They were once the glamour boys of the National Football League, a blend of power and grace that personified the essence of a gladiator sport. Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell, Gale Sayers, Larry Csonka, Franco Harris, John Riggins and Tony Dorsett used their legs to help make the NFL what it is today.
They were from an era in which the more carries they got during a given game, the more dangerous they became by wearing down a defense, like sledgehammers breaking through a wall. These days nobody is looking for the next Dickerson, Csonka or Harris.