Who are the top 5 greatest Running Backs (HB’s) of all-time? *** TRIGGER WARNING - no Jim Brown ***

[maury77]

I can only go by guys that I saw and was old enough to appreciate, so basically 1990 onwards. 

1. Barry

2. LT

3. AP

4. Marshall Faulk

5. Curtis (maybe a slight homer pick, but none of the other guys really stood out as much better to me). 

To this day, I'm just not a huge Emmitt Smith fan. That offense was loaded everywhere and he played behind one of the best offensive lines ever. 

[Fantasy Island]

Jim Brown

[Jetsfan80]

1 hour ago, Jet Nut said:

Let’s get technical based on old time differentiations that aren’t used today?  
So technically Brown is a full back so doesn’t get grouped with the other backs?  Well technically they should have labeled those players half backs.  

Running backs were made up of halfbacks and fullbacks, they’re calling half backs running backs

Well I already did a FB poll that had Jim Brown on it, so no, I didn’t see a solid reason to group them all together.  

[Jet9]

It's Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and then everyone else. 

[slimjasi]

1 hour ago, Biggs said:

I was thinking about Bo and the guy who was more dynamic and a much better representative of greatest of all time based on a small sample size is Gale Sayers.  

YES - another one. 

[chirorob]

20 minutes ago, maury77 said:

I can only go by guys that I saw and was old enough to appreciate, so basically 1990 onwards. 

1. Barry

2. LT

3. AP

4. Marshall Faulk

5. Curtis (maybe a slight homer pick, but none of the other guys really stood out as much better to me). 

To this day, I'm just not a huge Emmitt Smith fan. That offense was loaded everywhere and he played behind one of the best offensive lines ever. 

Emmitt's biggest attribute is the workload he could do.  Year over year, well over 300 carries, plus deep playoff runs, and his playoff numbers are also excellent, he showed up for big games.

1992 he had a total (regular season + postseason) of 444 carries for 1899 yards and 21 TDs.  The next year he held out the 1st 2 games, the Cowboys lost both, he came back and had a total of 349 carries.

1995 he had a total of 451 carries for for 2071 yards.   His durability and production were insane.

[chirorob]

22 minutes ago, Jet9 said:

It's Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and then everyone else. 

I don't think Walter Payton is that far below those 2.

[chirorob]

2 hours ago, Maynard13 said:

And where is Bo??? Despite his being injured early in his career, Bo may have been better than all of them. ?

He had 2700 career yards.

He never had 200 carries in a season, he never had 1000 yards in a season.  Even Gale Sayers had 4 virtually complete seasons in the NFL, Bo never had anything close to that.

I LOVE Bo, I said earlier, he is the best athlete I have ever seen, but he isn't in this conversation.

[Alka]

Without Jim Brown on your list, this becomes a non-list.  There is no merit to your list if Jim Brown is not included.

[Jet9]

8 minutes ago, chirorob said:

I don't think Walter Payton is that far below those 2.

Fair. 

[Long Island Leprechaun]

14 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Absolutely…. No Jim Brown???  Greatest football player perhaps as well.  @Jetsfan80 you blew this one.  

And the great flaw in this sort of benchmarking is that it leaves out guys like Gayle Sayers, who although limited in his playing years due to injuries, was as spectacular a back as we will ever see. Not to mention is punt return skills, which were legendary. It's actually embarrassing to have guys like Frank Gore and McCutcheon on a list like this and leave out guys like Earl Campbell and Sayers, who were truly elite HOF backs. A really really bad poll.

[Jetsfan80]

2 hours ago, Biggs said:

I'll give you another guy Marcus Allen.   At the time he retired he held the record for most yards from scirmage in a season, second in consecutive 100 yard games and 3rd all time in total yards from scrimage.  

Great dual threat and another guy who lifted his game in the playoffs against the best under pressure.  Very underated and amazingly productive especially in big spots.

He made it into the top 19, at least!

[Jetsfan80]

33 minutes ago, Alka said:

Without Jim Brown on your list, this becomes a non-list.  There is no merit to your list if Jim Brown is not included.

As noted multiple times in the thread, per the PFR database he was a Fullback.  

[Jetsfan80]

35 minutes ago, chirorob said:

He had 2700 career yards.

He never had 200 carries in a season, he never had 1000 yards in a season.  Even Gale Sayers had 4 virtually complete seasons in the NFL, Bo never had anything close to that.

I LOVE Bo, I said earlier, he is the best athlete I have ever seen, but he isn't in this conversation.

Yep.  Consider this:  Bo was also listed as a Fullback by PFR.  And on the Fullbacks poll, he didn't even make it onto the list because his scores were so low.

It's a real shame he didn't just pick one sport or the other.  

[JetsFanatic]

13 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

I don’t view it as a technicality if that’s the position at which he was listed. 

I used the PFR database throughout so it would be inconsistent not to use the positions listed by the database.  

Then don’t call it running backs, call it half backs. Full backs like Jim Brown, John Riggins, and our own Matt Snell were great running backs.

[Alka]

25 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

As noted multiple times in the thread, per the PFR database he was a Fullback.  

Are Fullbacks not running backs?  Sorry, but Fullbacks are considered running backs, so your point is without merit. And, as a Fullback, he was a better running back than any non fullback running back as well.

