Career Rushing Yard Record (1 Viewer)

[ADP]

Lets pretend for a moment that Barry Sanders did not retire (quit). Would he, not E. Smith, currently hold the all time NFL rushing yard record?

Will Ladainian Tomlinson break the record before his career is over?

Let the debating begin.

Current Stats...

Emmitt Smith - 13 years, 226 games, 4409 Attempts, 18,355 yds, 4.2 ypc, 81.2 ypg

Barry Sanders - 10 years, 153 games, 3062 Attempts, 15,269 yds, 5.0 ypc, 99.8 ypg

Ladainian Tomlinson - 8 years, 114 games, 2422 Attempts, 10,840 yds, 4.5 ypc, 95.1 ypg (this is through the 3 games this year)

 

[Tau837]

IMO Sanders would be the current leader, and LT will end up as the rushing leader before he retires.

 

[Andy Herron]

We went through this some time ago.

1. There is no pretending, Emmitt is #1.

2. LT just hit the halfway mark last year and is already showing signs of breaking down, at least to some degree.

Heck, somebody threw up a post this week about LT no longer being top 3.

He's not going to come as close as people may think or hope. Let's wait and see how he looks if and when he hits 15,000 and go from there.

Emmitt's going to hold this record for a looooong time.

Too many shared carries and RBBC in today's game.

 

[Holland Freeze]

I've always wondered if Barry did not want to pass Walter Payton and whether he was in agreement that Payton was a better over all player than himself (and Smith) and deserved to remain the rushing leader.

 

[Max Power]

I think Barry would hold the rushing record assuming he stayed healthy.

I'm very on the fence about LT. Had you asked one year ago and I would have said no doubt about it. I think it all depends on how well LT's body holds up down the stretch.

To the OP, I would just toss in each player's numbers in your original post. I know I just had to look them up. Might make for some more well thought out responses.

 

[David Yudkin]

If we are playing the "if he didn't retire" game, I would not have ruled out Jim Brown. He got more yards as he got older, and even with a 14 game schedule he could have put up a ton more yards. He called it quits with 12312 yards at 29.

Had he played until he was 35 like Emmitt, he would only have needed to average about 1000 yards a year for 6 years. (He averaged 1450 a year in his five 14 game seasons.)

 

[Holland Freeze]

If we are playing the "if he didn't retire" game, I would not have ruled out Jim Brown. He got more yards as he got older, and even with a 14 game schedule he could have put up a ton more yards. He called it quits with 12312 yards at 29.Had he played until he was 35 like Emmitt, he would only have needed to average about 1000 yards a year for 6 years. (He averaged 1450 a year in his five 14 game seasons.)

Good call - just a little before my time (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

 

[ADP]

If we are playing the "if he didn't retire" game, I would not have ruled out Jim Brown. He got more yards as he got older, and even with a 14 game schedule he could have put up a ton more yards. He called it quits with 12312 yards at 29.Had he played until he was 35 like Emmitt, he would only have needed to average about 1000 yards a year for 6 years. (He averaged 1450 a year in his 14 game season.)

While I totally agree with this as Jim Brown IMO was the greatest to ever suit up. The typical debate is between Barry and Emmitt as Barry was so close when he retired.

 

[identikit]

If we are playing the "if he didn't retire" game, I would not have ruled out Jim Brown. He got more yards as he got older, and even with a 14 game schedule he could have put up a ton more yards. He called it quits with 12312 yards at 29.Had he played until he was 35 like Emmitt, he would only have needed to average about 1000 yards a year for 6 years. (He averaged 1450 a year in his five 14 game seasons.)

This is the best answer to the 'what if' all-time leadeing rusher.

 

[Andy Herron]

Here were the numbers before the season began-

Actives CAPITALIZED

Rushing Leaders

RK PLAYER YDS

1 Emmitt Smith 18,355

2 Walter Payton 16,726

3 Barry Sanders 15,269

4 Curtis Martin 14,101

5 Jerome Bettis 13,653

6 Eric Dickerson 13,259

7 Tony Dorsett 12,739

8 Jim Brown 12,312

9 Marcus Allen 12,243

10 Marshall Faulk 12,162

11 Franco Harris 12,120

12 Thurman Thomas 12,074

13 EDGERRIN JAMES 11,617

14 John Riggins 11,352

15 Corey Dillon 11,238

16 O.J. Simpson 11,236

17 FRED TAYLOR 10,715

18 Ricky Watters 10,643

19 LADAINIAN TOMLINSON 10,543

You can see by the numbers that there is a great deal of attrition when you get to and beyond 12,000.

Twelve reached 12,000

Six reached 13,000

Four reached 14,000

Three reached 15,000

Two reached 16,000

And, of course, only Emmitt went beyond that, by another 2,000.

