METAIRIE, La. -- Thirty-two years before the New Orleans Saints' dynamic duo of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara came along and broke their NFL record, Cleveland Browns running backs Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack set the standard for backfield timeshares in more ways than one.
The game was different in 1985. Back then, when Byner and Mack weren’t playing tailback, they would often take turns playing fullback for one another.
And they were so unselfish that Byner said they would sometimes even switch roles themselves in the huddle.
“I mean, we had friendly discussions at dinner about who was gonna do better on this run or this particular day, so we had a friendly competition,” Byner recalled.