I'll post this and then ponder it.

Here are the top 25 in rushing yards per game among active players.

1. LaDainian Tomlinson (29) 92.6 2001-2008 sdg
2. Clinton Portis (27) 92.0 2002-2008 2TM
3. Edgerrin James (30) 86.0 1999-2008 2TM
4. Larry Johnson (29) 82.9 2003-2008 kan
5. Jamal Lewis (29) 82.8 2000-2008 2TM
6. Fred Taylor (32) 80.5 1998-2008 jax
7. Ricky Williams (31) 78.5 1999-2008 2TM
8. Shaun Alexander (31) 76.9 2000-2008 2TM
9. Willie Parker (28) 76.8 2004-2008 pit
10. Steven Jackson (25) 76.7 2004-2008 ram
11. Frank Gore (25) 75.3 2005-2008 sfo
12. Willis McGahee (27) 70.9 2004-2008 2TM
13. Ronnie Brown (27) 67.3 2005-2008 mia
14. Ahman Green (31) 64.6 1998-2008 3TM
15. Rudi Johnson (29) 63.6 2001-2008 2TM
Cadillac Williams (26) 63.6 2005-2008 tam
17. Deuce McAllister (30) 62.8 2001-2008 nor
18. Julius Jones (27) 62.4 2004-2008 2TM
19. Joseph Addai (25) 61.3 2006-2008 clt
20. DeAngelo Williams (25) 60.7 2006-2008 car
21. Warrick Dunn (33) 60.6 1997-2008 2TM
22. Thomas Jones (30) 59.2 2000-2008 4TM
23. Brian Westbrook (29) 57.8 2002-2008 phi
24. Maurice Jones-Drew (23) 53.9 2006-2008 jax
25. Tatum Bell (27) 52.3 2004-2008 2TM

And here are the top guys in Rushing TDs per game.

TDs/Game
1Adrian Peterson (23) 22 *2007-2008* min 1.375
2LaDainian Tomlinson (29) 126 *2001-2008* sdg 1.125
3Maurice Jones-Drew (23) 34 *2006-2008* jax 1.0625
4Marshawn Lynch (22) 15 *2007-2008* buf 0.9375
5Shaun Alexander (31) 100 *2000-2008* 2TM 0.78125
6Clinton Portis (27) 72 *2002-2008* 2TM 0.75
7Marion Barber (25) 36 *2005-2008* dal 0.75
8Joseph Addai (25) 24 *2006-2008* clt 0.75
9Brandon Jacobs (26) 35 *2005-2008* nyg 0.729166667
10DeAngelo Williams (25) 23 *2006-2008* car 0.71875
11Larry Johnson (29) 55 *2003-2008* kan 0.6875
12LenDale White (24) 22 *2006-2008* oti 0.6875
13Willis McGahee (27) 38 *2004-2008* 2TM 0.59375
14Steven Jackson (25) 37 *2004-2008* ram 0.578125
15Edgerrin James (30) 80 *1999-2008* 2TM 0.555555556
16Ronnie Brown (27) 23 *2005-2008* mia 0.479166667
17T.J. Duckett (27) 44 *2002-2008* 4TM 0.458333333
18Frank Gore (25) 22 *2005-2008* sfo 0.458333333
19Jamal Lewis (29) 58 *2000-2008* 2TM 0.453125
20Rudi Johnson (29) 49 *2001-2008* 2TM 0.4375
21Deuce McAllister (30) 49 *2001-2008* nor 0.4375
22Leon Washington (26) 13 *2006-2008* nyj 0.40625
23Fred Taylor (32) 62 *1998-2008* jax 0.3875
24Thomas Jones (30) 48 *2000-2008* 4TM 0.375
25Brian Westbrook (29) 36 *2002-2008* phi 0.375
26Willie Parker (28) 24 *2004-2008* pit 0.375
27Kevin Jones (26) 24 *2004-2008* 2TM 0.375

Here are the top RBs in terms of yards from scrimmage per game

LaDainian Tomlinson (29) 15,561 *2001-2008* sdg 138.9375
Frank Gore (25) 5,866 *2005-2008* sfo 122.2083333
Clinton Portis (27) 11,108 *2002-2008* 2TM 115.7083333
Steven Jackson (25) 7,256 *2004-2008* ram 113.375
Edgerrin James (30) 15,466 *1999-2008* 2TM 107.4027778
Brian Westbrook (29) 9,330 *2002-2008* phi 97.1875
Willis McGahee (27) 6,150 *2004-2008* 2TM 96.09375
Jamal Lewis (29) 11,898 *2000-2008* 2TM 92.953125
Willie Parker (28) 5,622 *2004-2008* pit 87.84375
Warrick Dunn (33) 15,306 *1997-2008* 2TM 86.96590909
Larry Johnson (29) 6,931 *2003-2008* kan 86.6375
Shaun Alexander (31) 10,973 *2000-2008* 2TM 85.7265625
Fred Taylor (32) 13,632 *1998-2008* jax 85.2
Thomas Jones (30) 9,615 *2000-2008* 4TM 75.1171875
Ahman Green (31) 11,910 *1998-2008* 3TM 74.4375
Deuce McAllister (30) 7,816 *2001-2008* nor 69.78571429
Ricky Williams (31) 9,889 *1999-2008* 2TM 68.67361111
Chester Taylor (29) 5,763 *2002-2008* 2TM 60.03125
Rudi Johnson (29) 6,655 *2001-2008* 2TM 59.41964286
Michael Pittman (33) 9,139 *1998-2008* 3TM 57.11875
Kevin Faulk (32) 6,474 *1999-2008* nwe 44.95833333

