Another Comparison of RBs’ Best 4 Years

Last week, I posted this article comparing some of the top RBs in NFL history, this time looking at their career peaks in terms of a 4 year stretch. As quick review, I defined their top 4 year stretches as the period of 4 consecutive years where the player gained the most total yards from scrimmage in his career. In my last post, many commenters (both here at Checking the Numbers and at BTSC) suggested improvements both in analysis technique and in players to review, so I decided to go back and complete a followup analysis. Based on the feedback that I received, I added several players that were suggested, and I also made a couple changes to my ranking system.

There were suggestions to normalize the players’ numbers against the league average for rushing (and possibly receiving) or to normalize against the top 10 (top 5 pre-SB era) rushers in the league. After considering the direction to take, my first thought was to normalize against the top rushers in the league. However, to do that would have required pulling the numbers for top 10 in rushing yards, yards/attempt and TDs for something like 50 or 60 total years of data. Then, I would have had to average those players’ for each year, and then average the years for each 4 year period. That would have taken forever.

So, I decided to normalize against league averages instead. I realize that in this case, I would be normalizing players’ data against teams’ data. But, I think it will still be useful, because the trends in average team data gives an indication of the average rushing defensive strength in the league for that period. It also indicates trends in relying on the run or the pass. For example, in compiling this data, I saw that the league averages for rushing increased from the 1930s to the 1960s and 1970s, but declined in the 1980s and beyond. Most likely, this is due to improved schemes into the ’60s and then the rules changes favoring the passing game since ’78. So, for these reasons, and the fact that it would take considerably less time, I went with league averages, rather than top 10 or top 5 players’ averages.

The final change that I made to my analysis was inspired by BTSC member Steely McSmash. Although I didn’t follow his formula, I used his idea of normalizing to the leader in each category to assign a value to the players’ stats based on what percentage of the highest value they had. He assigned a weighting percentage, while I did not. However, since I added categories for how each player performed relative to league average in rushing, my analysis now adds more weight to the rushing statistics than it did previously (doubling it).

From commenters suggestions, I added the following players to the analysis: Shaun Alexander, Jim Brown (’58-’61), Earl Campbell, Roger Craig, Corey Dillon, Eddie George, Cookie Gilchrist, Priest Holmes, Leroy Kelly, Bronko Nagurski, John Riggins, Gale Sayers, Jim Taylor, Thurman Thomas, Herschel Walker, Ricky Watters, Brian Westbrook, OJ Simpson, and Tiki Barber. Barry Foster and Terry Allen were also suggested, but Barry only had a single 1000 yard season, and I left Terry out of the compilation. When I reviewed Terry Allen’s number, his best 4 year period was just average to below average for this list, so I did not think it worth the extra time to add one more player.

On to the analysis! Below, I have a total of 9 tables. Tables 1-3 contain the players’ raw statistics, (taken from Pro-Football-Reference.c0m). Tables 4 and 5 contain per game and per touch statistics. Tables 6 and 7 contain values for each players’ statistics normalized to the leaders in each category. And, Tables 8 and 9 contain the players ranked according to two different ranking systems that I completed.

First, we have the players’ total numbers.

