LaDainian Tomlinson ... the discussion

[dave]

Obviously a first-ballot Hall of Famer ... but is he really top five of all time as an NFL running back?

[Chrispy]

I say Top 10 for sure, maybe Top 5

[SuperKevin]

I love Ladainian Tomlinson but I don't think I'd consider him Top 5 of all time. He's the best of this decade but that's not going to sneak him into the best of all time discussion. Players I'd put ahead of him are, in no particular order

Barry Sanders
Jim Brown
Walter Payton
Earl Campbell
Emmitt Smith
OJ Simpson(bit of a homer on my part)
Terrell Davis
Marshall Faulk

[Wildcard]

Really hasn't been a Runningback with such consistency and dominance like LaDanian Tomlinson in a long time. Plus the man can catch the ball. AND THROW LOL!

But seriously...

When you speak of the best

Payton
Sanders
Brown
Smith
Campbell
Simpson
Tomlinson

They should all come to mind...

Now maybe you want to throw him in the 2nd tier RB's like...

Harris
Faulk
Martin
Allen
Sayers
Dickerson
Tomlinson

Which one looks better to you?

[StealthShot]

If Emmitt Smith is Top 5 LT should be up there if not ahead of him.

[StealthShot]

LT ahead of Emmitt Smith? :ooops:

When its said and done, yes.

[SuperKevin]

LT ahead of Emmitt Smith? :ooops:

Emmitt Smith has the numbers but a lot of that has to do with playing in one of the greatest offenses of all time in Dallas during the 90s.

[dave]

When its said and done, yes.

It is said and done ... and Tomlinson isn't Emmitt.

[Bmore]

Idk, L.T. IMO was more athletic then Emmit. Surely faster, was he more powerful who knows?

Emmit holds the rushing record because he played for over a decade behind a offensive line that for the most part remained intact for several years and were pretty damn awesome.

L.T? not so much. In fact, I don't think anyone is worth a damn on the Chargers O-line. Besides Marcus McNeil and Kevin Dielmen.

So stat wise I would say L.T. won't touch Emmits stats. However, L.T. is equal to Emmit on the skills basis.

[Tailback U]

LT is not top 5 all time, in my opinion.

That said, LT is hands down better than Emmitt Smith all time.

Emmitt Smith is one of the most overrated running backs of all time.

Now I'll wait for the Cowboy homers to come into this thread and post all his stats, as if I wasn't already aware of them before I made this post.

But I guess that's another thread for another time. I think we had a 50 page Emmitt Smith thread on MM back in the day.

[Mogriffjr]

Damn LT had 7 straight seasons of 300 carries (8 if u wanna round up his 08 season to 300)...136 TD's (impressive)

that 1800+ effort really signaled the decline after that...has gone down consistently to where he is now.

He can't even break a nice 10 yard run it seems without tripping over his own feet. Crazy how much of a difference he is from now than 2 years ago.

[ThunderHorse]

Damn LT had 7 straight seasons of 300 carries (8 if u wanna round up his 08 season to 300)...136 TD's (impressive)

that 1800+ effort really signaled the decline after that...has gone down consistently to where he is now.

He can't even break a nice 10 yard run it seems without tripping over his own feet. Crazy how much of a difference he is from now than 2 years ago.

It's almost depressing,

I watched one of those NFL replay games the other day,

San Diego playing Denver back before the Portis-Bailey Trade.

BOTH guys were SO fast, I had never really seen either of them play that young, but man, they had it all. You look at them today however, and you can see how much they've really slowed down.

Like Wildcard said, I'd but Tomlinson as the Second Tier all time, but I don't think he's on Sander's or Payton's level.

[steeljake]

I love Ladainian Tomlinson but I don't think I'd consider him Top 5 of all time. He's the best of this decade but that's not going to sneak him into the best of all time discussion. Players I'd put ahead of him are, in no particular order

Barry Sanders
Jim Brown
Walter Payton
Earl Campbell
Emmitt Smith
OJ Simpson(bit of a homer on my part)
Terrell Davis
Marshall Faulk

TD?!? gtfo. his short career and the fact that he played on a team that you had to play the pass aganst every down disqualifies him from a top 10 all time discussion. Also, OJ is not a homer pick, people forget that before he killed those cracka ass cracka's he was a beast on the gridiron.

LT is definetly top 10. top 5 (in no particular order) for me would be brown, sayers, sanders, payton, simpson. it would kind of hard for me to put LT in front of any of those guys. emmit smith makes my top ten for his shear longevity and i personally feel his was underrated due to the team he played on not overrated. also have to have campbell, dickerson and faulk rounding out my top ten. i think i would put LT at 6 or 7 with only campbell maybe ahead of him for his shear ability to just run people over.

[JeremyHight]

I think he is definitely in the top 10 and could really be argued for a top 10 spot because of how much he turned around the Chargers.

Do you guys remember the Chargers before they got LT? I'm not talking about when they made it to the Super Bowl to be destroyed by San Fran. I'm talking about the really, really awful years where they didn't have a winning season for 8 straight years. They were resigned to be losers and LT helped to change that whole culture. Ya, he has great stats, too, but he definitely did not come into a good situation in SD and helped to turn around an entire franchise.

[NAHSTE]

How did you not post his receiving numbers as well? That's where LDT has the best case. LDT was the best back in football for a few years, but IMO he is not top 5 all-time.

I see him as a byproduct of the offensive era (when the rushing TD record was broken 4 straight times, a few by non-HOFers) somewhat, and while I acknowledge he's a HOFer someday, I question how one could put him above Sweetness, Jim Brown, Emmitt, or Barry. I'm not sure what makes him better than Campbell or Marshall Faulk either.

I think you also have to factor in his Houdini-jobs in the playoffs during his prime, he shut it down way too often when his team needed him and was a pouter throughout his career. You have to condiser things like that because they have an effect on wins/losses.

In sum, he's top 10, but his TD numbers are a bit inflated. He's a very good back, one of the best from this era, but I'll take Marshall Faulk over him as well as the aforementioned greats like Smith, Sanders, Simpson, Sweetness and Jim Brown.