Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

No question about this one, for me - "Da Bears" take the honors for "Best all-time roster" for RBs. Any others up for consideration?

Packers. I'll let someone else provide the list.

This (these) are a fun exercise but the arguments are going to be mostly opinion.

Are we talking "starting two" (or three) or number of great players over the life of a franchise?

I'll mention a few personal favorites:
The 49ers "million dollar backfield" had 3 hall of fame running backs in the same backfield at the same time... not a bad starting combo...

One could think of older franchises who had more HoF backs but for a starting duo I would be hard pressed to find better than Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly for the Browns (plus Bobby Mitchell and Marion Motley).

I think all of the older franchises are going to be able to stake some claim to most of these "Best All-Time" threads... it is going to be a "pick your flavor" kind of topic... but that's fine, it should be fun!
(More controversial might be which franchise has no claim...)

JuggernautJ wrote:Are we talking "starting two" (or three) or number of great players over the life of a franchise?

However many players in a given unit that you think deserve consideration for "Greatest of All Time" status. For instance, you may believe that the Lions have 5 or 6 or 7 running backs from their all-time roster who have a legitimate case at being considered "great" from a league-wide perspective while you may believe that the, say, Seahawks have no more than one or two RBs who merit that kind of consideration.

JuggernautJ wrote:I think all of the older franchises are going to be able to stake some claim to most of these "Best All-Time" threads

Yeah, that's one area where the older franchises in the league will probably have an advantage (though not in every case).

JuggernautJ wrote:This (these) are a fun exercise but the arguments are going to be mostly opinion. . . it is going to be a "pick your flavor" kind of topic... but that's fine, it should be fun!

That's what I'm hoping!

Dallas, I got Perkins, Dorsett, Smith and Elliott

Murray, Garrison and Hill were good for Dallas as well, Walker and Thomas left too soon ...

Would take the Browns over the Bears ... Bears had Nagurski, Casares, Sayers, Payton and Forte but Browns had Motley, Brown, Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Byner

Mitchell and Green as well ...

Bills backs ... Gilchrist, Simpson, Cribbs, Thomas, McGahee, McCoy, Jackson, Lynch, Henry ...

I'd go with Bears first without question. 2nd and 3rd would be a coin flip between Cowboys and Oilers/Titans. (Campbell/George/Henry). 4th and 5th a coin flip between Bills and Rams. (McCutcheon/Dickerson/Faulk/Jackson)