[Music] running backs despite their value in recent years being called into question they have been one of the most important positions historically there have been a little over 2,000 running backs drafted into the NFL in the Super Bowl era and for this video I've scoured Decades of data going round by round to find the greatest and most accomplished running backs this league has ever seen cell he Roberton on his back beautiful five oh and this will come as no surprise that most of the all-time greats were drafted in round one to get an idea of the success differences by round I went and found the exact number of running backs drafted in each round from 1967 to 2019 and I noted how many rushed for at least 5,000 yards in their career 5,000 was an easy number that at least indicates a player was good and healthy enough to put together multiple solid Seasons as a team's primary or secondary running back it doesn't mean a player was amazing but it's enough to show that a back was serviceable for more than half a decade 32% of first round running backs rushed for at least 5,000 yards in their career meaning the majority either were busts or got injured early in their careers now to take it a step further 10,000 rushing yards is a feet that very few reach let me quickly add a side note here so the average NFL running back's career is short under 2.6 years the physical demands and high injury risks is a hill that most backs won't be able to get over and for those who do all it takes is for a player to lose a step in their game and now they are a backup or out of the league entirely in 2019 Zeke ellot at the age of 24 was no doubt one of the best backs in the NFL however 3 years later at age 27 no one considered him a great back honestly not even the best back on the Cowboys his yards per car had decreased dramatically he's not even 29 and he's been a shell of himself for a few years now and served as a rotational back last year in New England I'm not trying to pick on Zeke this happens all the time remember Philip Lindsay he had two surprise breakout seasons in 2018 and 2019 by 2021 he was a backup and by 2023 he was in the XFL anyways I use these examples to illustrate how impressive the 10,000 yd feet really is it displays both longevity which is already rare in the NFL and the remarkable ability to be at the very least an above average starter for around a decade or more in other words it's no fluke a player doesn't make it here by accident it's not necessarily a mark worthy of the Hall of Fame but it's getting pretty damn close just under 12% of first round running backs rushed for 10,000 plus yards in their their career now despite only 11.7% reaching that Mark virtually every historical bigname running back was picked in the first round of the 19 Hall of Fame running backs drafted in the Super Bowl Era 16 were drafted in the first round 14 of which were top 10 picks however despite this historical dominance the effects of first rounders are much lower in today's game Christian mcaffrey is a total stud and is currently the best back in football but in 2023 only one of the other top 10 NFL rushers were drafted in the first round nji Harris first round running backs are much less prevalent statistically today compared to 20 years prior when six of the top 10 rushers were first rounders the game in the way running backs are utilized has certainly changed anyways when deciding who's the greatest first round running back ever there's a few different ways of examining this debate and here's how I lay it out the most dominant pre Super Bowl era back is Jim Brown considering he won MVP as a rookie and was the best back and most likely player in the league every year he played no one has dominated at the level Jim Brown did the best Super Bowl era running back is a tossup between Walter Payton and Barry Sanders although my vote would be for Barry to pay respect to Walter as Ray Lewis put it once you put wisdom and will on top of talent you get what you call Sweetness an elite blend of speed and Power Walter Payton played at an elite level well into his 30s and for Barry besides his Superior all-time numbers Barry stands in a class of his own in terms of ability to cut change direction accelerate and Juke Defenders his highlight reel is the best of all time in my opinion the greatest running back longevity has to go to EMS Smith this dude was a starting level running back for 15 years nobody argues that he was as talented or dominant as the previous guys but the durability of this man was remarkable and it's why he's the all-time leading rusher and then for the era I witnessed leanian thomlinson and Adrien Peterson take the cake LT had a massive influence on how modern running backs are utilized today considering his effect on not just the Run game but the pass game as well he holds the all-time record for rushing touchdowns in a season and of course Adrien Peterson was a freight train in his prime this man put the fear of God in to his opponents and nobody has had more impressive resiliency from injury when you look at what Peterson accomplished after suffering major injuries in the [Music] NFL CAU by CH R and dies over watch Di chub turn back into