The running back position seems to be a thankless one in the NFL. There were days when teams would pound the ball repeatedly, which resulted in a lot of 1,000 yard rushers. Those days weren’t as long ago as you might think, as there were plenty of random players that achieved the arbitrary milestone during the early 2000s.

Now, you’re lucky if you get 20 carries per game and paid half as much as the team’s top receiver. The days of the 1,000 yard rusher seem to be getting farther and farther away as fewer running backs reach that goal, even if it does still happen. In 2017, there were just nine players that reached 1,000 yards, with most of them being high draft picks. That includes guys like Todd Gurley and Leonard Fournette, along with Heisman Trophy winners such as Mark Ingram.

Not many of the players that go for four digits in the rushing total these days seem to be too random or players that will eventually be bad, but that's what many people thought of rushers from years ago. Now it's time to remember some of those players that seemingly disappeared. Players that had that one (and in some cases two) standout seasons that could never live up to the temporary hype.

Let’s take a look back at some of the running backs that either failed to live up to potential, caught the injury bug or showed that they were never really meant to be starters in the first place. Here are 20 bad running backs that managed to have 1,000 yard seasons.

20 Reuben Droughns

In 1999, the Detroit Lions were playing their first season without Barry Sanders, but still found their way to the playoffs at 8-8. One thing that held them back was a lack of Sanders, as their leading rusher Greg Hill had just 542 yards. Enter Reuben Droughns, a third round pick that separated his shoulder in his first ever preseason carry, missing the 2000 season.

The next year, Droughns would barely see the field and found his way to Denver.

While there, he became a Shanahan product by his third season, rushing for 1,240 yards.

In 2005, Droughns was traded to Cleveland, where he had another 1,200 yard season, thanks mainly to having a whopping 309 carries. Outside of those two fluke seasons, Droughns only topped 275 rushing yards once in six tries.

19 C.J. Spiller

After he came out of Clemson, we all thought that C.J. Spiller was going to be something special. Buffalo’s 2010 first round pick showed some promise in his first two seasons, but more as a pass catcher. In his third year, Spiller had what many believed would be his break-out moment when he had 1,244 rushing yards and 459 receiving yards.

Spiller couldn’t top those marks the next year, and by his final season in Buffalo had just 425 total yards. Spiller has famously bounced around the league since then, landing on Kansas City’s roster on seemingly 43 different occasions.

18 Derrick Ward

In 2004, Derrick Ward was selected in the final round of the NFL Draft by the Jets, but never played for the team. Instead, he took a spot in the same stadium with the Giants and had just 35 carries in his first three seasons. Ward then showed a lot of promise in limited time in 2007 with 602 yards, and then in 2008 exploded for 1,025 yards on just 182 carries.

After that, though, Ward wouldn’t top 409 rushing yards in a season as he became a member of the Buccaneers and Texans in his final three seasons. In his 1,000 yard season, Ward teamed with Brandon Jacobs to become the fifth of six rushing tandems to top four digits. It’s a list that includes legends like Larry Csonka, Franco Harris, Michael Vick...and Derrick Ward.

17 Ladell Betts

Ladell Betts is one of those guys that was never really meant to be the starter, but just sort of got thrust into the position. When he started with the Redskins in 2002, Betts was the backup for Stephen Davis, and then Trung Canidate and Rock Cartwright of all people in his second season. The Redskins then became the recipient of the only former Mike Shanahan running back that was any good in the form of Clinton Portis.

All along the way, Betts hung on the Redskins roster, and in 2006 got a chance to start when Portis was injured.

He surprised many by racking up 1,154 yards on 4.7 yards per carry, but there weren’t even trade offers for Betts when Portis came back. He returned to the Redskins bench, staying there for eight seasons (finishing in 2010 with New Orleans) and his 2006 season was the only time he had more than 371 yards.

16 Tatum Bell

The ultimate lucky charm for a running back’s career when Mike Shanahan was coaching was to play for the Denver Broncos. That’s what happened to Tatum Bell to start his career, as he’d play his first three seasons in the Mile High City. By his second season, he almost rushed for 1,000 yards, and eclipsed the mark with 1,025 in 2006.

The Broncos, being cunning with their trades of running backs, shipped him to Detroit; the ultimate curse for a rusher. Bell would rush for just 182 yards in five games, and then came back to Denver. He finished in 2008 with just 249 yards in seven games, and would never play another NFL game.

15 Kevin Jones

Tatum Bell isn’t the only Lions running back of the 2000s to get snakebitten. Kevin Jones out of Virginia Tech was a first round pick in 2004, and Detroit thought they had their answer at running back when he rushed for 1,133 yards in his first season. Unfortunately, it would only go downhill from there as he couldn’t break 700 in either of the next two seasons.

