YOUR Top 5 at Every Position

[RobBase]

And you don't agree about Steven Jackson?! He's had what, eight 1,000+ yard seasons in a row now? How can he not be in a current top 5? C'mon man!

Only team just as bad, if not worth than the Millen era Lions is the Rams. Yet SJ tore it up every year playing behind the worst Oline in the NFL. He's going to kill it in ATL.

 

[broncosmitty]

There's no way Stephen Jackson is a top five back anymore. No way.

 

[broncosmitty]

I definitely put Hester in there because of his career body of work. He had a down year last year for sure, and if he can't bounce back this year he'll drop out of my top 5 for sure. Cribbs, on the other hand, was still one of the best combined returners in the league last year. He averaged 12.0 yards per punt return and 27.4 per kick return. Very strong numbers still.

The other three I had were all based on "right now"- Reynaud and Jones each had 3 return TDs last year, and Peterson had 4 the year before...

I can't come up with five guys better than Hester and Cribbs. And trust me, I really wanted to.

 

[broncosmitty]

Only team just as bad, if not worth than the Millen era Lions is the Rams. Yet SJ tore it up every year playing behind the worst Oline in the NFL. He's going to kill it in ATL.

No he's not.

 

[gandydancer]

There's no way Stephen Jackson is a top five back anymore. No way.

 

[RobBase]

There's no way Stephen Jackson is a top five back anymore. No way.

I look at what broken down, feet in the mud Micheal Turner has been doing in ATL (10 TD's last year) and now they have a motivated Steven Jackson coming into play for them? He could run for 15 + TD's next year for the Falcons. Maybe 20.

You guys realize SJax has the same YPC as Arian Foster, right? Playing for the Rams...?

 

[tpaulus_2]

Only team just as bad, if not worth than the Millen era Lions is the Rams. Yet SJ tore it up every year playing behind the worst Oline in the NFL. He's going to kill it in ATL.

Couldn't agree more. He's been the most consistent RB in the league since 2005 despite being the focal point of an otherwise awful offense.

I don't think he'll get drasticaly more yards in ATL, but his TDs should go way up. He's still got gas in the tank, trust me.

 

[RobBase]

I don't think he'll get drasticaly more yards in ATL, but his TDs should go way up. He's still got gas in the tank, trust me.

Agree. He's gonna get about 100 cracks at the endzone from the redzone and at the goaline. And he won't be running behind Jason "Lions fans love me" Smith anymore.

 

[gandydancer]

And you don't agree about Steven Jackson?! He's had what, eight 1,000+ yard seasons in a row now? How can he not be in a current top 5? C'mon man!

A guy name Tpaul made rules for this thread. Stop breaking them. RB's are next week!!

My he is not currently top five. This not body of work. Current to me is in the moment.
AP, Lynch, Martin, Foster, and Charles.

2012 Foster was #2 and now current IMO he is 4th or 5th

 

[broncosmitty]

Couldn't agree more. He's been the most consistent RB in the league since 2005 despite being the focal point of an otherwise awful offense.

I don't think he'll get drasticaly more yards in ATL, but his TDs should go way up. He's still got gas in the tank, trust me.

I don't trust you. Not on this. Jackson is old as fuck. He may get short yardage TDs. But Jerome Bettis wasn't top five at the end either. You guys are crazy fuckers if you can't come up with more than four RBs who are better right now. Unless we're talking lifetime achievement awards or something.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Solid list for sure, can't argue any of those names. I guess I'd have Jackson in there for Martin since he only has one season under his belt, but man he sure looked the part last year...

 

[Attractive and Rich]

There's no way Stephen Jackson is a top five back anymore. No way.

Someone with some sense. SJax has not played like a top ten back in recent seasons. I assume the people anointing him as top five have not watched the Rams since 08.

Top five backs:
AP, Lynch, Rice, Spiller, McCoy

with Foster, Gore, and Charles just missing

edit - forgot Doug Martin... he is in the mix as well. Would rather have any of these guys over SJax as well as a few others.

 

[gandydancer]

Unless we're talking lifetime achievement awards or something.

SJax for the ESPY

 

[tpaulus_2]

I don't trust you. Not on this. Jackson is old as fuck. He may get short yardage TDs. But Jerome Bettis wasn't top five at the end either. You guys are crazy fuckers if you can't come up with more than four RBs who are better right now. Unless we're talking lifetime achievement awards or something.

He's not that old- dude is 30, just turned it about a week ago. I know that's the wall for most RBs, but Jackson is not most RBs- he'll finish his career in the top 20 in all-time rushing yards and could quite possibly break into the top 10 (needs 2,104 yards to do so). We're talking about a boarder-line Hall of Fame player, not an aging Tiki Barber or Corey Dillon or Frank Gore.

With his bruising running style, big frame and lack of serious injury throughout his career I just don't see him hitting that 30 year old wall. Most RBs do- the greats squeeze out a few more good years. If he gets 3,600 rushing yards over the rest of his career he finishes as the leagues 5th leading rusher all-time. I don't think he'll quite crack that, just based on the odds, but I do see him cracking the top 10.

He won't have the single season success of some of the other current backs, but he's maintained a very good level of success over a very long time that nobody else in the league right now can match. Adrian Peterson is the next closest active player in career rushing yards, and he's another all-time great. Peterson will very likely end up passing Jackson at some point in rushing yards and TDs, but to Jackson's credit his receiving output blows Peterson's away.

Long story short is that we're talking about a guy who will probably have a bronze bust in Canton one day who is heading to the best offense he's been on since his rookie year...

 

[tpaulus_2]

Make no mistake with my above comparison- I think AP is the better back, but both guys are H.O.F. material. Can't say that about any other current RBs with such certainty. Some definitely have the potential, but these two have delivered on said potential...

 

[tpaulus_2]

Someone with some sense. SJax has not played like a top ten back in recent seasons. I assume the people anointing him as top five have not watched the Rams since 08.

Top five backs:
AP, Lynch, Rice, Spiller, McCoy

with Foster, Gore, and Charles just missing

edit - forgot Doug Martin... he is in the mix as well. Would rather have any of these guys over SJax as well as a few others.

Can't disagree with any of those guys- there's a handful of really good backs in the league right now.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Alfred Morris is right there with Doug Martin, too...

 

[tpaulus_2]

Perhaps come RB day we should list off all of the "franchise" RBs? We have at least 11 or 12 listed above...

 

[tpaulus_2]

Or perhaps we should open it up to RBs now and push the safties to tomorrow since we're already having a good RB discussion?

Thoughts from the peanut gallery?

 

[Attractive and Rich]

I would have to think longer about backs.

My top four is locked in (for now). The rest is pretty much a toss up for me as you can't go wrong with any of the guys. This coming season will be very telling.