All time Steelers favorite RB’s

Who are your favorite Steelers RB’s not best but favorite?

1. Jerome Bettis
2. Barry Foster
3. Franco Harris
4. Leveon Bell
5. Willie Parker
6. Jaylen Warren
7. Najee Harris
8. Bam Morris
9. Merril Hoge
10. Rocky Blier

 

Laverne Smith is a name not many will remember. I believe he had the fastest 40 of any Steeler up to that point(1970s?). He got a broken leg and was never the same.

 

No Rashard?

 

Sure loved me some Fu.

 

Not the best, but Rocky Bleier is definitely at the top of my list! I remember watching "Fighting Back" as a kid, and also checking out the book from our school library. Getting to meet him at training camp last year was something special, what a great human being!

 

Franco Harris has to be No. 1 on any list like this. He was a Hall of Famer for a damn good reason, a great guy, and a huge part of four Super Bowl championship teams.

Jerome Bettis is an easy No. 2. He was so much fun to watch. The joy he played with was infectious.

It gets tough after that when you say favorite rather than best. Do you push Le'Veon Bell down because he turned out to be a jackass? Do you push Foster down because his time was so short? What about Mendenhall? He was very productive for a while, better than some of the guys in the OP, but he is very hard to like.

Off the top of my head, I'd put my top 10 in this order.

1. Franco Harris
2. Jerome Bettis
3. Le'Veon Bell - Just so good in his prime
4. Willie Parker - People forget what a great story he was.
4. Jaylen Warren - This is some recency bias, but I love how he plays and how he carries himself.
5. Barry Foster - I loved watching him run
6. Najee Harris - Another guy who is just fun to watch when he is plowing through defenders
7. Merril Hoge - vastly underrated
8. Rocky Bleier
9. Rashard Mendenhall
10. Frank Pollard (Those mid-80ds teams were when I truly came to love football.)

 

After Harris and Bettis,this is Willie Parker for me....He was also very underrated!

 

My favorite backs were way back when I started watching the Steelers, John Henry Johnson and Dick Hoak.

 

i need more evidence on Harris and Warren. I really liked Frank Pollard, 1980 - 1988. Walter Albercrombie, too, in the mid 80's....

 

He was one bad ma'afala

 

good ones, I was in diapers, but I read and understand they were classics!

 

Pollard and Abercrombie had a dynamic somewhat like Hoge and Worley. The late-round selection was the better player, though Abercrombie stepped up when knee problems slowed Pollard down.

 

I would think most people would pick Franco. I was too young to really appreciate him. I went with Bettis because I just loved the way he ran and the tone he set for the whole team. I know going with Barry Foster as my number two is probably out of left field but he was great in hist short career with us. I don’t know what happened to him for his career to be so short. I wanted to like Mendenhall I just didn’t like his constant spinning. I forgot about Pollard. He was a bulldozer.

 

I LOVED Barry Banana's Foster too! He cut off his career WAY too short, but man, was he a BLAST to watch!!

Mendy was very talented, but as you say, Spin-o-rama, as my friend called him!!

 

Your not kidding about Foster. He has just enough power, just enough wiggle and just enough speed. He reminded me a little bit like Emitt Smith before his time but only a little slower.

 

1. Franco Harris
2. Jerome Bettis
3. Willie Parker
4. LeVeon Bell
5. Barry Foster
6. Rocky Bleier
7. Rashard Mendenhall
8. Merril Hoge
9. Najee Harris
10. Frank Pollard

 

I was super excited when the Steelers got him. I instantly got His jersey as soon as possible. LoL

 

My very first Steeler favorite: John Henry Johnson. Real young kid but my very first Steeler game he kicked butt. He was our best player in the early 60's.

 

@jeh1856 @mac daddyo

Have any of you guys seen the guy that wears his autographed Barry Foster jersey to the home games? If you have ever seen him, you would know it. The guy looks legitimately like Barry Foster. I've said hi to him a couple of times over the years but never sparked up a conversation. He has to be a relation.

 

Not the best steeler RB maybe, but my favorite RB in that he had the perfect balance of speed and power:

fast willie

 

No I haven't. You should ask Him.

 

Haven't been to a game since I moved south. Last game I went to was 2017. Crazy how time flies. Used to see the guy every game I went to. Who knows if he still goes these days. Hard to believe its been almost 7 years since I've been to a game. I used to go to at least 2 a year.