May 2, 2020 16:04:09 GMT 🤯 said:

Well, now that that's that, I'm curious to know... @ck / thereallt , did we overall do right by you old-timers?

I'd have to say yes.  The only back on my list that didn't make the overall list was OJ Simpson.  

I had O.J. on my list. I put everything outside the football field aside, and looked at his career on it. And it was a pretty damn good career.

Which brings me to my next question for those who left him off theirs. When making your lists, did you only look at the players career on the field, or did you take to account what they did off of it as well?

May 2, 2020 21:40:13 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I had O.J. on my list. I put everything outside the football field aside, and looked at his career on it. And it was a pretty damn good career.

Which brings me to my next question for those who left him off theirs. When making your lists, did you only look at the players career on the field, or did you take to account what they did off of it as well?

Well, I had Adrian Peterson at number 5, OJ would have been 12-15 range so no I didn't.

I guess people haven't seen enough Tony Dorsett footage. I think I was the only one to mention him, such an explosive back with lightning speed. I agree about the knock on Sanders btw for too many carries for losses. Plus it was a bit of push back against the popular "he left at his peak, what if?" narrative.

May 2, 2020 21:40:13 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I had O.J. on my list. I put everything outside the football field aside, and looked at his career on it. And it was a pretty damn good career.

Which brings me to my next question for those who left him off theirs. When making your lists, did you only look at the players career on the field, or did you take to account what they did off of it as well?

I didn't look at anything off field.  I had John Riggins, one of the bigger assholes in all of football.  He's not known for being a quiet man, he'll say exactly what's on his mind.  For me, OJ came on slowly, had a great middle 5 seasons and then left with a whimper.  The guy was run into the ground, but he had 5 amazing seasons and that's really it.  For me at least.

May 2, 2020 21:40:13 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I had O.J. on my list. I put everything outside the football field aside, and looked at his career on it. And it was a pretty damn good career.

Which brings me to my next question for those who left him off theirs. When making your lists, did you only look at the players career on the field, or did you take to account what they did off of it as well?

I'm a "what they did on the field" purist. It's just that I thought there were like 12 backs better than OJ. But I did have Adrian Peterson on my list. Anyway, Simpson would be with Dorsett, Martin, Gore, and probably my man Terrell Davis (slight fanboy pick) in that 11-15 range.

🤯 I thought this was an excellent countdown. If only because it pretty much matched my own list for once 
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I had Barry Sanders at #2. 

When I was young in the late 80s I had this neat set of sports books called "The 100 Greatest" series. The ones I had were 100 Greatest Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Pitchers, Hitters, and Basketball Players. A line from the intro to 100 Greatest Running Backs has always stuck with me. It went something like "It is said the sign of a great running back is the ability to regularly turn 2 yard losses into 1 yard gains." Well, Barry Sanders had a knack for turning 2 yard losses into 50 yard gains.

Barry Sanders is the best, most exciting running back of my lifetime and the only guy other than Jim Brown I considered for the top spot. Sanders played 10 seasons. He lead the league in rushing 4 of those seasons and never rushed for less than 1100 yards in a season, finishing in the Top 5 all ten years. 

Barry vs. Emmitt was a real debate people had during the 90s. Now most people (at least the ones I knew), including myself, did choose Barry, but it was by no means an obvious answer. The narrative at the time was Barry's flash (which included the most negative rushing plays in NFL history) vs. Emmitt's consistent plowing forward. Anyway, I bring this up just because it reminded me of another old "What if." What if Barry had been drafted by the Cowboys? How many yards would he have finished with? 20,000 + 3 or 4 additional seasons? A 2500 yard season? I think it's possible. I mean, Sanders still won this. But Sanders with the 90s Cowboys would almost certainly win EVERY "Greatest Running Back" poll in a landslide. 

Fun Fact w/ Storytime- I was at Barry's last game! As best I can remember, I've only been to 4 NFL games in my life. All Ravens games in Baltimore between 1996-1999ish. This was the last game of the season. It was a cold, rainy, miserable day in late December. The perfect conditions for two miserable teams at the bottom of their respective divisions playing a meaningless game with only potential draft positioning at stake. Yet there was still a novelty in seeing live NFL action. So I jumped at the chance to attend an NFL game when offered last minute free tickets. I went with my mid-late 90s wrestling fan cousin who pops up a lot in my wrestling stories.

I don't remember whether or not it was a good game (it probably wasn't), or who won (turns out it was the Ravens), and I'm pretty sure Sanders actually had a lousy game (turns out he did), but I will always remember being a part of history on that drizzly December day. Nobody knew it was coming either. Sanders' retirement came outta nowhere months later. So it's not like I went to the game knowing (or even suspecting) it was to be his last.
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1. Jim Brown (#2)
2. Barry Sanders (#1)
3. Walter Payton (#3)
4. Emmitt Smith (#4)
5. Marshall Faulk (#6)
6. LaDainian Tomlinson (#5)
7. Eric Dickerson (#7)
8. Earl Campbell (#9)
9. Jerome Bettis (slight homer pick)
10. Adrian Peterson (#8)

So obviously I put CMC #1 because he’s my favorite RB of all time. I knew he would be a big deal out of college and was disappointed when he got drafted by Carolina. I felt that Cam would hold him down by his running plays. I am extremely happy to see him get the contract extension and become the team. He’s my favorite player in the NFL right now and I know the amount of work he gets might shorten his career but for now he’s been glorious to watch. 1000/1000 will happen again. He’s the Russell Westbrook of the NFL without the anger.

But if I wasn’t being biased then Ladanian would’ve been my #1. The dude was spectacular to watch in his prime. I remember the LT/Holmes/Alexander years. Interesting story. So my friends and I used to do fantasy football together back in the day. $5 league where the winner kept all the money. So the grand prize was a whole $50 lol. Anyways first season I got first pick and I picked Ladanian. That dude was a fucking machine and I won the league. Second season, same rules but this time I got 2nd pick. The guy in 1st took Priest Holmes and I was ecstatic. I now had LT two years in a row and bang bang won the whole damn thing again. I think I also had TJ Houshmanzadeh put up excellent numbers that year. Anyways in my early teens he made me look like a fantasy genius to all my friends.

But as a youngster, the Titans were my team. Eddie George was my favorite player and I remember crying when the Titans lost the SB by one yard. I had so many Titans jerseys and most of them were Eddie George. He was a beast in college and a beast in the NFL. Obviously had him high on my list for those reasons.

And Curtis Martin was always on my television screen. Granted I wasn’t in love with him I was more of a Keyshawn/Chrebet fan back in my days. However he held that RB position down for the Jets well and I always respected him. I always thought Curtis > Tiki in this imaginary NY rivalry I created in my head.

But if we were making a list of unbiased I would still have LT at 1, AP at 2 and Emmit at 3. That’s if I’m not counting CMC and Eddie George. People really disrespect the monster that AP was in his prime and the fact that he’s still out there playing says something about the way he takes care of himself.