How high would you rank Marshawn Lynch in your all time Running Back list ?

God this is a tough question.

Lynch is 35th all time, 55th all time single season, and isn't even on the list for single game career high.

Having said that, Lynch is a different style of running back and really is unique from almost all the other backs on that list.

Like 2-0-Sixxx said, I can't think of any other guy I would want back there in a big situation when I needed a few yards because I feel like Lynch is going to get those yards come hell or high water.

But that is not a metric that can be tracked so easily and on the metrics that are tracked, he isn't top 10.

For me if I was creating an all star team team, Lynch would definitely be on my list of top 10 RBs despite the stats...

A perfect reason why, Shaun Alexander leads Lynch in single season, single game, and all time rushing yards.

Gore has better numbers, for the most part, than Lynch. However, Lynch has played 2 less seasons. Gore has a better YPC average than that of Lynch, but Lynch has more TD's.

Im not denying Lynch's ability, and he has some good numbers, but he is going to need to hit some plateau's to get into the HoF, which to me, is a good indicator of "all time great". He is unique and he is a heck of a player to watch. But all time great, at THIS moment in his career? No. Can he be? Yes.

Right exactly, that's what I mean when I say "pound 4 pound". Stats don't tell the whole story, we all know that. And this isn't baseball. I mean Emmitt Smith is the all time leading rusher, but we know he was not as good as Payton, Brown & Sanders. He just wasn't. There have been plenty of "productive" RB's over the years who resulted in really impressive career yards and TD's. But that again isn't telling the whole story. Would anyone ever pick Shaun Alexander or Curtis Martin over Lynch if you were building a team today? No way.

you're looking at it like it's baseball and numbers are the tell all. How many big plays has Lynch had that completely changes the game? How many times does he come through when we need something the most?

Really all you have to ask yourself, prime for prime, how many guys would you pick over Lynch? that should tell you where his greatness is at. Am I going to pick Curtis Martin who is #4 on the all time rushing list over Lynch? Fuck no. And so on. there's only a handful of guys I'd rather have than lynch and to me that's what greatness is.

Im taking everything into account, not just numbers. But numbers are apart of the equation.


That could be said for a LOT of players, breh. Doesn't make them all time greats. There are games where Lynch doesn't even show up at all.

All time? Or just active? All time, there are at LEAST 10 backs i would pick before him. Right NOW? I would take McCoy, Murray, and AP IN PLACE of him, not necessarily OVER him.

I feel like you are looking at Lynch through blue/green colored glasses, and there is nothing wrong with that. Im trying to be objective about it the whole thing. If it were up to me, every player on the Hawks would be HoF'ers, regardless of what they did prior or in the future.

Would you take them OVER Lynch is what I'm asking. And yes all time as well. What is an all time great? Like I said I would define it as top 50 in the history of the NFL. Of course there are the greats I would pick over Lynch like Payton, Brown, Sanders and several others, but it's only a handful. And that speaks volumes being how rich in RB's the NFL has been from the start.

And I have a feeling you're looking at it as a glass half empty kind of a guy like you typically do. You keep saying Marshawn hasn't shown up for games before. There is no NFL RB in history who hadn't been shut down in a game. As I mentioned, the GOAT Walter Payton had been shut down numerous times, it happens when defenses gameplan specifically to stop the run.

If I am starting a team tomorrow (just looking at as a 1 year thing not building a team considering future development, salary cap, injury risk etc) my RB draft list would be:

1) AP
2) Marshawn
3) LeSean McCoy
4) Jamaal Charles
5) DeMarco Murray

I would take Charles over LeSean and Lynch all day.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree then.

Marshawn Lynch >

Barry Sanders is the only athlete in the world who gets a boost from never winning a championship. "He's way better than Emmit cuz his team sucked" lol. Meanwhile Emmit is the all time leading rusher and won hella Superbowls. Dan Marino prolly wishes that arguing applies to him.

Beast Mode >

Well it's true. He was on a crappy team the vast majority of his career. Doesn't mean he wasn't one of the greatest RBs of all time. Obviously being a QB and a RB are completely different when it comes to winning championships.

And remember when Sanders retired early. 9 years compared to Smith's 14:

If Sanders kept playing, he owns that record.

Another example is Stephen Jackson. It's almost criminal he spent all those years on a shitty Rams team. Absolute BEAST in his prime.

This is a really tough question to be honest. I'm a believer that you have to look at the players career as a whole, the era they played in, how they played in the clutch, etc...

