2023 NFL Draft Thread

[OrangeAfroMan]

I'm not quite as sure it's due SOLELY to the fact that it's a straight passing league. I think it's also due to the fact that being an RB is a brutal life, and anyone who can shoulder 20+ touches a game is going to crash and burn right about the time they hit 27-28 years old. Unless they're a genetic freak like Derrick Henry who is so freakin' big that he injures defenders; they don't hurt him.

RBs in this league are still important, but they have a shelf life. Work them to death, throw them to the wolves and draft someone young. Unlike WRs who can be productive into the early 30s.

I love a post like this, that we're all basically nodding along in agreement with....and then everyone shits on Emmitt Smith.  
4,409 carries.  In the NFL.  The most ever.
That's like all of Jim Brown's PLUS Roger Craig's.
Tiki Barber + Shaun Alexander.
Jamal Lewis + Larry Csonka
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You'll want to bring up Barry Sanders.  1400 fewer carries.  Yeah, his yards per carry was higher, yes he was great, but Barry didn't want 1400 more carries.  That wasn't in him.  It's not in anyone.  
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Marcus Allen + Joe Morris
Thurman Thomas + Le'Veon Bell
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And I'm going to go with the Tebow 30 passing TDs/20 rushng TDs defense.....if anyone could have done it, why hadn't anyone else done it?
Emmitt had as many carries from his age-30 season-on as career carries for Sammy Winder, Travis Henry, Arian Foster or Todd Gurley.
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Yards per carry is very important...but so is carries.  You need your guy in the game.  Otherwise, your backup is in there, not Barry.  Your backup, not Payton.  Not Emmitt.  
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He somehow navigated probably the roughest position in sports (vs maybe catcher or nose tackle), and did it 600 more times than anyone else, ever.  

[ELA]

For someone who is otherwise very statistically driven, you ride very hard for a guy who was very good, but not great, and certainly not elite behind the greatest offensive line ever assembled. Simply because apparently he agreed to keep carrying the ball for a championship team, because he was surrounded by a Hall of Famers, and was never asked to solely carry a team.  

[OrangeAfroMan]

You don't find it odd that a RB who is first in carries, yards, and TDs is rarely considered a top-3 RB?  I guess you could say he's getting the Hank Aaron treatment.
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I'm obviously not objective here, but 3 things:
1 - volume stats/achievements are not sexy, but they matter
2 - if his OL is the reason for his success, why was he an All-American in college?  How did he run for the 2nd-most yards in high school history?  And wouldn't the backup RBs do just as well with that OL blocking for them? 
3 - The Cowboys stunk w/o him
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Emmitt wasn't fast, but he got the yards.  Emmitt wasn't big, but the got the yards.  He made it his goal to retire as the all-time leading rusher before playing a down in the NFL, and he accomplished that goal. 
It's funny, no other great player seems to be penalized for having a good GM.  No one brings it up for Aikman.  Other RBs were more flashy, and had better Madden video game attributes, but it's just a big mystery how such a ho-hum guy could lead in career everything.
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Anyway, this isn't the point of the thread, so sorry for taking it off-course.

[MrNubbz]

You'll want to bring up Barry Sanders.  1400 fewer carries.  Yeah, his yards per carry was higher, yes he was great, but Barry didn't want 1400 more carries.  

As bent as you are you could have run behind that Dallas line. Emmitt was a baller/grinder and the consumate team player. But Barry proved himself and wasn't going to keep getting curb stomped because keyboard kommandos didn't think he had that in him

[MrNubbz]

I was trying to make the joke that Lamar is more RB than QB, which might be why he's not getting what he thinks is his value as a QB.

^^^^^^This the guys I watched the games with discussed this. We basically agreed if Jackson didn't make the Super Bowl after 5-6 yrs his chances would fade fast.The legs will start slogging. He hasn't displayed consistent accuracy deep into the season when defenses scheme to take away the short stuff. Great athlete with impressive highlight reels but you have to be able to move the ball thru the air when the skies turn gray.  At least enough to keep a defense honest

[betarhoalphadelta]

He somehow navigated probably the roughest position in sports (vs maybe catcher or nose tackle), and did it 600 more times than anyone else, ever. 

That's pretty impressive, actually. And you can't even talk OL on a stat like that, because every time you carry the ball, if you don't score (or run out of bounds) you're taking a hit. A good OL might change WHERE you're taking that hit, but you're still taking a hit. 

That's one of those stats that may never be equaled, with the changing NFL going to more RB-by-committee and generally becoming more pass-dominant anyway. 

[847badgerfan]

That's pretty impressive, actually. And you can't even talk OL on a stat like that, because every time you carry the ball, if you don't score (or run out of bounds) you're taking a hit. A good OL might change WHERE you're taking that hit, but you're still taking a hit.

That's one of those stats that may never be equaled, with the changing NFL going to more RB-by-committee and generally becoming more pass-dominant anyway.

It will never be equaled. 

[FearlessF]

as a stats thing Emmitt was a one off
an outlier 

the one data point that isn't great to focus on

[Mdot21]

Emmitt was great. But he wasn't Barry. He just wasn't. Emmitt played 5 more years than Barry and on teams that were significantly better.

If Barry Sanders played for 15 seasons and 13 of them on those Dallas teams dude would have multiple 2,000+ yard rushing seasons and he'd probably have rushed for close to 25,000 yards for his career. 

Barry Sanders was the most freakish RB to ever touch a football. Nobody could do what he could do. Dude popped Rod Woodson's ACL and Rod Woodson never even touched him. Rod Woodson is one of the greatest defensive players who has ever lived. Ask the defensive players who had to face both who was better. They all to a man say Barry and that Barry was in a class by himself.

[betarhoalphadelta]

It will never be equaled.

Two of the most dangerous words in our language are always and never, so I tried to soften that never with the "may" 

I feel like with the trends in the NFL, it won't ever be equaled. But trends may change in unexpected ways in the future, or we might have someone who is just a unicorn that keeps on trucking. 

Derrick Henry would be the only one I can see in the league right now who has a chance. He's 29, and (when healthy) has been rushing on pace for maybe 350 attempts per season on average over the last 4. He'd have to play until 37 at that pace of carries to do it. He's actually been very healthy overall--his injury in 2021 wasn't the type that you see from an RB whose body is "breaking down", it was a freak foot injury from being stepped on. He seems to have the sort of frame that can take some abuse. 

Do I think he'll do it? No. I don't. But I see him as the sort of player who potentially COULD if he wanted to keep playing that long. 

[FearlessF]

end up like Earl Campbell

[OrangeAfroMan]

Henry has been running that way since HS in Yulee, FL.  He will hit a wall, hit it fast, and be out of the league.  
Tomlinson was kinda/sorta on pace.....
Peterson was kinda/sorta on pace.....
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Ask any RB and their biggest challenge isn't the LB, isn't the scheme he's facing, it's staying on the field.  

[OrangeAfroMan]

For someone who is otherwise very statistically driven, you ride very hard for a guy who was very good, but not great, and certainly not elite   

I get what you're saying here, but when it comes to RBs, I'm consistent.  Hershel Walker didn't have the best ypc average, either, but his volume was what made him the greatest (possibly replaced by Jonathan Taylor, tbh).  Only 4-year starters had more carries than HW in his 3 seasons.  Sure, he was a specimen, but his volume set him apart just as much.  And I'll say something I already said:  if it was no big deal to run 1,000 times in 3 years, why hadn't anyone else done it?

[FearlessF]

mostly because of coaching

not because of the player