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Eddie George career statistics

Is there any hope for Eddie, or is he done?

Let's see if there's any historical precedent for someone experiencing a dropoff like Eddie did in 2001, and then returning to form. I did a search for all RBs from 1970-2001 who met the following conditions:

• aged 26-28 (George was 27 in 2000);
• ranked among the top 5 RBs (George was 3rd in 2000);
• ranked at least 10 slots lower the next year (George dropped from 3rd to 19th in 2001);

Besides George (and Mike Anderson), I found 20 such backs. Those 20 backs combined for four top-10 seasons in the rest of their careers. They combined for 12 top-20 seasons in the rest of their careers. Let's take a look at the list before we figure out what it might mean for Eddie George.

------------------------+------------+---------------------------------------+
                        |     Ranks  |  Ranks                                |
Player              Age |    Before  |  After                                |
------------------------+------------+---------------------------------------+
Eddie George         27 |  11   3   3  19                                     
Chuck Foreman        27 |   2   1   5  18  83 119                             
Lydell Mitchell      28 |   3   4   2  15  91 148                             
Lorenzo White        26 |  10  36   5  41  27  85                             
Ken Willard          27 |   ?   ?   4  16  50  58  95                         
Jamal Anderson       26 |  10  10   2 120  22  65                             
Chris Warren         27 |  13   3   4  18  23  45  41  38                     
Mack Herron          26 |      59   4  92                                     
Wendell Tyler        27 | 126   5   2  24   9  26 116                         
Albert Bentley       27 |  69  48   5  58  31  17 124 133                     
Terry Allen          28 |  11   7   1  29  31  17  71  38                     
Dorsey Levens        27 |  38  19   3  50   6  49  71                         
John Riggins         26 |  37  15   5  35  79  16  11      21  27   3   7  38 
Ron Johnson          26 |  87   1   5  42  35                                 
Terrell Davis        26 |   2   2   1  77  58  46                             
Larry Brown          26 |  10   2   2  16  43 122                             
Joe Morris           26 |  44   3   2  32  18          63                     
Christian Okoye      28 |  29  54   5  24   9  42                             
Robert Delpino       26 |  43  69   5  78  24                                 
Lawrence McCutcheon  27 |  16   5   4  72 101  75 119                         
MacArthur Lane       28 |   ?   ?   2  31  23  36  25  62  13 114  81         

Some of these guys are really not comparable to George because they were just one-year wonders whose dropoff was simply a return to normalcy. Others dropped off because of a serious injury (as opposed to the nagging injuries that likely played a role in depressing George's numbers). But there are some very good comps here, namely Foreman, Mitchell, Warren, Willard, Morris, and Okoye.

Foreman, Mitchell, and Warren were terrific backs -- every bit as good as George -- who completely lost it at about the same age Eddie did and never recovered. Willard and Morris were also very good but possibly not in Eddie's class. They also never recovered. Okoye is a bit of a strange case -- you could almost classify him as a two-year wonder -- but he did return to the top 10 after his dropoff. And then there's John Riggins, who went on to turn in several more good seasons. Riggins is a counterexample to every possible generalization about running back aging patterns.

Of course, Eddie isn't Chuck Foreman. He's not John Riggins and he's not Chris Warren. He's Eddie George, and he may or may not end up like any of these guys. But if he is finished, we shouldn't be too surprised.