How good was Bo Jackson in his prime?

[therealdope]

I'm so glad that I lived to see a day when shertards would talk about Bo Jackson as if he was a can.

 

[Vogg]

YPC bud. Dude ran 50 yards shy of 1k in 11 games on 173 carries.

Were you even alive to watch him play? Only backs in my lifetime that were close to that exciting to watch were Barry and Payton

Still never ran for 1k

dickerson and Campbell were better

 

[mjmj]

I swear, I can't figure out how the morons that keep bringing up stats can even tie their own shoes. No one asked if he had the best career, we all know he didn't.

 

[Rygu]

I remember finding one of these in a pack:

Thought I was set for life.

First pack of Score for that year I ever bought and I got a Bo, at a sports card store called Big Guy Little Guy.

I remember that so well because I too, thought I was set for life lol. I think I still have it.

 

[Streeter]

Only Barry Sanders was more exciting to watch play football. Too bad he only played 1/2 seasons of football.

 

[Hatorade]

I didn't grow up watching Bo Jackson play in his prime. For those who did, how good was he? I know I could just watch a video of his highlights, but it's not the same as actually watching him perform live on TV or in person.

Most overrated NFL and MLB player of all time, while also being maybe the greatest pure athlete of all time as confusing as that sounds. Had he focused on one sport and not been injured, he was probably HOF level in either, but at the end of the day, his stats are pretty mediocre in both sports because of an injury that ended his career when he was only 28 years old. He was also part time in football, and he shared carries with a HOF running back, which cut into his totals. He retired from the NFL with just 16 rushing TD's and 2700 yards rushing.

Bo was an absolute freak of nature, but there's a lot of Paul Bunyan mystique about him, sorta like Wilt Chamberlain.
The biggest reasons are the fact that Bo had what was the biggest sports marketing campaign of all time backing him, and he tragically had his career ended early by an injury, which made him legendary like a rock star that dies in his prime.

 

[Hatorade]

He definitely never took steroids.

His career was ended by avascular necrosis. Dude's femur literally broke off into his hip in a freak injury because something was causing a lack of blood to the joint. I hear body builders and pro wrestlers are prone to
avascular necrosis. I wonder why Bo had it??????????

 

[Hatorade]

Baseball - Career .250 hitter with good power. Enough to keep him in the majors, but even without his injury he would have struggled to be an all star.

Football - He averaged 5.4 rushing yards per carry throughout his career. This is certainly a great number, but he only had 515 attempts and 2,782 yards for his entire career before suffering an injury and retiring. There's no doubt he had the potential to be a great running back in the NFL if he could have stayed healthy. Having said that, staying healthy and being reliable is essential to being an elite football player, and he couldn't do that, so you can't put him up with the top guys.

His 5.4 YPC had more to do with the fact that he wasn't used in short yardage than anything. They would run Bo on 1st or 2nd down, but the Raiders used Marcus on short yardage. It was actually ironically part of his contract to help prevent him from getting injured because Al Davis had to negotiate with the Kansas City Royals to pick him up in like the 6th or 7th round of the 87 draft with contract stipulations after Bo refused to play for Tampa bay, who picked him first overall in he 86 draft. There was some weird shit about how many times they could hand the ball off to him, so they wouldn't waste his carries on short yardage.

Let him play full seasons and not share carries, and he probably averages 1,500 yards a season in his prime. He was one of the better backs you will ever see as a pure runner. Probably not as good as guys like Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Adrian Peterson, OJ Simpson etc because of he didn't have the greatest lateral movement, but definitely a guy that would have been one of the top backs in the league in his prime. As an all purpose back, it's hard to say how good he was because he was a part timer. He didn't have the skills of someone like Walter Payton or his teammate Marcus Allen when it came to blocking or receiving, but I'm sure he would have improved in those areas had he just focused on football. His potential was almost unlimited because of his physical abilities. The dude literally qualified for the Olympics in the decathlon, but he decided not to compete because of other obligations.

 

['Rocky']

His career was ended by avascular necrosis. Dude's femur literally broke off into his hip in a freak injury because something was causing a lack of blood to the joint. I hear body builders and pro wrestlers are prone to
avascular necrosis. I wonder why Bo had it??????????

Are you aware of sarcasm?

 

[Hatorade]

Are you aware of sarcasm?

Yeah, but there's a ton of people that think Bo was clean as shocking as that sounds, so I wasn't sure.

 

['Rocky']

Yeah, but there's a ton of people that think Bo was clean as shocking as that sounds, so I wasn't sure.

Lmao. Definitely all Raiders fans. The bar erupts in cheers when they gain 3 yards. Pay no mind.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I think if he'd played 15-16 seasons and hit enough homers he'd have gotten in off his name value. Dude was a huge deal until he got hurt.

Maybe. Baseball is a little more reluctant to induct guys on name value. Players like Orel Hershiser, Darryl Strawberry, John Olerud, Joe Carter...they were big stars and there's really no discussion about the HOF. The baseball committee is pretty formulaic and statistical about it. Olerud, Strawberry and Carter received so few HOF votes they were eliminated from future consideration the first time around. It took Hershiser two years to fall off the ballot.

 

[Hatorade]

Maybe. Baseball is a little more reluctant to induct guys on name value. Players like Orel Hershiser, Darryl Strawberry, John Olerud, Joe Carter...they were big stars and there's really no discussion about the HOF. The baseball committee is pretty formulaic and statistical about it. Olerud, Strawberry and Carter received so few HOF votes they were eliminated from future consideration the first time around. It took Hershiser two years to fall off the ballot.

I feel like Bo would have been a much better baseball player had he not played football.
In his own words when asked if someone could ever do what he did, he laughed and basically said it would never be allowed these days because of the money involved.

If Bo quit playing football after college and strictly focused on baseball, he would have become far more consistent and started really blasting a lot of dingers later in his career, especially since he was on gym candy like everyone else in baseball in the 90's and would have peaked in his mind 30's. Bo would have have hit 40 dingers in a season multiple times had he focused on baseball and not got hurt playing football.

His football injury was caused by juice, but it wouldn't have happened playing baseball. Avascular necrosis would have been something he would be dealing with in his 40's had he stuck to baseball.

 

[Ubeja Vontell]

Great running back who would be among the all time rushing leaders if he'd played long enought.

I got no problems...

Jim Brown.........at 6-2 230 he could play today
Barry Sanders
Walter Payton
Gale Sayers
Eric Dickerson
O.J.Simpson
Earl Campbell
Bo Jackson............the fastest of the great RB's

 

[StonedLemur]

Yeah, never broke 1000 yards because he didn't play full seasons. When he played, he was unstoppable. He could have easily rushed for 2,000 as a full time back.

But I agree, he was an average baseball player

Just look at his yards per carry and that says it all.