There have been many great running back pairs in NFL history. The standard bearers when it comes to running back pairs both played in NFL at the time the AFL was born: Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell in Cleveland, and Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor in Green Bay. Any great running back pair needs more than one season, but when it comes to just one year of dominance — since the AFL/NFL merger — I am not sure if any pair can top what Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara of the Saints have done this year.
Kamara is currently 4th among running backs in fantasy points using 0.5 points per reception (the middle ground between PPR and non-PPR leagues) with 252.1 fantasy points. Meanwhile, Ingram is just behind him in 5th place with 247.6 fantasy points (awarding 1 point for every 10 yards rushing or receiving and 6 points for every touchdown). Todd Gurley, Le’Veon Bell, and Kareem Hunt are your top three running backs with 355.3, 303.1, and 261.2 fantasy points, respectively, and then Melvin Gordon (243.7) and LeSean McCoy (231.9) are the only other running backs with over 200 fantasy points.
So no matter what Kamara and Ingram do this weekend (and the Saints are playing for the NFC South title this weekend, so the incentive is there for them to do well), they will both finish in the top 7 among all running backs. And guess what: that has never happened since the AFL-NFL merger.
In fact, just 8 times has a team had two top-10 running backs over this time. In reverse chronological order….
The 1990 Seahawks went 9-7 and didn’t have a particularly noteworthy offense, but fullback John L. Williams had 73 receptions for 699 yards and 714 rushing yards, while starting RB Derrick Fenner rushed for for 14 touchdowns and 859 yards. Fenner finished 6th in fantasy points among running backs, while Williams ranked 8th.
The 1988 Bengals, on the other hand, were much more like the current Saints. They had an MVP candidate quarterback and an offensive guru at head coach, and like the current Saints, ranked in the top 2 in total yards, yards per pass, and yards per rush and lost just four games. And they had James Brooks (#9 fantasy RB) and rookie who, like Kamara, took the league and the nation by storm in Ickey Woods (#7 fantasy RB).
The 1984 49ers also had a really good QB and a offensive guru at head coach. Oh, and Roger Craig and Wendell Tyler. San Francisco finished in the top 2 in yards, yards per pass, and yards per rush, just like the Saints, and went 15-1 and were one of the best teams of all time. Tyler (RB9) played the Ingram role, rushing for 1,262 yards and 7 TDs, while a 24-year-old Craig (RB8) was the Kamara, with 649 rushing yards and 675 receiving yards with ten total touchdowns.
I’ve written about the 1978 Bears before, and how Walter Payton and Roland Harper carried Chicago that season. Together, they combined for other two-thirds of the team’s offense. Payton was the #1 fantasy running back that season, while Harper ranked eighth.
The other four combinations: O.J. Simpson (RB1) and Jim Braxton (RB9) on the 1975 Bills, Mack Herron (RB4) and Sam Cunningham (RB8) on the 1974 Patriots, Boobie Clark (RB5) and Essex Johnson (RB8) on the 1973 Bengals, and Calvin Hill (RB4) and Walt Garrison (RB9) on the 1972 Cowboys.
The fact that five of the eight combinations are from the ’70s is not a coincidence. That was during an era of running back by committee and heavy rushing overall, while also featuring fewer teams. The fact that no team has fielded two top-10 fantasy running backs since 1990 isn’t particularly surprising for fans of fantasy football. In recent times, the closest were when two running backs on the 2006 Saints, 2009 Panthers, and 2013 Lions both finished in the top 15. Which makes what Ingram and Kamara are doing — since both will likely finish in the top five — even more remarkable. They can make a very strong case to being the best running back pair, at least in single season, since the merger.