A very tall order when you examine this closely.

Highly unlikely LT makes it.

 

[Fantaholic]

I miss Barry

 

[Max Power]

I miss Barry

I hear ya. Seemed like he always played on Thanksgiving day while I was growing up. The Guy was amazing.

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

What if William Green wasn't retired and was allowed to play 35 more seasons. Lock.

 

[Andy Herron]

What if William Green wasn't retired and was allowed to play 35 more seasons. Lock.

Exactly. We can "what if" all day and night.What if Lawrence Phillips wasn't a knucklehead?What if Herschel Walker played his entire career in the NFL?"What if's" don't get recorded in record books.

 

[metoo]

Coulda Woulda Shoulda. Sanders did not love the game. To break this record a guy is going to have to play a long time, don't get hurt, not be in a RBBC situation. This record will stand for along time, LT will not break it.

 

[WiDDoW_MaKeR]

The answer is really simple.... Sanders would not have won the record.... because his career is over... and he doesn't have the record. To just assume that he could have rushed for 3,000 more yards is quite an assumption. Obviously Barry didn't have enough in him for any more games... let alone another few years. He said that he didn't have the drive to compete anymore. How on earth would he have been able to put in all of the hard work that it takes to be able to perform at the elite level to get more than 3,000 more yards rushing... when he wasn't even able to play another game? People want to act like Barry had the inside track to that record, because he was ahead of Emmitt in yards when he retired. What people fail to realize, or take into consideration is that he had also played in the league for a year longer than Emmitt as well at the time.

 

[Northbound Train]

I miss Barry

I hear ya. Seemed like he always played on Thanksgiving day while I was growing up. The Guy was amazing.

HE DID HTH

 

[Northbound Train]

The answer is really simple.... Sanders would not have won the record.... because his career is over... and he doesn't have the record. To just assume that he could have rushed for 3,000 more yards is quite an assumption. Obviously Barry didn't have enough in him for any more games... let alone another few years. He said that he didn't have the drive to compete anymore. How on earth would he have been able to put in all of the hard work that it takes to be able to perform at the elite level to get more than 3,000 more yards rushing... when he wasn't even able to play another game? People want to act like Barry had the inside track to that record, because he was ahead of Emmitt in yards when he retired. What people fail to realize, or take into consideration is that he had also played in the league for a year longer than Emmitt as well at the time.

100% wrong.....Barry was fed up and had enough of Clay Ford and the Lions losing ways....period !!!That team never built an O-line for him and he still put up the incredible numbers he did... I think a half dozen or so of the career rushing leaders would've beat Emmit's record had they had the O-line Emmitt had ...Emmitt was great, but not even close to the best.

 

[Mr. Peterson]

Thanksgiving has lost something for me since Barry has not been playing.

 

[Andy Herron]

The answer is really simple.... Sanders would not have won the record.... because his career is over... and he doesn't have the record. To just assume that he could have rushed for 3,000 more yards is quite an assumption. Obviously Barry didn't have enough in him for any more games... let alone another few years. He said that he didn't have the drive to compete anymore. How on earth would he have been able to put in all of the hard work that it takes to be able to perform at the elite level to get more than 3,000 more yards rushing... when he wasn't even able to play another game? People want to act like Barry had the inside track to that record, because he was ahead of Emmitt in yards when he retired. What people fail to realize, or take into consideration is that he had also played in the league for a year longer than Emmitt as well at the time.

Absolutely.Barry quit/retired- end of story.I don't wanna hear about offensive lines either. It is what it is.We can talk about Montana's receivers, we can talk about Walter Payton's Bears. It doesn't matter in the end.The only thing that matters is the numbers that go into the books.3rd and 1, game on the line. Who do you give the ball to? Emmitt or Barry?Emmitt. Every time.

 

[Jeff Tefertiller]

The answer is really simple.... Sanders would not have won the record.... because his career is over... and he doesn't have the record. To just assume that he could have rushed for 3,000 more yards is quite an assumption. Obviously Barry didn't have enough in him for any more games... let alone another few years. He said that he didn't have the drive to compete anymore. How on earth would he have been able to put in all of the hard work that it takes to be able to perform at the elite level to get more than 3,000 more yards rushing... when he wasn't even able to play another game? People want to act like Barry had the inside track to that record, because he was ahead of Emmitt in yards when he retired. What people fail to realize, or take into consideration is that he had also played in the league for a year longer than Emmitt as well at the time.

Absolutely.Barry quit/retired- end of story.

I don't wanna hear about offensive lines either. It is what it is.

We can talk about Montana's receivers, we can talk about Walter Payton's Bears. It doesn't matter in the end.

