I just finished reading a BTB article that talks about this, and I saw in the comments that even Cowboys fans sell Emmitt short in this discussion. Without trying to sound biased, here are my thoughts on it:
Jerry Rice is the equivalent of Emmitt Smith at the wide receiver position. Just like Emmitt does for running back, he holds the majority of the major NFL records for receivers.
They also have a couple of career parallels: They both slid in the draft because of concerns over their measurables at the NFL Combine. Neither was the first player selected at their position in their drafts. They both won 3 Super Bowls. They even retired the same year.
But......Jerry actually played on more stacked teams than Emmitt. His supporting cast had a combined 69 Pro Bowls and 18 All-Pro (1st Team) selections between them. If you include his offensive lines, that makes 126 Pro Bowls and 33 All-Pro selections. By comparison, Emmitt's supporting cast had 48 Pro Bowls and 14 All-Pro selections.
If Jerry Rice is widely considered the GOAT wide receiver and gets a pass for the teammates he played with, why does Emmitt Smith get penalized for his teammates when his name is mentioned as an all-time great?
Emmitt's supporting cast was top-notch, but HE was the most important and indispensable out of the group. Even with all the talent that Emmitt had surrounding him, teams still feared him the most when they played the Cowboys. He routinely faced defenses stacked with 8 and 9 men in the box. They wanted to take their chances with the passing game and not let Emmitt get going.
I have a little bit more to add, but for right now I'll leave off here and give you a link to the article below:
https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/202...itt-smith-is-also-the-greatest-rb-of-all-time