Thomas Jones

i hope they dont decide to let thomas go in the near future

He is a career-journeyman.

Not because of his talent or effort, just being constantly on the wrong end of a situation.

Hearl's right there.. I hope Thomas does go to a team like the Pats, or Indy..

Honestly though, I dont care if the guy has Reggie Bush type talent. You dont draft a running back in the top 5 in the NFL, you end up giving them wayyyy more money then they are worth.

Look at the Chiefs, they got the best running back in their draft a few years ago when they drafted Larry Johnson(mid to late first rounder). Even though he sit the bench his first season, the difference from getting picked 4th, to getting picked 21st is ole say about 4 million a year. Dont think the Chiefs are complaining.

Productive running backs are a dime a dozen in the NFL, and running backs take to much of a beating when they are carrying the full load. Im sure we could come up with more than half of the starting running backs in the NFL who were not first round picks.

Reggie Bush might be the exception though this year, because he brings more to the table then just carrying the football. Last year's draft was supposbly weak, and 3 of the top 5 picks were running backs. Whether or not those guys turn out to be worth their salary is another story. If I was a GM and you gave me the number 1 pick, Id trade down every year and try to rape some team out of a huge amount of picks. Saves money, and who knows you might get two or three more solid players and maybe one less multi million dollar bust.

The thing everyone is missing is, Chicago could just as well get rid of Jones and Benson and still have a guy that can get 1100+ yards. Peterson is one of the most underrated backs in football, not to mention he was the all time leading rusher in college football history at one time and makes close to the league minimum.

You cant say that Caddy and Ronnie Brown werent good picks though. That makes alot more sense than drafting Aaron Rodgers. The rest of the backs this year have been real trashy, Marion Barber doesnt really show potential, Arrington was garbage, Gore had way too many question marks and still doesnt carry the full load. Fason isnt very good. Last year, Benson, Brown, and Caddy were head over heals better than any of the other running backs in the draft. Mike Williams was too slow to be the answer for Chicago and Braylon Edwards was already taken, plus he would have had the stigma of following in David Terrells footsteps. Picking who they picked, really the only pick better for them would have been Caddy. Looking back, Antrel Rolle would have been the best pick, but we all knew how bad Chicago was on offense.

Well lets see

Thomas Jones #7
Jamal Lewis #5
Caddy #5
Walter Payton #4
Gale Sayers #4
Shaun Alexander #19
Emmitt Smith #17(Blair Thomas #2)
Edgerrin James #4
Ricky Williams #5
Ronnie Brown #2
McGahee #23, would be top 5 without the injury
Ladanian Tomlinson #5
Fred Taylor #9
Eddie George #14
Marshall Faulk #2
Jerome Bettis #10
Barry Sanders #3
Keith Byers #10
Eric Dickerson #2
Marcus Allen #10

Wow you just turned down half the hall of fame to draft Willie Parker, Clinton Portis, and Corey Dillion. I think I'll pass and draft the running back high. Not everyone has an offensive line like the chiefs and broncos. Its alot easier to draft a top notch running back and get great production behind a good line, than draft a dime a dozen running back and develop a line that is GREAT to make a player like Larry Johnson or Priest Holmes look great.

Im not saying the Brown, Caddy, or Benson arent good, or they dont have the potenial to be great, because they all do. Im just sayin the top of last years draft wasnt all that great overall, any other year 2 of those running backs would have dropped down and out of the top 15. So in reality, it could have been Benson, Brown, or Caddy that could have been a steal for some team in the mid to late first round or even early second. We have seen good running backs fall that low every other year before that. Much like the season when Larry Johnson was the first running back taken, by the Chiefs in the mid to late first round. Not in all honestly I cant remember which draft, or how strong of a draft that was. Im just saying that if you want "true" value out of what your gonna be paying a guy then you dont wanna draft a running back in the top 5. Definely not Top 3 unless they are just a freak.

You must have read that wrong, I was talking about runing backs that were starters presently in the NFL. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]


By that logic we might as well bring up every first round bust at running back as well as the HOF'ers to get a good comparison.

I didnt say there wernt first round busts, but that has more to do with poor evaluation than just taking a running back. To be honest, when I went through the list, there were very very few busts out of the top 15 picks or so. Most of those busts were career injury type guys like Kijana Carter and Curtis Enis. Taking a running back high is almost a guarantee at getting a guy thats going to turn out to be at the least "solid" like Thomas Jones but more times than not, these guys turn out to be stars.

It just appears there is a better chance of getting a great running back high in the draft than there is in rounds 2nd-7th. Its one of the easist positions to evaluate, wheras the ratio to busts among quarterbacks and recievers is alot higher.

We all know that when a running back is taken lower, it usually happens to turn out that team needs dictate that a running back be chosen lower. How many teams go into a draft and need so much more than just a running back. Almost every team has a running back. In that respect, you are right, they are a dime a dozen. But without a monster line, those dime a dozen running backs are never going to have the production of most of the guys listed above, all of whom were taken high in the draft.