At the top of their games, who are the best 3 Running Backs Ever?

Question

Total yards and other career stats are irrelevant. The question is, in their primes, who were the greatest ever with the football in their hands? ?

Here's my top 3:

#1: Earl Campbell (1979) - Campbell was the original rolling wrecking ball, a jumble of muscle and desire that struck fear in every defense. Carried piss-poor Oilers teams on his back to 2 AFC championship games.

#2: Eric Dickerson (1984) - Dickerson was the total package early on ... a big, rangy back with sprinter's speed and a thirst for a heavy workload. If he'd stayed with the Rams, he'd probably been the first to break Payton's record.

#3: O.J. Simpson (1973): This was the year that the juice rushed for 2,003 yards in 14 games on one of the league's worst teams. O.J. had breakaway speed and nifty elusiveness.

Others: Payton (1977), Brown (1955) Terrell Davis (1998)

Two things:
1) Why is the question so complicated for some of you?? It is THE BEST AT THE PEAK OF THEIR POWERS!! Thus, while Emmit Smith is obviously a hall of famer and Terrell Davis is not, Davis in 1998 was better than Emmit ever was.

2. To the moron who said JEROME BETTIS WAS BETTER THAN EARL CAMPBELL in his prime!!! You know nothing about football. Get the F-outta here.

Answer 1

The best at their peak?
OJ Simpson
Jim Brown
Eric Dickerson
Marshall Faulk

Answer 2

You phrased the question as "At the top of their games" and if you truly ask that then the #1 answer is Jim Brown. Anyone who keeps on saying "without a doubt" or "hands down" to anyone but Jim Brown needs to go back look again at the numbers, but more importantly see some of his footage and listen to interviews of anyone who ever went against him.

To also answer your question you also said just greatest ever with a football in their hands so that doesn't just mean purely running the ball so I'm going to flip things to the present day which is something I wouldn't normally do but Tomlinson is doing things that even the impressive list of answers above did not do. I was one of those people who refused to call him LT because LT was Lawrence Taylor, the man who redefined what linebackers do. Well Tomlinson is doing that with running backs. That's been evident when you read GMs across the league talk about what they want in a running back, and if you get really bored check out how many actually refer to Tomlinson by name when describing what they're looking for in a running back.

#3 I have to go with the Juice. He was that team and still managed those 2000 yards seasonS with those teams. He was just something else on the football field. Unfortunately obviously we know all to well is off the field experiences.

Campbell in his prime could be in that #3 spot as well but I must admit I've seen more of what OJ did with the ball than Campbell but from what I did see is Campbell was a lot like Jim Brown(in some ways) with the way he ran the ball.

Honorable Mention:
Barry lacked the breakaway speed and yet wasn't the power back that Campbell or Brown were, he was often caught from behind

TD will always be second guessed in comparison to other backs due to the talent around him at the time.

Payton and Emmit Smith could be the two classiest guys in the NFL and apparently the most durable talents as well.

Answer 3

That's a tough question. Take away all considertion of stats I have to go with (in no particular order) Barry Sanders, Walter Payton and OJ Simpson. But Terrell Davis and Emmitt Smith could easily be thrown in there. But, I think they were both products of fantastic lines as was Marshall Faulk (who also benefited from a spectacular passing game). The three I listed made things happen for them, particularly Barry Sanders.

Answer 4

Barry Sanders
Emmit Smith
Walter Payton

Answer 5

Campbell as #1?? Jerome Bettis was a better "wrecking ball."

1. Barry Sanders
2. Jim Brown
3. Walter Payton

Answer 6

#1 Barry Sander: I think there are many of us that think that he was and incredible running back and he would have set all kinds of records if he hadn't walked away from the game so early. He was smart to do it though, saved himself all kinds of injuries.

#2 O.J. Simpson: It is just really hard to argue against anyone that can rush for 2000+ yards in a season and even harder to when he does it in 14 games.

#3 Walter Payton: I'm not sure why...I just really love him. Thats saying a lot coming from a Packers fan.

Answer 7

Jim Brown. Sick how strong and powerful and fast he was. he dominated his opponents.

Barry Sanders. Would have broken and owned every record ever set if he had continued to play, or if he had had a good offensive line, even ONCE in his career.

Walter Payton. enough said. Sweetness.

Emmitt Smith may be the rushing leader, but he REALLY benefitted his whole career from an amazing O-Line. I could have rushed for 1000 a year behind that line. i dont even put him top 5 all-time, ability wise.

Answer 8

#1-Jim Brown averaged 104.3 yds per game for a career. Amongst other great things he accomplished, this stat pretty much sets Brown apart from every other running back in NFL history. At the time of his retirement after only 9 seasons in the NFL, Brown was the leagues all-time leading rusher with 12,312 yds. Notice the "what if" game we play below. Brown played about half his career playing 12 and 14 game seasons... but whats if he played 16 games like the modern NFL player does today?... OJ does nothing more than finish a nice second in 1973. Brown was King! Oh ya, one last note... Brown played in an era when everyone on the football field KNEW he was getting the ball...Hmmm
#2-Walter Payton...The one thing most people remember about Walter Payton breaking Jim Brown's rushing record, Walter broke that record without a good offensive line throughout his entire career. (which isn't very fair, but it was true) Walter did things with power and grace. He would Always put a hit on a defender instead of running away from a hit. He also flew like a bird when he was called upon to score a 1 yard touchdown. He would seemingly jump over the entire offensive line to score. With 16,726 rushing yards for a career, Payton set himself above everyone in leagues history to set a standard that would stand for close to 20 years. Some of Walters highlights include: 275 yards in a game (record stood for 23 years) , 1,852 rushing yards in his 3rd year in 1977. Rushing Champion with 16,726 yds. Super Bowl XX champion.
#-3-Barry Sanders...15,269 in 10 years. Averaged 5 yards
per carry. 2,053 yards in 1 season (97) Amazing that Barry did all of this without really wanted to play football... Ok, here's our take. Based on the Detroit Lions offense since Barry's departure in 1998, we make the assumpion that the Lions would have continued to make Barry the feature in their offense. Basically Barry would have put up his typical 1,500 yds a year... up to the current 2002 season. Emmitt Smith broke Walter Payton's rushing record around mid-season of 2002. Our take is that had Barry kept playing and all things had remained equal and he ran for just his average yards.. The rushing record Emmitt would have had to broke would have been: 21,269 total rushing yards. Barry rushed for over 1,100 yards every year he played. Crazy!

Answer 9

#1 LaDanian Tomlinson, I think he is the best running back the NFL has seen in a good while.

#2 Earl Campbell, I think you are right about earl campbell, he was a rolling wrecking ball.

#3 Larry Johnson, He is a agile power back and an all american.

Answer 10

1. Walter "Sweetness" Payton
2. Barry Sanders (Just wish he would've stayed around longer!)
3. Jim Brown