The only thing that matters is the numbers that go into the books.

3rd and 1, game on the line. Who do you give the ball to? Emmitt or Barry?

Emmitt. Every time.

because of the offensive line ....

 

[Andy Herron]

The answer is really simple.... Sanders would not have won the record.... because his career is over... and he doesn't have the record. To just assume that he could have rushed for 3,000 more yards is quite an assumption. Obviously Barry didn't have enough in him for any more games... let alone another few years. He said that he didn't have the drive to compete anymore. How on earth would he have been able to put in all of the hard work that it takes to be able to perform at the elite level to get more than 3,000 more yards rushing... when he wasn't even able to play another game? People want to act like Barry had the inside track to that record, because he was ahead of Emmitt in yards when he retired. What people fail to realize, or take into consideration is that he had also played in the league for a year longer than Emmitt as well at the time.

Absolutely.Barry quit/retired- end of story.

I don't wanna hear about offensive lines either. It is what it is.

We can talk about Montana's receivers, we can talk about Walter Payton's Bears. It doesn't matter in the end.

The only thing that matters is the numbers that go into the books.

3rd and 1, game on the line. Who do you give the ball to? Emmitt or Barry?

Emmitt. Every time.

because of the offensive line ....

Nice try Jeff, but I'm not biting. LOL!Tell you what. You (or anybody) build your own "fantasy" line and then decide...

Emmitt or Barry?

Still comes up Emmitt...every time.

 

[jonessed]

You have to want to break it. Sanders didn't have the desire to play anymore and I think LT would rather retire than run as a sub-par runningback on a crap team. I don't think it was or will be that important to either one of them.

 

[WiDDoW_MaKeR]

I love how people always act like the Cowboy's offensive line was the only reason Emmitt was successful. When... the entire reason that his offensive line got so much credit, and acclaim... was because of Emmitt Smith's great production. Kind of funny how you can see Emmitt touched 4-5 times before being taken down (or breaking one)... and yet people act like he went untouched his entire career. When Emmitt did go untouched, it was due to great blocking, AND great running. A lot of people don't quite understand what "field vision" is, and how important it is to actually follow the sceme of the play. Emmitt pretty much always made the right moves. There are holes a lot of the time... however, the key is to finding them, and exploiting them. Emmitt saw the field great, made his move, and went for paydirt. Barry was a great running back, but too many times he tried to make something out of nothing and was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage, rather than just moving forward for a few yards and taking what was there. Emmitt may have broke for even more big plays if he tap danced in the backfield too... but he understood how important it was to be a workhorse, and move the chains when needed.

 

[Andy Herron]

I love how people always act like the Cowboy's offensive line was the only reason Emmitt was successful. When... the entire reason that his offensive line got so much credit, and acclaim... was because of Emmitt Smith's great production. Kind of funny how you can see Emmitt touched 4-5 times before being taken down (or breaking one)... and yet people act like he went untouched his entire career. When Emmitt did go untouched, it was due to great blocking, AND great running. A lot of people don't quite understand what "field vision" is, and how important it is to actually follow the sceme of the play. Emmitt pretty much always made the right moves. There are holes a lot of the time... however, the key is to finding them, and exploiting them. Emmitt saw the field great, made his move, and went for paydirt. Barry was a great running back, but too many times he tried to make something out of nothing and was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage, rather than just moving forward for a few yards and taking what was there. Emmitt may have broke for even more big plays if he tap danced in the backfield too... but he understood how important it was to be a workhorse, and move the chains when needed.

 

[sterjs]

Absolutely.

Barry quit/retired- end of story.

I don't wanna hear about offensive lines either. It is what it is.

We can talk about Montana's receivers, we can talk about Walter Payton's Bears. It doesn't matter in the end.

The only thing that matters is the numbers that go into the books.

3rd and 1, game on the line. Who do you give the ball to? Emmitt or Barry?

Emmitt. Every time.

because of the offensive line ....

Sanders made his line look worse than it was. Yes, Smith's line was better, but Smith was also just a better player because he was more consistent(far fewer unsuccessful runs) and better in leveraged situations like 3rd/1, goal line, etc.

 

[Ballstein]

E. Smith was good, but his line was better.

He sucked ### in Arizona. Proof in the pudding.

Sanders behind the cowboy O line----- Unthinkable what he would have done

 

[Ghost Rider]

I am not sure Tomlinson is going to hold up enough to eventually overtake E. Smith. His body has taken a pounding over the years, and the little nagging injuries that are starting to pile up on him will take their toll.

E. Smith was good, but his line was better.He sucked ### in Arizona. Proof in the pudding.

Uh, he was a bit over the hill by the time he went to Arizona, so that is hardly proof of anything.