Players	Years	G	GS	YScm	TotTD	Fmb
Bronko Nagurski	1932-1935	45	38	1944	13	0
Spec Sanders	1946-1948*	40	30	3172	36	1
Marion Motley	1947-1950	51	36	3840	28	5
Jim Brown 1	1958-1961	50	50	6512	53	22
Jim Taylor	1961-1964	54	0	5671	60	18
Jim Brown 2	1962-1965	56	56	7302	63	28
Cookie Gilchrist	1962-1965	56	0	5039	42	29
Gale Sayers	1965-1968	50	0	5031	40	26
Leroy Kelly	1966-1969	55	0	5614	59	15
OJ Simpson	1973-1976	56	7	7392	48	27
Franco Harris	1976-1979	59	59	5206	45	33
Walter Payton 1	1977-1980	62	62	7746	50	28
Earl Campbell	1978-1981	62	61	6802	55	31
Tony Dorsett	1978-1981	61	60	6604	33	39
John Riggins	1979-1983*	54	42	4068	52	13
Walter Payton 2	1983-1986	64	64	7829	41	22
Marcus Allen	1983-1986	61	57	7056	50	32
Eric Dickerson	1983-1986	62	62	7842	57	49
Roger Craig	1985-1988	62	60	6863	36	22
Herschel Walker	1986-1989	60	51	6537	38	22
Bo Jackson	1987-1990	38	23	3134	18	11
Thurman Thomas	1989-1992	63	63	7893	49	24
Emmitt Smith	1992-1995	61	60	7921	76	16
Barry Sanders	1994-1997	64	64	8122	45	10
Terrell Davis	1995-1998	61	61	7594	61	16
Ricky Watters	1995-1998	64	64	6724	41	18
Jerome Bettis	1996-1999	62	58	5804	30	17
Eddie George	1997-2000	64	64	6771	42	21
Marshall Faulk	1998-2001	60	59	8992	69	8
Curtis Martin	1998-2001	63	63	6920	35	11
Corey Dillon	1999-2002	63	63	6235	33	17
Ricky Williams	2000-2003	58	58	7104	43	28
Jamal Lewis	2000-2004*	60	57	6822	34	24
Priest Holmes	2001-2004	54	54	7645	76	10
Clinton Portis	2002-2005	60	56	7059	49	16
Shaun Alexander	2002-2005	64	63	7189	82	17
Edgerrin James	2003-2006	60	60	6801	40	16
LaDainian Tomlinson	2003-2006	63	63	8301	86	13
Tiki Barber	2003-2006	64	62	8290	34	18
Brian Westbrook	2004-2007	55	53	6768	39	5

Table 1: years, games, games started, yards from scrimmage, total touchdowns, and fumbles

*Spec Sanders missed 1949 and returned 1950 as a Safety, John Riggins missed 1980 due to a contract dispute, and Jamal Lewis missed 2001 due to injury

Next are the players’ Rushing stats.

	Rushing
Players	Att	Yds	TD	Lng	Y/A	Y/G	A/G
Bronko Nagurski	422	1822	13	0	4.3	40.5	9.4
Spec Sanders	540	2900	33	0	5.4	72.5	13.5
Marion Motley	556	3233	24	69	5.8	63.4	10.9
Jim Brown 1	1067	5521	48	71	5.2	110.4	21.3
Jim Taylor	998	4968	55	84	5.0	92.0	18.5
Jim Brown	1090	5849	49	80	5.4	104.4	19.5
Cookie Gilchrist	928	4010	37	67	4.3	71.6	16.6
Gale Sayers	719	3834	31	70	5.3	76.7	14.4
Leroy Kelly	888	4402	51	70	5.0	80.0	16.1
OJ Simpson	1221	6448	39	88	5.3	115.1	21.8
Franco Harris	1166	4558	44	71	3.9	77.3	19.8
Walter Payton 1	1358	6317	45	76	4.7	101.9	21.9
Earl Campbell	1404	6457	55	81	4.6	104.1	22.6
Tony Dorsett	1160	5263	28	75	4.5	86.3	19.0
John Riggins	1007	3767	49	66	3.7	69.8	18.6
Walter Payton 2	1340	5989	34	72	4.5	93.6	20.9
Marcus Allen	1129	4700	38	61	4.2	77.0	18.5
Eric Dickerson	1465	6968	55	85	4.8	112.4	23.6
Roger Craig	943	4197	28	62	4.5	67.7	15.2
Herschel Walker	971	4057	31	84	4.2	67.6	16.2
Bo Jackson	515	2782	16	92	5.4	73.2	13.6
Thurman Thomas	1169	5435	33	80	4.6	86.3	18.6
Emmitt Smith	1401	6456	73	68	4.6	105.8	23.0
Barry Sanders	1287	6989	40	85	5.4	109.2	20.1
Terrell Davis	1343	6413	56	71	4.8	105.1	22.0
Ricky Watters	1294	5033	40	57	3.9	78.6	20.2
Jerome Bettis	1310	5372	28	50	4.1	86.6	21.1
Eddie George	1428	5506	34	40	3.9	86.0	22.3
Marshall Faulk	1090	5441	43	71	5.0	90.7	18.2
Curtis Martin	1385	5468	32	60	3.9	86.8	22.0
Corey Dillon	1232	5261	29	96	4.3	83.5	19.6
Ricky Williams	1336	5470	39	63	4.1	94.3	23.0
Jamal Lewis	1239	5763	33	82	4.7	96.1	20.7
Priest Holmes	1156	5482	70	56	4.7	101.5	21.4
Clinton Portis	1258	5930	45	65	4.7	98.8	21.0
Shaun Alexander	1344	6186	73	88	4.6	96.7	21.0
Edgerrin James	1341	5472	39	43	4.1	91.2	22.4
LaDainian Tomlinson	1339	6257	76	85	4.7	99.3	21.3
Tiki Barber	1284	6256	29	95	4.9	97.8	20.1
Brian Westbrook	851	3979	20	71	4.7	72.3	15.5

Table 2: rushing attempts, yards, TDs, long rush, yards/attempt, yards/game, and attempts/game

Then, the players’ Receiving stats.

