4M; . It has been said that Rooney responded with the declaration that he would never again attempt to call a play for his team. Dick Hoak: The running backs coach for the Steelers for an incredible 35 years, Hoak was also an excellent player at the position he would spend so many years coaching up. Johnson was a bruising fullback who spent time in San Francisco and Detroit before coming to Pittsburgh in 1960. How an 8-year-old inspired Najee Harris' 5-TD performance vs. Ole Miss. He earned the Super Bowl MVP award after running for 158 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings in Super Bowl IX. Despite suffering continuing pain and losing weight down to 180 pounds, Rocky spent the next two years putting on weight and fighting for a roster spot. From '61 to '64, he was part of a powerful rushing attack along with Hall of Famer John Henry Johnson. Harris was a part of four championship team and would be named to the Pro Bowl nine times. He ran for 5,378 yards while playing at Heinz Field. It's hard to rank Sproles. In 1966 when the Fighting Irish won the national title, Rocky was a member of that team. Find out more. Outside linebacker Joey Porter came to Pittsburgh in 1999. Hunt only played eight games with the Browns last season after serving an eight-game suspension. Keep in mind that accomplishments made only during this decade were considered for these rankings. In many ways, this style of offense is the polar opposite of the methods the Steelers used to win six Super Bowls. And that's with missing the 2016 season because of retirement. Damien Harris (New England Patriots) The 2021 season will only be Damien Harris' second full season with the Patriots as a running back, but he's shown his level of skill. The Pittsburgh Steelers have had some great tight ends throughout the franchise's history. Sidney Thornton: Another stout running back for Pittsburgh was the bullish Thornton who weighed in at 230 pounds during his play days in Pittsburgh from 1977 to 1982. But you cant throw just any ball carrier out there and hope to have success; it takes a certain kind of player to fit into a power running offensive scheme. In Dick Hoak's 10 years as a Steeler, he only saw two winning seasons. In a move many in the NFL community felt was inevitable, the Washington Commanders released quarterback Carson Wentz on Monday in a move that will save the team $26.12 million against their 2023 salary cap. For the Steelers he would rush for 2,243 yards five seasons. [2] He led the NFL with 576 yards in 1932 and held on to the record throughout his career. Williams had his first 1,000-yard season and averaged 13.3 ppg. Last edited on 19 February 2023, at 18:43, Boston Braves / Boston Redskins / Washington Redskins, List of National Football League records (individual), List of National Football League rushing champions, List of National Football League career rushing touchdowns leaders, List of National Football League annual rushing touchdowns leaders, "NFL Rushing Yards Career Playoffs Leaders", "History of the Career Rushing Yards Record", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_National_Football_League_career_rushing_yards_leaders&oldid=1140354500, This page was last edited on 19 February 2023, at 18:43. He is currently a free agent and the third oldest running back in the NFL, as well as the second oldest active running back. Weve reviewed the most popular quarterbacks to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but among those signal callers, who are some of the players they were handing the ball off to when not throwing the rock? Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Of course we are talking about the Immaculate Reception. But twice he rushed for more than 1,400 yards, and as a rookie in 2012 Martin posted 1,926 yards from scrimmage. He posted more than 1,900 yards from scrimmage twice, in 2010 and 2013. Hunt offers some stability in the pass-game as he had 44 . Bill Dudley was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and 10 year prior was inducted into College Footballs Hall of Fame. In 1984 while beating the Denver Broncos in the playoffs, Pollard ran for 99 yards and two scores, a game won by Pittsburgh 24-17. LISTEN: Hounds, world soccer, PGA with Mike Grau, Steelers: Need for QB of the Future is More Apparent than Ever, Steelers: Defense Needs to Take Advantage of Inconsistent Bills Passing Attack, Steelers: Devlin Hodges Has Chance to Make Lasting Impression in Week 14, Steelers: James