TOP 10 RUNNING BACKS LAST 15 YEARS (1 Viewer)

[The Jacket]

Just One man's opinion...

This is the top 10 in the last 15 years, FF wise-

Emmit Smith

Curtis Martin

Marshall Faulk

Barry Sanders

Ricky Watters

Shaun Alexander

LT2

Edge

Thurman Thomas

Eddie George

For the record, I would not place Priest Holmes among the best 10 running backs over the last 15 years.But to leave him out of a top-10 based on fantasy production?

That is a glaring omission, and I find it hard to believe that you forgot him; at least while remembering a back like Eddie George - he of a career-best 14 touchdowns in a single season, which is a nuthair less than half of Holmes' career-high.

 

[tikitime]

Just One man's opinion...

This is the top 10 in the last 15 years, FF wise-

Emmit Smith

Curtis Martin

Marshall Faulk

Barry Sanders

Ricky Watters

Shaun Alexander

LT2

Edge

Thurman Thomas

Eddie George

For the record, I would not place Priest Holmes among the best 10 running backs over the last 15 years.But to leave him out of a top-10 based on fantasy production?

That is a glaring omission, and I find it hard to believe that you forgot him; at least while remembering a back like Eddie George - he of a career-best 14 touchdowns in a single season, which is a nuthair less than half of Holmes' career-high.

He was 11th...How many years was Priest Holmes in the top 10 backs?

Priest's rankings in FF over his career-

'98-15th

'01- 2nd

'02- 1st

'03- 1st

'04- 12th

Nothing else in the top 30

EG-

Rankings from 96 - 2002- 8, 12, 11, 3, 3, 19, 10

His health and consistency were slightly better, even though his highs were admittedly not as high as Priest's were.

These two are a toss up. But bottom line if I had to choose one of the two from the beginning of their careers in FF I probably take Eddie George. Priest had many years he didn't do much.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Eddie George: 556 career VBD

Priest Holmes: 675 career VBD

 

[Lightning Fast Whip]

Tiki- CuMart is 15th on mine. Eddie George 16th.

To me Cumart was never dominant even in his best year he was very good but not dominant. He'll probably make the HOF but I think of him as just a very good workhorse RB sort of a notch above Eddie George. Sorry man..looks like he's one of your favorites...I just can't say he was as great as those in my Top 10.

 

[tikitime]

Tiki- CuMart is 15th on mine. Eddie George 16th.

To me Cumart was never dominant even in his best year he was very good but not dominant. He'll probably make the HOF but I think of him as just a very good workhorse RB sort of a notch above Eddie George. Sorry man..looks like he's one of your favorites...I just can't say he was as great as those in my Top 10.

Eddie George---Ok I could see that, but Cumart 15th...How is that possible?He was top 10 7 times

Top 5 4 times

How many guys over the last 15 years have been RB1 quality 7 times?

 

[Mungo Burrows]

for the record...

1. Emmitt Smith

2. Barry Sanders

3. Marshall Faulk

4. Ricky Watters

5. Thurman Thomas

6. Shaun Alexander

7. LaDanian Tomlinson

8. Terrell Davis

9. Curtis Martin

10. Thurman Thomas

Very close calls:

Tiki Barber: wasn't always as valuable as he is now.

Jerome Bettis: gets alot of points for longevity and consistency, although the yards weren't always there.

Corey Dillon: another underrated RB because of the 'tude.

Eddie George: loved owning him, but love the others above better.

Do guys like Marcus Allen qualify for this list? The end of their careers was within the last 15 years...

Overall much better than the original list. I don't think Bettis is even that close.

 

[Lightning Fast Whip]

Eddie was 6 times. With 2 Top 3s. So CuMart ahead of him but sort of similar to me. In my list Emmitt,Barry,LT,Faulk,Portis,Salex,Watters,Thurman all have a similar number of RB #1 type seasons or will shortly. Two exceptions in my Top 10 are TD and Priest...and they had multiple Elite years that were dominant..

I can't see bumping them for Cumart but understand if someone values longevity over dominance.

 

[Chase Stuart]

5- Portis

9- TD

10- Priest

I'd love to understand how Portis ranks ahead of TD and Priest. Davis had 500 more rushing yards, 11 more rushing TDs, a higher YPC average and two more SB rings through the first four seasons of his career than Portis has in his entire career.

Priest Holmes also had a better four year stretch than Portis.

The whole list seems backwards since you're discounting guys like Martin and Bettis, because apparently lots of years of production is bad. But then you discount guys like Holmes and TD, because a few years of phenomenal production...is bad too.

But I can't figure out what Portis is doing at number 5, let alone ahead of those guys and Shaun Alexander.

 

[tikitime]

Eddie was 6 times. With 2 Top 3s. So CuMart ahead of him but sort of similar to me. In my list Emmitt,Barry,LT,Faulk,Portis,Salex,Watters,Thurman all have a similar number of RB #1 type seasons or will shortly or will shortly. Two exceptions in my Top 10 are TD and Priest...and they had multiple Elite years that were dominant..

I can't see bumping them for Cumart but understand if someone values longevity over dominance.

