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Dirk, Tomlinson warming up, CC BY 2.0
Running backs come in all shapes and sizes – big bruisers, shifty speedsters, goal-line specialists, third-down pass-catching backs, etc. In an era of increasing specialization and running backs by committee, the most coveted backs are still the ones that can play all three downs and represent both a rushing and receiving threat. Any list of the most dangerous all-purpose backs in NFL history who were equally good at running between the tackles and catching a screen pass in the flat would include Marshall Faulk and LaDainian Tomlinson. As football fans and fantasy players of the last 20 years will remember, in their prime, Faulk and Tomlinson were elite offensive weapons who racked up yards, catches, and perhaps most importantly, touchdowns at an extraordinary rate, on their way to Hall of Fame careers. With both players having hung up their cleats and been immortalized in Canton, the question is:
Who was better – Marshall Faulk or LaDainian Tomlinson?
The Beginning
Running backs that are first round draft picks usually have not only had spectacular college careers, but are also expected to step into a rebuilding team’s starting lineup and contribute almost immediately (the thinking being that running back is one of the easier positions to transition from college to the NFL at). As top five draft picks in their respective classes, both Faulk and Tomlinson became stars from Day 1.
As a collegian at San Diego State University, Faulk made an immediate impact as a true freshman, gaining 386 all-purpose yards and scoring 7 touchdowns in just his second game (both freshman records) en route to 1,429 rushing yards and 23 total touchdowns on the season. Overall, Faulk was a 2x All-American and in each of his three college seasons, he finished top-10 in Heisman voting, including a runner-up finish in 1992 as a sophomore to quarterback Gino Torretta, the leader of the undefeated Miami Hurricanes. Following his junior year, Faulk was selected second overall in the 1994 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. As a rookie, Faulk quickly validated the Colts’ faith in him, rushing for 1,282 yards, catching 52 passes, and scoring 12 total touchdowns (11 rushing, 1 receiving); he was named Offensive Rookie of the Year, garnered his first Pro Bowl nod, and was the first rookie to ever win Pro Bowl MVP.
Meanwhile, after splitting time as a freshman and sophomore, Tomlinson broke out as a junior at Texas Christian University (TCU), setting a then single-game FBS record with 406 rushing yards and leading the nation in rushing. As a senior, he again led the nation in rushing with over 2,100 yards and was an All-American, won the Doak Walker Award for best running back, and finished fourth in the Heisman voting (won that year by quarterback Chris Weinke of Florida State). After trading the top overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft to the Atlanta Falcons (which would be used to select quarterback Michael Vick), the San Diego Chargers (now Los Angeles Chargers) used the fifth overall pick to select Tomlinson and immediately made him their starting running back – in his rookie year, he ran for 1,236 yards, caught 59 passes, and scored 10 touchdowns, quickly establishing himself as one of the league’s best backs.
Career Comparison
Building on their outstanding rookie seasons, Faulk and Tomlinson would continue to dominate the NFL for years to come – beginning with Faulk in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the duo would take turns holding the unofficial title of best running back in the league.
In addition to his 1,000-yard season as a rookie, Faulk would spend four additional seasons with the Colts and rush for over 1,000 yards in three of them; the exception was 1996, when he was riddled by injury. In his last season as a Colt in 1998, Faulk played alongside rookie quarterback Peyton Manning and ran for a then career-high 1,319 yards, caught 86 passes for 908 yards (also both then career-highs, and the first of his four straight 2,000+ total-yard seasons), and scored 10 total touchdowns (6 rushing, 4 receiving). However, the Colts decided to inject fresh blood at the running back position and traded Faulk to the St. Louis Rams after the season for second and fifth round draft picks, while selecting Edgerrin James fourth overall in the 1999 NFL Draft (a great running back in his own right).
