Top 5 Steelers RBs All-Time

With all of the talk about Marshawn Lynch possibly retiring and whether he belongs in the HOF (I don't think he does) where does everyone rank the top 5 Steelers RBs?

1. Franco
2. Bettis
3. Bell
4. John H. Johnson
5. FWP

 

Steven Jackson...oh wait. sorry

Your list is pretty good.

 

I wouldn't put bell there yet.

Harris, bettis, johnson, bleier, foster


Hard to forget Hoge and hoak

 

I get that Bell has has a short career and with these injuries he might not have many more years but he already has more yards from scrimmage than Foster.

Foster was more talented than FWP but I love me some FWP haha.

 

Anybody have Rashard in their top 5?

 

Not me. I'm not sure how anyone could make that case for Top 5.

 

I will agree with you on bell. When all is said and done I hope he is a sure top 5 back. I just give the edge to foster cause he was all that team had. His career was cut so short. I loved the way he ran

 

No, but if it was between the two then mendy

 

At least you didn't fumble into the thread!

 

1.) Franco Harris
2.) Jerome Bettis
3.) Le'Veon Bell (he's young, but he's clearly more talented than anybody else outside of the HOF'ers above)
4.) John Henry Johnson (HOF'er with the highest career average ypc in franchise history)
5.) Willie Parker (talk about overlooked: he's third on the franchise career rushing list, tied (with Le'Veon) for second in average ypc, holds the single-game rushing record, had a signature run to help win a Super Bowl, third-highest single-season rushing total, second-highest single-season TD total)

 

Mendenhall did run behind a horrible OL.

Obviously, I didn't put him in the top 5 but I think there are other right answers to the list.

Bettis played on a team with a strong commitment to the running game, had lead blockers, and while his OL weren't all superstars (aside from Dawson) they were pretty solid.

Harris played on a dominant team. Fuqua and Bleier had similar YPC.

Not saying Mendenhall is of their caliber at all but he didn't have that kind of opportunity either. I feel like Mendenhall was sort of a tweener: not a power back and not much butst to the outside. He really didn't have many highlights just occasional stiff arms and 15-20 yard runs to the sideline.

Emmitt Smith played behind the most dominant OL ever and Shaun Alexander wasn't far behind. Same thing for Riggins. It can be hard to judge individual performance in such a team sport.

 

I don't know that Foster was "all that team had." Don't get me wrong, I LOVED me some Barry Foster! He was probably my favorite player in that time period. Being subjective though, that line he ran behind was insane. Dirt, Love, Haselrig, John Jackson, Searcy, Strzelcyzk, Eric Green, Mark Breuner . . . those guys are the reason Barry Foster led the AFC in rushing. When Barry went down, which was often (he missed at least six games in 3 of his 5 seasons in the league), Leroy Thompson, Fred McAfee, Erric Pegram all stepped in and put up 100yrd games without missing a beat.

I'm sure I could just as easily argue FOR his inclusion in this top-five list, but I think he'd just barely miss out on mine.

 

He tops my list of "Guys Who Had the Talent but Lacked the Heart and Preferred to Write Poetry and Take Modern Dance Classes Than Succeed on the Football Field While Finally Just Giving Up on the Game Altogether but Not Before Fumbling Away a Chance for a Seventh Super Bowl Trophy."

Actually, he's the only guy on my list.

 

New revised list.

 

Oh I agree the line was great. I was meaning that teams would stack the box cause the passing game wasn't much to brag about

 

You forgot "Players that couldn't understand why people were happy that Bin Laden was dead."

That's the one that gets me. Really? People can't hate the man who was the world's most wanted terrorist even prior to 9/11? Really?

 

I think you have to give Barry Foster a shot. He was a pretty decent back at the time.
He also didn't have much for a quarterback or great wide outs either.

Also holds the Steelers single season record for rushing with 1,690 in 1992.

 

Given there are so many to choose from, as a tiebreaker I would use which player correctly identified Manziel as a bust before the draft.

 

No that would be the Top 5 fumbles of all time

 

I did top 10

10. Frank Pollard

9.Byron “Bam” Morris


8. Leveon Bell



7. John Henry Johnson



6. Rocky Bleier



5. Willie Parker



4. Merrill Hoge



3. Barry Foster



2. Franco Harris



1. Jerome Bettis

 

Go ahead, poke the nest.

 

Bell gets into my list on pure talent. I fully expect him to put up great numbers for many years to come. In fact, I think he's probably the most talented RB in the history of the franchise, but due to the way the game is today, he'll never get anywhere near Bettis type numbers