The devaluation of running backs has been well-chronicled over the years, and it arguably has the most volatile history of any position in professional sports. Players who would have been linchpins of their offense in previous generations have become afterthoughts in today's game, and this trend has led to prolific passing numbers across the league.
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There has been an alarming trend of running backs breaking down following seasons with heavy workloads, which has steered the notion that the position has a shorter shelf life than other skill positions. Most of these backs burst onto the scene and looked like legitimate superstars before quickly disappearing into obscurity.
10 Peyton Hillis
Peyton Hillis has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the most notorious examples of the Madden curse, as the Madden 12 cover athlete fell off a cliff following a breakout 2010 season in which he had over 1500 total yards and scored 13 touchdowns. The Browns were wise to make the then 24-year-old, who they received in an offseason trade with Denver for Brady Quinn (it was pretty easy to win that one, huh Dawg Pound?), the centerpiece of their otherwise abysmal offense in his first year with the squad.
While Hillis' bruising running style made him one of the most feared backs to tackle in the open field, it also left him susceptible to injuries. The 2010 season was the only one in which he played a full 16-game slate, and he never had another season with over 600 yards on the ground. Was it the Madden cover or the inability to stay healthy? The world may never know... but Hillis is undoubtedly one of the biggest one-season wonders in league history.
9 Ickey Woods
Ickey Woods looked like the league's next great running back when he ran for over 1,000 yards (with an NFL-leading 5.3 yards-per-carry) and 15 touchdowns during his rookie season in 1988. The Bengals rode his hot hand to the Super Bowl, where they would lose to the 49ers. Unfortunately, his career was downhill from there, as he suffered a torn ACL in the second game of his sophomore season and never regained his pre-injury burst.
He never played a full slate of games after his breakout rookie season and had less than 500 yards for the remainder of his career (which only spanned three more years as he never got the chance to sign a second deal). He is most known for his "Ickey Shuffle" end zone celebration, but he could have left a much bigger legacy if injuries had not derailed his career.
8 Robert Edwards
Robert Edwards may be a forgotten man, but the former Patriots' first-round selection looked destined for stardom during his rookie season in 1998. He wasted no time taking the league by storm, as he set a record for consecutive games with a touchdown to begin a career and had over 1400 total yards and 12 touchdowns on the year. Unfortunately, his career got put on hold after Edwards blew out his knee in a flag football game during the Pro Bowl week.
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While he may have kept his leg (this potentially was not the case), the injury sidelined him until 2002, when he returned for one more season with the Dolphins. He played a reserve role in his sole season in Miami and was again away from the game until returning to the gridiron three years later with the CFL, where he played four years.
7 Steve Slaton
The 2008 NFL Draft featured a slew of running backs who would achieve significant success, including Matt Forte, Jamaal Charles, and former 40-yard-dash record-holder (and 2,000-yard rusher) Chris Johnson. However, Steve Slaton, an unheralded third-round selection by the Texans, was a surprise rookie sensation who led rookies in rushing with 1,282 yards (he also added nearly 400 yards through the air) despite being the tenth back selected in the loaded class.
The explosive playmaker was considered one of the league's top young running backs heading into his second season, but he took a clear step back while seemingly every other member of his class took a massive leap forward.
His decision to add nearly 20 pounds of muscle backfired immediately, as he lost the signature burst that he displayed during his standout rookie year. He got released by Houston before his rookie contract was complete, and his 2008 season accounted for over 60% of the total yards (between rushing and receiving) in his career.
6 Justin Forsett
Justin Forsett was another overlooked member from the incredible 2008 running back class, as he fell to the seventh round. Unlike Slaton, Forsett was a late bloomer who had his breakout year in his age-29 season in 2014. The Ravens initially expected the journeyman (Baltimore was his fifth team) to backup Ray Rice, but he was thrust into the starting lineup after Rice got released following a domestic violence incident.