	Receiving
Players	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	R/G	Y/G
Bronko Nagurski	10	122	12.2	0	23	0.2	2.7
Spec Sanders	18	272	15.1	3	13	0.3	6.8
Marion Motley	46	607	13.2	4	78	0.9	11.9
Jim Brown 1	105	991	9.4	5	77	2.1	19.8
Jim Taylor	98	703	7.2	5	35	1.8	13.0
Jim Brown	141	1453	10.3	14	83	2.5	25.9
Cookie Gilchrist	96	1029	10.7	5	76	1.7	18.4
Gale Sayers	94	1197	12.7	9	80	1.9	23.9
Leroy Kelly	94	1212	12.9	8	68	1.7	22.0
OJ Simpson	71	944	13.3	9	64	1.3	16.9
Franco Harris	92	648	7.0	1	39	1.6	11.0
Walter Payton 1	154	1429	9.3	5	75	2.5	23.0
Earl Campbell	75	345	4.6	0	46	1.2	5.6
Tony Dorsett	148	1341	9.1	5	91	2.4	22.0
John Riggins	49	301	6.1	3	23	0.9	5.6
Walter Payton 2	184	1840	10.0	7	74	2.9	28.8
Marcus Allen	245	2356	9.6	12	92	4.0	38.6
Eric Dickerson	118	874	7.4	2	37	1.9	14.1
Roger Craig	315	2666	8.5	8	73	5.1	43.0
Herschel Walker	229	2480	10.8	7	84	3.8	41.3
Bo Jackson	40	352	8.8	2	27	1.1	9.3
Thurman Thomas	229	2458	10.7	16	74	3.6	39.0
Emmitt Smith	228	1465	6.4	3	86	3.7	24.0
Barry Sanders	149	1133	7.6	5	66	2.3	17.7
Terrell Davis	152	1181	7.8	5	35	2.5	19.4
Ricky Watters	213	1691	7.9	1	37	3.3	26.4
Jerome Bettis	74	432	5.8	2	26	1.2	7.0
Eddie George	141	1265	9.0	8	54	2.2	19.8
Marshall Faulk	337	3551	10.5	26	78	5.6	59.2
Curtis Martin	211	1452	6.9	3	34	3.3	23.0
Corey Dillon	126	974	7.7	4	31	2.0	15.5
Ricky Williams	201	1634	8.1	4	59	3.5	28.2
Jamal Lewis	110	1059	9.6	1	77	1.8	17.7
Priest Holmes	225	2163	9.6	6	67	4.2	40.1
Clinton Portis	141	1129	8.0	4	72	2.4	18.8
Shaun Alexander	139	1003	7.2	9	80	2.2	15.7
Edgerrin James	184	1329	7.2	1	56	3.1	22.2
LaDainian Tomlinson	260	2044	7.9	10	74	4.1	32.4
Tiki Barber	233	2034	8.7	5	62	3.6	31.8
Brian Westbrook	301	2789	9.3	19	62	5.5	50.7

Table 3: receptions, receiving yards, yards/reception, TDs, long reception, receptions/game, and yards/game

Below are the per game and per touch rushing stats.

