Top Five Greatest Current NFL Running Backs

You can forget about a debate that compares Adrian Peterson to Jim Brown, or even pretending to listen to your slap-happy grandpappy ruminate about the time he saw Bronco Nagurski at the Corner Mart in a leather helmet. We are talking about the greatest current NFL running backs of 2011. We are talking about the best combinations of size and speed at NFL running back in the game right now.

With running backs, 1,000-yard rushers are a dime a dozen. In the 2010-2011 season, 17 backs cleared the 1,000-yard plateau. These running backs included the likes of Ahmad Bradshaw, Darren McFadden, Cedric Benson, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, and LeGarrette Blount. Featured backs seem to literally came off the scrap heap, slap on a helmet, report for duty, and rumble for 1,000 yards. One 1-000-yard season, however, does not elevate a back into the elite group at the position.

We want the best of the best.

The top five running backs make the cut as a combination of lifetime achievement and future projections. For years to come, today's best running backs will be bulldozing people at the point of attack, catching flare passes out in the flat, destroying linebackers in blitz pick up, and above all else, racking up yardage at a high level. In terms of production, an elite running back should average more than 4.5 yards per carry. With the prevalence of 1,000-yard backs, it is fairly obvious that any featured back can rip off big yardage in total -- if he is simply spoon fed the football 300-400 times in a season and averages a meager Mendoza Line 3.5 yards per carry.

The top five greatest current NFL running backs of 2011 are all threats to take the football to the house on any given possession.

#5 Greatest Current NFL Running Back: Maurice Jones-Drew

At a diminutive 5'8 and a stout 205, Pocket Hercules is a challenge to even see behind the line of scrimmage, let alone bring down on the gridiron. Because of his small stature, Maurice Jones-Drew is especially dangerous on cut backs and in the screen game. Classic MJD takes the handoff, hides behind his blockers for one count, and reverses direction into the clear to matriculate the ball down field on a touchdown gallop.

A two-time Pro Bowler, Jones-Drew put forth his best campaign as a featured back in 2009, when he rushed for 1,391 yards and 15 touchdowns on 312 carries. In 2010, Jones battled for 1,324 yards in only 14 games, while he dealt with a torn meniscus throughout the year. MJD has received consideration for AP Offensive MVP, as he is the Jacksonville Jaguars' offense.

#4 Greatest Current NFL Running Back: Jamaal Charles

Jamaal Charles is electric.

In 2010, Charles rushed for 1,467 yards, despite splitting carries with veteran Thomas Jones in the backfield. The poor man's Chris Johnson feinted, faked, accelerated, and sprinted his way towards nearly 1,500 yards on only 230 attempts -- for a scintillating 6.4-yard per carry average. Charles was also a threat in the passing game for the young Chiefs, as he took down 45 receptions for 468 yards and three touchdowns. A Port Arthur, Texas track star, Jamaal Charles is simply faster than everybody else on the field - and is a threat to score whenever the ball is in his hands.

Jamaal Charles is that rare athlete that you cannot miss.

#3 Greatest Current NFL Running Back: Arian Foster

Arian Foster's career serves as testimony to hard work.

In high school, Foster was told that he was not good enough to play running back. In response, the young man put in time at linebacker until his name was finally called to answer the bell at featured back as a senior. At the University of Tennessee, Foster was unceremoniously benched as a senior -- after putting in three solid years as the starting running back.

After Rocky Top, Arian Foster was dismissed as a head case - fumbler, who was made complete by his awkward pterodactyl noises. This top running back actually fell out of the 2009 NFL Draft and was forced to sign as a free agent for the Houston Texans -- on the practice squad. Although originally relegated to the practice squad, Foster put in work to earn his way onto the cast of regulars and see game time action. In 2009, Arian Foster did show flashes of brilliance - as he rushed for 257 yards on 54 attempts -- for a 4.8-yard average.

That off season, Arian Foster hit the weights, ran track, and studied game film like a mad man.

Arian Foster was ready to make the leap.

On 2010 opening day, Arian Foster had his coming out party against the Indianapolis Colts. In a sign of things to come, Foster gashed the Colts for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns on 33 carries. For the year, Foster went on to rumble for 1,616 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground alongside 604 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air.

Arian Foster, the man nobody wanted, is your 2010-2011 NFL rushing champion.

Arian Foster simply wants it more.

#2 Greatest Current NFL Running Back: Chris Johnson

Despite his common name and small-market franchise, Chris Johnson is one of the most distinguished athletes in all of sports. Johnson is recognized by his flowing locks, gold teeth, and of course, his road runner speed. At the 2008 NFL Combine, Johnson blazed the track with a record 4.24 40 time. Unofficially, Chris Johnson would be the modern era's second fastest man, after Prime Time Deion Sanders. With such speed, #28 makes world class athletes appear as if they were loaded down with ankle weights -- in quicksand.

In 2009, Chris Johnson went bonkers during his sophomore season. That year, Johnson put together one of the greatest statistical campaigns of all time -- with 2,006 rushing yards, 2,509 total yards from scrimmage and 16 total touchdowns. Barring injury, Chris Johnson will receive a bronzed bust in Canton -- between the likes of Marshall Faulk, O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, and Jim Brown.

#1 Greatest Current NFL Running Back: Adrian Peterson

Adrian Peterson is the greatest NFL running back in the game today.

Classic A.P. takes the inside hand-off and sheds arm tacklers at the line of scrimmage. At the second level, Peterson jukes a stiff linebacker out of his cleats and bounces the football to the edge, before delivering a forearm shiver to some hapless defensive back. Form there, it is off to the races, as Peterson shifts gears into top speed and into the end zone.

Adrian Peterson will not be denied.

Top Five Greatest Current NFL Running Backs, Sources:

Pro-Football-Reference.com: Pro Football Statistics and History

NFL: Player Statistics

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