The best NFL running back of all time at every jersey number

The modern NFL is a passing league but any good team needs a powerful rusher to salt away the clock and churn out first downs. This rundown through numbers designated for running backs includes the all-time greats of every style: the RBs who burned defenders, others who simply ran them over and everything in between.

Few current NFL rushers will get as many attempts as these players because quarterbacks attempt so many passes now and workloads get divvied in committees. But hey, it’s a copycat league and Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys are making rushing sexy again, so perhaps the running back has a return to prominence soon. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the greatest the position has ever seen.

Getty Images

Sanders was part running back, part magician. Despite retiring after his age-30 season, Sanders still amassed 15,269 rushing yards with 99 rushing touchdowns and an incredible 5 yards per carry behind some unspectacular Lions offensive lines. Four times Sanders led the league in rushing yards with his most impressive campaign coming in 1997, when he broke 2K with 2,053 yards — an average 128.3 per game.

This content is subject to copyright.AFP/Getty Images

Tomlinson, a master of the stiff-arm, was an absolute nightmare for opposing defenses with his rushing and receiving and jumping ability. Despite carrying a very heavy load for the Chargers with 338 carries per season from 2001-2007, he only missed one game over that span. Tomlinson holds all sorts of NFL rushing and scoring records, including most points scored in a season with 186 in 2006 when he rushed for 28 touchdowns and received three more.

Getty Images

The folks who told a young Emmitt Smith that he was too small for football were fantastically incorrect. Smith helped power the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories and led the league in rushing four out of five seasons from 1991-1995. He retired as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher with 18,355 yards.

No capsule about Smith is complete without mentioning his gutsy effort in December 1993 against the Giants, when he fought through a separated shoulder in a 229-yard performance (rushing and receiving) that helped the Cowboys clinch a first-round playoffs bye.

Focus on SportGetty Images

Before an abbreviated stint in Miami in 2016, Foster was a tour-de-force in Houston, a four-time Pro Bowler from 2010-2014 when he accumulated a total of exactly 8,000 yards from scrimmage and 62 total touchdowns.

Getty ImagesGetty Images

Often misunderstood, always a pain to tackle, Beast Mode was a gift from the football gods. Lynch’s numbers don’t pop off the page but he was one of the best rushers in the league from 2011-2014 as the focal point of the Seahawks offense who grinded out difficult yards with some tectonic plate-shaking highlights like the famous “Beast Quake” run in January 2011.

Getty ImagesGetty Images

Cast aside in the great Chip Kelly purge in Philadelphia, McCoy remains one of the most dynamic running backs in the league and the Bills are happy to have him. Now in his eighth season in the league, Shady has tallied over 8,300 rushing yards and has averaged 4.7 yards per tote. Fellow 25-ers Charlie Garner and Dorsey Levens got some consideration but McCoy is a notch above and still grinding.

Getty ImagesGetty Images

Portis ran for over 3,000 yards in Denver before the famous Broncos-Redskins trade that sent elite cover corner Champ Bailey to Mile High. But the deal proved to be one of the rare win-wins as Portis served as a bellcow rusher for Washington for most of the next five seasons. The master of disguises finished just shy of 10,000 career rushing yards with 9,923.

Getty ImagesGetty Images

Perhaps if he played today, George could have stayed fresher or extended his career. The former Heisman Trophy winner and 1996 Offensive Rookie of the Year carried the ball an average 342 times over his first eight years in the league in Tennessee, including a 403-carry campaign in 2000. George never missed a game during that span, but his productivity nosedived, probably from the heavy usage.

Getty Images

And here we have the motherlode of great NFL running backs. No disrespect to Hall of Famer Curtis Martin but Faulk, also enshrined, was just a phenomenal do-everything running back who rushed, received and even pass-blocked well.

Faulk amassed a ridiculous 8,992 yards from scrimmage from his final Colts season into the Greatest Show on Turf era in St. Louis from 1998-2001. He finished with nearly 20,000 total yards (19,154) and 136 rushing and receiving scores. In addition to Faulk and Martin, Great 28s include Warrick Dunn, Adrian Peterson, Fred Taylor and Clock Killin’ Corey Dillon, among others.

