The Buffalo Bills have had very few Pro Bowlers since 2000, but the running back group packs a punch in that regard. Three of the five players on the list went to a Pro Bowl in a Bills uniform, and another went the year after he was traded away. The running back position has been supremely talented in Buffalo over the course of the last decade.
We're reserving two spots for running backs and fullbacks to be included. Today, vote for your favorite back. We'll take out the top vote getter and run a new poll to decide the second running back so everyone gets to have their say on both guys they want.
Larry Centers
Larry Centers was a fullback in the NFL, but you might not know it by looking at his statistics. With Buffalo in 2001 and 2002, Centers rushed for only 216 yards on 45 attempts and four touchdowns. Centers wasn't known for his lead blocking, either. Instead, Centers caught 123 passes in his two years for 1,008 yards and two touchdowns. In 2001, he was named to the Pro Bowl after snaring 80 of those receptions.
Travis Henry
Henry was on the team longer than any other running back on the list - four seasons from 2001-2004. In his years in Buffalo, he rushed 963 times for 3,849 yards and 27 touchdowns, tops on the team for the decade. He caught 103 balls for 691 yards and two more touchdowns, and was selected to the 2002 Pro Bowl. After the Bills selected Willis McGahee, Henry became expendable and injury issues forced the Bills to trade the bruiser to the Titans.
Willis McGahee
Despite a severe knee injury in his final college game, the Bills took McGahee in the first round of the 2003 draft and sat him down for a year to recover from surgery. When McGahee came back healthy, the Bills were rewarded for their faith, and he posted back-to-back thousand-yard seasons in 2004 and 2005 before narrowly missing the mark in '06. After that, the unhappy McGahee was shipped to Baltimore for a pair of third round picks. In his three years in Buffalo, he rushed 868 times for 3,365 yards and 24 touchdowns, all second on the team for the decade. He added 68 receptions for 503 yards.
Fred Jackson
Jackson's first carry for the Bills came in 2007 after his much-discussed path from Coe College. In his three seasons, he has 1,933 yards on 425 carries for a clip of 4.5 yards per attempt, tops among Bills backs during the decade. He topped 1,000 rushing yards in 2009 when he took over for Marshawn Lynch as the featured back. He has rushed for only five touchdowns, but boasts a passing touchdown, 105 receptions for 878 yards and two touchdowns, as well as 56 kick returns for 1,241 yards. In 2009, he led the league in all-purpose yards with 2,516, the fourth-highest total in league history.
Marshawn Lynch
Lynch was drafted No. 12 overall in 2007. In his three seasons in Buffalo, he has amassed 2,601 rushing yards on 650 attempts and scored 17 rushing touchdowns. He's averaged 4.0 yards per rushing attempt, and has a long run of 56 yards while topping 1,000 yards twice. Lynch has adequate hands and has pulled in 93 receptions for 663 yards and one touchdown, and he's also thrown a touchdown pass. In 2008, Lynch made his Pro Bowl debut after being called on as an alternate. He was suspended for the first three games of the 2009 season after being caught with a gun illegally and also plead guilty to hitting a Canadian woman in the summer of 2008.
Now it's your turn to vote on who was the best Bills running back of the decade. Feel free to leave your rationale in the comments section.Previous Installments: QB