NFL Running Backs

[Thick dog]

Marshall Faulk- Clearly the best allaround back in the league and the best player overall, I think. Great moves and speed, not to mention a tough runner...similar to a younger Emmitt Smith, only faster but not as strong

Edgerrin James- Great all around back, hits hole hard, great vision, good hands, lacked the burst last year that he had in rookie year, but still young and will only improve.

Fred Taylor- If he stays healthy, he is by far the best(if not only) big play back in the league. Has great size(225lbs and incredible speed) Best big play guy since Barry Sanders.

Corey Dillon- Good size, decent speed and moves. Seems to have good vision as well. Tough to compare him to anybody because I haven't seen to many of his games

Jamal Lewis- Tough physical runner with really good acceleration who hit shole really hard. He kind of reminds me of a young Terrell Davis

Eddie George- Big runner with good speed who is very consistant. Seems like his numbers are the same every year, about 1400 yds, 10 tds 4.0 average

Emmit Smith- getting old but still productive, he will retire as one of the top 4 running backs of all time, based on his numbers and accomplished

There's lots of others, but I'm getting tired of typing

Of the rookies, Tomlinson looks to have solid ability, but I think Michael Bennet's incredible speed gives him the biggest upside...

 

[KAYNE]

RICKY!!! IF HE CAN STAY HEALTHY, HE WILL DOMINATE ALL BACKS. THATS A BIG "IF" THOUGH. HE IS THE SHIT.


KAYNE

 

[NinjaX]

Ricky is the shit!!!

 

[madbomber31]

you cocksucker thick.. this was to be the last installment.. it was going to end with a huge argument about barry sanders, emmitt smith, walter payton, and jim brown.. but you have ruined that so..............

DUCE- (duh), if he comes back 100% then he will be a top 3 back in the NFC and that says something considering faulk, williams, smith, davis, are all in the nfc.. it seems the best backs are NOW in the afc, where in the 80s and 90s the afc was more of a passing league, down the field style...

anyway...

corey dillon- to do what he does with that offensive line, that qb.. its amazing... the thing is, the bengals had an offensive attack until pickens left and scott broke his leg.. but last year showed dillon was for real... if he gets a stable passing game he is gonna end up being one of the best big backs in recent years, easily..

eddie george- see the other post.. he is awesome, i love his power and build.. he would be my choice for a franchise load carrier... but, his career is nearing an end already... .no way will he make it past 10 years in the league.. he will be lucky to make it there... takes too many hits and carries far too much.

bennet stepped into a good situation, should be very solid as a rookie... he needs to thank the draft gods.

fullback cecil martin, yes another eagle.. he is insanely unsung and sooner or later is gonna get some spotlight.. he was daynes blocking back in college and can catch and turn up field.. he hits and blocks....

i love ricky williams, he has power and speed and them fucking quads look enormous... how'd ya like to take him on head on? that would hurt. that is, if you hit him, he has that special ability to get right up to you and make you miss and look silly.

priest holmes- ya, he is good enough to feature in KC, hell he was good enough in baltimore but they drafted a more explosive guy who took over... holmes has produced constantly though.

erict rhett.. hahahahahaha

warrick dunn- shifty big play guy like faulk... but unlike faulk or barry he cannot be the 20-25 carry guy for a season... he wouldnt be nearly productive enough, he works well in the non featured offense of the bucs... sharing carries is best for him.

charlie garner- people thought he was so good in philly cuz he HAD to be... then he went to san fran and was a fantasy god... now he gets to go to oakland with a team on the verge of a big year... he should fit in well, especially with wheatley there to shoulder some of the carries... garner will catch the ball a lot and make shifty moves, he has some pop in him too, the guy made me laugh when he was with the birds cuz he would just come at you...

