Running Back,
Dallas
Age: 21
College: Florida
Height: 5’9” Weight: 199
Prelude:
Smith
established himself as a highly productive ground gainer when, in his first
college start as a freshman, he rushed for 224 yards against Alabama. He went
on to gain a school-record 3928 yards in three seasons at Florida before
entering the 1990 NFL draft following his junior year and was taken by the
Cowboys in the first round (17th overall).
1990 Season Summary
Appeared in all
16 games
[Bracketed
numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]
Rushing
Attempts – 241
[8]
Most
attempts, game - 24 (for 103 yds.) vs. Phoenix 12/16
Yards – 937 [10]
Most yards,
game – 132 yards (on 23 carries) vs. Washington 11/22
Average gain
– 3.9
TDs – 11 [5,
tied with Ottis Anderson & Thurman Thomas]
100-yard
rushing games – 3
Pass
Receiving
Receptions – 24
Most
receptions, game – 4 (for 38 yds.) at NY Giants 9/30, (for 117 yds.) at LA Rams
11/18
Yards – 228
Most yards,
game – 117 (on 4 catches) at LA Rams 11/18
Average gain
– 9.5
TDs – 0
Scoring
TDs – 11 [9,
tied with Ottis Anderson]
Points – 66
Awards & Honors:
NFL Offensive
Rookie of the Year: AP, PFWA
Pro Bowl
Cowboys went 7-9
to finish fourth in the NFC East.
Aftermath:
Smith
followed up in 1991 by leading the league with 365 carries for 1563 yards and
earned a second trip to the Pro Bowl. He was a consensus first-team All-NFL
selection in ’92 as he again topped the NFL with 1713 yards and scored a total
of 19 touchdowns and the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. Smith led the NFL in
rushing for a third straight year in 1993 (1486 yards) as the Cowboys repeated
as league champions, and he again received MVP recognition. He led the NFL once
more in rushing (1773 yards in 1995) in the process of gaining over a thousand
yards in 11 straight seasons. Smith also led the league in touchdowns scored on
three occasions, including a then-record 25 in 1995. He was a consensus
first-team All-Pro four times and was selected to eight Pro Bowls. Smith became
the NFL’s all-time leading rusher while still with Dallas before finishing up
with two seasons in Arizona. He ended up with 18,355 yards on the ground
(17,162 of them with the Cowboys) and scored a total of 175 TDs. He was
inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2010.
--
Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were named Rookie
of the Year in the NFL, AFL (1960-69), or USFL (1983-85) by a recognized
organization (Associated Press – Offense or Defense, Newspaper Enterprise
Association, United Press International, The Sporting News, or the league
itself – Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year).
I sometimes wonder just how good Emmitt Smith would've been without having arguably the best O-line in NFL history blocking for him. He looked a lot more ordinary when he went to Arizona, though that might have been due to advancing age and declining skills, not to mention at the time Arizona was pretty much the Siberia of the NFL.
ReplyDeleteI agree. When they did that Football Life show about the 90's Cowboy O-line, they showed how Emmitt would go untouched into the secondary quite often.
DeleteSmith wasn't Jimmy Johnson's first (or even second) choice in the 1990 draft. He wanted to trade up with KC to get Baylor DE-OLB James Francis, but the Bengals took him the pick before.
Then, he had his sights set on Lamar Lathon, but the Oilers took him. So, he traded down with the Steelers to 21 overall, and focused on a RB. He was high on Rodney Hampton or Steve Broussard. A scout had to convince him to take Emmitt, though. He listened, and the rest is history.