All this talk about Demarco Murray's 2014 workload got me curious and I found a list of such players. LINK

The only running backs that were somewhat immune to this type of usage were Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and Ladainian Tomlinson.

Larry Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Rashard Mendenhall, Ricky Williams, Curtis Martin and Shaun Alexander were never the same again.

Jamal Anderson, Edgerrin James and Terrell Davis all suffered torn ACL's the following year.

Will be interesting to see what happens with Murray.

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Posted by TTsTowel

RIP Bow9den/Coastie

Member since Feb 2010

91648 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 1:44 pm to NorthGAVol

quote:
Larry Johnson

He was such a beast.

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Posted by jeff5891

Member since Aug 2011

15761 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 1:44 pm to NorthGAVol

quote:
Ricky Williams

i dont think that was his problem.....

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Posted by KosmoCramer

Member since Dec 2007

76522 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 1:45 pm to TTsTowel

quote:
He was such a beast.

His father is a beast recruiter and line coach. It runs in the family.

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Posted by TheRookbird

Member since Aug 2013

1322 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 1:53 pm to NorthGAVol

quote:
The only running backs that were somewhat immune to this type of usage were Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and Ladainian Tomlinson.

You should add Marshawn Lynch to that list...

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Posted by theunknownknight

Baton Rouge

Member since Sep 2005

57348 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 2:17 pm to TheRookbird

Where does Marshall Faulk land on this?

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Posted by Jim Rockford

Member since May 2011

98188 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 2:51 pm to TheRookbird

quote:
Emmitt Smith

Was the best at evading contact. Rarely took a head on shot.

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Posted by TheCaterpillar

Member since Jan 2004

76774 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 2:54 pm to NorthGAVol

How many carries did Barry Sanders get?

ETA:

Just looked, maxed at 343, but he averaged over 300 for like 8 years straight so he's gotta be an exception too

This post was edited on 3/12/15 at 3:10 pm

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Posted by SoFla Tideroller

South Florida

Member since Apr 2010

30123 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 2:54 pm to Jim Rockford

Surprised Barry never reached that threshold.

ETA: Just a tad late

This post was edited on 3/12/15 at 2:56 pm

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Posted by Baloo

Formerly MDGeaux

Member since Sep 2003

49645 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 3:06 pm to NorthGAVol

The Law of 370 states: "A running back with 370 or more carries during the regular season will usually suffer either a major injury or loss of effectiveness the following year, unless he is named Eric Dickerson."

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Posted by Ponchy Tiger

Ponchatoula

Member since Aug 2004

45133 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 3:10 pm to Baloo

Eric Dickerson was a freak of nature. Can't think of any player that size that was as fast and and smooth as he was. Everything he did was effortless.

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Posted by lsu480

Downtown Scottsdale

Member since Oct 2007

92876 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 3:15 pm to SoFla Tideroller

When you score long TDs like Barry did you don't need to carry it as much.

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Posted by VADawg

Wherever

Member since Nov 2011

44866 posts

Posted on 3/12/15 at 4:18 pm to NorthGAVol

quote:
Jamal Anderson, Edgerrin James and Terrell Davis all suffered torn ACL's the following year

I doubt torn ACLs the next season are a result of so many carries the year before because of the freakish nature of the injury. So many carries definitely slows down a back though. That is absolute hell on a human body to take 370 carries in an NFL season. I was listening to Cowherd one time and he had a doctor or someone in the medical field who knew what they were talking about on air. Whoever it was said that 25 NFL carries is the equivalent of running head first into your garage door 800 times.

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Posted by tiderider