The running backs are next up in our NFC South All-Decade Team of the 2000s. Which rivals join New Orleans Saints great Deuce McAllister? The division was home to some great rushers in its early days, and all four teams ended up being represented on our list. But who made the cut from the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
Methodology
One key stat we’re relying on is Approximate Value from Pro Football Reference, which PFR defines as “an attempt to put a single number on the seasonal value of a player at any position from any year.” In practice, that means giving higher numbers to player who start more games, play more snaps, and do more to help their team win by racking up yards, scoring touchdowns, creating turnovers and sacking quarterbacks, and so on. We’re also assigning point values to being named a first-team All-Pro (ten points), second-team All-Pro (five points), and Pro Bowler (three points). And then we’re adding those numbers together. Remember, these are all-decade teams for the NFC South, which didn’t exist until 2002, and only contributions on the four teams in the division factor into our formula. So Drew Brees earning a Pro Bowl nod with the San Diego Chargers in 2005 doesn’t help him, for example.
First team: Warrick Dunn
- Team: Atlanta Falcons (2002 to 2007), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2008)
- AV: 64
- Honors: Pro Bowler (1)
- Score: 67
Dunn’s roots with NFC South teams go back even further than the division itself; his career started in Tampa Bay, where he was chosen for two Pro Bowls and won Offensive Rookie of the Year before the NFC South was founded. All told, he spent six years with both the Buccaneers and the Falcons. He had three 1,000-yard seasons as a rusher in Atlanta and totaled 1,000 or more yards from scrimmage five times as a dirty bird. The only year he came up short was 2007, and he still finished with 958 scrimmage yards. Dunn ended his career by re-signing with Tampa Bay in 2008 at 33 years of age, and he still put up 1,116 yards and a couple of touchdowns.
First team: Deuce McAllister
- Team: New Orleans Saints, 2001 to 2008
- AV: 59
- Honors: Pro Bowler (2)
- Score: 65
McAllister rewrote the Saints’ record books for career rushing yards and touchdowns, and nobody came close to surpassing him until Mark Ingram II and Alvin Kamara hit their stride a decade after he retired. McAllister had four years with 1,000 or more rushing yards include an inspiring 2006 comeback season following a serious knee injury. It said a lot about how much respect he commanded in the building that the Saints re-signed him to serve as an honorary captain for the 2009 playoffs. He remains a favorite among Saints fans and has done well for himself in a post-playing career as a radio analyst.
Second team: DeAngelo Williams
- Team: Carolina Panthers, 2006 to 2009
- AV: 34
- Honors: All-Pro second team (1), Pro Bowler (1)
- Score: 42
Williams only had four seasons in our window, but he made them count. He quickly established himself in Carolina’s backfield before breaking out with a ridiculous 1,515 rushing yards and 18 touchdown runs in 2008 (without a single fumble); a year later, he earned a trip to the Pro Bowl despite turning in “only” 1,117 yards and seven touchdowns. He was a serious big-play threat and a thorn in the Saints’ side for a long time. This is outside our scope, but Williams still holds the record for the most rushing yards gained against New Orleans (1,176).
Second team: Michael Pittman Sr.
- Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2002 to 2007
- AV: 38
- Honors: N/A
- Score: 38
Pittman, the father of Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Michael Pittman Jr., was a bruising rusher on some good Buccaneers teams. He led Jon Gruden’s Super Bowl-winning team in rushing yards (718 in the regular season, with an impressive 182 across three playoff games) and gave fans something to cheer for in a career 2004 season that didn’t result in many wins. You might be surprised that Pittman’s fan-favorite teammate Mike Alstott didn’t make the cut, and he was a Pro Bowler in 2002. But his workload decreased heavily after the NFC South was formed and he just didn’t have the volume of touches to climb the list.
More NFC South All-Decade Team of the 2000s
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: NFC South All-Decade Team of the 2000s: Deuce McAllister leads the RBs
