Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Greatest Multi-Purpose Back?

Sports Illustrated's Peter King is perhaps the most knowledgeable football writer in history. He's an influential member of the group who votes players into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Earlier this week he wrote on Ladainian Tomlinson's retitement, calling him the second greatest multi-purpose back in history...behind Marshall Faulk and ahead of Marcus Allen. Faulk and Allen won Super Bowls, but Lomlinson did not.

As usual, Herschel Walker was not mentioned, even though he retired with the most receiving yards for a running back in NFL history. How does Herschel compare to Faulk, Tomlinson, and Allen? King based his comparison on the most productive seven year span in thier careers.

LT....14025...129
MF...13874...103
HW...13652...1st 7 pro years, including 3 in the USFL
HW...10326...61...his 7 most productive NFL seasons.
MA...10049...78

Faulk averaged most yards per game and more yards per touch. Tomlinson averaged more yards per season. I didn't dig into Herchel's averages to such detail.

It would be nice if Herschel would just be mentioned in some of these comparisons.

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