Focus on SportGetty Images

And here we have another Rams-Colts rusher, the sprinter-like Dickerson — who now has Ezekiel Elliott hunting down his rookie rushing record of 1,808 yards (though Zeke is off the pace). The 6-foot-3, 220 pound Dickerson led the league in rushing four times in his first six seasons and five times averaged more than 100 yards per game. Impressively, Dickerson also made Rec Specs cool.

Robert RigerGetty Images

Owing to knee injuries after the 1998 season, T.D. never regained his form but man, Davis had a marvelous run from 1995-1998 that culminated with a 392-carry, 2,008 yard campaign and a second consecutive Super Bowl title with the Denver Broncos. He took a lot of pride in his pass blocking, too, and usually did a fine job of keeping John Elway’s jersey clean.

Focus on SportGetty Images

The Hall of Famer was technically a fullback during the Vince Lombardi era in Green Bay but he more than carried his share along with backfield-mate Paul Hornung. The bruising Taylor cracked 1,000 rushing yards in five straight seasons, finishing with 8,597 total and 83 scores. We took a good look at Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes for this spot but Taylor was simply a beast during the NFL’s formative years and deserves the nod.

Focus on SportGetty Images

There’s a deep bench of talented and accomplished rushers at 32 that includes Marcus Allen, Franco Harris, Edgerrin James, Ricky Watters, Maurice Jones-Drew and of course, O.J. Simpson. But there’s no debate — the powerful, supremely athletic Brown operated on another plane and led the league in rushing in every single season he played (1957-1968) except one, when Jim Taylor did it (1962).

Tony TomsicGetty Images

Dorsett is probably the lightest RB on this roster at about 190 pounds. He possessed great vision, elusiveness and speed, exemplified pretty nicely by his famous 99-yard touchdown run in January 1983. The Hall of Famer ranks 8th on the all-time rushing yards list with 12,739 yards (with Frank Gore on his heels).

Focus on SportGetty Images

The number 34 stands up to the collection of talent at 28 and 32 with Thurman Thomas, Earl Campbell, Herschel Walker, Ricky Williams and more, in addition to Payton. Those were some fine players, but this number obviously goes to Sweetness.

The hard-charging Payton was a little bit of everything awesome — powerful, elusive, agile, speedy, explosive, and like many of the greats he prided himself on his blocking ability. When Payton hung ‘em up in 1987 after 13 seasons, he had amassed 16,726 rushing yards, the most in NFL history until Emmitt Smith came along.

Getty ImagesNFL

Hey, another Cowboy! The 6-foot-4, 227 pound Hill was a key cog of early 1970s Dallas teams that reached the Super Bowl in 1971 and 1972 and beat the Dolphins in the second of those trips. Hill earned four Pro Bowl nods in his first six seasons and became the first Cowboys rusher to notch 1,000 yards in a season in 1972. Hill is also the father of a great collegiate and professional basketball player you may have heard of by the first name Grant.

Focus on SportGetty Images

When the Rams drafted Nebraska product Lawrence Phillips at 6th overall in the 1996 NFL Draft, they felt that Bettis was expendable and so the team dealt “The Bus” to Pittsburgh where he became a legend. The between-the-tackles bulldozer and short-yardage specialist enjoyed six 1,000-plus yard campaigns in the Steel City and amassed 10,571 total yards for a total 13,662 in his career. The Bus made a final stop at Canton in 2015.

Getty ImagesGetty Images

Injuries abbreviated what may have developed into a Hall of Fame career (such is the life of an NFL running back) but the powerful Alexander nevertheless cracked 10,000 yards from scrimmage over his career. And thanks to some bellcow seasons in Seattle behind a solid offensive line, he found the paint 100 times, becoming only the eighth player to record 100 rushing touchdowns.

Getty Images

The former Heisman Trophy winner out of South Carolina got up to speed quickly in the NFL. He was the league’s rushing leader in his rookie season with 1,674 yards and 13 touchdowns in 1981, earning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Rogers finished his career in Washington under Joe Gibbs, leading the team in rushing in his three seasons there, and went out on top when the team won Super Bowl XXII over the Broncos.

Focus on SportGetty Images

Hall of Famer Larry Csonka was another fullback who split his energy between blocking and rushing. Csonka enjoyed a lot of success under Don Shula during his Dolphins days from 1968-1974 (he spent three seasons with the Giants) sharing the load with Mercury Morris and others as the Dolphins, as you may have heard, ran the table in 1972 for a perfect season. In his prime from 1970-1973, Csonka tallied 4,045 yards and averaged just shy of 5.0 yards per carry. Steven Jackson also got consideration for 39 but Csonka was a machine that made some spectacular Dolphins teams move.

