Windy City Gridiron
Last year, we ranked the 100 greatest quarterbacks of all-time. If you are so inclined, you can check out that list here.
This year, we looked at the greatest running backs of all-time. This list was far more challenging to compile. With quarterbacks, as the league evolved into a heavier passing league, the more current quarterbacks with bigger numbers made their way further up the list.
For running backs, how do you rank running backs that were key performers in the earlier years of the league? How do you rank running backs that aren’t as featured in offenses as they once were? How can I look at Bronko Nagurski and Marshawn Lynch and know who was truly the best power back between the two?
To help me with this list, I decided to make a point system to help see how players were looked upon in their own eras. This is the system I came up with. This point system is not a rule of law, but more of a guide to look at running backs from all eras.
First, I wanted to reward yards running and receiving. So I took the player’s career rushing and receiving yards and divided them by 1,000. So if a player had 15,000 career yards from scrimmage, that was worth 15 points.
Next, I thought it was important to reward the All-Decade teams. If a player was an all-decade first team, they received 5 points. If they were All-Decade second-team, they received four points.
MVPs and Offensive Player of the Year were also important to reward. MVPs received 5 points, and OPOY received 4 points.
I also wanted to reward All-Pros and Pro Bowls. First team All-Pros received 3 points, 2nd team All-Pro received 2 points, and a Pro Bowl spot earned 1 point.
This system tries to reward longevity with the yardage points, but also rewards accolades. If you were the best player in the league one year, you could rack up a lot of points in a hurry.
Let’s look at one player as an example so you can see how the point system plays out.
Let’s look at someone who was quite the thorn in the Chicago Bears’ side: Adrian Peterson.
Peterson had 17,400 yards from scrimmage: 17 points.
Peterson received 5 points for being first-team All-Decade, 5 points for being the 2012 MVP, and 4 points for being the 2012 OPOY. That puts him at 31 points.
Four times he was first team All-Pro for another 12 points, 3 times he was second team All-Pro for another 6 points, and he was named to 7 Pro Bowls, for 7 more points.
That puts Peterson at 56 points.
I also made tiers for the running backs. There are seven tiers: GOAT Tier, Near GOAT Tier, Legend Tier, Hall of Fame Locks Tier, Hall of Fame Bubble Tier, Not Quite Hall of Fame Tier, and the Very Good Tier.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 100 greatest running backs...
