Our sister site, Dawg Pound Daily, decided to ask the question “is Nick Chubb the best running back since 1999?” The answer is yes. And duh. And duh-doy. Nick Chubb is clearly the best running back since 1999 and it’s not even close. No line, top-tier line, it doesn’t matter. He’ll get his five yards per carrying every time.
So the real question is, who’s number two? Who’s the other running back that stood out above the rest. Ben Gay. No, sorry, no. Not even as a joke pick. Gay may share the name of a joint-pain medicine, but the only relief he brought with him was the lack of anxiety the defenses had when they saw him.
So who really was the best running backs since 1999; not named Chubb?
(Note: The list will be numbered five through one, even though “one” will actually be the first runner up to Nick Chubb’s true designation of number one.)
No. 5 Reuben Droughns
Reuben Droughns makes the list solely because he topped 1,000 yards rushing. He was the first running back of the new-Browns Era to post 1,000 yards rushing in a single season. He wasn’t overly good or made a difference, as he barely broke 4.0 yards-per-carry in his first year on the team, but at least he was the first. After that 1,000 yard season, his average dropped to 3.4 yards-per-carry the next year. He barely did do enough to beat out other names like Jamel White, Kareem Hunt, and Trent Richardson.
He didn’t have a lot of help, but he did have a 1,000-yard receiver in Antonio Bryant, and a steady, if unimpressive, passing from Trent Dilfer. He also had a declining Dennis Northcutt and a rookie Braylon Edwards; neither of whom made a massive impact.
That said, Droughns had two, back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons; one in Denver and the next in Cleveland. From that first 1,000-yard season to his second year in Cleveland, Droughns declined in quality each year.
Droughns finished his time in Cleveland with 1,990 yards, a 3.8 YPC, and six touchdowns while having career figures of 3,602, 3.9 YPC, and 19 touchdowns.
No. 4 William Green
It may not seem like it, but William Green actually had one of the better post-1999 careers in Browns’ history. In the years following the return, Green posted three seasons of 500+ yards rushing, with one of those seasons hitting 800 yards. That may not seem like a lot, considering Nick Chubb has topped 1,400 on his own, but keep this in mind, only three other running backs since 1999 have topped 500 yards on the Browns three times.
So Green’s run, in context, is impressive. Well, impressively sad but still. It’s impressive.
Green wasn’t in the best place when he started his career, and never lived up to his potential as the 2002 first-round pick. That said, Green did become the first running back of the new Browns era to top 800 yards, as well as having the most iconic run of the “new Browns”, with his now widely infamous “Run, William, run!” sprint that knocked off the Atlanta Falcons and securing Cleveland a playoff spot in 2002.
That was the first time the new Browns had gotten to the playoffs, and the only time that they did until 2020.
Green didn’t get a second contract, as off-field issues and poor play ruined his potential. He did finish with 2,109 yards rushing and nine touchdowns, however.
No. 3 Peyton Hillis
It’s entirely possible that Peyton Hillis is only this high due to him being the only Browns player to don the cover of Madden Football, but even if that’s the case it should tell you just how popular he was in Cleveland and the surrounding NFL markets. Hillis won the cover contest to be the Madden franchise face for their Madden ’12 video game, beating out Michael Vick.
The popularity alone makes him worthy of a top-five spot, but he also brought a factor to the game of football that wasn’t as big then as it is now; the leap. Hillis made it cool to jump over tacklers in the open field, a trend that became more and more prominent after Hillis’ 2010 season.
The story of Hillis will forever be marred in ego and lack of desire. The former Arkansas fullback came out of college and went to Denver near the end of the draft. This despite sharing a backfield with Felix Jones and Darren McFadden while in college. In his first year in Denver, he posted 5.0 YPC and scored five touchdowns but in the following year, he was lost in the shuffle.
Finally, he got traded to Cleveland for Brady Quinn and exploded onto the season. Ultimately he’d never be able to duplicate that success, and bounced from Cleveland to Kansas City and then to New York before concussions forced him to retire.
During his time in the NFL Hillis put up 3,882 all-purpose yards and 26 touchdowns. In Cleveland, he rushed for 1,764 yards, with 4.1 YPC and 14 touchdowns. Hillis is now an actor and is starring in his first horror film.
No. 2 Jamal Lewis
Jamal Lewis was one of the most intimidating running backs in the NFL, partly because of his punishing style of play and partly because he was brazen enough to sell drugs while making millions of dollars. The one-time Pro Bowler was a legend in Baltimore, and while he was injured the year they won it, was a former Super Bowl winner with the franchise.
In his last year with the Ravens, they went 13-3 and opted to let Lewis move on, replacing him with former Miami Hurricanes and Buffalo Bills star Willis McGahee. The team would not repeat their success without Lewis.
Lewis, for his part, went to Cleveland where he would play for three seasons and post-back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Lewis was just the second running back since 1999 to post 1,000 yards in a season with the Browns, and the only player at that point to post two 1,000 yard seasons. He was also a focal point of the 2007 team that won 10 games.
While he posted 10,607 yards rushing in his career, and 4.2 YPC, he only posted 2,806 of that in Cleveland. His production dropped each year while in Cleveland, posting 1,304 yards, 4.4 YPC, and nine touchdowns his first year. In his second year, he posted 1,002 yards, 3.6 YPC, and four touchdowns. Then his last year saw him post just 500 yards rushing, with 3.5 YPC and zero touchdowns. He also missed seven games and started only eight.
He took a backseat to the second running back that year, Jerome Harrison, who isn’t on the list.
No. 1 Isaiah Crowell
Ready for this one? Isaiah Crowell is the only Browns running back to spend four years on the team and post 500+ yards rushing in every single season. How’s that for a mind-effery. It wasn’t even just usage that got Crowell to produce like he did, in all but one season he averaged more than 4.0 YPC, and in 2016 (his third season) averaged 4.8 YPC. Crowell was no slouch and was a good enough pass-catcher to make him a dual-threat.
Not Christian McCaffery levels of dual-threat, but not one you could sleep on.
Crowell has been a victim of circumstance as a running back. In his first year, he split time with Terrance West, who was, not great. The team won seven games that year, thanks to Brian Hoyer. The next year was the Johnny Manziel madness season, where the then-second year quarterback tanked his career. His last two years, arguably his best stretch of football, saw him with just one win thanks to Hue Jackson and Sashi Brown.
After the Browns finally got some talent, Cleveland would let Crowell leave in order to give Nick Chubb, Carlos Hyde, and Duke Johnson more opportunities.
He left and went to New York in 2018, where he backed up Bilal Powell but outperformed him. The Yets rewarded his skills and production by cutting him to sign Le’Veon Bell. After that Crowell went to the Raiders, where he suffered a season-ending injury and hasn’t been back in the NFL since.
In his time in Cleveland, Crowell rushed for 3,803 yards, on 4.2 YPC, with 21 rushing touchdowns.