bill and tom's excellent adventure
(the only draft that matters)
((to us))
(((part nine)))


day nine: running back

this one should be fun. will it be another lesson in "old school" versus "new school" or something else entirely? the history of the nfl has given this position, maybe, more "greats" than any other. four will be picked in this draft. many others will have had deserving cases and careers.

chris is up first.

chris: I have thought about this one a lot. I am going to go with my heart and my wife's heart and take the Bear. I will select Walter Payton as my #1 Running Back. Like Jerry Rice for you, where do I even start with the stats and the awards.



NFL.com - #5 player of all time
9 pro bowls
6 first team all pros
3 second team all pros
1977 NFL MVP
1985 NFC Player of the Year
75th NFL Anniversary Team
1977 Pro Bowl MVP
HOF - 1993


Rushing:


16,726 yds
110 TDs


Receiving:


4,538 yds
15 TDs


All time leading rusher until Emmit Smith broke record in 2002
All time leader in yards from scrimmage until Jerry Rice broke record in 1998


For many years, Walter Payton was all the Bears had with regards to talent. And even with all of the talent around him in 1985, he still excelled. He was the leader of that team and the leader of that offense. I am proud to have him on my team!

this is the first position where i was legitimately worried you were going to take my number one off the board before i picked. thankfully, that didn't happen.

"while other people are stuck with joints, he seems to have ball bearings in his legs that give him a mechanical advantage." -si's paul zimmerman

what an excellent quote, right? i can't think of more eloquent way of describing the freakish nature with which my number one running back, barry sanders, played his position relative to his contemporaries.

there are many special running backs that have played in the national football league. walter payton makes that list, no doubt.

remember when i brought up the the "evolutionary" vs. "revolutionary" point with my lt pick? barry would slot in as the third (with lt and vick) revolutionary guy on my team. things he did on the field during his hall of fame and too short career were breathtaking.

in my opinion, barry's the greatest. he made the pro-bowl and first or second (6 first teams) all-pro's in all of his ten seasons. he rushed for over 2,000 (hitting the mark in his 14th game) in 1997 and shared the mvp of the league with brett favre.

obviously, i'm a big style guy, and i have never watched a football team with as much anticipation as i did a lions game during sanders' career. every touch carried with it the potential of seeing something obscene, something historic, something you may never see again. always lauded by john madden types for his spectacularly low center of gravity, more impressive was his athleticism. standing only 5'8", it's been reported that sanders could dunk flat-footed.

the nfl is a league of athletic outliers. barry sanders, though, was something altogether different, in the same pantheon of creation as his draft class peer, deion sanders, and a signal-caller that would follow in his highlighted footsteps, my quarterback, michael vick.

chris?

chris: i think i have the greatest running back ever. i think you have the 3rd greatest running back ever. i am certain mark will call it a draw.

(ed: we shall see)