Alternate Mount Rushmore- Running Backs

[FinFanCR]

Sammie Smith
Troy Stradford
Karim Abdul-Jabbar
JJ Johnson

Tough call on the last two.  Thought of Rob Konrad and Cecil Collins

[Downunder Dolphan]

Sammie Smith: The reasons why are well outlined in the Ring of Dishonor, although personally I think his playing career is a bit better than that read. Someone once wrote what really hurt was that in 1990 he actually looked good, had some major games culminating in what was a Herculean effort to help get us over the Chiefs in the Wild Card game when nothing else seemed to be going right. Injuries due to a poor running style were a curse in a lead up to those back to back fumbling disasters in 1991, and his knee blew out for good shortly after being picked up by Denver. His stats are really no worse than others I will mention here, but I guess his post-career choices lock him in as top choice (and I guess by default, the benchmark).

Lorenzo Hampton: Another first round draft pick who had very similar stats to Sammie Smith - with an additional two years of playing time for us, and comparatively without any real injury problems. He was so ordinary we drafted Sammie Smith - that's gotta say something.

Daniel Thomas: He was basically a Sammie Smith clone minus any of the highlights, and was Jeff Ireland's second biggest ever draft bust - considering he cost us two valuable draft picks in the move up a few spots to get him in the second round, it was an equally bad if not more disastrous decision. At least he wasn't selling crack to kids after he retired...

David Overstreet: This may not be a popular choice, but I stand by it, especially if we are putting a priority on players who cost us fumbling at the wrong times in the biggest moments. We drafted him 13th overall in the 1981 draft (ahead of HOF players Mike Singletary, Howie Long, and Rickey Jackson), but because he wanted more money he pissed off to Canada for two years. After he finally came back in 1983, his fumbles were lethal, especially in that playoff loss to Seattle. Yes he died tragically after just the one season in NFL, but the three years we got out of pick 13 was arguably even worse than the three years from Sammie Smith.

[Phishfan]

Get ready to hear BriFein squall. The forgotten name on each list is John Avery.

[Downunder Dolphan]

Get ready to hear BriFein squall. The forgotten name on each list is John Avery.

Avery is a fine candidate, another end of first round bomb - although he did only waste just the one year of our time. So...

[Brian Fein]

Hark - I heard my name from across the internet.

John Avery was a XFL super stud.  He showed he had the tools but just couldn't put it together at the NFL level.

I'd also have Cecil Collins, Sammie Smith, and dare I say.... RICKY WILLIAMS...

[Spider-Dan]

I'd also have Cecil Collins, Sammie Smith, and dare I say.... RICKY WILLIAMS...

Are you also putting Jason Taylor in the Ring of Dishonor because he played for the Jets? 

Interested to see who you would have on the Dolphins' Mt. Rushmore of (good) RBs.  Certainly can't be Zonk, who blew up a Super Bowl team to go play in the WFL.

[Phishfan]

Avery is a fine candidate, another end of first round bomb - although he did only waste just the one year of our time. So...

I counter with Randy Moss was available at our spot and call check mate.

[Downunder Dolphan]

I counter with Randy Moss was available at our spot and call check mate.

Moss actually went eight spots earlier than Avery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_NFL_Draft

There were a couple of notable names after which we could have got (Hines Ward, and Patrick Surtain who we did get at 44), but it was surprisingly slim pickings.

[Spider-Dan]

Moss actually went eight spots earlier than Avery.

MIA traded down from 19th to 29th to pick up an extra second-round pick, which they further traded into a third-, fifth-, and sixth-round pick.  (Those picks turned into LB Brad Jackson, OG Scott Shaw, and QB John Dutton.)

Moss was drafted 21st.  He was still on the board when MIA made the trade with GB.

[Downunder Dolphan]

MIA traded down from 19th to 29th to pick up an extra second-round pick, which they further traded into a third-, fifth-, and sixth-round pick.  (Those picks turned into LB Brad Jackson, OG Scott Shaw, and QB John Dutton.)

Moss was drafted 21st.  He was still on the board when MIA made the trade with GB.

Ahhh, I stand corrected then. What an awful move. 

Looking back over some of those names mentioned, like Cecil Collins... we really did draft some absolute stinkers!

[masterfins]

Let's not forget about Lawrence Phillips.

[Downunder Dolphan]

Let's not forget about Lawrence Phillips.

Still trying to...