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Originally Posted by milkman
They aren't necessarily more prone to injury, so much as nagging ailments, and declining numbers.
Eddie George, Earl Campbell, James Wilder, Barry Foster, Jamal Lewis, along with Anderson, all had big carry years, and none them were ever as productive the following seasons.
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Milkman, I understand the concept and I do agree. The more carries a RB has, the more likely he is to run into problems. However, Mecca's assumption that history dictates that "Almost Always" after a RB puts up 1 big carry season he's done isn't exactly accurate.
Eddie George played 4 full years after that big year, 2 of them over 1k yards and less than half a yard difference per carry.
Earl Campbell played 5-6 more years and almost duplicated his high mark two years later - missed 2 games or he may have surpassed. '81 the oilers in general tanked.
James Wilder did have the dropoff
Barry Foster was a smaller back that didn't do much before his one big season either. Basically, he had one excellent season in 5 years of play.
Jamal Lewis had Justin Taylor seeing more reps after his big year.
'Course there's also Eric Dickerson who kept putting up yards for several years after that big season.
LT has carried some real loads and is still going.
As I stated earlier, Faulk is another.
Ricky Williams did have a "joint" problem after his 2 highly productive seasons, but it
was a different kind of "joint"
Walter Peyton is another that cranked out several more years after a high carry season.
Like I said, I understand the concept and I do agree.
There are also other variables to consider - what happened to the rest of the team? Did the coaching staff stay intact? How many years did the player play before they had "the big year"?
Also, as I tried to explain, some of those injuries happened because the player was hit, fell, etc a certain way. There are lots of players every year that take hits that either hamper or end their careers - some are rookies with high prospects that never get to prove themselves, others are up-coming players that never get to reach their full potential, while others, get the hits after they reach the top. And yes, the more a player plays, the more apt they are to take one of those hits. But, those hits can come to any player, irrigardless of how many carries they had the year before. For example, what would Bo Jackson have done if he hadn't taken that hit?