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Kevan Barlow career statistics

Rookies Travis Henry, Michael Bennett, and Kevan Barlow finished 28th, 29th, and 30th among RBs last year. If you've read the Travis Henry comment and the Michael Bennett comment, you'll know that I'm not too high on either of them. Barlow, on the other hand, looks to me like he'll eventually be a good one.

Just because we've got an interesting cluster of rookie RBs right around #30, let's take a look at the careers of RBs who had roughly similar rookie years. Below is a list of all RBs since 1970 who finished between #25 and #35 in their rookie season and are now retired. Also listed is how they finished in each of their next five years. Thurman Thomas is the only true superstar here, but there are a few guys who went on to have very productive careers. To summarize, 20 of these 43 rookies went on to have at least one season above the baseline. Overall, their average career VBD is 86.

                          rookie
Name            Rook Yr    rank  ---- next 5 years --
------------------------+-------+--------------------
Alfred Anderson   1984  |   28  |  62  47  58  34  69 
Mario Bates       1994  |   33  |  19  41  46  53  37 
James Brooks      1981  |   29  |  22  46  41   8   6 
Derek Brown       1993  |   27  |  29  56 117         
Kelvin Bryant     1986  |   31  |  17  27      84     
Rodney Culver     1992  |   28  |  64 116  73         
Sam Cunningham    1973  |   33  |   8  14  20   9  21 
Ron Davenport     1985  |   34  |  70  62  68 111     
Jerry Eckwood     1979  |   35  |  30  40             
Ricky Ervins      1991  |   29  |  36  78  28 105     
Vagas Ferguson    1980  |   34  |  70 140 148         
Andra Franklin    1981  |   30  |  12  36 126         
Stan Fritts       1975  |   31  |  80                 
Lawrence Gaines   1976  |   30  |     107 136         
Woody Green       1974  |   29  |  21  76             
Herman Heard      1984  |   30  |  36  74  44  60  67 
Darick Holmes     1995  |   28  |  34  82  47         
Billy Jackson     1981  |   34  |  40  50  75         
Bo Jackson        1987  |   27  |  47  21  28         
Wilbur Jackson    1974  |   27  |  82  22  17      44 
Garry James       1986  |   33  |  48  25             
Stanford Jennings 1984  |   35  |  71 106  42 107  61 
James Jones       1983  |   31  |  14  18  15  54  65 
Keith Jones       1989  |   35  |  89  94  71         
Fred Lane         1997  |   26  |  26  45             
Randy McMillan    1981  |   28  |  42  32  26  29  34 
Terry Metcalf     1973  |   30  |  11   8  18  12     
Chuck Muncie      1976  |   31  |  14  30   8  20   3 
Christian Okoye   1987  |   29  |  54   5  24   9  42 
Rick Parros       1981  |   33  |  31  81  80 117     
Gerald Riggs      1982  |   26  |  42   5   5   8  20 
John Riggins      1971  |   25  |  14  37  15   5  35 
David Sims        1977  |   31  |   9 133             
Sammie Smith      1989  |   27  |  18  67  97         
Sherman Smith     1976  |   26  |  11  17   7 118  43 
Tim Spencer       1985  |   35  |  49  73 101  44 145 
Mike Strachan     1975  |   33  |  85  99  64  70 137 
Thurman Thomas    1988  |   29  |   2   2   2   2   3 
Art Whittington   1978  |   31  |  53  66  64 127     
James Wilder      1981  |   31  |  13  30   1   7  28 
Gerald Willhite   1982  |   33  |  64  53  53  26 109 
Tim Worley        1989  |   25  |  65 107      52 111 
Rickey Young      1975  |   28  |  15  22  22  20  31