Washingtons Emergence Could Make Offense Dangerous. There have been some running backs in Steelers history who had one or two good seasons in Pittsburgh, then went on their way. He has six 1,000-yard seasons and six Pro Bowl nominations with the Eagles and Bills during the 2010s. From the time Fran Rogel became the teams starting running back in 1950 until his retirement in 1957, Pittsburghs first play from scrimmage in every game Rogel was in the backfield began with a handoff to the California State Teachers College and Penn State University product with a rush into the middle of the offensive line. In 27 games Hunt has 2,151 rushing yards, 2,984 yards from scrimmage and 25 touchdowns. It's an inspiring story, but if Bleier wasn't one of the best running backs in Steelers' history, he wouldn't have made this list. The Pittsburgh Steelers are loaded with high-end fantasy talent, and Mike Tomlin's team has been producing every week.The Steelers have scored 30 or more points in six straight games, and they are in a position to earn a spot in the AFC playoffs if they can win their final two games of the season.It's all lining up to be a happy holiday season in Pittsburgh because they close the year with . Myles Jack 61 Minkah Fitzpatrick . Maybe I am just nostalgic for the days when Steelers backs carried the ball 30 times and took total control over a game by the fourth quarter. As a Steeler running back, Hoak would spend his entire career with Pittsburgh that began in 1961 as a seventh round draft pick after running for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Seasons: 90 (1933 to 2022) Record (W-L-T): 666-585-23 Playoff Record: 36-27 Super Bowls Won: 6 (8 Appearances) Championships Won *: 6 . Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Ranking the AFC North running backs. does st martin parish have school tomorrow. He stepped in for a banged-up Willie Parker in 2009 and ran for 1,108 yards and seven touchdowns. The Steelers haven't shied away from targeting lesser-valued positions by the modern standard early in recent drafts, such as running back, linebacker and maybe to a lesser degree, safety. Pittsburgh Steelers Stats: The official source for Pittsburgh Steelers game statistics . He also earned the first of two consecutive First-Team All-Pro selections. But during the Super Bowl seasons of 1978 and 1979, Sidney Thornton played a significant role in the Steelers' rushing attack. Joey Porter. Last year's offensive rookie of the year award winner, Barkley was close to perfect for fantasy owners. The former Heisman Trophy winner is another example of a highly regarded college back getting off to a slow start in the NFL. James Conner finished his career in Pittsburgh as the #17 ranked rusher in Steelers history. Who Is The Best Wide Receiver In The NFL Right Now? Time to profile some of the outstanding and popular running backs to suit up for the Steelers. The real results of who touched it first is still undetermined to this day. Merril Hoge was a versatile fullback who could carry the ball, catch passes, and block. Only stats for Regular Season Games have been included. He would end up moving to the Dallas Cowboys where he would get a chance to face off against his former team in two more Super Bowls (X and XIII). Barkley was a huge reason why the Giants returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. In 79 games with the Steelers, he carried the ball for 3,343 yards and 22 touchdowns. Despite the occurrences of injury, Hoge ran for 3,115 yards as a Steeler and rushed for 21 touchdowns. Even putting a left end at right end can cause a drop. In nine seasons all as a Steeler, Pollard scored 20 touchdowns. He ranks 23rd all-time among Pittsburgh rushers having gained 1,504 yards as a Steeler. He also had three catches in that loss for 18 yards. He was an example of how great players can not only break the rules and succeed, but sometimes even make up their own rules. He was cut twice but kept up his persistence. Having gone through a tough contract negotiation in 1995, the Steelers instead of trying to settle traded Foster over to the Carolina Panthers who then cut the running back in training camp due to a failed physical. