Adrian Peterson has a legitimate Argument for Greatest Running Back of All Time

[Rekkapryde]

Agreed, but OJ was close to Brown's numbers. He averaged 4.7 ypc over his career.

Gale Sayers is another one. Can't believe he hasn't been mentioned yet. Only other player besides Brown and Sanders to average 5 ypc (yeah I know he had far less carries).

When you look at what Barry did, with ypc of 5.0 - he did it over 3,062 carries. That's 700 more carries than AP or Jim Brown

No doubt, Barry's longevity was great. JB decided to walk away while still beasting which you can't ignore either.

There's a sizeable difference between 4.7 and 5.2 though. I will say that OJ was the best after Jim. Sayers career while great was too short IMO

 

[calh45]

Like AP, Jim is one of the few cats who could play in any area. No one was close to his numbers for years. And it's not like the game was "easier" then. If anything you could make a legit argument that it was harder simply because of the shyt cats were allowed to do.

Higher yards per carry, higher yards per game (both are very safe records as well). He also has the accomplishments (doesn't hurt his argument) which are insane.

I think AP is a solid 3 right now and the best of his generation. Arguably the best since Barry which I think he is. But he has 5000 yards just to catch Barry.

Jim's too slow to be as impactful in this era as the others. His stats speak largely for induction on the list, but he's not pulling away from anyone like he did in his era.

 

[Carlos Huerta]

Jim's too slow to be as impactful in this era as the others. His stats speak largely for induction on the list, but he's not pulling away from anyone like he did in his era.

how fast was he?

 

[Rekkapryde]

Jim's too slow to be as impactful in this era as the others. His stats speak largely for induction on the list, but he's not pulling away from anyone like he did in his era.

I dunno breh. Cats forget that this dude wasn't just a beast on the football field. He excelled in other sports at Syracuse as well (hoops, Lacrosse). He might not be THE fastest but I don't think it's a reach to say that he would run away from many cats if he played today. There are dudes now who aren't the fastest at their positions that don't get caught.

 

[calh45]

how fast was he?

I'm pretty sure he was 4.6 off the top of my head.

I dunno breh. Cats forget that this dude wasn't just a beast on the football field. He excelled in other sports at Syracuse as well (hoops, Lacrosse). He might not be THE fastest but I don't think it's a reach to say that he would run away from many cats if he played today. There are dudes now who aren't the fastest at their positions that don't get caught.

I didn't forget any of that. He's supposedly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, lacrosse players of all time, but his average per run was bumped up quite a bit because of those long ass runs he pulled off. You don't need to be the fastest WR to break away a bit, but you need top end speed as a RB to have any runs longer than 20 yards

 

[YouMadd?]

Being in the discussion of greatest running back in the NFL or being considered the greatest is something that someone is going to have to TAKE.

In my option no one has taken it from Jim Brown yet

Adrian is in the process of attempting to "take it"

 

[YouMadd?]

this should have ended the thread.

Folks get caught up in the now.
Also...lets not forget that the NFL was much more gritty back in the day.

"Gritty", what the fukk does that even mean. I'm all for using stats to dictate running back rankings but shyt like "gritty". That isn't a measurable statistic that can be proven. Just some shyt you heard someone say once.

That hit he took in Washington to tear his knee seemed pretty gritty...

This savage shyt seems pretty gritty.

That war cry at the end

 

[YouMadd?]

Peterson still needs 5,000 yards to catch Barry.
And 8,000 to catch Emmitt.

Yes, we're all aware that Peterson missed last season.

Emmitt played until 35
Barry until 30.
And Sweetness until 33.

Peterson is 30 right now. And the drop off for running backs hits pretty hard.
Let's revisit this in 2 years and see how he's held up.

Not after a 200 yard game that's clouding everyone's judgment.

Barring serious injury, Peterson will
Be a serviceable 1300 to 1500 yard RB for atleast 4 more years.

You don't magically just become terrible at RB after 30. You do, however have to work waaay harder to continue to be able to compete at a high level. What you see with most 30+ year old backs is they aren't putting in the extra work to stay active like Emmitt did, OR they got injured and called it quits.

Technically your muscles are at their most dense and you are physically your strongest,

 

[Remote]

Barring serious injury, Peterson will
Be a serviceable 1300 to 1500 yard RB for atleast 4 more years.

You don't magically just become terrible at RB after 30. You do, however have to work waaay harder to continue to be able to compete at a high level. What you see with most 30+ year old backs is they aren't putting in the extra work to stay active like Emmitt did, OR they got injured and called it quits.

Technically your muscles are at their most dense and you are physically your strongest,

We will see.