The trade turned out to be a steal for the Rams; playing alongside quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, Faulk became the engine of “The Greatest Show on Turf” and built upon his 1998 season to continue one of the most dominant four-year stretches in NFL history for a running back – from 1998 to 2001, each season he ran for 1,300+ yards, caught 80+ passes, and scored 10+ touchdowns. In his first season as a Ram, Faulk amassed 1,381 rushing yards, 87 receptions for 1,048 receiving yards, and 12 total touchdowns (7 rushing, 5 receiving) to become only the second player in NFL history to record a 1,000-1,000 season (after 49ers running back Roger Craig in 1985). Faulk would follow that up in 2000 with another historic season of 1,359 rushing yards, 81 receptions for 830 receiving yards, and a then-record 26 total touchdowns (18 rushing, 8 receiving), garnering the MVP award and the second of three consecutive Offensive Player of the Year honors. By the time he retired as a Ram after the 2005 season, Faulk was the only player in NFL history to accumulate 12,000+ rushing yards and 6,000+ receiving yards.
Like Faulk, Tomlinson’s rookie year would only propel him to even greater heights, as it was the first of eight straight 1,000-yard seasons and nine straight seasons of double-digit touchdowns scored as a Charger. In 2002 and 2003, he put up consecutive 1,600+ yard rushing seasons – Tomlinson’s 2003 season of 1,645 rushing yards, 100 receptions for 725 receiving yards, and 17 total touchdowns (13 rushing, 4 receiving) made him only the second running back ever with 100 catches in a season (following Cardinals fullback Larry Centers’ 101 receptions in 1995). Then, despite a somewhat down year by his high standards, Tomlinson would earn his first All-Pro honors in 2004 on the strength of 1,335 rushing yards, 53 receptions for 441 yards, and 18 total touchdowns (17 rushing, 1 receiving). The pinnacle of Tomlinson’s career was his 2006 MVP campaign, in which he rushed for a career-high 1,815 yards, caught 56 passes for 508 yards, and scored an NFL-record and astronomical 31 total touchdowns (a record 28 rushing, 3 receiving), also garnering his second All-Pro honors and the Offensive Player of the Year award. Following a couple more 1,000-yard seasons, he joined the New York Jets and spent two seasons with them before retiring after the 2011 season.
Despite playing one fewer season, Tomlinson outgained Faulk in career rushing yards and rushing touchdowns and had more 1,000-yard rushing seasons (8 vs. 7) and double-digit touchdown seasons (9 vs. 8), while Faulk had more career receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and total yards (rushing + receiving). In terms of accolades, Faulk had seven Pro Bowl appearances vs. Tomlinson’s five appearances; while both were three-time All-Pros and named MVP once, Faulk also has two more Offensive Player of the Year awards (3 vs. 1). On a per game basis, their yardage numbers are comparable, with the main difference being touchdowns: over 176 career regular season games, Faulk averaged 109 total yards (70 rushing yards, 4.4 catches for 39 receiving yards) and 0.77 touchdowns per game, while Tomlinson averaged 108 total yards (80 rushing, 3.7 catches for 28 receiving yards) and 0.95 touchdowns per game over 170 regular season games.
Regular Season Statistics
| Marshall Faulk | Player | LaDainian Tomlinson |
| 12 (1994-2005) | Seasons | 11 (2001-2011) |
| 176 | Games Played | 170 |
| 2,836 | Rushing Attempts | 3,174 |
| 12,279 | Rushing Yards | 13,684 |
| 4.3 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.3 |
| 100 | Rushing Touchdowns | 145 |
| 767 | Receptions | 624 |
| 6,875 | Receiving Yards | 4,772 |
| 36 | Receiving Touchdowns | 17 |
| 7x | Pro Bowls | 5x |
| 3x | All-Pro | 3x |
| 1x | MVP | 1x |
| 1x | Super Bowls | – |
| 3x Offensive POY, Offensive ROY | Other Awards | 1x Offensive POY |
| 2011 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2017 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
In terms of postseason play, both Faulk and Tomlinson played roughly the equivalent of three-quarters worth of regular season games – against tougher competition, each produced at a level below their regular season numbers. Faulk played in the Super Bowl twice, both with the Rams and coming away with one win, while the furthest Tomlinson got was the AFC Championship Game twice (once with the Chargers and once with the Jets). In Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999, Faulk had a mere 17 rushing yards, but added 5 catches for 90 yards in a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans; that game is better remembered for the final play, when Rams linebacker Mike Jones made a game-saving tackle on Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson on the one-yard line. Two years later, in Super Bowl XXXVI, Faulk had a better individual game (76 rushing yards, 4 catches for 54 yards), but the New England Patriots came away victorious 20-17 on a game-winning Adam Vinatieri field goal that would help launch Tom Brady’s career as arguably the greatest quarterback ever.