[Tranquilo]

“Who’s the best player in NBA History?”

*omits Michael Jordan*

[Long Island Leprechaun]

29 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

As noted multiple times in the thread, per the PFR database he was a Fullback.  

Which is meaningless. Leroy Kelly ran in the same formations as Brown following his retirement. Why is he on the list? It's just stupid. Combine FB and HB for purposes of a poll like this. Dividing them creates false categories, especially for the older generation players.

[Morrissey]

Did you seriously leave Jim Brown off lol. Completely ruined your thread.

[Jetsfan80]

48 minutes ago, JetsFanatic said:

Then don’t call it running backs, call it half backs. Full backs like Jim Brown, John Riggins, and our own Matt Snell were great running backs.

 

39 minutes ago, Alka said:

Are Fullbacks not running backs?  Sorry, but Fullbacks are considered running backs, so your point is without merit. And, as a Fullback, he was a better running back than any non fullback running back as well.

 

4 minutes ago, Morrissey said:

Did you seriously leave Jim Brown off lol. Completely ruined your thread.

 

Jim Brown is going to be the first-team fullback on the all-time JN team.  Create your own polls, ya whiners.  

[slimjasi]

41 minutes ago, Tranquilo said:

“Who’s the best player in NBA History?”

*omits Michael Jordan*

"he was listed as an outfielder"

[Cyberjet]

Jim Brown

Barry Sanders

Gayle Sayers

OJ Simpson

Walter Peyton

 

[JetsFanatic]

1 hour ago, Jetsfan80 said:

 

 

 

Jim Brown is going to be the first-team fullback on the all-time JN team.  Create your own polls, ya whiners.  

You are going to be a first team poster. 

[Jet Nut]

5 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Well I already did a FB poll that had Jim Brown on it, so no, I didn’t see a solid reason to group them all together.  

Well I think to a lot of people we’re doubling down on a mistake.  
FBs and HBs, which all the non FBs are called RBs.  

[Jetsfan80]

One last thing:  There will be 2 more polls.  The next one will be QBs.  Then we'll do a "top 5 overall" poll.  Very good chance Jim Brown will be on that one.  

If anyone cares.

[JetBlue]

23 hours ago, Joe Willie White Shoes said:

Where is Jim Brown?????  

Any list that leaves off Jim Brown cannot be taken seriously.  I mean WTF????   He may have been the greatest FOOTBALL PLAYER of all time, not just running back.    How the Heck is he not even on the list??????? 

[Jetsfan80]

16 minutes ago, JetBlue said:

Any list that leaves of Jim Brown cannot be taken seriously.  I mean WTF????   He may have been the greatest FOOTBALL PLAYER of all time, not just running back.    How the Heck is he not even on the list??????? 

Read the thread for the answer.

[Jetsfan80]

Anyways, 40 votes in and the jockeying for the 4/5 spots is interesting.  Sanders, Payton and Emmitt have the top 3 spots well in hand, and in that order.  The current race for 4/5 is airtight:

• Curtis Martin - 40 points
• Adrian Peterson - 34
• Eric Dickerson - 33
• OJ Simpson - 32
• LaDainian Tomlinson - 31

Curtis should end up getting the 4-spot regardless, much to the chagrin of @Savage69 from beyond the grave, but the # 5 slot is anyone's guess at this point unless no one else votes.

[greenwichjetfan]

The only truly great all time backs I’ve ever gotten a chance to watch with my own eyes are Adrian Peterson and Ladanian Tomlinson. I remember watching the super bowls and being enamored with TD and Faulk but I didn’t really understand what I was watching so I’d have to omit them and go off of just stats and YouTube highlights - but there are lots of flaws with that line of thinking. Case in point: by stats alone, you’ll have guys like Martin and Tiki in the same poll as Barry, Faulk, LDT and Juice.

So basically what I’m saying is that my list would be pretty uninformed so there’s no point in putting one up, especially with the PFF limitation of parsing out FBs and RBs. I will just say that the best YouTube highlights are ALWAYS Barry Sanders and Earl Campbell compilations.

Personally, Adrian Peterson is the best back I’ve ever seen play in real-time, and I don’t think anyone over the last 20 years is close. So it warms my chilly little heart to see something like this:

[Biggs]

Just wanted to say while I have opinions that may differ from the list I love the work and time put into this by JetsFan80.  It's great to have real conversation about NFL football in the offseason.  Well done! 

[Jetsfan80]

Updated the thread title to accommodate the many complaints.  

The matter is now closed.  A survey is being sent to each of you.  Please let management know how we can better serve you.  GFY’s.

[JetBlue]

3 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Read the thread for the answer.

I read the thread and he is RUNNING BACK so my point stands.  This list cannot be taken seriously.  

[TuscanyTile2]

1 hour ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Updated the thread title to accommodate the many complaints.  

The matter is now closed.  A survey is being sent to each of you.  Please let management know how we can better serve you.  GFY’s.

Earl Campbell is still not on either the list or the subject line.  Please fix that.

[Larz]

[Dunnie]

1. Walter Payton
2. Barry Sanders
3. Jim Brown
4. Marshall Faulk
5. Adrian Peterson

No earl campbell or emmitt?

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