Christian McCaffrey or Alvin Kamara ??? (1 Viewer)

[sfidc3]

Kamara is much closer to Cmac than most non-saints fans would probably admit. Career numbers are very similar. Both 5 time probowlers, both 10K yards from Scrimmage, both right at 80 touchdowns.

I don't think either have the body of work to crack the top 10 of all time yet, but I think a case could be made that Kamara is at least on par with Cmac.

Agreed....AK behind the 9ers offensive line would be pretty incredible....

CMC is one I was totally wrong on, I was thrilled when Carolina drafted him because I didn't think he was anywhere near worthy of the pick....undersized RB and all.....I was dead wrong....I don't think either of them are top 10 of all time but I think they are both HOF worthy.....

 

[kcirdor]

Yeppers 100 agreed, he’s just reading from his script lol. I can’t watch any of those shows.

Barry is the imo, even if you don’t consider him the goat he’s definitely far from overrated.

Its b/w Barry Sanders and OJ Simpson

 

[webster]

CMC is not top three. Alvin is a good back. But take CMC all day over Alvin. Where would you rank AK right now going into 2024 season from 1-32 as a starting RB and where would you rank CMC.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

McCaffrey. Not by a mile. But there is a reason McCaffrey was a top 10 pick. McCaffrey has had four seasons that were more productive than any season Alvin has had. Plus, I get the feeling that McCaffrey, who can play receiver, has more seasons left than Kamara.

Neither is close to being one of the top 10 running backs of all time.

 

[Elvis]

While their stats are very similar, their circumstances have been pretty different. CMC was the best player on the Panthers by a mile during his time there while over the same time frame AK was competing for touches with Mark Ingram and Michael Thomas and having Brees as his QB. The last two years have been kind of the opposite with CMC being on a stacked team and AK being our best player without a lot of other options.

So it's kind of hard to judge who has really had the better career. I thought the Panthers were running CMC into the ground just to still finish with 5 wins regardless while AK was making the most of his touches while we were really winning. Yet here we are and the are less than 20 touches apart over their careers.

As a Saints fan, I'll choose AK. But major respect to CMC as well.

 

[BoxerJoe]

Cmac > Kamara today, but I would say they were equals early career. Cmac's explosive play ability is just different. This year Cmac had 44 runs of 10+, 9 runs of 20+, and 3 runs of 40+. Kamara had 15 runs of 10+ and zero runs of 20+. The 2022 season looked similar. The OL isn't helping Kamara, but that ankle breaking move on a safety for extra yards just didn't happen this year or last.

Agreed. They were indistinguishably neck and neck early in their careers but today it has to be given to CMC, especially given that he is a year younger and a bit further from the 30-year-old RB wall.

Their career stats are very similar, but AK's stats are spread over more games. Because he is more durable, so he is more reliable. CMC breaks down sometimes, so he would be better only if you have a dependable backup.

It's not so much that CMC breaks down. It's more that Carolina beat him to death in 2009 by giving him 400+ touches and he wasn't the same for the following two seasons. In contrast, Kamara has never had more than 300 touches in a season because Payton used him more judiciously. CMC hasn't missed a game the past 2 years (outside of week 18 this year when SF sat some of their starters). In that regard, he has been a bit more durable and reliable than Alvin lately.

 

[SweetT]

Both talented but CMC had the luxury of playing 98% of the offensive snaps for a couple of years in Carolina, plus he’s had a better OLine in SF recently. Although he’s had some injuries, i believe if both had identical opportunities and situations, AK41 would be viewed as the same or better than CMC. It’s kinda gross when we have a HC who is vocally admitting that they are trying to figure out how to get AK41 the ball. That’s utter nonsense IMHO. Just my $.02

 

[No2DC]

3rd best all time. He's not even top 10 I would take AK over him but this hype train is going overboard.
Allen, Faulk, even Reg I consider better.

 

[Bishop]

I'm still putting Bo in my top 10..,

 

[DoubleSaint]

CMC is everything that Reggie Bush should have been.

 

[sainthood]

McCaffery and Kamara are the closest thing to a hall of fame running back playing in the league today. They both came out the same year. There is a reason Kamara won rookie of the year. I go with Kamara as the better player in a vacuum. McCaffery was far more overused in Carolina than Kamara has ever been with the Saints as the focus of that offense. San Francisco has the best run game system in the league now.

As for best running backs of all time, that is an eras argument like with wide receivers and quarterbacks. The league has shifted from running to passing and with it leveraging total touches and salary cap management. Back in the day a running back got overused and could not leave and there was little regard for Earl Campbell's knees. McCaffery and Kamara are the new receiver and running perfect west coast backs. They are in the model of Marshall Faulk and Roger Craig as 1,000 / 1,000 potential players.

Top five running backs of all time based on talent: 1. Barry Sanders 2. Jim Brown 3. Bo Jackson 4. Marshall Faulk 5. Eric Dickerson

 

[Domeination]

AK and CM are comparable and among the best RBs to play in the NFL in the past 10 years, but best of all time? Are you kidding me? Go watch some film of Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Gayle Sayers, LT, Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Marshall Faulk, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, even John Riggins and Jim Taylor, before making such a pronouncement.

 

[RaginCajun83]

CMC > Kamara

 

[ATLien]

Hmmm... First, a question.
Kyle Shanahan or Dennis Allen?

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Kamara is much closer to Cmac than most non-saints fans would probably admit. Career numbers are very similar. Both 5 time probowlers, both 10K yards from Scrimmage, both right at 80 touchdowns.

I don't think either have the body of work to crack the top 10 of all time yet, but I think a case could be made that Kamara is at least on par with Cmac.

I think C-Mack has better open field vision while Kamara had other wordly contact balance. In this offense I'd take McCaffrey, but we did a great job getting a similar type back w/ his own skillset to fill the joker role that year. Prior to Kamara we had CJ Spiller