For example...Portis?He really doesn't belong here. This is based on what he has done, not what he will do, no?

 

[Norseman]

flawed.

no Reggie Bush?

Seriously flawed.no Larry Johnson?

 

[Lightning Fast Whip]

Eddie was 6 times. With 2 Top 3s. So CuMart ahead of him but sort of similar to me. In my list Emmitt,Barry,LT,Faulk,Portis,Salex,Watters,Thurman all have a similar number of RB #1 type seasons or will shortly or will shortly. Two exceptions in my Top 10 are TD and Priest...and they had multiple Elite years that were dominant..

I can't see bumping them for Cumart but understand if someone values longevity over dominance.

For example...Portis?He really doesn't belong here. This is based on what he has done, not what he will do, no?

Portis is there because he has run for 1300+ 4 straight years to begin a career. Whether on a good offense or a bad..whether with a good scheme or a bad scheme. He's 24 YEARS OLD and has 6000 rushing yards already. Unless he completely falls apart in next couple years he belongs here. So I guess it's based on past and what I see is pretty much an inevitable future. Even a knee injury knocking him out for 1 or 2 years wont be the end for him. At 24 years old I believe future production in a Saunders offense is almost a lock. I suppose if he got injured today and never played again he is too high but like LT I'm not going to penalize guys for being young. We aren't erasing pre v1991 stats from Barry or Thurman in ranking so for guys that have productive years ahead of them I think it's fair to give them at least partial credit for them..especially if they are barely older than the rookie RBs right now.

 

[Lightning Fast Whip]

and a btw- His O-Line was a wreck as was his QB and WRs only time he hasn't gone over 1500.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Eddie was 6 times. With 2 Top 3s. So CuMart ahead of him but sort of similar to me. In my list Emmitt,Barry,LT,Faulk,Portis,Salex,Watters,Thurman all have a similar number of RB #1 type seasons or will shortly or will shortly. Two exceptions in my Top 10 are TD and Priest...and they had multiple Elite years that were dominant..

I can't see bumping them for Cumart but understand if someone values longevity over dominance.

For example...Portis?He really doesn't belong here. This is based on what he has done, not what he will do, no?

Portis is there because he has run for 1300+ 4 straight years to begin a career. Whether on a good offense or a bad..whether with a good scheme or a bad scheme. He's 24 YEARS OLD and has 6000 rushing yards already. Unless he completely falls apart in next couple years he belongs here. So I guess it's based on past and what I see is pretty much an inevitable future. Even a knee injury knocking him out for 1 or 2 years wont be the end for him. At 24 years old I believe future production in a Saunders offense is almost a lock. I suppose if he got injured today and never played again he is too high but like LT I'm not going to penalize guys for being young. We aren't erasing pre v1991 stats from Barry or Thurman in ranking so for guys that have productive years ahead of them I think it's fair to give them at least partial credit for them..especially if they are barely older than the rookie RBs right now.

If we're talking about the top 10 RBs the last 15 years, whatever Barry did in 1990 is as irrelevant as what you think Portis will do in 2008.

 

[Lightning Fast Whip]

Well when ranking them I gave Barry,Emmitt,Thurman all credit for pre 1991 stats so I'll give Portis at least a couple years of future production since Thurman 3 Barry 2 Emmitt 1 averages to 2 years pre 1991( 1500 a year seems to be his norm) . His age comes into play..just as supporting cast ,system,health etc. It's true I didn't put Dickerson in but that's because his post 1991 stats were negligible...with Portis he has enough TO ME to include. I did leave LJ out as 1 year isn't sufficient to rank him to me or predict a pattern of his health/ production...with Portis I'm comfortable he's a 1500 yard back even as environment around him changes iunless things really fall apart at QB,O-line,WR like 2004..and then his floor was still 1300.

 

[Lightning Fast Whip]

I seem to remember NFL doing a 75th anniversery team or something like that a few years back. In it they appeared to project at least a few more years production out of some currently active superstars to include them on their list. IIRC

 

[PackerNation]

And not a single person in this thread has mentioned the most productive back of the 21st century.

From 2000-2004, no running back accounted for more yards from scrimmage than Ahman Green. His 2003 season was one of the top seasons of any back, ever. He made the Pro Bowl four straight years from 2001-2004. And he's currently 40th on the all-time list.....at only age 28.

I understand that he's had a serious leg injury and may never be the same, but I don't see how he's not one of the top ten backs of the last 15 years or so.

 

[tikitime]

And not a single person in this thread has mentioned the most productive back of the 21st century.

From 2000-2004, no running back accounted for more yards from scrimmage than Ahman Green. His 2003 season was one of the top seasons of any back, ever. He made the Pro Bowl four straight years from 2001-2004. And he's currently 40th on the all-time list.....at only age 28.

I understand that he's had a serious leg injury and may never be the same, but I don't see how he's not one of the top ten backs of the last 15 years or so.

I think Ahman Green is really close....but not quite there. If this were top 15 of last 15 years, I think he's there. He just hasn't been really good for long enough. Kind of comparable to TD, just out of the top 10. 3 Top 10 years, 2 top 15.