Where Knowledge Rules

Sports & Recreation:

Football

Get a Widget for this title

Greatest NFL running backs of all time

when someone tried tackle him. Unfortunately like many greats like Brown, his career was cut short because of the beating his body endured in his style of play. Jim Brown was the first pure competitors of the game of football and perhaps in all of sports. He is now an American legend and uses his stature out of football for many great causes that are still highly regarded today. I would of loved to see Brian Urlacher try to tackle Jim Brown it probably would of not been too pretty.

4. Bo Jackson With no Bo, would we have seen Deion Sanders play two sports, probably but I am sure Bo might of helped Deion in making the decision to play in two professional sports. Bo Jackson was a freak of natural ability and could break a long touchdown run in the blink of an eye. He would break a thousand yards rushing in only a half of a season because in the beginning of the year Bo would play baseball until the season ended. I saw him get hurt against the Cincinnati Bengals and it looked like just another play and a legacy might have been stopped prematurely because of that injury. As we all know, he was a great baseball player but when he played football opponents like Brain Bosworth wish he had not and stayed playing baseball.

5. Eric Dickerson Dickerson was heading out and retiring when Payton was peaking in his career, but as we know Dickerson was a frightful presence for defensive coordinators in his hall of fame career. In Dickerson's day he was a one man show. When teams lined up against the then LA Rams, teams would just concentrate and try to stop Dickerson. However, as we all know Dickerson usually had the last laugh. Had he been on some better teams his numbers might of been greater and perhaps he himself would have been more well known than he was when he played.

6. Emmitt Smith Would have Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin been Hall of Famers without Emmitt Smith. You can think about it, but I say no. With the help of the largest offensive line in NFL history the Cowboys and Emmitt ran into holes in opponents defenses bigger than the Grand Canyon. Many doubters of Emmitt say, that if he had not had that great offensive line, would Emmitt have not been that great. I say no to that because he did show up when it counted and was a Super Bowl MVP. He does hold the all-time rushing record and deservedly needs to be on this list for that fact alone. Smith did play in a faster and stronger league and his endurance and ability to stay away form major injury was legendary in


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Greatest NFL running backs of all time

  • 1 of 12

    by Ted Sherman

    OK, sports fans. Here we go again. Old vs young. Then vs now. My view is that it isn't so much about who were the greatest

    read more

  • 2 of 12

    by Todd Christian

    When compiling a list of the greatest NFL running backs of all time, many pundits make the mistake of simply referring back

    read more

  • 3 of 12

    by Keith Bailey

    San Diego Chargers running back LaDanian Tomlinson reached the coveted 10,000 yard career rushing total during the 2007

    read more

  • 4 of 12

    by George Krebs

    Running Backs at the professional level are remembered as much for their styles as they are for their statistics. The greatest

    read more

  • 5 of 12

    by Kenneth Schonmeier

    How often have I seen this very list put forth on television sport shows? Probably just as many times as I have disagreed

    read more

View All Articles on:
Greatest NFL running backs of all time

Add your voice

Know something about Greatest NFL running backs of all time?
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Which NCAA football conference is stronger: Mountain West or Big East

Click for your side.

90554

Featured Partner

The Sunlight Foundation

Founded in January 2006, the mission of the Sunlight Foundation is to strengthen the relationship between lawmakers a...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA