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NFL scouts name greatest RB draft prospects of all time
NFL great Bo Jackson. RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

NFL scouts name greatest RB draft prospects of all time

By Colum Dell  |  Last updated 4/15/23

To prepare for the 2023 NFL Draft, ESPN's Jeff Legwold polled NFL scouts, general managers and coaches to find out who were the best prospects they've seen. 

Legwold's article, published Friday, featured four players, accompanied by several Hall of Fame-caliber players receiving honorable mentions. Two running backs headline the top four, with one-time Pro Bowler and MLB All-Star Bo Jackson atop the list.

Despite being drafted as No. 1 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1986, Jackson refused to play for the team after believing they had sabotaged his collegiate baseball career. Jackson took a predraft visit with the Buccaneers, which the team told him the NCAA and SEC approved, but that was not the case.

After negotiating a contract that allowed him to play for the Kansas City Royals, Jackson signed with the Los Angeles Raiders, who drafted him 183rd overall in 1987. He played parts of four seasons in the NFL, recording 2,782 rushing yards before a hip injury derailed his career. 

Although his career wasn't as successful as many expected, Jackson is far from a bust and is still renowned as one of the most gifted athletes ever. One scout told Legwold, "Bo will always be the guy for me that I thought would be in Canton." 

The second-best running back prospect on the list is a strong contender for the title of the greatest tailback of all time, Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders. 

During his 1988 Heisman Trophy-winning season, Sanders set the NCAA single-season rushing (2,628) and all-purpose yard (3,248) records. Sanders' rushing record still stands, but Stanford's Christian McCaffrey surpassed the all-purpose record in 2015, though it took him 13 games compared to Sanders' 11. 

Sanders would go on to be the No. 3 pick in 1989 and play 10 seasons for the Lions, earning six first-team All-Pro selections and the MVP Award in 1997. He recorded 18,308 all-purpose yards and 109 touchdowns during his Hall of Fame career. 

Seven players cracked the honorable mentions category featuring two all-time great running  — Jim Brown and Adrian Peterson. Brown could've been at the top of the list, but the members polled didn't get to see him play in person. 

A 1964 champion and 1971 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Brown led the league in rushing eight times during his nine-year career, winning MVP three times. The Syracuse product was the first player in NFL history to rush for over 10,000 career yards. 

In total, Brown rushed for 12,312 yards, caught 262 passes for 2,499 yards and scored 126 touchdowns before retiring at 30. 

Peterson, the seventh overall pick in 2007 and the best running back of the 2010s, recorded 14,918 rushing yards (fifth-most all-time) and 126 total touchdowns during his 15-year career. Following a torn ACL and MCL in 2011, Peterson won the 2012 MVP, rushing for 2,097 yards, nine yards short of breaking Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson's single-season record.

Peterson will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame starting in 2027 and will surely be a first-ballot induction. 

Even with the injury that cut Jackson's career short, the evaluator's assessments fared well, especially compared to ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.'s all-time running back prospects rankings. In Kiper's list, published in 2013, Sanders was the only player previously mentioned who landed in the top 10, coming in fourth behind Dickerson, Curt Warner and Ricky Williams. 

Projecting prospects is essentially a guessing game, but with the talents highlighted in Legwold's piece, it's not shocking that they panned out.

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