Top Ten Series: 2012 NFL Running Backs

King Shady: Best of the Backs

Our second stop on the Top Ten Series is at the Running Back position. Running back is one of the hardest positions to gage because running back have are a revolving door in the NFL. For every Adrian Peterson who was a top pick, there are the Arian Fosters of the league that emerge from nowhere. 

This was a really tough list, narrowing it down to only 10 was tough and there were some really good names that were left off. 

Notables Excluded: Darren McFadden, Jamal Charles, Marshawn Lynch, Demarco Murray, Frank Gore

(Injury Status is taken into consideration as this is a best going into this year not based only on career accomplishments) 

But that being said, the list is done, and it begins with….

10. Fred Jackson- Jackson was having a breakout season before being sidelined at the end of last year with a broken fibula. In just 10 games he had 934 rushing and 442 receiving yards. He had already topped his career high for receiving and was on pace to shatter his career high in rushing yards. If he is healthy at the start of the year, which he should be, I have no doubts he will return to his status as a good NFL running back.

9. Michael Turner- Turner the Burner is one of the reasons the Falcons have had the success that they have had in the Post-Vick era. Since being signed, he has been a workhorse for the team playing in all 16 games in all but one year. He has eclipsed the 1,300 yard mark in every year (aside from the injury plagued 2009 season) and has gotten into the endzone 10 times in every year. Most backs decline at the age of 30, but Turner is not the typical back have been LT’s backup in San Diego for 4 years.

8. Steven Jackson- He has been consistently good since he was given the starting job in 2005. He has reached 1,000 yards every year and is a good threat of the out of the backfield catching passes as well. The one downside to Jackson is how bad the rest of the offense is, teams can zero in on him and devote all of their effort to containing him.

7. Matt Forte- Matt is one of the best all-around backs in football and was having a career year before getting injured last year. He had almost reached his previous year total in both rushing and receiving and was showing no signs of slowing down. The Bears finally gave Forte his due by giving him a contract this offseason allowing him to focus on getting ready for the upcoming season.

6. Chris Johnson- He could easily end up higher on this list by the end of the year, and it’s not that Johnson got that much worse, the other guys above him are just that good. The holdout last year really hurt him whether he wants to admit it or not (MJD pay attention). Johnson has ran for 1,000 yards each year since getting drafted first round out of East Carolina and should eclipse that mark once again.

5. Ray Rice- I am a Steelers fan so I have a large dislike of the Ravens, but I love me some Ray Rice. He’s a heck of a football player. He set career highs in rushing yards, receiving yards, rushing touchdowns, and receiving touchdowns. Not a bad season, and he was rewarded with a big contract this offseason. Being only 25, I see Rice staying among the elite at the running back position for a very long time.

4. Adrian Peterson- If he hadn’t torn his ACL he’d be number one, just wanted to mention that. Since he is coming off a late season ACL tear he’d be among the elite from the beginning of the year. But since ACL tears are very serious it will take a few weeks for him to get back to his #1 form. I still envision AP getting to 1,00 yards like always and getting close to 10 touchdowns.

3. Maurice Jones-Drew- After leading the league in rushing last year, MJD is in the midst of a contract dispute with the Jaguars. He is one of the premier all around backs in the league and I will always remember him destroying Shawne Merriman on a block a few years back. The Jaguars need to pay Mighty Mouse because without him they have no hope on offense without him (No offense Gabbert (no pun intended)).  I hope he will get into camp to avoid a Chris Johnson-esqe down year.

2. Arian Foster- From undrafted to one of the elite players in the league, Foster missed 3 games last year and still had an amazing season. He’s one of the best pass catching backs and set a career high in receiving yards last year. A full year of Foster will be great for Houston as I see the Texans being one of the top teams in all of the NFL. To me the only person he is behind is….

1. LeSean McCoy- I’ll admit it right away, I’m biased on this one. I’ve been a huge fan of McCoy ever since his days at Pitt and I’m glad to see him having the success that he has had. But it’s not like my bias is unjustified, he rushed for 1,309 yards and had 17 touchdowns. He also added another 3 touchdowns receiving, giving him 20 on the season which was most among running backs. Although I do see a decline in touchdowns this year, I see McCoy having another great season for the Eagles.

