Re: Top Small Running Backs

Not much longer til DeAngelo Williams is on this list. He's gonna be everything the Panthers thought D.Foster was going to be and more.

Re: Top Small Running Backs

Tony Dorsett just misses out, due to the height limit. His playing weight is listed at 192, at a height of 5-11.

Darrin Nelson

Darrin Nelson's best game came on Thanksgiving Day in 1987 against the Dallas Cowboys... He was terrific in a 44-38 overtime victory, including the winning touchdown, a play where he dashed through a small hole and was met about ten yards down field by Ron Francis and Two Tall Jones, he ran through both of their arm tackles and broke free for a dash into the end zone. Earlier in the game he had a touchdown run over 50 yards in a memorable shootout... found a recap of the game here...

Re: Top Small Running Backs

Brian Westbrook is MUCH better then Charlie Garner ever was. 36 West should be near the top of the list, behind only Joe Morris. Pretty good job overall, though.

Re: Top Small Running Backs

Westbrook is 2x better than Garner. He is atleast 1.5x better than Dunn. I don't think any of the other guys were at anytime one of the best rb's in football. Westbrook is considered top 3 right now.

Re: Top Small Running Backs

I tried to do an analysis of size vs yards...

I ended up taking height (in inches) times weight (in pounds) and comparing that to total yards from scrimmage... the variance for differences in height seemed too small though, so I subtracted 10k them multiplied by three to give me a range close to the ranges of yards. I also then added on punt return yards and kick return yards divided by five (reasoning an average run to be about 4 yds, and average kick return to be about 20). This is just all off the cuff. Didn't come up with any average per year consideration.

anyway, warrick dunn comes out on top no matter how you slice it, he just has that many more yards than the other guys. Doing it this way, charlie garner is 2nd, followed by a big cluster of everyone else except Dave Megget who is way below, with Mike Garrett and Darrin Nelson at the head of that pack. If you throw in kick return yards using the forumula i described, then Bruce Harper comes in just above Charlie Garner, then Dave Meggett, followed by Stump Mitchell and Darrin Nelson.

You can see the numbers in the spreadsheet here (google docs).

I threw a few other backs on there, including one prototypical "big back" (Jim Brown, 6'2", 232#) to see how the numbers would compare.

Backs who just missed the cut such as Walter Peyton (5'10", 200#) and especially James Brooks (5'10", 180#) fared well.

With the over-compensation for inchpounds, Warrick Dunn still comes out on top, though if I didn't it would easily be Walter Peyton.

Re: Top Small Running Backs

Barry Sanders also missed the list by just 3lbs.

And I agree, Westbrook should top this list.