Focus on SportGetty Images

“The Kansas Comet” tormented opposing defenses on offense and on kick returns for five seasons until knee injuries forced an early retirement. But Sayers more than made a mark, scoring 22 all-purpose touchdowns as a rookie in 1965, followed by some prolific, and twice league-leading, rushing seasons. The Hall of Famer described his approach very nicely: “I had a style all my own” he said. “The way I ran, lurchy, herky-jerky, I kept people off-guard so if I didn’t have that much power when I hit a man, hell, he was off-balance and I could knock him down.”

Focus on SportGetty Images

We’re entering the less-commonly worn numbers for running backs and thus some names that may be unfamiliar for our less hardcore readers. Anyhow, Byars was a fullback-tight end dual threat hybrid who amassed 8,770 yards from scrimmage across 14 seasons, mainly with the Eagles. Byars even flashed some passing ability on occasion, completing six of 13 pass attempts — with all six of those completions going for touchdowns.

Focus on SportGetty Images

A three-time Pro Bowler, Riggs was the Atlanta Falcons’ feature back during his prime and averaged 1,511 yards per season from 1984-1986, good for nearly 100 yards per game (96.4), striking paydirt 32 times over that span. Over his 10-year career, Riggs collected 8,188 rushing yards.

Focus on SportGetty Images

The speedy and never-adequately-appreciated Sproles is now 33 and showing little sign of slowing down. The 5-foot-6, 182 pound speedster has excelled in the running, passing and returning game, averaging 5.0 yards per carry and 8.8 yards per reception for a total of 7,549 yards from scrimmage and counting. He’s also added a ton of value with his punt and kick return abilities, leading the league in punt-return yardage in each of his first two seasons in Philly. He also has nine career return touchdowns.

Getty Images

Riggins was another grinding fullback who spent four seasons with the Jets before finding his home in Washington (1976-1985) where he enjoyed four 1,000-plus yard rushing seasons and led the league in touchdowns in 1983 and 1984. Riggo retired with 13,442 yards from scrimmage and 116 rushing and receiving touchdowns and made it to Canton in 1992.

Ronald C. Modra/Sports ImageryGetty Images

Griffin enjoyed a much more distinguished college career than he did as a pro — he was the NCAA’s only two-time Heisman Trophy winner. Nevertheless he’s here on this rundown because there simply hasn’t been many great running backs to sport the number. Griffin tallied 4,415 yards from scrimmage (2,808 rushing) in seven seasons (1976-1982) in Cincinnati, where he shared the rock with his Ohio State teammate and the next guy on this list.

Focus on SportGetty Images

Johnson, a fullback, was more productive than Griffin, amassing 5,626 rushing yards and finding the end zone 82 times (rushing and receiving) in nine seasons. He led the Bengals in rushing all seven seasons (1977-1983) he spent in Cincy before moving on to the Dolphins and Chargers.

Tony TomsicGetty Images

It’s a very close call between Sherman Smith and Wheatley (who switched from 28 to 47 when he left the New York Giants for the Oakland Raiders but tie goes to the player with 400 more rush attempts, more touchdowns and fewer fumbles. Wheatley played second fiddle to Rodney Hampton before joining the Raiders, where he collected 3,682 rushing yards in six seasons and led the team in rushing three times, helping the squad to three playoffs appearances and one trip to the Super Bowl.

The three-time Pro Bowler was an awesome combination of power and speed who enjoyed some rich seasons in Washington but is perhaps better recognized in a Panthers jersey. It was with Carolina that he and Deshaun Foster formed a dominant one-two punch that nearly took down the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Davis totaled nearly 10,000 yards from scrimmage (9,546) and 69 total touchdowns) in 11 NFL seasons.

Getty Images

What a fine player to serve as a bookend. Mitchell was a halfback-flanker combination (a flanker in his Redskins years) who shared the backfield with Jim Brown in Cleveland from 1958-1961. Mitchell made defenses pay with great speed and shiftiness and also flourished as a returner, adding eight return touchdowns to his resume to go along with 10,689 yards from scrimmage. Mitchell led the league in receiving yards in two seasons (1962 and 1963) and averaged 5.3 yards per carry as a rusher on 513 career attempts.

Getty Images