I did not do this with the Quarterback Top Ten list, but at the end I’m going to list some players who were not considered (Including Rookies) who could make the jump to be on the list or be in consideration:

Beanie Wells, Trent Richardson, CJ Spiller, Ryan Matthews, Jahvid Best, Mark Ingram

Top Ten Series: 2012 NFL Quarterbacks

Over the next few weeks leading up to the season I will be going through the league doing Top Ten lists at each position (Excluding O-Line, Punters, Kickers). I’m not including any rookies in these list because I don’t believe a person who has not taken a snap should be considered above average at the position (yet).

First off, we start with arguably the most important position on the team, Quarterback. The QB list was very easy at the top but numbers 6-10 were where I had to make some decisions as to who deserved to be on the list and who didn’t.

Here are some of the names that just missed being on the list: Tony Romo, Josh Freeman, Joe Flacco, Peyton Manning (Due to coming off surgery, if he had played last year he'd be on it) 

And starting the list at number 10:

10. Phillip Rivers- The people who will disagree with Rivers here are those who had him on their fantasy football teams last year. The only thing that kept him from being elite last year was the career high 20 interceptions that he threw. He has had at least 4,000 yards and 25 TD’s in each of the past 4 years and even without Vincent Jackson, Rivers should put up those same numbers.

9. Michael Vick- The only thing that keeps Vick down this low on the list is the fact he’s almost guaranteed to get hurt once a year. Since coming back from being banned from the league, he’s played at most 13 games in a season. If you could turn injuries off like in Madden, there’s no telling what kind of numbers he could put up.

8. Cam Newton- Cam rewrote the record books when it comes to rookie quarterbacks. He started off the season strong, then faded a small amount towards the end by throwing for over 4,000 yards and had 35 total touchdowns. Since he is so young I kept him lower on the list and I am anxious to see how he does in his second year and if he avoids the dreaded sophomore slump.

7. Matt Ryan- There’s nothing really flashy about Ryan, he’s just a very solid QB. The only knock that is against him is that he has yet to win a playoff game in his career. I think he accomplishes it this year with a Falcons’ team that could be scary good.

6. Ben Roethlisberger- Roethlisberger has always been on the verge of becoming a top QB but has been the victim of a very poor offensive line. His two Super Bowls put him in elite company, but by his regular season numbers he’s just below the upper echelon QB’s. I think he could have a career year this year behind a should be improved offensive line.

5. Eli Manning- Eli proved all the critics wrong once again and won himself a second Super Bowl. He had a career year only missing the 5,000 yard mark by 77 yards. Losing Manningham won’t hurt his numbers because Manningham was really just a key in the Super Bowl victory while Nicks and Cruz were the reasons they got there.  Eli is entering his prime and should be one of the elite QB’s over the next few years.

4. Matthew Stafford- I have always liked Stafford and have said for years if he could stay healthy he would put up monster numbers. Well he did, and he should continue to put up elite numbers as long as he has that Calvin Johnson guy to catch it for him. The lions also got another weapon in Ryan Broyles to control the slot on a Lions team that has a legitimate shot to win the division.

3. Drew Brees- I know Brees just set the passing yards mark this past year, but all of the top three could be argued at either spot. I put Brees here because he will be without his Head Coach Sean Payton for the entire season.  He will still put up his typical Brees numbers but not the same as he did in his record setting ’11 season.

2. Tom Brady- Brady is the model of consistency when it comes to quarterback. They have system in New England that works like a charm and they have become the masters of the 5 yard slant/curl. Brady has a couple more seasons of elite left in him and getting Brandon Lloyd sure won’t hurt the cause.

1. Aaron Rodgers- The MVP of the league but up video game numbers last year. He had 4,600 yards with 45 touchdowns and didn’t even play the final game of the season. The most impressive stat, was his 6 interceptions. He is hands down the best QB in the league and his added mobility puts him up over Brady in my book.