	Rushing			Rsh Nrm-League Avg
Players	Y/A	Y/G	TD/G	Y/A	Y/G	TD/G
Bronko Nagurski	4.3	40.5	0.29	1.29	0.33	0.44
Spec Sanders	5.4	72.5	0.83	1.32	0.5	0.66
Marion Motley	5.8	63.4	0.47	1.34	0.41	0.34
Jim Brown 1	5.2	110.4	0.96	1.24	0.8	0.87
Jim Taylor	5.0	92.0	1.02	1.21	0.72	1
Jim Brown 2	5.4	104.4	0.88	1.33	0.84	0.86
Cookie Gilchrist	4.3	71.6	0.66	1.07	0.62	0.7
Gale Sayers	5.3	76.7	0.62	1.36	0.63	0.65
Leroy Kelly	5.0	80.0	0.93	1.25	0.65	1
OJ Simpson	5.3	115.1	0.7	1.31	0.8	0.69
Franco Harris	3.9	77.3	0.75	0.98	0.54	0.74
Walter Payton 1	4.7	101.9	0.73	1.18	0.74	0.73
Earl Campbell	4.6	104.1	0.89	1.15	0.78	0.88
Tony Dorsett	4.5	86.3	0.46	1.13	0.65	0.45
John Riggins	3.7	69.8	0.91	0.94	0.54	0.91
Walter Payton 2	4.5	93.6	0.53	1.11	0.75	0.56
Marcus Allen	4.2	77.0	0.62	1.03	0.62	0.66
Eric Dickerson	4.8	112.4	0.89	1.18	0.9	0.94
Roger Craig	4.5	67.7	0.45	1.12	0.55	0.49
Herschel Walker	4.2	67.6	0.52	1.06	0.56	0.58
Bo Jackson	5.4	73.2	0.42	1.35	0.62	0.48
Thurman Thomas	4.6	86.3	0.52	1.16	0.77	0.64
Emmitt Smith	4.6	105.8	1.2	1.19	0.98	1.61
Barry Sanders	5.4	109.2	0.63	1.41	1.01	0.8
Terrell Davis	4.8	105.1	0.92	1.22	0.95	1.16
Ricky Watters	3.9	78.6	0.63	0.99	0.71	0.79
Jerome Bettis	4.1	86.6	0.45	1.04	0.79	0.59
Eddie George	3.9	86.0	0.53	0.96	0.77	0.69
Marshall Faulk	5.0	90.7	0.72	1.24	0.82	0.96
Curtis Martin	3.9	86.8	0.51	0.98	0.78	0.68
Corey Dillon	4.3	83.5	0.46	1.05	0.75	0.59
Ricky Williams	4.1	94.3	0.67	0.99	0.82	0.84
Jamal Lewis	4.7	96.1	0.55	1.12	0.83	0.67
Priest Holmes	4.7	101.5	1.3	1.14	0.88	1.62
Clinton Portis	4.7	98.8	0.75	1.14	0.85	0.91
Shaun Alexander	4.6	96.7	1.14	1.12	0.83	1.38
Edgerrin James	4.1	91.2	0.65	0.99	0.79	0.81
LaDainian Tomlinson	4.7	99.3	1.21	1.13	0.86	1.51
Tiki Barber	4.9	97.8	0.45	1.18	0.84	0.57
Brian Westbrook	4.7	72.3	0.36	1.14	0.63	0.45

Table 4: Rushing per touch and per game stats and same stats normalized to league average for that time period

The left three columns show per game and per touch rushing stats, while the right three columns shows those stats divided by the league average for each player over his best 4 year period.

Next, we have the receiving and total per game and per touch statistics.