ATRAIN- chicago got a good all downs back, he wont break games open but he will be a solid carrier who is reliable... he will give them some options.

jamal anderson- i remember telling all my buddies about htis guy after i saw him after 2 weeks in his rookie year.. he would do this stiff arm and lay LBs on their back.. it was funny to see.. that knee injury sure did screw him up a bit but its been 2 years now and he should have all the power back, he should be better than last year.

 

[madbomber31]

to tell you my style of backs i like..

jonathon linton.. he is now in tennessee and will be eddie g's back up... he'll get a chance sooner or later but better stop dropping the ball.

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

Dillon is for real - big numbers all by himself, no help.

Faulk is the best - one of the best backs ever because he is an excellent receiver out of the backfield. He can hurt you in so many ways.

Eddie George is a punisher. He wears teams down and gets his hundred yards week in and week out. He doesn;t break 75 yarders but he gets his numbers.

Fred Taylor neds to stay healthy so we can see how good he really is.

What do we think about the rookie Tomlinson? Legit?

 

[thermo]

Marshall Faulk
Curtis Martin
Edgerin James
Jamal Lewis
Barry Sanders

 

[Kryp2o]

1. Eddie George
2. Eddie George
3. Eddie George
4. Hmmm . . . Eddie George
5. Ricky Williams (reluctantly if healthy)

Oh did I forget to mention Eddie George?

 

[Sushi X]

my personal favorites(current) are

1. shaun alexander-can be great if given the chance.
2. ricky williams- needs to stay healthy.
3. mike alstott- i know he's a fullback but man he is bad!
4. eddie george

 

[gymnpoppa]

M Faulk
E James
C Dillon anybody can run that well with teams keying on you as the only threat is a hoss.....sorry Naty he's a stud
E George
R Williams.....needs to stay healthy to prove he is all that.......
E Smith.....end of the road, but is a vet and knows how to run behind a line
Fred Taylor....see R Williams

 

[madbomber31]

natymike??? what corey dillon do you watch play? the guy averaged 4.6 yards per carry, thats one of the best in the league. its not his fault teams can throw 8 in the box and stuff the fuck out of him... his bad games were against playoff teams who got out to an early lead and put some major heat on the qb... eagles, ravens, titans, and jags... all pretty damn good teams... the guy is a man on a pee wee team.

anyway, whoever said it.. alexander is good and i believe he starts this year.

 

[Kryp2o]

natymike??? what corey dillon do you watch play? the guy averaged 4.6 yards per carry, thats one of the best in the league. its not his fault teams can throw 8 in the box and stuff the fuck out of him... his bad games were against playoff teams who got out to an early lead and put some major heat on the qb... eagles, ravens, titans, and jags... all pretty damn good teams... the guy is a man on a pee wee team.

I agree. With no QB for the Bengals you just need to jam 8 or 9 in the box to shut Corey down. God help the NFL though if he were on a team with a QB and O - Line.

 

[Natymike]

I was watching the Cory Dillon that put up no points for my fantasy team, I even waived his ass after 5 weeks of horrible production, then I decided to give him another chance, and picked him up just before his Denver record breaking game. He averaged 4.6 per carry becase he ran for 278 vs Denver and 216 vs Arizona, if you take away those games, he sucks, and he NEVER scores touchdowns. He was good for about 1/5 of the season last year, and when he was good, he was awesome.

In my mind a good running back is someone who runs for 100 yards every week and scores almost every week. Not someone who does nothing most of the time, then makes up for it all in one game. Dillon is inconsitant, end of story, don't look at his season stats, look at his game by game stats.

 

[Natymike]

wk 1 Cle 41 yards
wk 2 Jac 32 yards
wk3 Bal 9 Yards
wk4 Mia 110 yards!!---NO TD'S FOR THE SEASON YET
wk 5 Ten 95 yards----1 TD!!!
wk6 Pit 36 yards
wk7 Den 278 yards!!---(2TD'S!!! this is what faulk does every week, 2 or 3 td's)
wk8 Cle 137 yards!!---1TD!!
wk9 Bal 23 yards
wk10 Dal 94 yards
wk11 NE 73 yards?? new england??
wk12 pit 128 yards----2TDs!!
wk 13 Ari 216 yards---1TD
wk 14 Ten 42 yards??? 216 to 42? WTF?
wk15 Jac 76 yards
wk 16 phi 39 yards?? WTF!!!