In 2007, Jones’s production had dipped to under 600 yards, and a season-ending injury caused the Lions to keep their pursuit of the next Barry Sanders going. Jones played in 11 more games, all coming in 2008 with the Bears when he had just 109 rushing yards.

14 Olandis Gary

Certainly not the first or last Mike Shanahan running back on the list, Olandis Gary came out of nowhere in 1999 when he rushed for 1,159 yards for the Broncos and found the end zone seven times.

Unfortunately, Gary would injure his knee after just one game in 2000, and found himself to be replaceable in the Denver offense.

In 2001 and 2002, Gary rushed for a combined 375 yards, and his career with the Broncos was over. He’d finish out his career in 2003 with the Lions (what is with that connection by the way?) where he had 113 carries and 384 yards.

13 Chris Brown

Not to be confused with the much maligned singer, this Chris Brown once showed a ton of promise in his second year with the Titans in 2004. In just 11 games, Brown would lead the league with 4.9 yards per carry, rushing for 1,067 yards. Unfortunately, injuries mounted up rather early in his career, and his rushing style suffered as he dropped to 851 yards and 3.8 yards per carry.

Like most teams in the NFL, it seems to be the next man up at the running back position. Travis Henry took over as the leading rusher for Tennessee when Brown couldn’t see the field. The Titans decided to replace Brown entirely, with the next guy on our list.

12 LenDale White

While he was in college, LenDale White was the perfect compliment back to the speedy Reggie Bush at USC. It was one of those “thunder and lightning” combos that you hear about so much, after all. When he got to the NFL, though, White had sat behind Travis Henry during his rookie season, and got his chance to be a featured back in his second year.

In that 2007 season, White would start all 16 games and finished with 1,110 yards and seven touchdowns. The next year, White found the bench in favor of Chris Johnson, and started just two games and had fewer than 1,000 yards in the final two years of his career, bouncing to Denver and Seattle’s rosters without seeing the field.

11 Raymont Harris

After Merril Hoge went down for the Chicago Bears, it was up to a 4th rounder from 1994’s NFL Draft Raymont Harris to step in. He wouldn’t dazzle that year, and the Bears would end up taking former Heisman winner Rashaan Salaam in 1995. It would also be a season in which Harris was injured in the first game of the year.

Problems for Salaam started to come about in his second year, though, and Harris was back in the saddle with 784 yards.

In 1997, he’d eclipse the 1,000 yard mark (by just 33 yards). Harris then left the Bears to sign with the rival Packers, and it wouldn’t turn out well. Injuries would come about, and his play suffered, finishing the rest of his career with just 264 more yards in two seasons.

10 Robert Edwards

Even while he was in college at Georgia, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Robert Edwards. He’d been hampered by injuries during that time, and never eclipsed 1,000 yards. The Patriots decided to take a chance on him anyway in 1998, and they looked smart in doing so as he rushed for 1,115 yards. Unfortunately, Edwards would injure himself in a flag football game at the Pro Bowl that almost cost him his leg.

With that said, it might not seem fair to pick on Edwards, who valiantly tried to make a return in 2002 with the Miami Dolphins. He’d have 20 carries for 107 yards, before being released by the Dolphins and eventually heading to Canada to have a few productive seasons in the CFL. We’ll never know if he would’ve been truly “bad,” but this is a case of going by career production overall.

9 Anthony Johnson

People like Edwards on this list have had injury problems that might have held them back, but that wasn’t the case for Anthony Johnson. Playing his first four seasons with the Colts, Johnson never reached 600 yards, and he even started almost an entire season. After a year as a Jets backup and a short stint with the Bears, Johnson would find himself on the Panthers in 1995.

The next year, in his first full season, Johnson would reach 1,120 rushing yards. That was thanks mostly in part to having 300 carries.

He’d never sniff that type of production (or even get the chance) again. He didn’t miss any games over the next three years, but couldn’t even reach 400 rushing yards and finished with 112 yards with Jacksonville in 2000.

8 LaMont Jordan

LaMont Jordan was not the worst player that you could have on an NFL roster in the new millennium’s first decade, but he wasn’t someone you should have to rely on. After four seasons with the Jets as a backup running back, Jordan would get a chance to start with the Raiders in 2005, and had a nice season with 1,025 rushing yards in 14 games.

After that, Jordan would tear his MCL that brought his 2006 season to an end that hadn’t been quite as impressive, and spent one more season in Oakland. He finished his career with one season in New England and Denver, respectively. Outside of his 1,000 yard season, Jordan never had more than 549 yards.