	Receiving				Total
Players	Y/R	R/G	Y/G	TD/G	Y/G	TD/G	Fmb/T
Bronko Nagurski	12.2	0.2	2.7	0	43.2	0.29	0.000
Spec Sanders	15.1	0.3	6.8	0.08	79.3	0.9	0.002
Marion Motley	13.2	0.9	11.9	0.08	75.29	0.55	0.008
Jim Brown 1	9.4	2.1	19.8	0.1	130.24	1.06	0.019
Jim Taylor	7.2	1.8	13.0	0.09	105.02	1.11	0.016
Jim Brown 2	10.3	2.5	25.9	0.25	130.39	1.13	0.023
Cookie Gilchrist	10.7	1.7	18.4	0.09	89.98	0.75	0.028
Gale Sayers	12.7	1.9	23.9	0.18	100.62	0.8	0.032
Leroy Kelly	12.9	1.7	22.0	0.15	102.07	1.07	0.015
OJ Simpson	13.3	1.3	16.9	0.16	132	0.86	0.021
Franco Harris	7.0	1.6	11.0	0.02	88.24	0.76	0.026
Walter Payton 1	9.3	2.5	23.0	0.08	124.94	0.81	0.019
Earl Campbell	4.6	1.2	5.6	0	109.71	0.89	0.021
Tony Dorsett	9.1	2.4	22.0	0.08	108.26	0.54	0.030
John Riggins	6.1	0.9	5.6	0.06	75.33	0.96	0.012
Walter Payton 2	10.0	2.9	28.8	0.11	122.33	0.64	0.014
Marcus Allen	9.6	4.0	38.6	0.2	115.67	0.82	0.023
Eric Dickerson	7.4	1.9	14.1	0.03	126.48	0.92	0.031
Roger Craig	8.5	5.1	43.0	0.13	110.69	0.58	0.017
Herschel Walker	10.8	3.8	41.3	0.12	108.95	0.63	0.018
Bo Jackson	8.8	1.1	9.3	0.05	82.47	0.47	0.020
Thurman Thomas	10.7	3.6	39.0	0.25	125.29	0.78	0.017
Emmitt Smith	6.4	3.7	24.0	0.05	129.85	1.25	0.010
Barry Sanders	7.6	2.3	17.7	0.08	126.91	0.7	0.007
Terrell Davis	7.8	2.5	19.4	0.08	124.49	1	0.011
Ricky Watters	7.9	3.3	26.4	0.02	105.06	0.64	0.012
Jerome Bettis	5.8	1.2	7.0	0.03	93.61	0.48	0.012
Eddie George	9.0	2.2	19.8	0.13	105.8	0.66	0.013
Marshall Faulk	10.5	5.6	59.2	0.43	149.87	1.15	0.006
Curtis Martin	6.9	3.3	23.0	0.05	109.84	0.56	0.007
Corey Dillon	7.7	2.0	15.5	0.06	98.97	0.52	0.013
Ricky Williams	8.1	3.5	28.2	0.07	122.48	0.74	0.018
Jamal Lewis	9.6	1.8	17.7	0.02	113.7	0.57	0.018
Priest Holmes	9.6	4.2	40.1	0.11	141.57	1.41	0.007
Clinton Portis	8.0	2.4	18.8	0.07	117.65	0.82	0.011
Shaun Alexander	7.2	2.2	15.7	0.14	112.33	1.28	0.011
Edgerrin James	7.2	3.1	22.2	0.02	113.35	0.67	0.010
LaDainian Tomlinson	7.9	4.1	32.4	0.16	131.76	1.37	0.008
Tiki Barber	8.7	3.6	31.8	0.08	129.53	0.53	0.012
Brian Westbrook	9.3	5.5	50.7	0.35	123.05	0.71	0.004

Table 5: Receiving and Total per touch and per game stats

This table shows the per game and per touch stats for receiving and total (rushing and receiving combined). The big change here is in the fumble calculation. Last time, I had fumbles/game, while now I have calculated fumbles per touch. So, I divided the number of fumbles by the sum of rushing attempts and receptions.

Finally, having compiled all of these numbers, I sorted by each of the per game/per touch categories, and then I normalized by dividing every player’s value by the highest value for that category. For fumbles, the best ranking was zero, so I couldn’t divide by that. In order to follow the premise that the best ranking would yield a value of 1, I normalize with the following formula: 1-10*(Fmb/T). This didn’t give an exact percentage, as the other values did, but it did give a range where the more fumbles, the lower the value.

In the tables below, the player with a 1 for a given category had the highest value in that category. For example Marion Motley had the highest yards/attempt, but Barry Sanders had the highest yards/attempt normalized against league average. Priest Holmes had the highest rushing TDs/G, both in quantity and when normalized against league average. Emmitt Smith had 92% of the rushing TDs/G that Priest Holmes had in quantity, but when normalized against the league average, he was 99% of Priest’s value.

