Marshall Faulk's Top 5 RB's...No Portis?!

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by an23dy

I think there could be 20 guys you could create some argument for, given some would be a stretch but it's tough to say what makes a good RB and it's definitely tough to judge guys because it's so much based on the o-line. I think AP is able to do so much of what he does in open space because his o-line is very good at run blocking. No doubt he's real good, but put him behind the Lions o-line and he's not putting up the best stats in the NFL.

Adrian Peterson
Michael Turner
DeAngelo Williams
Clinton Portis
Steven Jackson
Brandon Jacobs
Thomas Jones
Chris Johnson
Steve Slaton
Matt Forte
Frank Gore
Willie Parker
Larry Johnson
Ladanian Tomlinson
Brian Westbrook
Marion Barber
Ronnie Brown
Maurice Jones-Drew
Jonathan Stewart
Derrick Ward

18th? You have Jones-Drew ranked 18th? Seriously? I think this post belongs on the epic fail thread. This is a guy that has 34 rushing tds, 38 rush/rec tds, and 40 total tds in 3 seasons as a PART TIMER (he's only started 4 games in his career). Portis over that same span has only 28 total tds despite having 794 carries to Jones-Drew's 530. Jones Drew also averages 4.8 yards per carry. In the last 3 years, only Westbrook, Bush, Jackson, Tomlinson and Gore have more receptions that Jones-Drew and only Bush and Jones Drew were not starters.
Now that Jones-Drew is a starter, he is CERTAINLY worthy of a top 10 at the least, I have him top 5.
FYI, sporting news fantasy football mag has Portis ranked 8th, and Jones-Drew ranked 6th. NFL.com fantasy football magazine has Portis ranked 12th and Jones-Drew ranked 4th.

My top 5:
1- Peterson
2- Turner
3- Jones-Drew
4- Jackson*
5- Forte

Jackson is my only hesitation due to his injuries. He started only 11 games last year (although still managed to get 1042 yards and 8 total tds) and 12 games back in 2007 (although had 1002 yards and 7 total tds)
If healthy, his numbers would be pretty darn good...assuming he played a full season both of the last two years, he would have had these numbers:
2008- 1392 yds, 11tds, 51 receptions, 505 rec yds (1897 total yards)
2007- 1344 yds, 9 tds, 53 receptions, 361 rec yds (1705 total yards)
Keep in mind the numbers would be higher if he didn't get injured and miss time in games in both 08 and 07.