Re: Rank these running backs
SU. Alexander is the best because he possessed the best combination of speed and power. I realize that what he lacks as a receiver takes away from him, but he is an unstoppable runner in his prime.
James is next, followed by Barber. Both are great runners and good receivers, but James didn't take as long to emerge as a star (he was one as a rookie), so he's ahead of Tiki.
Westbrook is next, and is this low only because of his injury habits.
TD and Priest are both products of a great system, but Davis is a better back, so he's ahead of Holmes. My concern over TD is that Derrick Lovelle and even Olandis Gary (after TD hurt his knee) did just fine in place of him when needed. By the way, I feel that Holmes is the toughest one to rank because despite his years in KC, he was very average in Baltimore, so it is hard to figure out if he was more of a product of the system or if he is a great back (he was behind an awesome O-line and whenever he got hurt, a replacement did very well too).
That leave Portis. While he is a fine back, he is a product of the Denver system that saw TD do better than he did there (hence TD being higher), and we saw Betts outperform him in Washington just last season when he was hurt.
Well, it was a lot of fun to rank these players, even if my rankings aren't very good...
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