Meanwhile, Tomlinson’s best chance to make the Super Bowl came in 2007 – after spraining his MCL and missing the second half in a Divisional Championship round victory over the Indianapolis Colts, he tried to play in the AFC Championship Game vs. the Patriots, but only had 2 rushes for 5 yards in the loss, and the lasting image of that loss is Tomlinson sitting on the sidelines with his helmet and visor on.
Playoff Statistics
| Marshall Faulk | Player | LaDainian Tomlinson |
| 12 | Games Played | 10 |
| 165 | Rushing Attempts | 131 |
| 602 | Rushing Yards | 468 |
| 3.6 | Yards Per Attempt | 3.6 |
| 6 | Rushing Touchdowns | 6 |
| 52 | Receptions | 25 |
| 519 | Receiving Yards | 176 |
| 2 | Receiving Touchdowns | 1 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams, which Tomlinson is part of for the 2000s), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years. However, given the shorter careers most running backs have due to the physical toll of the position (very few running backs are effective after age 30), I have modified it in this comparison to a “(half)-decade of dominance”.
(Half)-Decade of Dominance
| Marshall Faulk | Player | LaDainian Tomlinson |
| 1994, 1998-2001 | (Half)-Decade of Dominance | 2002-2003, 2005-2007 |
| 76 | Games Played | 80 |
| 1,404 | Rushing Attempts | 1,687 |
| 6,723 | Rushing Yards | 8,079 |
| 4.8 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.8 |
| 54 | Rushing Touchdowns | 88 |
| 389 | Receptions | 346 |
| 4,073 | Receiving Yards | 2,567 |
| 27 | Receiving Touchdowns | 13 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Comparing their (half)-decades of dominance, the same trends hold vs. their overall career totals – Faulk has more receptions, receiving yards, and total yards, while Tomlinson holds the edge in rushing yards and touchdowns and was slightly more durable. Unsurprisingly, Faulk and Tomlinson are both members of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
My Thoughts
With their primes around five years apart, Marshall Faulk and LaDainian Tomlinson were each at one point considered the best running back in the league (if you ever played fantasy football in the 2000s, you knew that drafting one of them in the first round, typically with one of the top two or three picks, would essentially guarantee a good season). Though there have been a plethora of great running backs throughout the decades, from Jim Brown to Walter Payton to Barry Sanders to Adrian Peterson, etc. what sets Faulk and Tomlinson apart is their extraordinary versatility, strong durability, and unparalleled nose for the endzone. In comparing the duo and their career statistics across both rushing and receiving, it comes down to splitting hairs – Tomlinson was the better runner, but how much credit do you give to Faulk for his superior receiving skills? Do you attribute Faulk’s success to being surrounded by so many other great offensive players on the Rams, or was Tomlinson able to rack up so much production because he had to carry so much of an offensive load for the Chargers? All in all, despite Faulk’s better all-around yardage production, I would give the slight edge to Tomlinson due to his better durability, which in turn led to more consistently outstanding play from season to season, and historically great ability to score touchdowns.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
LaDainian Tomlinson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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