HE SCORED A TD 5 OUT OF 16 WEEKS!!!!

a whole 7 TD's on the season, wow this guy is awesome, take away his 2 best games and he has 4 TD's for the season and no yards.

This defines inconsistancy, I don't give a fuck about the Defense he faces, Guys like E. George, Faulk and James run for 100 yards week after week and always get in the endzone.

Sure he would be better on another team but he's not on another team so whats the point of that argument?

 

[Kryp2o]

No argument here Naty. Mine was from pure observation only. I just think it would be scary to see him on a better team that's all. But that's all here say until that day comes if at all.

 

[madbomber31]

naty, if you watched the guy you know that he picks it up quarter by quarter... right? how many games were the bengals completely out of after 2 quarters and just gave up on running the ball? way too many... those games where he was not running well as far as average goes he had under 20 carries... he was getting 16, 17, 18 carries if even... and, he had no camp last year so he was not in the best of conditions... last year is only one season... take a look at the others and see what you come up with, you drafted him for a reason last year....

 

[madbomber31]

but here is one to support your thoughts..

vs the titans.. he had 95 yards on 16 carries or so...

he had an 80 yd td run on one of them...

 

[Natymike]

I drafted him last year because it was the 8th round and he was still there. He turned out really good for an 8th round pick, but he was only good 5 out of 16 weeks.

He went in the 1st round in my draft this year, and I laughed out loud. I guess they will find out the hard way.

 

[madbomber31]

i agree he isnt a first round fantasy pick but i also think he is a top 10 nfl back pretty easily... teams like NE would KILL for a guy like that...

on a different note regarding college football:
my wolverines (ya, the team that was 7 points from being undefeated national champs ) have this freshman running back who is 6-3 270!!!!! that should be interesting. sean sanderson is his name, the fuck is from tennessee (a true hoss)...

 

[TxCollegeguy]

Barring any serious injury E. Smith will retire as the All team Leading rusher past Walter Payton

 

[gymnpoppa]

Former running backs

You cannot compare Corey Dillon to Marshall Fauk, just like they tried to compare Emmitt to Barry back a few years.....Faulk is in a system tailored for his skills with PLENTY of weapons other than himself, ditto E James, even Fred Taylor, Put Corey Dillon with some other weapons and his numbers will be even better....anybody who's played football knows the system can make you or break you....nobody was on Marshall Faulk's jock when he was with the Colts, they practically gave him away.......he was hurt, and his teammates questioned his desire....but look what happened when he got some help......Colts thought E J would be better? that's BS, he will play longer because he is younger by a few years, but better......nah, and you take EJ, or Faulk and put them in Cincy, I bet those numbers take a huge drop......If Barry Sanders had run behind Dallas' line a few years ago, he would have run for 2000 plus yards a few times.........system Naty, it is the system most of the time..........talent will only take you so far.......send Randy Moss to Cincy, his numbers will drop, and if Jerry Rice had been in Dallas, his numbers wouldn't be near what they are now......

 

[Natymike]

yes gymnopoppa, I know that its the Cincy system, but there is nothing anyone can do about it. As long as Dillon plays for the Bengals, he won't be a top 10 back in my book.

 

[MP5]

You have to give it up for the Denver backs. If TD is healthy he should return to old form. Anderson is for real and he was able to dominate last year after Griese was hurt and they had a shit passing offense. Gary was damn good to. Problem is Gary and TD are nursing knees and I have never seen a player come back worth a shit after major knee work. Edgerin dominates as well. Eddie George is a physical powerhouse but I was not that impressed with him last year.