the line of scrimmage right here bam as expected the talent and production level diminishes significantly once we reach the second round 15.3 3% of second rounders compared to the 32% of first rounders reached 5,000 yards rushing in their career and just five of those 176 backs drafted in round two are in the 10,000 Club the most notable second rounders in the NFL today include the top two being Derrik Henry and Nick chub and then there's another class of solid guys including Jonathan Taylor mil Sanders and Joe Mixon historically the five names that have eclipsed 10,000 yards are Tiki Barber Ricky Waters lesea McCoy Cory Dylan and the most statistically dominant and only second round Hall of Fame running back as of now Thurman Thomas first down on that call delay for Thomas oh looking him SP through all the way to the [Applause] 25 as one of the emotional leaders during the bills run to four Super Bowls his ability to be a great rusher as well as an effective pass catcher in their no huddle attack LED Thomas to to some hugely successful seasons and playoff runs which included him winning the regular season MVP in 1991 as for today Derrick Henry is still playing and is worthy of being considered the greatest second round running back of all time after serving as a rotational back for a few years in Tennessee Henry at his relatively massive size exploded onto the scene in 2018 and by 2020 was the best back in football he may have not won won MVP but he became one of just eight dudes to reach the illustrious 2,000 yard rushing Mark which is just as special as one of the biggest backs to ever play in the NFL Henry will attempt to reach 10,000 career yards this season as he joined forces with Lamar [Music] Jackson once you reach the third round expectations have drastically decreased typically the best backs are off the board by this point and teams that draft here are looking for solid rotational backs who may develop into the starter after a few seasons the odds of success continue to decrease less than 7% of third round running backs have reached 5,000 career rushing yards and just three of the 187 drafted have reached 10,000 yards the most notable third round running backs today include the following James Connor David Montgomery Rashad white and Zach Moss the biggest name today would Alvin Kamar who had a crazy 5-year run to start his career over the course of his time in the NFL Kamar has displayed otherworldly balance elusiveness and acceleration historically speaking the two names that have eclipsed 10,000 yards are way up the list Curtis Martin and Frank Gore Martin shocked everybody as a rookie when he finished third in the league in rushing despite concerns about his durability prior to the NFL Martin erased those concerns as he barely missed any play time and rushed for at least 1,000 yards in his first 10 seasons amazingly that 10th season was his most impressive for Frank Gore similar concerns about his durability were also erased over the course of 16 years Gore was a bcow back throughout almost all of it and he finished his career averaging exactly 1,000 yards a season and that total of 16,000 yards has him ranked third on the alltime rushing list Curtis Martin is the only third round Hall of Fame running back but Frank Gore will join him soon they thought Sean Springs was not only going to play that he was going to Smart came out before the game and they said no meanwhile Jacob says no runs right over Landry once you reach the fourth round you're beginning to look for guys who fill a role other than your starting running back things like a receiving back who can return kicks or a guy who can play multiple special teams roles the fourth round cuts the production level from the third round in half just 3.6% of fourth rounders have rushed for 5,000 career yards and zero have made it to 10,000 yards the most notable fourth round running backs today include the following Tony Pard chuba hubard and Jamal Williams historically there are zero guys like I said that have reached 10 10,000 yard one guy who perfectly encapsulates a successful fourth rounder who filled their role was Darren sprouls sprouls was a guy who never became a Bellow back due to his size but his receiving out of the back field and returnability were amongst the best in the game as far as the all-time fourth round leading rusher that goes to the three-time pro bowler Steven Davis is Davis still on his feet and he's gone if he's KN down that's touchdown Davis was a PowerBack who developed into Washington's main Starter by his fourth season and had a really impressive 5-year run he is 54th on the all-time rushing list the fifth round now it's just a crapshoot and teams continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel for talent if a guy provides some depth great if not draft another next season the idea of finding a long-term starter at this point is a pipe drain looking at the 2023 draft as an example there were four running backs selected in the fifth round and the best of them so far is Chase Brown who had less than 200 rushing yards on the season and none of those guys scored a rushing touchdown all year just 2.2% of fifth rounders have rushed for 