big dog cowboy;3267949 said:
In any order the top 3 are Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton.
Exactly right Big Dog.
Ranking players really comes down to either a statistical analysis and comparison based on the numbers or opinion (educated or not) based on a set of criteria that varies from person to person.
When I rank all-time RBs I use a number of criteria:
1. Production - yards gained, TDs scored, 1st downs (if available), team success, % of offense, etc. Essentially, how much of an impact did this player have for his team and how much did he help them win and did he do this for a long time. You have to take this as a career and not focus on single seasons alone.
2. Longevity - In order to be considered for an all-time list you had to play at a high level for a long time. IMO that eliminates guys like Sayers, Bo Jackson, & Terrell Davis from consideration. Lots of outstanding RBs have played great for a few years but didn't last very long, it is the guys who were consistently in the top of league rushers, year after year, who are considered all-time greats.
3. Skillset - Was he strictly a runner/ball-carrier or could he catch and block as well. We are talking about the greatest RB here, a position, not the greatest runner, a skill/ability. Football is a TEAM sport and each position requires more than one skill/ability. RBs that can't block or catch are a liability regardless of how wonderful they are at running the ball. Is the guy an every-down player or do they take him out on 3rd downs or short-yardage? To me when you are talking about the greatest of all-time he has to be able to do it all and that narrows it down rather quickly IMO.
4. Ability - How good was he in gaining yards on each play. Could he break tackles, make guys miss, out run them, find the hole, hit the hole quickly, power through, etc. Some guys are "shifty" runners, sliding and avoiding tackles, others are more power runners breaking tackles or running over defenders, most great RBs are a combination of the two in varying degrees.
5. Comparison to contemporaries - How good were they compared with the other RBs of their era. When comparing players of different eras you cannot simply look at the stats and say this guy was better because he gained more yards per carry. You have to see how the league was at the time he played and how other RBs were doing at the same time. There have been times when teams ran a lot more than they do now or used multiple RBs instead of a "feature" back. Was this guy head and shoulders above his contemporaries or were there others at his level when he played?
6. Team success - The goal of playing football is to win and if a player racks up huge numbers but doesn't help his team win games then it is not all that helpful. Typically this isn't as much of an issue as it used to be because teams pass more when they are behind so if they aren't winning (ahead) they usually aren't running it much. Way back in the day teams just kept running it regardless but that hasn't been true for a long time now.
7. Attributes - This is a list of attributes that all RBs have to have in some degree. The more he has the more likely he is to be great. They are (in no particular order):
Speed, Power, Strength, Balance, Vision, Quickness, Elusiveness, Short-yardage, Receiving, Blocking, Durability, Reliability, Desire, Attitude, and Production.
Now of course each of these attributes is based on perception and cannot really be measured but they paint on overall picture of the player's capabilities and ability to play the game.
Based on all of those criteria the top-3 RBs of all time are (in chronological order):
Jim Brown, Walter Payton, & Emmitt Smith
You can put them in any order you want and it would be right. No one else is close IMO so there really isn't much room for discussion beyond these 3 players.
