Life and Death of the Warrick Dunn's
 

I am fully aware of the NFL evolving to the bigger backs, but I would like to know will there be another Dunn, in the aspect of being a 1st Round everydown back(smurfs) to carry the load fulltime.

When Dunn came into the league he was measured in at 5'9'' 180 and happened to be the 1st RB off the board #12 overall to TB in the 97 draft over the likes of Antowain Smith & Corey Dillion who were larger backs.

It has been a massive drought on these type of backs in recent years, aside from Jahvid Best being selected #30 overall to Detroit in 2010.

Uhhh...What?

Chris Johnson (#24)
CJ Spiller (#9)
Jahvid Best (#30)
Reggie Bush (#2)
Dexter McCluster (#36)
Darren McFadden (#4)
Felix Jones (#22)
DeAngelo Williams (#27)

That's just since 2006. I imagine that names like Lamar Miller will be added to this soon enough. In comparison, the "larger" running backs who have gone highly in the first round in the same time period are

Jonathon Stewart (#13)
Adrian Peterson (#7)
Beanie Wells (#31)
Marshawn Lynch (#12)
Laurence Maroney (#21)
Rashard Mendenhall (#23)
Knowshown Moreno (#12)
Donald Brown (#27)
Ryan Mathews (#12)
Mark Ingram? (#28)

So there's been 1(2) more "big" backs drafted early since 2006 then Warrick Dunn types, and some guys like Donald Brown and Ryan Mathews should barely qualify as power runners.

Let me make myself clear, Spiller is the only guy to go ahead of the brolic types. I used Best as a reference, because he appears the smallest out of the bunch to go Round 1. Guys in Bold are fairly big IMO. Out of all those smurf-like guys listed, McCluster is the closest in reminIsce of size to Dunn.

You have the strangest thread titles.

Darren McFadden is, I suppose, "big" but he's certainly not thick nor is he a power runner. I would definitely consider him a speed back.

If I had to guess, I'd venture to say Chris Johnson is all of 180 pounds dripping wet (he's listed as 190, but no way do I buy that) at 5'10. He's got 2 inches on Dunn. Reggie Bush is similar, I'd be very shocked if he was above 200 pounds on gameday.

DMC does lean more as a speed runner but he will lower his shoulder and pop a few people. So he's more well rounded now than he was before.

When I said Warrick Dunn types, again I'm referring to the 5'8''-5'9'' 180-185lb guys.

I don't recall Warrick Dunn being a "speed back". Not that he wasn't fast, but I remember him being pretty physical and running between the tackles quite a bit. I think that is why you don't see backs like him anymore. For him to stay healthy and play as long as he did was pretty remarkable and I don't think there are many guys of his stature that could do that.

Correct! He had the grit of a back 6'0'' or better to be a smurf. Was not the type to be quick & bounce it back to the outside.

Dunn is the toughest smurf known to mankind! Who would have thought this guy would have been an everydown back for many many years running between the tackles?

Nice revisionist history going on in here. Dunn was okay between the tackles, and wasn't a really physical runner at all. Once he started playing with Mike Vick he just made the most out of the opportunity of seeing teams completely forget about the middle of the field while they were in the process of ******** their pants making sure that Vick was contained. The reason Dunn was viewed as a good inside runner is because teams didn't actually defend the middle of the field like they normally did against teams that didn't have a run-first QB with 4.3 speed. The only team that didn't completely sell out to stop Vick and fail at it on a consistent basis was the Bucs because they actually managed to build a good tampa-2 defense before all of Dungy's disciples spread it all over the place. Warrick Dunn was a good player, but he got running lanes that no one other than Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson had the opportunity of benefiting from for an extended period of time.

He ran for over 1,000 yards in 1998 with the Buccaneers when his QB was Trent ******* Dilfer and again in 2000 with the great Shaun King. Not fair to say that Dunn just benefited from the threat of Mike Vick.

And in neither year was Dunn relied on for tough yardage on a team that featured Mike Alstott. The Falcons definitely even picked up on this too when they drafted TJ Duckett the same year that they signed Dunn. Dunn is a great person, and was a good running back, but he wasn't a good inside runner because of his physicality.

So you are saying that backs like Warrick Dunn lived and died with Dunn... You have yet to give any other back past or present that fits this extremely specific category besides Best.

So he wasn't the guy you'd give it to on 3rd and 1 to blast through a goalline defense. I can accept that. But a lot of his yards did come up the middle and he was never afraid of contact. Broke quite a few tackles as well. He tried to finish runs, not avoid punishment. Probably lost most of those battles with 240lb linebackers, being shy of 190lbs, but the toughness and effort was there.

ITT: People either completely miss the point of this thread, or hijack it to argue about Warrick Dunn.

To the OP, I very much doubt there'll be another Dunn-sized feature back drafted in Rd1 unless he just performs out of his mind not only in college, but at the Combine. Even then, falling to Rd2 wouldn't be a huge shock.

Will there be one this year? I would say that's a definite no. Demps could run in the 4.2 range and still get pushed down the board for being 5'7...if he's even that tall.

Also, why the funk you put an apostrophe in "Dunns"?

THE A TRAIN BABY! WOOOO! EVERYONE GET ON BOARD!



What an animal. Still one of my favorite players of all time.

I remember Anthony ******* Thomas trying to steal the A-Train monicker. Smh.

GTFO with that ****. There is one A-Train, and it is Mike Alstott. I am ordering a custom Mike Alstott jersey AS WE SPEAK!

I would put Napoleon Kaufman in this mold as well, taken in the 1st round 2 years earlier in 1995.

I ******* loved that guy growing up.

Yeah... this is essentially what I was going to ask. You're implying that it used to be normal for teams to take tiny running backs with high picks. Who do you even have in mind, besides Warrick Dunn? If anything, he was something of an anomaly himself. And then you see Reggie Bush and Chris Johnson, both "thin" backs, taken in the first in the last few years. If there's a dynamic player there, teams take them. Percy Harvin, CJ Spiller... None of those guys are over 200 lbs. It's not that teams are avoiding drafting them, it's literally just that running backs tend to be heavier than that.

But fun fact - the 49ers drafted the 5'9" 170 lb Dexter Carter #25 in 1990 and he sucked.

How has no one mentioned Maurice Jones-Drew? That guy is 5'6 in high heels I know he was a second rounder. But he is proof that Dunn sized guys can be featured backs.

Really? He easily has 30 pounds on Warrick. If not 40. I think there were reports of him being 215 or 220 at some point. I know I've heard him on NFLN and such talking about dropping weight over the course of his career.