	Rushing			Rsh Nrm-League Avg
Players	Y/A	Y/G	TD/G	Y/A	Y/G	TD/G
Bronko Nagurski	0.74	0.35	0.22	0.91	0.33	0.27
Spec Sanders	0.93	0.63	0.63	0.93	0.5	0.41
Marion Motley	1	0.55	0.36	0.95	0.4	0.21
Jim Brown 1	0.89	0.96	0.74	0.88	0.8	0.54
Jim Taylor	0.86	0.8	0.78	0.86	0.72	0.61
Jim Brown 2	0.93	0.91	0.67	0.95	0.83	0.53
Cookie Gilchrist	0.75	0.62	0.51	0.76	0.62	0.43
Gale Sayers	0.92	0.67	0.48	0.96	0.62	0.4
Leroy Kelly	0.85	0.7	0.71	0.89	0.65	0.62
OJ Simpson	0.91	1	0.54	0.93	0.79	0.42
Franco Harris	0.67	0.67	0.57	0.7	0.53	0.45
Walter Payton 1	0.8	0.89	0.56	0.84	0.74	0.45
Earl Campbell	0.79	0.9	0.68	0.82	0.77	0.54
Tony Dorsett	0.78	0.75	0.35	0.8	0.64	0.28
John Riggins	0.64	0.61	0.7	0.67	0.54	0.56
Walter Payton 2	0.77	0.81	0.41	0.79	0.75	0.35
Marcus Allen	0.72	0.67	0.48	0.73	0.61	0.41
Eric Dickerson	0.82	0.98	0.68	0.84	0.9	0.58
Roger Craig	0.77	0.59	0.35	0.79	0.55	0.3
Herschel Walker	0.72	0.59	0.4	0.75	0.56	0.36
Bo Jackson	0.93	0.64	0.32	0.96	0.61	0.3
Thurman Thomas	0.8	0.75	0.4	0.82	0.76	0.4
Emmitt Smith	0.79	0.92	0.92	0.84	0.97	0.99
Barry Sanders	0.94	0.95	0.48	1	1	0.5
Terrell Davis	0.82	0.91	0.71	0.86	0.94	0.72
Ricky Watters	0.67	0.68	0.48	0.7	0.7	0.49
Jerome Bettis	0.71	0.75	0.35	0.74	0.78	0.36
Eddie George	0.66	0.75	0.41	0.68	0.77	0.42
Marshall Faulk	0.86	0.79	0.55	0.88	0.81	0.59
Curtis Martin	0.68	0.75	0.39	0.7	0.77	0.42
Corey Dillon	0.74	0.73	0.35	0.74	0.74	0.37
Ricky Williams	0.71	0.82	0.52	0.7	0.81	0.52
Jamal Lewis	0.8	0.83	0.42	0.79	0.82	0.41
Priest Holmes	0.82	0.88	1	0.81	0.87	1
Clinton Portis	0.81	0.86	0.58	0.81	0.85	0.56
Shaun Alexander	0.79	0.84	0.88	0.79	0.83	0.85
Edgerrin James	0.7	0.79	0.5	0.7	0.78	0.5
LaDainian Tomlinson	0.81	0.86	0.93	0.8	0.85	0.93
Tiki Barber	0.84	0.85	0.35	0.84	0.83	0.35
Brian Westbrook	0.81	0.63	0.28	0.81	0.63	0.28

Table 6: Normalized values for rushing per touch and per game stats & same stats normalized to league avg. for that time period

The table above contains the normalized values for rushing numbers, and the table below constains them for receiving and total numbers. They are normalized by dividing the players quantitative statistic by that of the leader in that category.

