FanPost

Le'Veon Bell is not a transcendent player

He's a damned good one, but his agent made the spurious claim that Bell has more yards from scrimmage than any back in history after his first five seasons. This is patently false, and even if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was talking about per game averages, he expounded by saying that what Bell has done is even more impressive considering how many games he's missed.

So clearly he wasn't talking about averages, he was fibbing. Furthermore, this prevailing notion that Bell is redefining the position by playing three downs and being a multi-purpose back is laughable. Take a look at total yards from scrimmage and TDs for several greats after five years. All of these guys were three down backs. It's been a thing for like, forever.

(I compiled this manually, please let me know of any glaring omissions)

9753 yards, 80 TD -- LaDainian Tomlinson

9301 yards, 63 TD -- Eric Dickerson

8982 yards, 51 TD -- Thurman Thomas

8759 yards, 75 TD -- Emmitt Smith

8546 yards, 48 TD -- Chris Johnson

8350 yards, 63 TD -- Walter Payton

8321 yards, 50 TD -- Eddie George

8288 yards, 60 TD -- Barry Sanders

8154 yards, 64 TD -- Marcus Allen

8191 yards, 52 TD -- Edgerrin James

8160 yards, 45 TD -- Ricky Williams

8124 yards, 51 TD -- Marshall Faulk

8064 yards, 51 TD -- Curtis Martin

8061 yards, 67 TD -- Adrian Peterson

7996 yards, 42 TD -- Le'Veon Bell

That's 13 guys ahead of him by my count. Then there were several within a few hundred yards. To hear his agent tell it, Bell should be lapping the field.

7884 yards, 46 TD -- Tony Dorsett

7852 yards, 58 TD -- Ricky Watters

7831 yards, 63 TD -- Terrell Davis

7758 yards, 37 TD -- Ottis Anderson

7752 yards, 56 TD -- Clinton Portis

7652 yards, 35 TD -- Matt Forte

7600 yards, 49 TD -- LeSean McCoy

7509 yards, 63 TD -- Jim Brown

7470 yards, 57 TD -- Earl Campbell

7392 yards, 39 TD -- Frank Gore

7322 yards, 40 TD -- Corey Dillon

7303 yards, 48 TD -- Roger Craig

7256 yards, 44 TD -- Steven Jackson

7246 yards, 72 TD -- Shaun Alexander

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