LT - Best Running Back Ever?

LT - the best ever?

It's always hard to judge a current player against all those who came before him. Usually, fans and analysts need to be several years removed from a player's playing days in order to have an accurate, non-hyped, assessment of a player's ranking among sports greatest players.

But for Marty Schottenheimer, football and the position of running back do not need a time buffer in order to assess a player's all-time ranking. Because for him, LaDainian Tomlinson is the best running back of all-time.

And I concur.

Growing up in the late 80's and 90's, I had my choice between 2 running backs in which to root for. One was Emmitt Smith. Emmitt had all of the numbers, and he had the winning team to go with them. He won the MVP and broke the scoring record right before my eyes. But in my mind, he was still never the best running back of his era.

Barry Sanders was the golden standard for running backs during the 90's. He was the epitome of an all-around football player. He could run inside, he could run outside and even though he was a running back known to lose some yards every now and then, he was still very capable of getting in the end zone or getting the first down during short yardage situations. But let's be real. What made him Barry Sanders was the fact that he could break a long run at anytime. And it was never easy. He always had to juke somebody out, reverse field or make a cut back that no other running back would ever make.

And while Walter Payton and Jim Brown were before my time, I have seen enough film and have read enough about that error to say with certainty that Barry Sanders was the best back of all-time. Until now.

Emmitt Smith was a great running back, and I don't want to take anything away from his abilities, he did have a dynast of a team and one of the greatest lines of all-time blocking for him. For those who are old enough to remember, knowing the names of the Dallas Cowboys' offensive lineman was just as common as knowing who Emmitt was during the 90's. But even with that aside, Emmitt was not good at making his own holes, generating long runs or catching the ball in the flats or down the field.