	Receiving				Total
Players	Y/R	R/G	Y/G	TD/G	Y/G	TD/G	Fmb/T
Bronko Nagurski	0.81	0.04	0.05	0	0.29	0.2	1
Spec Sanders	1	0.05	0.11	0.17	0.53	0.64	0.98
Marion Motley	0.87	0.16	0.2	0.18	0.5	0.39	0.92
Jim Brown 1	0.63	0.38	0.33	0.23	0.87	0.75	0.81
Jim Taylor	0.48	0.32	0.22	0.21	0.7	0.79	0.84
Jim Brown 2	0.68	0.45	0.44	0.58	0.87	0.8	0.77
Cookie Gilchrist	0.71	0.31	0.31	0.21	0.6	0.53	0.72
Gale Sayers	0.84	0.34	0.4	0.42	0.67	0.57	0.68
Leroy Kelly	0.85	0.31	0.37	0.34	0.68	0.76	0.85
OJ Simpson	0.88	0.23	0.28	0.37	0.88	0.61	0.79
Franco Harris	0.47	0.28	0.19	0.04	0.59	0.54	0.74
Walter Payton 1	0.61	0.44	0.39	0.19	0.83	0.57	0.81
Earl Campbell	0.3	0.22	0.09	0	0.73	0.63	0.79
Tony Dorsett	0.6	0.43	0.37	0.19	0.72	0.38	0.7
John Riggins	0.41	0.16	0.09	0.13	0.5	0.68	0.88
Walter Payton 2	0.66	0.51	0.49	0.25	0.82	0.45	0.86
Marcus Allen	0.64	0.72	0.65	0.45	0.77	0.58	0.77
Eric Dickerson	0.49	0.34	0.24	0.07	0.84	0.65	0.69
Roger Craig	0.56	0.91	0.73	0.3	0.74	0.41	0.83
Herschel Walker	0.72	0.68	0.7	0.27	0.73	0.45	0.82
Bo Jackson	0.58	0.19	0.16	0.12	0.55	0.34	0.8
Thurman Thomas	0.71	0.65	0.66	0.59	0.84	0.55	0.83
Emmitt Smith	0.43	0.67	0.41	0.11	0.87	0.88	0.9
Barry Sanders	0.5	0.42	0.3	0.18	0.85	0.5	0.93
Terrell Davis	0.51	0.44	0.33	0.19	0.83	0.71	0.89
Ricky Watters	0.53	0.59	0.45	0.04	0.7	0.45	0.88
Jerome Bettis	0.39	0.21	0.12	0.07	0.62	0.34	0.88
Eddie George	0.59	0.39	0.33	0.29	0.71	0.47	0.87
Marshall Faulk	0.7	1	1	1	1	0.82	0.94
Curtis Martin	0.46	0.6	0.39	0.11	0.73	0.39	0.93
Corey Dillon	0.51	0.36	0.26	0.15	0.66	0.37	0.87
Ricky Williams	0.54	0.62	0.48	0.16	0.82	0.53	0.82
Jamal Lewis	0.64	0.33	0.3	0.04	0.76	0.4	0.82
Priest Holmes	0.64	0.74	0.68	0.26	0.94	1	0.93
Clinton Portis	0.53	0.42	0.32	0.15	0.79	0.58	0.89
Shaun Alexander	0.48	0.39	0.26	0.32	0.75	0.91	0.89
Edgerrin James	0.48	0.55	0.37	0.04	0.76	0.47	0.9
LaDainian Tomlinson	0.52	0.74	0.55	0.37	0.88	0.97	0.92
Tiki Barber	0.58	0.65	0.54	0.18	0.86	0.38	0.88
Brian Westbrook	0.61	0.98	0.86	0.8	0.82	0.5	0.96

Table 7: Normalized values for receiving and total per touch and per game stats

Let’s take a look at a couple of items of note from these tables before moving on to the final rankings. The first thing that jumps out at me is that Barry Sanders is at the top in yards/attempt and yards/game normalized against the league averages. Emmitt Smith and Terrell Davis are the only ones within 90% of Sanders in yards/game while 7 other players are in yards/attempt. This is notable to me because I added this portion in as way to determine how the players looked against the rest of the league during their time. Sanders dominated a 4 year period in terms of pure running like no other player. His touchdown numbers were way down, but in the period that this analysis covers, he played in a run and shoot offense. Other than Herman Moore, he had smaller receivers (generally less effective blocking downfield), and he did not have a lead blocker during this period. Imagine his production with the Cowboys or 49ers during this period! In terms of scoring TDs, nobody was better over a 4 year period than Priest Holmes. Emmitt was right up there, though. And, of course, as we saw last time, Marshall Faulk just dominates all receiving categories (except Y/R). Spec Sanders and Marion Motley were obviously very dynamic players, with such high rankings in yards/attempt and yards/reception. Finally, I expected Jim Brown to dominate the rankings in normalization against league averages, but he didn’t. Perhaps the run game was so dominant then that no team used a single back as pre-dominantly as the ’80s and ’90s.

With that said, let’s see what the final rankings came out to be. For this analysis, I completed the rankings differently than in the past. Instead of ranking each player 1 through 40 for each category and averaging the ranking, I took the sum of the the normalized values for rushing, rushing numbers normalized against league average, receiving, and total numbers. This way, the largest number represented the highest normalized value based on all categories. The results of this process are in Table 8.

Rk	Players	Normalized Total
1	Marshall Faulk	10.94
2	Priest Holmes	10.56
3	LaDainian Tomlinson	10.12
4	Emmitt Smith	9.7
5	Jim Brown 2	9.4
6	Shaun Alexander	8.98
7	Brian Westbrook	8.96
8	Terrell Davis	8.87
9	Jim Brown 1	8.8
10	Thurman Thomas	8.76
11	OJ Simpson	8.64
12	Leroy Kelly	8.57
13	Barry Sanders	8.53
14	Marcus Allen	8.2
15	Jim Taylor	8.19
16	Clinton Portis	8.14
17	Tiki Barber	8.13
18	Eric Dickerson	8.12
19	Walter Payton 1	8.12
20	Ricky Williams	8.03
21	Gale Sayers	7.96
22	Walter Payton 2	7.91
23	Roger Craig	7.82
24	Herschel Walker	7.73
25	Edgerrin James	7.54
26	Spec Sanders	7.53
27	Jamal Lewis	7.37
28	Ricky Watters	7.37
29	Eddie George	7.34
30	Curtis Martin	7.33
31	Earl Campbell	7.27
32	Cookie Gilchrist	7.06
33	Tony Dorsett	7.01
34	Corey Dillon	6.85
35	Marion Motley	6.71
36	John Riggins	6.57
37	Bo Jackson	6.49
38	Franco Harris	6.44
39	Jerome Bettis	6.33
40	Bronko Nagurski	5.22

