What is the average running back size

At the time, all football players were supposed to be amateurs — many of them playing for teams created by the athletic clubs that sprang up across the country after the Civil War. With the competition between clubs becoming more intense, many tried to circumvent the restriction by finding jobs for their stars, awarding players expensive trophies or watches that they could pawn, or doubling their expense money.

But none of them paid cash, at least not openly. A Nov. As the game approached, both teams were determined to beef up their squads.

Heffelfinger — a low-salaried railroad office employee in Omaha, Neb. The clubs had good reason to bid for his services. He went to work at the railroad, but continued playing for independent teams. In the weeks before the Allegheny-Pittsburgh contest, he took a leave of absence from the job to take part in a six-game tour of the East with the Chicago Athletic Association, which used the expense-money method to attract players.

The pay-to-play model had arrived. The payments, however, were not high enough to induce dramatic change. In the early s, without the developmental pipeline that exists today, pro football players still came from virtually anywhere.

For many, their strength came from hard labor, not football-specific training or college play. The six Nesser brothers, known for their overpowering play, averaged more than pounds in an era where the average professional lineman weighed Jim Thorpe, 6 feet 1 inch tall and about pounds, combined speed with bruising power as a halfback.

Joe Carr formed the Columbus Panhandles in , with the Nesser brothers as the nucleus. Jim Thorpe — the Olympics decathlon and pentathlon gold medalist — became an even bigger attraction for the fledgling sport than the Nessers. He also played professional baseball. In , both the Panhandles and Bulldogs became charter members of the team American Professional Football Association, which changed its name to the National Football League in The league appointed Thorpe as its first president.

Carr became its second in and held the position for 18 years; as one of his first actions, he established a standard player contract modeled on the one used in baseball. The formation of the league would be looked back on as a seminal moment for pro football, of course, but also for players.

Over time, the league would provide a structure for player recruitment and development, as well as the rules and conditions that would shape how the game is played and who plays it. By , college football had begun to demonstrate its superiority as a source for pro players, completing a shift that had begun with Thorpe in College graduates, however, were not flocking to the new league, and many saw it as a step down from college football.

AP Photo. Grange knew the league wanted him as a gate attraction, so he retained an agent — theater owner C. Pyle — and negotiated a deal with the Chicago Bears late in the season for 50 percent of the receipts on an day, game barnstorming tour. But signings like those of Grange, Nevers and Friedman were notable in that they remained a relative rarity.

In its early days, the league was regional and unstable, with a steady churn of teams and low pay. Even in , some standouts preferred to play with independent teams in the towns in which they worked rather than moving to join the NFL. And many college players eschewed pro play altogether, using their educations to move into higher-paying professions. In , the first NFL draft began to formalize the path from college to the pros. He took a job as a foam rubber salesman instead. University of Chicago star Jay Berwanger won the first Heisman Trophy and was the first overall pick in the draft, but he chose a job selling foam rubber over playing in the NFL; he would later launch a successful manufacturing business.

The first draft was only partially successful, but it established a method for bringing college players into the game and one for distributing talent fairly among teams.

That would become invaluable as the league matured. It further distinguished itself from the college game by adopting its own set of rules — many of which boosted the offense — and improving the quality of play on the field.

As the league improved, so did its level of talent. Also read What teams have never won a Superbowl? Also read How did Anthony Davis get hurt ? Read more. Read on Read later. Answred by. Annamae Bionda September 18, Add Comment. Who is a famous athlete from Venezuela? Who kicked the longest field goal? Encyclopedia and sports reference site, we share sports news and information on a daily basis.

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Search our Knowledge Base Search. These four players are just over pounds but are still considered among the "more quick than powerful" mold of running backs. All four of these players have had injury concerns, and ideally you'd want a player with just a bit more muscle and physicality to pick up the tough yards running between the tackles. This seems to be the ideal weight for a running back. But again, it's more about the distribution of the weight and the muscle-mass involved with the player than strictly just their weight.

If this were a 'create a player' page in a video game, you'd just make the strongest, fastest player possible. That's an easy thing to say when trying to put together the ideal running back. The most important physical skill set an NFL running back can have is quickness. You don't have to be a burner to be an effective running back. Jackson has never been a burner, but he's shown himself to be quick enough that, combined with his size and strength, he offers more than enough to be a featured back.

Rice is more quick than fast, and the same can be said for Morris, Gore and Stevan Ridley. A running back needs to be able to get through a hole as soon as possible. Whether he then has the open-field speed to not get caught from behind is another thing. Charles, Spiller and Peterson have the speed to break open big runs in the open field. Peterson is special because he possesses that speed along with the strength and physical stature to take hits running up the middle and still drive forward.

The perfect NFL running back would possess enough muscle-mass and strength that he can withstand hits from linebackers meeting him in the hole and still find ways to fall forward. That's extremely difficult to consistently do by running backs that fit those first two tiers at around pounds and lower. The player doesn't have to have first-class speed or be the strongest player on the field.