5,000 yards or more in their career the most notable fifth round running backs today include the following kyen Williams Aaron Jones Tyler alir and Jerome Ford William Willams aler and Ford all come from the same class so that year is a total anomaly and it's not like these guys are all pro level guys historically speaking zero fifth round running backs have made the Hall of Fame zero are in the 10K club and only four guys have even reached 5,000 yards the most notable was Michael Turner Turner was initially a backup to leanian tomon in San Diego and he ended up being quite a surprise Tomlinson in his prime was impossible to slow down and was the best back in the league and just when the defense thought they had a second to catch their breath they got punched in the face by Turner 2006 was an insane year for Tomlinson and Turner was arguably the best backup in the league he eventually did enough to become a full-time starter in Atlanta and for a few years was a beast bcow back for them he runs it over the left side with Mo and corner with a lot of room Turner with even more room F the Turner all the way up to Midfield and finally we've got a first down in this game Turner had an allpro run in8 and finished his career with five straight Seasons with double digigit touchdowns as we continue to go on the odds of success continue to diminish less than 2% of sixth round running backs have reached 5,000 career yards and zero have reached 10,000 these guys are more likely to be cut than to become a teams starting back in the last seven drafts 25 running backs were selected in the sixth round 10 of those are out of the league entirely and really there's only two notable names khle Herbert who's an excellent rotational back and Elijah Mitchell who had a solid rookie year but is now a third string back in San Francisco the rest are special teamers or have carried the ball very little in their careers the most notable sixth rounder in the league today would be latavius Murray who's now in the Twilight of his career but had a pretty good run back when he started in Oakland and also historically Murray is one of the most notable sixth round running backs ever however the best sixth round running back and it's not even close is Terrell Davis after beginning his first training camp as the sixth string back Davis was a long shot to make the roster and I remember telling my mom this and I said Mom I was like I was like yeah mean that's cool I got drafted I'm I'm I'm I'm she's like well you're not excited I was like not really she was like why she thought I was being ungrateful I'm like no I'm just I'm just I said sixth round pick they just they just going to use me as Camp bait they're not drafting me in a sixth round uh thinking that that I'm going to be a part of team but after making an impression on the coaching staff with this hit in the preseason Davis worked his way all the way up to the team starting running back by the start of his first regular season the rest is history he went from Surprise rookie to stand out all pro then to the reason the Broncos won the Super Bowl taking home Super Bowl MVP p and finally he won regular season MVP as he reached 2,000 yards in year four and also helped the Broncos reach another Super Bowl victory it's one of the greatest four-year runs by any player ever let alone a sixth round pick Davis right side room to run cuts it back we'll go for the touchdown unfortunately injuries completely derailed his career and he only played three more seasons but because Terrell Davis was a massive reason why Denver won two Super Bowls he was inducted into the Hall of Fame up the middle touchdown Jamal Anderson out of the back field and there's a dirty bird the final round at least in the modern day they used to have more rounds but they got rid of them and you want to know why well this had something to do with it in the eth through 17th round when they existed 692 backs were selected and only three of them ever rushed for 5,000 y or more in their careers most of them probably never even played a snap for the seventh round it's not much better only two of the 225 seventh rounders selected have reached 5,000 yards neither of which reached 10,000 the notable seventh round running backs today include Isaiah Pacho that's it Brock pie had the next most rushing yards by a seventh rounder in 2023 and I'm not even joking which really goes to show how rare it is to succeed as much as PCO has historically Marian buts and Jamal Anderson are the two most notable names Jamal Anderson was a backup who came out of nowhere to have four solid Seasons capped off by his incredible 1998 run you want to talk about a statistical anomaly in 1998 in a year that featured Barry Sanders EMT Smith Marshall vul Eddie George and Curtis Martin the top two rushers in the league were sixth rounder Terrell Davis and seventh rounder Jamal Anderson also both the Broncos and Falcons made the Super Bowl that year so these were the two biggest impact players on their respective teams in the biggest game doesn't match up very well first down and 10 freest THS of Richardson black look at him cut outside and there he goes TR throws a block touch [Music] time [Music] a
