Most Dominant Fantasy Players Since 1950: Running Backs

by Chase Stuart on July 16, 2015

The fantasy GOAT

Yesterday, we looked at the most dominant quarterbacks in fantasy history. Today, the running backs, using the methodology described yesterday. Let’s look at the three best seasons in fantasy history, since all shed light on the formula here. Those three are LaDainian Tomlinson, 2006, which is easy to argue as the best year ever as Tomlinson shattered the record for fantasy points scored. But O.J. Simpson in 1975 (not ’73) was also dominant, and did so in a 14-game season and when the baseline was lower. The darkhorse candidate is Priest Holmes, 2002, who put up insane numbers but missed two games due to injury.

I am using the following scoring system throughout this series: 1 point per 20 yards passing, 1 point per 10 yards rushing/receiving, 4 points per passing TD, 6 points per rushing/receiving TD, 0.5 points per reception.

In 2006, Tomlinson rushed for 1,815 yards with 28 TDs, caught 56 passes for 508 yards and 3 touchdowns, and even threw for 20 yards and two touchdowns. He totaled a still mind-boggling 455.3 fantasy points. On a per game basis, Tomlinson averaged 28.46 FP/G, while the baseline — which for these purposes is RB24 ^[1]Baselines used in this series: From 1968 to 2014, RB24. In ’66 and ’67, RB20, and from ’61 to ’65, RB16. In the 1960 AFL, the baseline is RB6, while it is RB8 in the NFL. From … Continue reading — was at 10.75 FP/G. Therefore, Tomlinson averaged 17.71 FP/G over the baseline, and he did it for 16 games, giving him a VBD of 283.3 fantasy points (17.71 x 16).

By using per game averages, we more closely approximate the way fantasy football really works, and that helps out Holmes in 2002. That year, he rushed for 1,615 yards and 21 touchdowns, while producing an impressive 70-672-3 stat line through the air. That comes out to 407.7 fantasy points, but he did that despite missing two games due to injury. Therefore, his per-game average was 29.12 FP/G, even higher than what Tomlinson did in 2006!

The baseline was also slightly lower: in 2002, RB24 scored 155.7 fantasy points, which comes out to 9.73 FP/G. So Holmes averaged 19.39 FP/G above the baseline, the most by any fantasy running back in history. However, that comes out to 271.5 points of VBD, meaning 19.4 for 14 is still not quite as dominant as 17.7 FP/G for 16 games.

What about Simpson? Well, in ’75, he rushed for 1,817 yards and 16 touchdowns, whiel chipping in with 28-426-7 in the receiving game. That’s 376.3 fantasy points, or 26.88 FP/G. The baseline was just 9.35 FP/G, so Simpson was 17.53 FP/G above the baseline. Because his 14-game season was the full year — i.e., he didn’t miss games due to injury like Holmes — we pro-rate those numbers to a full season, and multiply 17.53 by 16 to give him… 280.5 points of VBD. That’s still behind Tomlinson, but good enough for the second best fantasy season by a running back since 1950.

The table below shows the top 200 fantasy seasons using this methodology:

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Search:

Rk	Player	Yr	Tm	Rsh	Yd	TD	Rec	Yd	TD	FP	G	FP/G	Base	Diff	VBD
1	LaDainian Tomlinson	2006	SDG	348	1815	28	56	508	3	455.3	16	28.46	10.75	17.71	283.3
2	O.J. Simpson	1975	BUF	329	1817	16	28	426	7	376.3	14	26.88	9.35	17.53	280.5
3	Priest Holmes	2002	KAN	313	1615	21	70	672	3	407.7	14	29.12	9.73	19.39	271.5
4	Priest Holmes	2003	KAN	320	1420	27	74	690	0	410	16	25.63	9.33	16.29	260.7
5	Marshall Faulk	2000	STL	253	1359	18	81	830	8	415.4	14	29.67	11.34	18.33	256.6
6	Marshall Faulk	2001	STL	260	1382	12	83	765	9	382.2	14	27.3	9.03	18.27	255.8
7	LaDainian Tomlinson	2003	SDG	313	1645	13	100	725	4	394.1	16	24.63	9.33	15.3	244.8
8	Chuck Foreman	1975	MIN	280	1070	13	73	691	9	344.6	14	24.61	9.35	15.26	244.2
9	Emmitt Smith	1995	DAL	377	1773	25	62	375	0	395.8	16	24.74	9.59	15.14	242.3
10	Terrell Davis	1998	DEN	392	2008	21	25	217	2	373	16	23.31	8.67	14.64	234.3
11	Marcus Allen	1982	RAI	160	697	11	38	401	3	215.2	9	23.91	10.01	13.89	222.3
12	Emmitt Smith	1992	DAL	373	1713	18	59	335	1	348.3	16	21.77	7.98	13.79	220.7
13	Ahman Green	2003	GNB	355	1883	15	50	367	5	370	16	23.13	9.33	13.79	220.7
14	Jim Brown	1965	CLE	289	1544	17	34	328	4	336.2	14	24.01	10.41	13.6	217.7
15	Walter Payton	1977	CHI	339	1852	14	27	269	2	321.6	14	22.97	9.45	13.52	216.3
16	Marshall Faulk	1999	STL	253	1381	7	87	1048	5	358.4	16	22.4	8.88	13.52	216.3
17	Arian Foster	2010	HOU	327	1616	16	66	604	2	363	16	22.69	9.38	13.31	213
18	Chris Johnson	2009	TEN	358	2006	14	50	503	2	371.9	16	23.24	10	13.24	211.9
19	Shaun Alexander	2005	SEA	370	1880	27	15	78	1	371.3	16	23.21	9.97	13.24	211.8
20	Jamaal Charles	2013	KAN	259	1287	12	70	693	7	347	15	23.13	9.44	13.69	205.3
21	Edgerrin James	1999	IND	369	1553	13	62	586	4	346.9	16	21.68	8.88	12.8	204.8
22	James Wilder	1984	TAM	407	1544	13	85	685	0	348.2	16	21.76	9.01	12.75	204.1
23	Steven Jackson	2006	STL	346	1528	13	90	806	3	374.4	16	23.4	10.75	12.65	202.4
24	Jim Brown	1963	CLE	291	1863	12	24	268	3	315.1	14	22.51	10.14	12.36	197.8
25	Emmitt Smith	1994	DAL	368	1484	21	50	341	1	339.5	15	22.63	9.51	13.12	196.8

