
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
This subject comes up every couple years and is a good filler until college football gets closer.
I did the same thing...click "previous" and it will take you to #2, etc.
I did the same thing, in a rare moment when I wasn't drunk...click "previous" and it will take you to #2, etc.
I was going to post an all time greatest cheerleaders thread, but wasn't sure if that is technically a sport or not.
Besides, the sexy pics may give a very old man like Grote a heart attack, and we certainly don't want that.
I expect this thinking from Cowboy haters. Haters will be haters. With that said my second would be Brown. I even took Browns avg ypg 104.3 career X 18...that's to make up for the 14 to 16 games difference a year for Brown and Smith. If I was to try this logic to help a Cowboy I would be flogged.That raised Brown from 12312 to 14430 still almost 4000 behind Smith's 18,355. Plus Smith holds the NFL record for Career Yards, Career rushing TD's and Career rushing attempts.
My next group would be Campbell, Payton and Sanders. No has even mentioned Campbell who ran like Brown only faster. I have had conversations with Greg Bingham who was a LB for Houston who said it was BRUTAL trying to stop Earl in practice.
Link fixed now to bring you to #25 and forward:
http://newarena.com/nfl/ranked-the-25-greatest-running-backs-of-all-time/?amxt=yvid2ob_avntp2
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Although I never saw him play lacrosse I've heard sever commentators say Jim Brown was not only the greatest football player ever, he was the greatest lacrosse player ever as well. Even better than Tonto, kimosabes.
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Ralph
I saw a lot of Payton, Smith and Sanders. I lean towards Walter. All Time Jim Brown is the most impressive, but I have only seen clips and looked at stats.
Kind of depends on what you want in a back, Sanders had the most spectacular runs, but he also could lose you a lot too. Emmitt was extremely good but with a great line his yards per carry should have been a bit better, Payton wasn't flashy but he did everything well, just a tough runner.
Really can't see a #1 vote for Smith here unless you think that the best Cowboy player at every position was the GOAT!
I saw all of the Backs listed here play. They were all great. I place Smith at #1 based on his stats not because he was a Cowboy.
Sanders if my favorite all time NFL player. Not hard as a Detroiter. Problem is that on a goal line play you wanted Billy Sims or Smith or Payton. Same on 4th and a yard and a half. Sander's offense was more similar to that or a receiver than a back.
I hate LT at #5, and I would put Barry Sanders at #1 over Jim Brown without question. I like the list and respect that all of us can make changes as we see fit but the list is a good one.
It will come as a shock to most of you who have read this post from me about a thousand times over the years but the fact that people say Jim Brown was the best when he played against 250 pound lineman and 200 pound LB’s just baffles me.
His stats are nice but they show exactly why he is almost never considered the best back of all time except by rabid Cowboys Fans. His yards per carry were just average. Pedestrian. Having watched him play for years I’m quite certain that he lead the world in 20 yard gains without ever being breathed on. I have no idea but I guess he leads the NFL all time in rushing attempts by a lot over the other top backs. I like Emmit because he did squeeze every ounce of talent out of himself. He wasn’t big, he wasn’t that fast but he was tough. I can’t put him any higher then #4 either
If you want to put Campbell in front of Smith so be it
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I never watched Jim Brown play. If I am building a team, I want Earl Campbell as my RB.
Valid point.
the Tyler Rose somehow managed to escape my memory this morning. I slip him in @ 4 and nudge Emmitt south one spot.
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
Bo was very good and so was OJ! And so was Dorsett. I liked Dorsett as a runner better than Sanders. Tony was faster at hitting a very small hole and was uncatchable in the open field. And didn't run around in the backfield losing yardage!
I still remember his 99 yard TD on MNF...…...still a record that will probably never be broken! It was actually 99 1/2.
Campbell was a beast among boys but boy Bum ran him into the ground.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
One day in training camp, Bum was asked if he was concerned after Campbell was unable to finish a 1-mile run. He responded by saying, "When it's first and a mile, I won't give it to him."
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Of course you'd prefer Dorsett over sanders. He's a Cowboy, too, LOL..