Here are the top guys in total TDs per game (rushing and receiving)

1 LaDainian Tomlinson (29) 141 *2001-2008* sdg 1.258928571
Maurice Jones-Drew (23) 38 *2006-2008* jax 1.1875
5 Shaun Alexander (31) 112 *2000-2008* 2TM 0.875
39 Marion Barber (25) 42 *2005-2008* dal 0.875
9 Clinton Portis (27) 76 *2002-2008* 2TM 0.791666667
44 Brandon Jacobs (26) 37 *2005-2008* nyg 0.770833333
Larry Johnson (29) 61 *2003-2008* kan 0.7625
34 Steven Jackson (25) 44 *2004-2008* ram 0.6875
15 Brian Westbrook (29) 64 *2002-2008* phi 0.666666667
Edgerrin James (30) 91 *1999-2008* 2TM 0.631944444
41 Willis McGahee (27) 39 *2004-2008* 2TM 0.609375
17 Jamal Lewis (29) 62 *2000-2008* 2TM 0.484375
23 Deuce McAllister (30) 54 *2001-2008* nor 0.482142857
T.J. Duckett (27) 44 *2002-2008* 4TM 0.458333333
Ahman Green (31) 73 *1998-2008* 3TM 0.45625
Rudi Johnson (29) 51 *2001-2008* 2TM 0.455357143
14 Fred Taylor (32) 70 *1998-2008* jax 0.4375
28 Thomas Jones (30) 51 *2000-2008* 4TM 0.3984375
20 Ricky Williams (31) 56 *1999-2008* 2TM 0.388888889
Warrick Dunn (33) 64 *1997-2008* 2TM 0.363636364
50 Michael Pittman (33) 33 *1998-2008* 3TM 0.20625

So...

Tomlinson is in the top two of every category and has longevity. No ring, but it seems like he's a lock.

Portis is in the top five or six of each category. No ring again. It's hard for me to imagine him making it because he doesn't seem to play as big as his stats. He does have stats, though.

Edgerrin James gets a lot of yards and has longevity, though he doesn't score much. Again, no ring. He might move ahead of Portis. Dunno.

LJ doesn't have the longevity yet, and it can be argued that he's one-dimensional as a no-block, no catch runner. Not unless he plays a long time and gets a ring.

Jamal Lewis gets lots of yards and has the 2,000 yard season on his resume, but is handicapped by playing on bad teams and not getting TDs and wins. No.

If Fred Taylor gets in, it'll be a pure longevity play. He's got nothing going for him but cumulative yards and maybe yards per game.

It's amazing that Ricky Williams has amassed almost 10,000 yards from scrimmage even with his marijuana breaks. Sorry, but no.

You can make an argument for Shaun Alexander if he's technically still active, but I don't think he had enough longevity.


cdcox is right. I'm not sure that we'll have many HOF running backs in this generation. Tomlinson will go, and maybe in a stretch they'll take Alexander and Portis and James, but they're not exactly Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith.

We'll have to keep an eye on Peterson and Gore. I came into this expecting to make an argument for Westbrook, but looking at the stats, I'd say no. The Patriots also destroyed the concept of good running backs getting Super Bowls, so the leaders can't even make the "champion" arguments. Slim pickings.

A runningback def needs the catch screen passes and go out for passes to stand a change. LT is the only slam dunk. If edge would have stayed with the colts with peyton getting the Saftey's out of the box, he would have made it. I like edge, he lost the explosion he had after he was marvcus'd, but he has always been a tough runner and I was glad he had a large day the other day. That just cemented how you don't need the big star to win it all. He leaves and the colts win it all.

Marshell Faulk although not active was a great one.

Robert smith was a good one, quit while he was ahead that is for sure.

I think lorenzo neal or T rich deserve to get in personally

The other thing is that many of the names that appear at the top of your "per game" lists have had their best years: (Portis, LJ, James, Alexander) those per-game averages are going to go down as they play a few more years. The more you look at the modern RB position, the less sense it makes to sink long-term money or high draft picks into them.

Talk about your underrated running backs. Robert Smith was one of my favorites.

I'm looking at the history, and he played eight years, but was only the key starter for four of those. He split carries with guys like Scottie Graham and Terry Allen (a fine back, admittedly) and Amp Lee, but once he finally got to be "the guy", he averaged 5.0 yards per carry. Denny Green must've had a really bad eye for running back talent.

Barring injury... Adrian Peterson will be.

Just thinking about this, if there are a bunch of so-so guys in this generation, it's going to make Terrell Davis more attractive to the committee as the standards get lowered. It might be enough to have 2 out of 3 in terms of 1) impact during peak years, 2) rings, and 3) longevity/cumulative stats.

Why won't LJ get in? After five straight 1,500 yard seasons to end his career he'll be a lock. Especially with those four Super Bowls.