We were discussing LeVeon Bell over the weekend. Will he be undermined by a lesser coaching staff and supporting cast in New York? And is he even truly an elite, top-tier back (or did Pittsburgh’s offense make him look better than he actually is)?
I think he’s good. I think he’s for real. Before him, the Steelers had Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis; those guys are both Hall of Fame players. Bell in back-to-back playoff games ran for more yards than Harris or Bettis ever ran for in a postseason game. And he’s 27, with plenty of tread left on his tires. I think the Jets might have picked up a steal, with market forces keeping the price-tag down (teams don’t like spending money on that position).
Jim Kontopoulos asked for a report on other transplanted star running backs, and I’ve decided how to structure such a study.
I took the numbers from the last 30 years and pulled out all running backs who posted top-10 numbers (standard scoring) then moved to a new team for the following season – whether it be by trade or free agency. Then you look at the next year’s numbers and see how those backs performed.
I found 19 such players. Most aren’t of Bell’s quality, but there are a few big-time backs in there.
| TRANSPLANTED TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player, new team | Prev-Rk | Rec | Run | Total | TD | Points | Rnk |
| 1992 | Herschel Walker, Phil. | Min.-8 | 278 | 1,070 | 1,348 | 10 | 194.8 | 10 |
| 1994 | Leonard Russell, Den. | N.E.-6 | 227 | 620 | 847 | 9 | 138.7 | 23 |
| 1995 | Ricky Watters, Phil. | S.F.-6 | 434 | 1,273 | 1,707 | 12 | 242.7 | 5 |
| 1998 | Ricky Watters, Sea. | Phil.-9 | 373 | 1,239 | 1,612 | 9 | 221.2 | 7 |
| 1999 | Marshall Faulk, St.L. | Ind.-3 | 1,048 | 1,381 | 2,429 | 12 | 316.9 | 1 |
| 2001 | Charlie Garner, Oak. | S.F.-10 | 578 | 839 | 1,417 | 3 | 159.7 | 18 |
| 2006 | Edgerrin James, Ariz. | Ind.-5 | 217 | 1,159 | 1,376 | 6 | 173.6 | 20 |
| 2006 | • Mike Anderson, Balt. | Den.-10 | 54 | 183 | 237 | 1 | 29.7 | 73 |
| 2009 | Thomas Jones, Chi. | NYJ-5 | 58 | 1,402 | 1,460 | 14 | 230.0 | 6 |
| 2010 | Thomas Jones, K.C. | Chi.-6 | 122 | 896 | 1,018 | 6 | 137.8 | 25 |
| 2012 | • Michael Bush, Chi. | Oak.-10 | 83 | 411 | 494 | 5 | 79.4 | 43 |
| 2013 | • Tr. Richardson, Cle.-Ind. | Cle.-10 | 316 | 563 | 879 | 4 | 111.9 | 35 |
| 2014 | • Chris Johnson, NYJ | Ten.-9 | 151 | 663 | 814 | 2 | 93.4 | 35 |
| 2014 | • Knowshon Moreno, Mia. | Den.-5 | 8 | 148 | 156 | 1 | 21.6 | 96 |
| 2015 | DeMarco Murray, Phil. | Dall.-1 | 322 | 702 | 1,024 | 7 | 144.4 | 18 |
| 2016 | Lamar Miller, Hou. | Mia.-6 | 188 | 1,073 | 1,261 | 6 | 162.1 | 17 |
| 2016 | Matt Forte, NYJ | Chi.-9 | 263 | 813 | 1,076 | 8 | 155.6 | 20 |
| 2016 | • Chris Ivory, Jac. | NYJ-8 | 186 | 439 | 625 | 3 | 80.5 | 48 |
| 2017 | • LeGarrette Blount, Phil. | N.E.-7 | 50 | 766 | 816 | 3 | 101.6 | 38 |
This is a little bit of a complex table, so let me provide an overview of what you’re looking at. For the stats, you’re seeing receiving yards, rushing yards, total yards, touchdowns and fantasy points (that using standard scoring). The last column (“Rnk”) shows where the running back ranked that year.
There’s also a column showing the player’s team the previous year, and where he ranked that season. For the first player, for example, Herschel Walker played for Minnesota in 1991 and was the 8th-best running back. He then switched to Philadelphia in 1992 and was the No. 10 back.
Of these 19 backs, 5 put up top-10 numbers in their first year with their new team. If you draft Bell, that’s what you’re hoping for. I’ve got these guys in bold, and I consider two of them to be the most Bell-like players on this list: Ricky Watters (who appears twice) and Marshall Faulk. Like Bell, those guys were both runners and receivers. Faulk went on to become a Hall of Famer, of course, but at that point in his career (when he was leaving the Colts) I would say it’s fair to call him and Bell pretty comparable.
Five other backs ranked 17th to 20th. And two others ranked 23rd and 25th. With all seven of those backs, they weren’t not busts, but they put up numbers less than what most were probably hoping for.
The seven remaining backs (tagged with black dots) all finished with lesser numbers. None ranked higher than 35th statistically.
—Ian Allan