 

[kuda75]

what about jerome bettis damn it. but barry has to be best ever
die hard steelers fan

 

[Thick dog]

In terms of the Denver backs, I'd have to say the system has something to do with it. They have 3 late round draft picks in a row all turn into 1,500 yd runners? Granted, TD was a punishing running with great vision, but he had nowhere near th etalent of a Barry Sanders( who does?) or Emmitt or Faulk. I'm interested in seeing what Tomlinson can do as well. Ricky Williams is a consistant pounder who definitely punishes tacklers and has some moves. However, his longest run last year was like 20-30 yards. I prefer guys who can take it the distance every now and then, they put an added threat on a defense...Duce Staley, his career was on the rise until he got hurt last year, let's see how he bounces back. runningbacks tend to have a hard time coming back from knee/foot injuries...

 

[Latimer]

Chicago's backfield will be very interesteing to watch this year.

James Allen - Very underrated. Put up 1,120 with a struggling offense last year. Chicago's plans for a power running game this year should put him above 1,500. Looking good in camp. ''I think there is a difference in James,'' Jauron said. ''He's definitely more confident and he's stronger. To me, he's quicker, maybe a step faster.''

Anthony Thomas - He's a big back with a power running style but has some nice moves. Underrated in the draft because he has such an immpressive Michigan O-line in front of him, some felt it negated his stats. I think he has a big future in the NFL and can become a franchise player in Chicago's scheme.

Skip Hicks - He's a pure runner and can score. Durability is a question but a rotating backfield should remmedy that.

I think Michael Bennett has some potential.

LT should be decent but I'm not big on him.

Deuce McAllister will make some big plays for New Orleans this year, that is of course if the bastard ever signs.

I look for Ricky Williams to have an incredible year. He has some competition with Deuce in town and that should light a fire under his ass.

 

[slickdadd]

I think no one is as overrated as Eddie George. Yeah he is good, but good lord not that good. I would take a good 6-7 backs on my team before him, anyday. He's durable and all that, but pure RB skill, hes not that great. He may have the potential and make you think he is, but he isn't. The guy doesn't average many yards per carry. He runs the ball one hundred times a game, thats why he piles up so many yards.

Faulk is very good, but i don't think the best. I think hands down, James is the best. Faulk is the best receiving back perhaps, but doesn't run as well. James is a great runner, and a great catching back, which i think puts him ahead of Faulk. He is as far as i think, the best RUNNING back in the league. He never gives up, keeps his feet moving. Breaks so many tackles.

Another good back people always forget is Curtis Martin. This guy is a great back as well. He doesn't, or hasn't got the amount of carries with the Jets that he did with the Pats, so he hasn't put as big of numbers, but he is a real deal top of the line back.

I just don't see why people rate Faulk higher then James. Yes he is great, and scores lots of TDS, but overall last year. James still has the most yards from scrimmage i believe, and didn't even get mentioned at ALL for MVP. That blows my mind

 

[Thick dog]

James is somewhat of a Faulk clone, only Faulk is a little faster and James is a little stronger. Faulk averaged an astounding Barry Sandersesque 5.4 yards a pop last year and the year before and set a touchdown record last year. I'm a big fan of James, I watched him in college and I'm still mindboggled at how good he has turned out. If he keeps his head on straight and stays in a good system, he is destined for a great career.

 

[Symmetry]

For some reason.. I feel like Faulk is going to get injured for a major part of this season..

He has been playing thru injuries the past couple of years..

and it is a safer bet to use the #1 in the draft on Edgerrin James.

...

and Barry Sanders is one of the top 2 backs of all time.. along with Walter Payton! Faulk has a couple more years to play before he is put into the same class as these guys. If Barry were to come back next year.. I would make him a first round pick.

 

[big dog]

Best RBs 1-10

1 E. James
2 Marshall Faulk
3 Ricky Williams
4 Eddie George
5 Fred Taylor
6 Jamal Lewis
7 Curtis Martin
8 Corey Dillion
9 Duce Staley
10 Stephen Davis