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. All rights reserved. With a 3.5 yards per carry average and zero touchdowns, his rookie season was a major disappointment, but Gordon has answered all his doubters since then. Bettis will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2015 in August, and the accomplishments to be praised that day are only part of why he was the man during his 10 seasons with the Steelers. His performance in the 1989 playoffs, when he turned in back-to-back 100-yard games against Houston and Denver, is the stuff of Steelers' legend. During the decade, he has 8,834 rushing yards five 1,000-yard seasons and 71 touchdowns. Gurley has rushed for 4,547 rushing yards and recorded 6,430 yards from scrimmage with 56 touchdowns. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Former Steelers running back Willie Parker (39) acknowledges the crowd during a 2018 against the Chargers at Heinz Field. Christian McCaffrey (2019) This past season, McCaffrey became the third running back in NFL history to generate over 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in a single season. Willie Parker: Fast Willie Parker actually lands in third place all-time among Pittsburgh rushers. Instagram Twitter Facebook Snapchat Shop Icon Profile Overlay Avatar Add Airplay Arrow Left Arrow Right Arrow Up Arrow Down Audio Back 5s Back 10s Back 30s Calendar Chart Check Down Left . The speedy running backs, the classic old power running back, and the mixed, well-rounded, good running back. He signed as an undrafted free agent who had run a 4.23-second 40 at the Scouting Combine the previous spring. Former season 27 " Dancing With the Stars " competitor John Schneider has returned to social media following the death of his wife, Alicia Allain. He would play six seasons in Three Rivers Stadium when the Steelers were home and finish with 3,343 yards rushing. 7. After a slow start (for a seventh overall draft pick from . Follow Holcomb on Twitter at @dmholcomb. Across the decade, Martin has posted 5,356 rushing yards and 32 total touchdowns. Bettis was team-first through some questionable demotions and worse decisions as to the direction of the offense, and he welcomed Duce Staley and mentored Willie Parker along the way to a Super Bowl championship to complete a quest his teammates had dedicated to him. One of the best free agent signings of the Mike Tomlin era, DeAngelo Williams was never thought to be more than a top backup running back. As a Steelers, he was occasionally brilliant but more often disappointing. The on-field portion of the NFL Combine begins on Thursday, marking the start of the testing circuit that propels some prospects into the stratosphere while ruining the stock of others. In the previous nine years, however, the Steelers had a top-15 player seven times. The Pittsburgh Steelers' 2020 running back room has the assortments of all the skillsets you could find around the NFL. Abercrombie played one more season in 1988 with the cross state Philadelphia Eagles before retiring. In later years Bleier helped pen a book about himself and a movie was made about his story titled Fighting Back.. Chances are it is an announcer who remembers some of the great backs in Steelers history and how they dominated the game. The stud running back finished with 3,943 yards which lands him seventh on Pittsburghs all-time list. Harris played 980 offensive snaps during the regular season . Teams run RPOs, or run-pass option plays, where the quarterback decides after the snap whether he will hand the ball off or throw a pass. Four of those were LeVeon Bell, but three were different players who stepped up in those seasons: Mendenhall (Pittsburgh's last first-round running back), Williams, Conner. He caught 57 passes for 338 yards as well. Reportedly, a local sportswriter told Rooney that Kiesling purposely made his lineman jump offsides so they could run their bread-and-butter Rogel running play first. The next ingredient is a tough, hard-nosed rushing attack that controls the ball and methodically plows through opposing defenses. Who should be on top of the Steelers NFL Free Agency board? Other teams (like the Steelers) have one but rarely use him. Rashard Mendenhall only played five seasons with the Steelers but rushed for a respectable 3,549 yards in 57 games. Those three men will be bypassed for this article despite Johnson ranking third in the all-time rushing yardage for the Black and Gold. 2013 Steelers 2014 Steelers 2015 Steelers 2016 Steelers 2017 Steelers 2018 Steelers 2019 Steelers 2020 Steelers 2021 Steelers 2022 Steelers 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 8-8 11-5 10-6 11-5 13-3 9-6-1 8-8 12-4 9-7-1 9-8. He is currently the third leading rusher in Steelers history. The 34-year-old made All-Pro twice, in 