Showing 1 to 25 of 200 entries

Tomlinson and Marshall Faulk dominate the single-season list, so you won’t be surprised to see them take the top two spots on the career list. Below are the top 125 running backs in fantasy history:

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Rk	Player	First Yr	Last Yr	VBD
1	LaDainian Tomlinson	2001	2011	1521
2	Marshall Faulk	1994	2005	1509
3	Emmitt Smith	1990	2004	1444
4	Walter Payton	1975	1987	1372
5	Barry Sanders	1989	1998	1311
6	Jim Brown	1957	1965	1265
7	Marcus Allen	1982	1997	1073
8	Curtis Martin	1995	2005	990
9	Eric Dickerson	1983	1993	970
10	Thurman Thomas	1988	2000	962
11	Edgerrin James	1999	2009	951
12	Ricky Watters	1992	2001	949
13	Priest Holmes	1997	2007	917
14	Adrian Peterson	2007	2014	847
15	Shaun Alexander	2000	2008	823
16	Tiki Barber	1997	2006	813
17	Tony Dorsett	1977	1988	775
18	Chuck Foreman	1973	1980	768
19	O.J. Simpson	1969	1979	760
20	Herschel Walker	1986	1997	725
21	Clinton Portis	2002	2010	705
22	Ahman Green	1998	2009	700
23	Steven Jackson	2004	2014	698
24	Matt Forte	2008	2014	697
25	Arian Foster	2009	2014	683
26	Roger Craig	1983	1993	680
27	Ottis Anderson	1979	1992	663
28	Terrell Davis	1995	2001	661
29	Brian Westbrook	2002	2010	645
30	Frank Gore	2005	2014	635
31	Franco Harris	1972	1984	634
32	Leroy Kelly	1964	1973	634
33	Maurice Jones-Drew	2006	2014	620
34	Ricky Williams	1999	2011	614
35	Fred Taylor	1998	2010	605
36	Marshawn Lynch	2007	2014	591
37	Eddie George	1996	2004	588
38	Lydell Mitchell	1972	1980	581
39	Neal Anderson	1986	1993	579
40	Jamaal Charles	2008	2014	579
41	Chris Johnson	2008	2014	569
42	Wilbert Montgomery	1977	1985	568
43	LeSean McCoy	2009	2014	563
44	William Andrews	1979	1986	551
45	Corey Dillon	1997	2006	549
46	Jim Taylor	1958	1967	544
47	Billy Sims	1980	1984	540
48	Ray Rice	2008	2013	531
49	Earl Campbell	1978	1985	517
50	John Riggins	1971	1985	507
51	Larry Brown	1969	1976	501
52	Terry Allen	1991	2001	490
53	Larry Johnson	2003	2011	484
54	Wendell Tyler	1977	1986	476
55	Earnest Byner	1984	1997	467
56	James Brooks	1981	1992	453
57	James Wilder	1981	1990	452
58	Chuck Muncie	1976	1984	452
59	Clem Daniels	1960	1968	451
60	Lenny Moore	1956	1967	451
61	Jerome Bettis	1993	2005	449
62	Jamal Lewis	2000	2009	442
63	Curt Warner	1983	1990	423
64	Warrick Dunn	1997	2008	417
65	Frank Gifford	1952	1964	417
66	Abner Haynes	1960	1967	414
67	Freeman McNeil	1981	1992	413
68	Deuce McAllister	2001	2008	412
69	Stephen Davis	1996	2006	407
70	Charlie Garner	1994	2004	398
71	Lawrence McCutcheon	1972	1981	395
72	Ron Johnson	1969	1975	393
73	Gale Sayers	1965	1971	390
74	Floyd Little	1967	1975	385
75	Gerald Riggs	1982	1991	370

Showing 1 to 75 of 125 entries

Not a lot of surprises here. Although there is a certain Hall of Fame running back from Pittsburgh that fares very poorly here.

Adrian Peterson needs two more good years to really climb these lists. Can he do that?

Edgerrin James (RB11) is the highest-ranking running back not in the Hall of Fame (well, other than Tomlinson). Does this help his cause? In fact, the five running backs from 11 to 16 (excluding Peterson) all are borderline HOF candidates, and all were active in ’00 and ’01.

What stands out to you in the career rankings list?

References[+]

References
↑1	Baselines used in this series: From 1968 to 2014, RB24. In ’66 and ’67, RB20, and from ’61 to ’65, RB16. In the 1960 AFL, the baseline is RB6, while it is RB8 in the NFL. From 1950 to 1959, the baseline used is RB8.

Tagged as: Running backs

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