Currently Adrian Peterson is 21st all-time in rushing.
How many 1,000 yard seasons did the men above him have at age 31+?

OJ Simpson had 0.
Corey Dillon had 0.
John Riggins had 2.
Stephen Jackson had 0.
Frank Gore has 1 (last year) and at 32 years old, he's got 599 with 7 games to go. My guess is he will get there.
Fred Taylor had 1.
Thurman Thomas had 0.
Franco Harris had 1.
Marcus Allen had 0.
Edgerrin James had 0.
Marshall Faulk had 0.
Jim Brown had 0. He retired at 29 but had 1500 yards that final year.
Tony Dorsett had 1.
Eric Dicckerson had 0.
Jerome Bettis had 0.
LaDainian Tomlinson had 0.
Curtis Martin had 1.
Barry Sanders had 0. He retired at 30 but had 1500 yards that final year.
Walter Payton had 1.
Emmitt Smith had 2.

So you're talking about 20 different players having a combined 55 seasons playing at age 31+....and in those 55 seasons you have TEN instances of 1,000 yard seasons (Maybe 11 if Frank Gore gets there this year).

The odds are not in Peterson's favor.
But I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Let's see how he holds up in 2 years.

 

[NYC Rebel]

We will see.

Currently Adrian Peterson is 21st all-time in rushing.
How many 1,000 yard seasons did the men above him have at age 31+?

OJ Simpson had 0.
Corey Dillon had 0.
John Riggins had 2.
Stephen Jackson had 0.
Frank Gore has 1 (last year) and at 32 years old, he's got 599 with 7 games to go. My guess is he will get there.
Fred Taylor had 1.
Thurman Thomas had 0.
Franco Harris had 1.
Marcus Allen had 0.
Edgerrin James had 0.
Marshall Faulk had 0.
Jim Brown had 0. He retired at 29 but had 1500 yards that final year.
Tony Dorsett had 1.
Eric Dicckerson had 0.
Jerome Bettis had 0.
LaDainian Tomlinson had 0.
Curtis Martin had 1.
Barry Sanders had 0. He retired at 30 but had 1500 yards that final year.
Walter Payton had 1.
Emmitt Smith had 2.

So you're talking about 20 different players having a combined 55 seasons playing at age 31+....and in those 55 seasons you have TEN instances of 1,000 yard seasons (Maybe 11 if Frank Gore gets there this year).

The odds are not in Peterson's favor.
But I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Let's see how he holds up in 2 years.

AD is a different breed, bro.

 

[jilla82]

"Gritty", what the fukk does that even mean. I'm all for using stats to dictate running back rankings but shyt like "gritty". That isn't a measurable statistic that can be proven. Just some shyt you heard someone say once.

That hit he took in Washington to tear his knee seemed pretty gritty...

This savage shyt seems pretty gritty.

That war cry at the end

Players pre 00's took a lot more punishment.
The NFL of the 80's would be outlawed in todays world.

I was watching one of those old NFL films...and one player said in pileups it wasnt uncommon for guys to rub some type of powder in your eyes to temporarily blind you.

Not taking anything away from AP...but like dude I quoted said...we still have to give it more time.

 

[Reggie]

It's a DUMB metric, period, to use in football.

football "playoffs" are for one game. A RB doesn't suddenly "leave his skills" behind because its' the playoffs.

Keep those shyt measures to basketball....not football. It's DUMB.

In basketball you can suck for a whole series and ball out in a game 7 and all is forgotten. Don't tell me one game doesn't matter. And for that matter the playoffs should matter more for the NFL cause if you lose one game you go home. No game 2 3 or 4 to make it up. So excuse me for holding it against LT for not performing during the postseason after balling out during the regular season.

 

[NYC Rebel]

In basketball you can suck for a whole series and ball out in a game 7 and all is forgotten. Don't tell me one game doesn't matter. And for that matter the playoffs should matter more for the NFL cause if you lose one game you go home. No game 2 3 or 4 to make it up. So excuse me for holding it against LT for not performing during the postseason after balling out during the regular season.

In football, you can gameplan a player out of ONE GAME which is much easier than ONE SERIES.

It's a DUMB MEASURE.

Keep that rubbish for basketball and get over that corny ESPN contrived LT trash.

 

[Stuntone]

he's definitely in the GOAT discussion. I have never seen a RB with the speed, power and elusiveness of AD since probably Bo, but I think i'll still have barry #1 even after Peterson retires.

You think Bo was as elusive as AP?

 

[premier58]

Calh. Jim Brown was a 4.4 guy and would often challenge collegiate track star/NFL Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell to sprints and would often win..Jim Brown was fast, duke..