Table 8: Players Ranking

The top of this list looks similar to that of the last post, with Faulk at the top. Because of this, and the discussion that perhaps the receiving portion is weighted to high, I ran another ranking. In this case, I weighted the rushing portions double that of the receiving and total values. I did this by multiplying the sum of the receiving/total values by 0.5. That’s why this ranking has smaller numbers.

Rk	Players	Normalized Total
1	Priest Holmes	7.97
2	Marshall Faulk	7.71
3	LaDainian Tomlinson	7.65
4	Emmitt Smith	7.57
5	Jim Brown 2	7.11
6	Shaun Alexander	6.98
7	Terrell Davis	6.92
8	Jim Brown 1	6.8
9	Barry Sanders	6.69
10	OJ Simpson	6.62
11	Leroy Kelly	6.5
12	Eric Dickerson	6.46
13	Jim Taylor	6.41
14	Thurman Thomas	6.35
15	Clinton Portis	6.3
16	Walter Payton 1	6.2
17	Brian Westbrook	6.19
18	Tiki Barber	6.09
19	Ricky Williams	6.05
20	Gale Sayers	6.01
21	Marcus Allen	5.91
22	Walter Payton 2	5.89
23	Earl Campbell	5.89
24	Spec Sanders	5.78
25	Edgerrin James	5.76
26	Jamal Lewis	5.73
27	Roger Craig	5.58
28	Herschel Walker	5.55
29	Ricky Watters	5.55
30	Curtis Martin	5.52
31	Eddie George	5.52
32	Cookie Gilchrist	5.37
33	Tony Dorsett	5.31
34	Corey Dillon	5.26
35	John Riggins	5.15
36	Bo Jackson	5.12
37	Marion Motley	5.1
38	Franco Harris	5.02
39	Jerome Bettis	5.01
40	Bronko Nagurski	4.02

Table 9: Players Ranking with rushing values weighted double the receiving values

In this ranking, the dual threat players, like Brian Westbrook, Roger Craig, and Thurman Thomas drop pretty significantly. Faulk only drops to second behind Priest Holmes, though, and the rest of the top 6 stay in the same position.

Conclusions: Like BTSC member steeler.lifer said, the best rise to the top, however you analyze it. On the other hand, there are players that are on this list (and high on this list) that will not be in the HOF. Some performed at historic levels over a four year period but will be argued against due to lack of longevity. There are others in the HOF that weren’t even considered. The oldest player looked at on this list, Bronko Nagurski, didn’t dominate statistically against league averages the way that Barry Sanders and Priest Holmes did. In fact, he’s the lowest on either overall ranking list. He may be hurt by the passing numbers, though. But, either way, these players were certainly elite in their time, if only for a short time for some of them.

Well, I’m anxious to hear what you guys think about this one. Let me know your thoughts.

Tags: Barry Foster, Barry Sanders, Behind the Steel Curtain, Bo Jackson, Brian Westbrook, Bronko Nagurski, Clinton Portis, Cookie Gilchrist, Corey Dillon, Curtis Martin, Earl Campbell, Eddie George, Edgerrin James, Emmitt Smith, Eric Dickerson, Franco Harris, Gale Sayers, Herschel Walker, Jamal Lewis, Jerome Bettis, Jim Brown, Jim Taylor, John Riggins, LaDainian Tomlinson, Leroy Kelly, Marcus Allen, Marion Motley, Marshall Faulk, OJ Simpson, Priest Holmes, Ricky Watters, Ricky Williams, Roger Craig, Shaun Alexander, Spec Sanders, Terrell Davis, Terry Allen, Thurman Thomas, Tiki Barber, Tony Dorsett, Walter Payton