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Forsett took full advantage of the opportunity, as he showed that he could handle a heavier workload and had over 1,500 total yards. His 1,266 rushing yards nearly doubled his second-most productive year on the ground and were enough to earn him a Pro Bowl nod. However, he disappeared as mysteriously as he arrived and only played two more years after the improbable breakout season.
5 Ladell Betts
While Forsett's late-career breakout may have been rare, he was not the only running back who took a few years to find his footing, as Ladell Betts followed a similar career path a decade earlier. The bruising back, who was selected in the second round by Washington in 2002, spent his first four years as a backup before filling in admirably for the injured Clinton Portis in 2006.
Washington shifted their offensive approach to better fit Betts' skillset, and the move paid off, as he had over 1,500 total yards on the season. His 1,154 yards on the ground accounted for nearly a third of his career rushing yards total, and he surpassed his second-best season by 800 yards. The fact that he averaged 4.7 yards-per-carry with the increased workload despite being held under the 4.0 mark in six other seasons makes his performance even more impressive.
4 Olandis Gary
Mike Shanahan's run-heavy scheme featured countless backs who had their best seasons under the tutelage of the innovative coach, and Olandis Gary, who looked like a budding star after taking over for the injured Terrell Davis during his rookie season in 1999, is one of the most notable examples of that. Despite entering the year with no expectations as a fourth-round selection, he had over 1,300 total yards (more than half of his career yardage) and scored seven touchdowns in only 12 games.
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A knee injury in the first game of his sophomore season would derail his career as it was just taking off, as he never regained the explosiveness he displayed during his standout rookie year. Gary only played four more years and failed to surpass the 400-yard mark in any other season. There is no telling how much his legacy could have changed if he had never gotten hurt, as he looked special before suffering the setback.
3 Spencer Ware
Andy Reid's offensive philosophy has evolved since Jackson Mahomes began annoying Kansas City fans five years ago, and many forget that seemingly any running back would find success after being plugged into his offense. Spencer Ware is one of the most recent examples of this phenomenon, as he took the league by storm and had nearly 1,400 total yards in only 14 games in 2016, the only season that he was Kansas City's lead back.
There were high expectations for Ware going into his sophomore campaign, as he was one of the league's top breakout stars, and many were interested to see if he could build off his impressive performance the year prior. Unfortunately, he suffered a torn PCL in the preseason, and his season was over before it began. He only played two more years in a reserve role for Kansas City and never looked the same after the injury.
2 LaMont Jordan
LaMont Jordan was in a similar spot to the one that Tony Pollard is in right now, as he was a highly talented running back who was stuck behind an established and respected veteran (although no one was arguing that Jordan was better than Curtis Martin at the time). However, he showed enough promise to earn a big-money contract with the Raiders in 2004, and the initial return on their investment made them look like geniuses, as he had a breakout year in his first year in the Silver and Black.
He led running backs with 70 catches (and had over 1,500 total yards in only 14 games), and looked like one of the most dynamic dual-threat backs in the league in 2005. However, things went downhill from there, as the increased workload seemed to have taken a toll on Jordan. He was slowed by injuries and never eclipsed the 600-yard mark on the ground for the remainder of his career.
1 Jay Ajayi
There were low expectations for Jay Ajayi, who the Dolphins selected in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, heading into his sophomore season, as he had less than 200 yards in a reserve role in his rookie season. Nevertheless, he announced his arrival after becoming only the fourth player in league history to have over 200 rushing yards in back-to-back weeks midway through the year, and he finished the season with nearly 1300 yards.
There may not have been high hopes for Ajayi going into his breakout season, but there certainly were after it. Nevertheless, the bruiser failed to live up to any of them, and Miami dealt him to Philadelphia (where he at least won a Super Bowl) before the trade deadline the following year. His fall from grace was swift and powerful, as he only played two more years before getting released. He was out of the league before turning 27, and his breakout season accounted for half of his career rushing yardage.