7 Justin Fargas

After LaMont Jordan had gone down with injuries, someone had to step up and take his spot. The Raiders decided to stay in-house with their own backup running back, opting for Justin Fargas. In his first four seasons with Oakland, Fargas had 1,016 rushing yards. When he got the chance to start in 2007, he would nearly surpass that four-year total with 1,009 yards.

Fargas then took a big step back in his production, achieving 156 fewer yards on only four fewer carries. By 2009, he wasn’t getting much usage and finished with 491 rushing yards. He would be released after failing a physical and the Raiders bringing in Darren McFadden, putting Fargas’s career to an end.

6 Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar

Born as Sharmon Shah, this running back would go to UCLA where he played under the name Karim Abdul-Jabbar. Unlike the similarly named basketball player from UCLA, Abdul-Jabbar wouldn’t have a good pro career, and changed his name to Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar. He became a member of the Dolphins in 1996, and in his rookie year had 1,116 rushes thanks to 307 carries.

Over the next two years, al-Jabbar wouldn’t miss time, but he wouldn’t get back over 1,000 yards.

He was traded to the expansion Cleveland Browns as a result, where he also failed to impress. In 2000, he got one final shot, this time with the Indianapolis Colts. He had just one carry, and went backwards for -2 yards.

5 Dominic Rhodes

Edgerrin James would join the Colts in 1999 to team up with Peyton Manning, and the results in the first two seasons were amazing. Unfortunately, James would miss much of the 2001 season, prompting running back Dominic Rhodes to take his place. Rhodes made James look like a product of the system at first, having 1,104 rushing yards in his rookie year.

He’d go back to the bench in favor of James until 2006, when he got to start all 16 of the team’s games. As a result, the Colts would end up missing the days of “Edge” when he had just 641 rushing yards. The Raiders took a chance on Rhodes for a season where he declined even more, and went back to the Colts through 2010 where he became an afterthought.

4 Steve Slaton

While he was at West Virginia, there was a lot of Heisman hype that surrounded Steve Slaton, even if many thought he was a bit undersized for the NFL. In his rookie season back in 2008 with the Texans, he silenced a lot of those critics thanks to 1,282 rushing yards and 377 receiving yards. The critics wouldn’t take long to be vocal again, though.

His second year would see him get just 3.3 yards per carry, and his total dropped to 437 rushing yards. By 2010, he was replaced by Arian Foster, who looked like a much more capable feature back, and Slaton’s time ended in 2011 when he went to Miami. With the Dolphins, he had just 64 yards, and never returned to the NFL field.

3 Kevan Barlow

Someone had to bridge the gap for the 49ers in the brief time between Garrison Hearst and Frank Gore, and that man was Kevan Barlow. Barlow was a solid backup in his first two years, and got the chance to be the feature back in 2003. He rushed for 1,024 on a wild 5.1 yards per carry, which made him the natural choice to be 2004’s starter.

Barlow followed the campaign up with just 822 yards on 3.4 yards per carry. That was a drop of more than 200 yards with 43 more attempts.

In 2005, Gore had emerged for the 49ers, and Barlow was chopped liver as his role was reduced. The 49ers knew they didn’t need him anymore, and he became a member of the 2006 Jets where he had 370 yards before his career came to an end.

2 Stevan Ridley

There’s only one active running back on our list, and it’s a guy that’s one of the many random running backs that Bill Belichick’s Patriots have had. Coming out of LSU, Stevan Ridley was a strong change of pace option in his 2011 rookie season, and was featured more prominently in 2012 with 1,263 yards and 12 touchdowns on 290 carries. He’d never see that type of output again.

His carries were drastically reduced, and his yardage waned by year. Since 2015, Ridley has been used sparingly by the Jets, Patriots and now Steelers. Over the past three seasons with those teams, Ridley has combined for 205 yards and in 2018 has had limited touches even without Le’Veon Bell around.

1 Peyton Hillis

Of course, you can’t mention bad 1,000 yard rushers without mentioning the guy that was once on the cover of Madden. That, obviously, is Peyton Hillis, who actually started his career with Denver, which some tend to forget. The former Arkansas Razorback then went to Cleveland in 2010 and became a starter, collecting 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns en route to instant video game fame.

Then, the infamous “Madden Curse” struck and his production derailed in a shortened 2011 season. After that, he was never the same as he went to the Chiefs and eventually the Giants. Outside of that one magical year in Cleveland, Hillis never reached the 600 yard mark. At least he’s been on the same video game cover as the likes of Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Brown and more.