I have to admit, the last couple years, I've honestly thought to myself that Lynch might be the best in his era. It goes well beyond statistics with him. People compare Kobe to Jordan all the time, and while the stats are in Jordan's favor, they don't compare at all if you really watched basketball. You'd be a damn fool to pick Kobe on a team over Jordan if you could do it all over.

Lynch is incredible. That last drive last week kinda said it all. You desperately need a touchdown, and the clock is running out. Very few teams are going to hand the ball off on that drive. If I remember right, they gave the ball to Lynch twice, both for huge plays. One was a big time first down, the next was a 27 yard touchdown and grabbed his nuts in the end zone. That was it. He doesn't seem very motivated, and seems super weird off the field, but he's flat out incredible at running the ball. Not to mention, he damn near scored on that catch the drive before in another incredible play. If I have to hand the ball off to anyone in this era of running backs, I'd want it to be him. He's way better than Murray IMO, and way more durable. Murray is good, I've seen him play since he was at OU, but he was a steal in the draft after all was said and done because he wasn't a highly touted recruit. They have what might be the best line in the league and a formidable passing attack, of course he's going to shine there.

As far as all time? That depends how you're rating him. I know this doesn't make a ton of sense, but Barry Sanders is the all time greatest RB IMO. But I think Payton is the all time greatest player. Payton could do things that Barry Couldn't, and if I was building a team, I'd want him over Barry. But as far as running the ball, no one was better than Barry. But if you need a couple yards in a crucial part of the game, I'd rather hand it to Payton. If you need a critical block on a passing play, I'd rather have Payton. If you need a dude to catch a pass out of the backfield, I'd rather throw it to Payton even though Barry was better in the open field after the catch. Barry was almost never given the ball <5 yards in. I think he would've done better than they allowed him to be, but multiple coaches followed that plan of attack, not sure why? Maybe it's his tendency to lose yards at times? But either way, he's the best RB to me and would've killed the record if he kept playing. I think his dad was always in his ear telling him that Jim Brown was better. He played 10 years and quit and always talked about that. I wonder if that had something to do with it? Barry played 9 and was really only 1 season away from passing Payton on the all time list.

Sanders also had some pretty good teams in there, and had the luxury of playing indoors. People always talk about how bad his teams were, they weren't that bad. He's my favorite player all time and I followed his career closely. They were especially good when Herman Moore was at his peak and Johnny Morton was there. Scott Mitchell either lit it up or threw 5 picks a game. Barry was beastin around that time too, probably as a result of the passing attack as well.

All time, I'd say Sanders, Payton, Brown and from there it gets tough. Gotta add Faulk, Tomlinson, Dickerson, Simpson, Smith in there, then maybe Bettis, then Peterson and Lynch. So maybe Lynch is like 8-10 all time as it stands? People act like Peterson isn't a beast right now still even though he missed last year. He ran for more yards in one season than Barry on a terrible team.

Speaking of great players being on sorry teams, I think Gore might've cracked that top 8-10 discussion if the 49ers didn't suck most of his career. It's an accomplishment to have a 10+ year career as a RB these days, and he's been excellent most of the time despite his injuries. The 49ers success was largely built on running the ball and did it well. I thought all year that they were struggling because of the absence of running the ball and trying to use Hyde too much.

Lynch probably isnt up there with the greats but he is going to be remembered as the guy who just ran through people...he always gets yards after contact and he always falls forward and in terms of watching a RB you might see them break a tackle or get a few extra yards but nothing like what Marshawn Lynch does. At the end of the day he's a HOFer and a guy just about any NFL team would want on their roster.

I think when its all said and done he's going to have 2-3 seasons where he was the top back in the league and I think the respect he's going to get from fellow running backs and NFL players for what he can do is going to always make him someone to remember. You really can't say "Payton" "Sanders" because he played for Buffalo for like 4 years and they were terrible and no one paid attention to them.

his all or nothing style isn't condusive to winning.

smdh

Marshawn is one of my favorite players but as of right now, I don't think he'd be inducted into the HOF. He had two subpar years in 2009-2010, and I think that if he were to submit at least two more solid seasons (which would most likely put him past the 10,000 yard milestone for his career) and collecting another ring with the Seahawks winning SB XLIX, his chances at being inducted to Canton would be a lot higher.

In the league right now, he's the best back.


All time?

He's probably hovering around the #15 spot, I guess. Probably around 15, 16 or so now, could get higher since he's not done playing yet. When its all said and done probably around #10ish, give or take any more big seasons or superbowls or what not...

I can't see putting him much higher, at least yet, on a list with names like Campbelll, Tomlinson, Dickerson, Faulk, Emmit, Sanders, Sayers, Brown, Payton, OJ, Dorsett, Bettis, Allen, James, Thomas, etc...