2008 and 2009, but he added two more All-Pro nominations during 2012 and 2015. During the 2021 offseason, Pittsburgh declined to re-sign Conner, making him a free agent and creating an opportunity for the Arizona Cardinals to scoop him up. Fran Rogel: For Steelers fans who watched the team in the 1950s they would be familiar with a famous nursery rhyme with a Pittsburgh Steelers twist. Franco Harris is the Pittsburgh Steelers career leader in rushing yards with 11,950. Najee Harris warming to Steelers' running back-by-committee approach. Ibrahim, who . DeAngelo Williams Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images. We present them here for purely educational purposes. The last Steelers running back taken in the first round before Najee Harris, Mendenhall won a Super Bowl as a rookie despite spending most of the season on injured reserve. In 1992, we found out who the heck that guy was: the man who would run for more yards in one season than any Steelers running back in team history. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Copyright 2023 YB Media, LLC. Who Is The Best Running Back In The NFL Right Now? These quarterbacks have started at least one game for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Do you have a blog? Winning three Super Bowls helps earn you a spot on this list too. The number of games they started during the season is listed to the right of their name: These quarterbacks have the most starts for the Steelers in regular season games. After five seasons of never finishing higher than RB34, Williams had a career year in 2022, finishing as the overall RB18. If Lions general manager Brad Holmes follows that plan exactly, Minnesota Golden Gophers' Mohamed Ibrahim would be a great late-round running back prospect for Detroit to target. As the tight end position increasingly becomes more of a focal point in offensive schemes , one. February 27, 2023 3 min Watch. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. His best season came in 2015, which was the year after Williams departed, when he rushed for 989 yards and six touchdowns for the 15-1 Panthers. Cameron Heyward (2011), T.J. Watt (2017), Terrell Edmunds (2018), Devin Bush Jr. (2019), and Najee Harris (2022) are the five remaining first-rounders still on the Steelers roster. Bleier only ranks ninth in all-time rushing yards for the franchise, and he never made the Pro Bowl, but there is no denying the impact this gutsy running back had in winning four Steelers' Super Bowl championships. The trend in the modern NFL is to run the ball out of single-back sets, often from a shotgun or pistol formation. Everything in the NFL goes in cycles. Rashard Mendenhall: Like Barry Foster before him, Rashard Mendenhall was done with professional football by the age of 26. By Ross Kelly and Tony Adame, updated on October 18, 2022. Charles also ran for 1,509 yards in 2012 and 1,033 yards in 2014. In 1980, Thornton would average five yards-per-carry while carrying the rock 78 times. During this decade, he earned two Pro Bowl nominations and an All-Pro bid. Fran Rogel was also a local product having grown up in North Braddock, Pennsylvania. With the 2019 season, there is still time to influence who lands where among a list of the best running backs of the decade. The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. He would eventually become the feature back, but in 2009 he suffered Jack Lamberts injury, turf toe and was replaced by Rashard Mendenhall in the process. [3], List of National Football League career rushing yards leaders, Players with at least 10,000 rushing yards, Players with at least 1,000 postseason rushing yards. Barry Foster first came to the attention of Steeler Nation in 1990 when he treated a kickoff as a punt, stood aside, and watched the ball bounce along the ground until the opposing team recovered it. These honorable mentions may not have a place on this list of all-time best Steelers running backs, but if you are a Steelers fan, there is a good chance you'll remember them fondly. All of that, plus the fact Bettis averaged over 1,000 yards per season with the Steelers (10,571) and scored 78 touchdowns, puts him on the All-Modern Era team, and his partner in the backfield is Le'Veon Bell. Charles may have to wait awhile to get into the Hall of Fame because despite an 11-year career, his prime was rather short. The Steelers ran out the pro set for most of the 1970s and 1980s under head coach Chuck Noll. It was thought by the Steelers coaching