Sanders blows away Dorsett in all the key categories, YPC (5.0 vs 4.3), YPG (99.8 vs 73.6) and TDs (109 vs 90) even though Dorsett played 20 more games, too. Sanders was decidedly better and it's not even debatable.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
This is the same type of garbage argument that says Wilt shouldn't be the GOAT of basketball, when obviously he should. The naysayers always say that the players back then weren't as big, so Wilt was facing inferior competition, etc.
Well in another thread, I looked it up, and if I'm remembering it right, the players back then were only around an inch shorter on the average, may have been an inch and a half, but nothing to denegrate Wilt's GOAT career, and long list of amazing records.
Similar thing with Jim Brown. Today's 300 pound lineman, etc, is simply a 250 pounder back then who has grown up with better diet and weight training, weight gain techniques, etc. In other words, Brown rushed against the players who were opposed to him, and anyone who thinks a 250 pound lineman back in the sixties was chopped liver, is just being silly.
Brown is the GOAT running back, and that case is closed. Anyone wanna argue that Brown isn't the football GOAT, now that is a bit understandable, although I would disagree with it.
Frankly, in my opinion, only quarterbacks and running backs should be considered for football GOAT. Certainly not any defensive position. It's like Bill Belichick has stated (paraphrase) "Defensive players are those who couldn't play offense"...and Belichick is absolutely right.
Yes, there have been some great QB's, but in my view none of them exemplifies the pure depiction of a football player like Jim Brown does. However, someone could argue say Brett Favre and it would be reasonable.
OJ was murderous
If I'm playing madden 93 on the sega I gotta go with thurman thomas or barry sanders
If it's 3rd and 5 on the opponents 20 and you are down by 4 with less than a minute to go......I would run Dorsett before Sanders any day.
The clock could run out before Sanders got out of the backfield! 
I see where you are going there with OJ.
Given that Sanders averaged 5.0 yards per carry over the course of his career vs Dorsett's 4.3, the clear choice is Sanders especially if you want to score a TD since there's less than minute left. Then again, if it's 3rd and 5 and you're down by 4 with less than a minute left from the 20, the odds of calling a run there is unlikely to begin with.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Agree completely about JB and especially Wilt.
Only disagreement is about defensive players value, well one in particular, Alan Page. He was SO good, I used to just watch him when the opposing team had the ball. He was amazing. If you got him mad, he could take over the game.
He was incredibly quick for a big man and would get called for offside when replay would show he wasn't. In one game I remember, he got so angry that you could see he was "waiting" after the ball was snapped to rush and he made three consecutive tackles in the opposing teams backfield (the last one was a sack) the color man said "that's what happens when you get him mad".
Favre was a special player too!
wait theres more , OJ had style , he could slash over to the edge or stab right up the middle
That'a an interesting GOAT argument for Alan Page, "He could take over the game."
I'll admit when i was typing the comment, i had thought about Lawrence Taylor. LT was capable of doing something similar to that at times.
LT changed the way teams played defense. You had to construct a game plan accounting for him on every play. Easily the most impactful defensive player I've ever watch play.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I agree with ya!
That being said, as far as GOAT, the NFL MVP award is almost always either a QB or RB. LT did win the MVP award one time which is rare for a defensive player.
So despite the impact of a Lawrence Taylor or Alan Page, I still think the GOAT player has to be a QB or RB.
The following may not be a perfect analogy, but it could be thought about, sort of like in baseball where there are hitters and pitchers, and despite MLB having some great pitchers over the decades, none of them are ever thought about as a GOAT player, it's always a hitter.
Jim Brown was definitely awesome but if SteveK and Joe think that he would be stiff arming and tossing today’s players like he did back in the 60’s then they are straight out of their minds. On a less funny note Barry Sanders was #1 for me and Bo Jackson potentially could have been the best. If I’m building a team and can pick 2 RB’s I’m taking Barry Sanders and Earl Campbell.
Today's players are bigger and stronger than in the 1960's, we all know that. However, Jim Brown would have been bigger and stronger as well with access to the same weight training, dietary supplements, etc that are now available.
So the correct answer is yes, Brown would still be stiff arming and tossing today's players...same as Wilt would be setting records, same as Ruth would have been hitting a lot of home runs. They are the GOAT in their sports.
This case is closed, etched in stone, and sealed...that is unless somebody comes along who is better, but that hasn't happened as of July 6, 2018.