staff and fans alike that Pittsburgh had found their new star running back. Without further ado, here are the best 25 NFL running backs of this decade: It will be surprising to some that Johnson isn't a little higher on this list. Since there are only 11 players on offense, the running backs have to be able to function as a unit, and Le'Veon Bell could play halfback to Bettis' fullback. On a better team, Jones-Drew may have been able to flourish for longer than three seasons, but from 2009-11, he was one of the best backs in the league. Year Top Defense. He has held the all-time rushing yards record since 2002 and is . It is unfortunate, and I would guess I am not alone in wishing the Steelers would return to their roots and play power football again. But there were bright spots, and Walter Abercrombie was one of them. 22. Perhaps one of the most popular and beloved Steelers players of all-time, Bleier became famous before he ever established himself as Franco Harriss partner in crime based on his experiences in the Vietnam War. Le'veon Bell also earned a reputation as one of the most patient RBs in the NFL. Great Pittsburgh Steelers players such as Heath Miller, Bennie Cunningham, and Eric Green, who could count among the best NFL players ever, have gone down as some of the best tight ends in Steelers franchise history. In just a three-year period, from 2010-12, he posted 5,702 yards from scrimmage and 47 touchdowns. He tailed off to 928 the following season and then suffered injuries in 2012 playing in just six games before the Steelers cut him loose where he signed with the Arizona Cardinals lasting just one season after 687 yards on the ground. It is highly recommended that you use the latest versions of a supported browser in order to receive an optimal viewing experience. He spent his first year in the NFL with the Giants before coming to the Steelers in 1970. Jerome Bettis was a 250-pound battering ram with incredible quickness for a man his size. WILLIE PARKER had difference-making speed at the NFL level, but because he wasn't built physically to withstand the 913 carries he got from 2005-07, he got worn down and then his speed wasn't as difference-making at the NFL level. He led the Steelers in rushing from 1961 to 1964 and made three straight Pro Bowls from 1962 to '64. The former Titan had only 28 catches for 294 yards last year . More like he will get exposed yet again as being the most overrated running back in the league . That changed over the last decade or so, due to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's emergence as an elite . The Tigers picked up their sixth commitment for the 2024 recruiting cycle - and their first running back - Wednesday with the public . 1. He also was a punt returner, bringing back 20 punts with a 14.0 average per return. NAME GP RUSH YDS ATT YPC RUSH YDS/G RUSH TD REC YDS REC TRG AVG REC YDS/G REC TD; Felix Jones: 16: 184: 48: 3.8: 11.5: 0: 63: 9: 13: 7.0: 3.9: 0: Isaac Redman: 3: 12: 10: 1.2 . He came to the Steelers after three seasons with the Rams which had earned him a reputation as a problem player. The running back ran for 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns on 307 carries, and caught 74 passes for 467 yards and three touchdowns. | To prepare, we at Chargers Wire are previewing players from every position. In 2011 Jones-Drew led the league with 1,606 rushing yards and 386 touches. He peculiarly retired after that one campaign with the Cardinals. He scored seven touchdowns and caught the ball 22 times for an additional 204 yards and a 9.3 yards-per-reception mark. Conner responded with a Pro Bowl performance and gave Steeler Nation hope that hed become the next great Pittsburgh running back. Posted August 12, 2019 MORE: 2023 Dynasty Rookie Rankings. While that trio may be the best-best-of-the best to run behind Pittsburghs all-time offensive lines, there have been more than a handful of outstanding running backs for Pittsburgh since they began play in 1933. The first requirement is an intimidating defense that dominates opponents and makes it tough for them to put points on the board. By, Tom Rothenberg/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. Once the Steelers free up a considerable amount of cap space, are eight free agents who could reinvigorate the roster in the 2023 season. All-time Rushing Leader: Franco Harris 2,881 att, 11,950 yds, 91 TD . He would retire with 3,965 yards on the ground, second best in history for the Steelers at that time.