Ladainian Tomlinson is best known for his 2006-2007 regular season, where he broke the record for combined touchdowns by a running back, previously set by last year’s Shaun Alexander 2005-2006 season. That record had earlier surpassed a record held by Charlie Conerly since the 1948-1949 season, and matched by Priest Holmes 2003-2004 season. Tomlinson, with 33 touchdowns, surpassed Alexander’s 28, which broke Conerly and Holmes’ 27. 

For many, this is where Tomlinson’s accomplishments end. He easily makes the Hall of Fame on the first-ballot because of it, but what is there to his career besides this season? This is often the rhetoric for NFL fans who compare and debate about the greatest running backs of all time. While Tomlinson often gets his due recognition as a Top 10 running back of all time, online opinion of him on sites like Ranker, indicates that he tends to get placed under more famous running backs such as Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson, and Walter Payton. 

And yet, the essential statistics of Ladainian Tomlinson should prompt a re-evaluation of Tomlinson’s legacy. Besides his legendary 33 touchdowns in the 2006-2007 season, he consistently tops multiple leaderboards for running backs. For his position, he’s second in touchdowns all-time, with 169, just behind Emmitt Smith’s 176. Tomlinson is also second in touchdowns per game, for running backs with at least 100 games played, at 0.99 touchdowns per game, just behind Jim Brown's 1.09. In yards, Tomlinson is 5th all-time with 18,599, and 4th in yards per game, at 109.41 yards per game.

These are certainly impressive stats, they smash the numbers of running backs like Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders. However, some may still object to ranking Ladainian Tomlinson higher than just his Top 10 status, since he doesn’t lead in any of the previously mentioned categories. This is definitely true, but it’s a reluctant apology to how great Ladanian Tomlinson was. He wasn’t as long-lasting as Emmitt Smith, or the most productive like Jim Brown. But Tomlinson was more long-lasting than the most productive, and more productive than the most long-lasting. 

Contextually, this undervaluation of Tomlinson, despite his great stats, probably comes from an awkward number of games that he played. Emmitt Smith played 229 games, to Ladainian Tomlinson’s 170, and yet the difference between their all-time touchdowns is only 7. Jim Brown played 118 games, 52 less than Tomlinson, and yet the latter was still able to sustain a touchdown per game production that’s only second to Brown’s. If Tomlinson played a few more games, he might’ve shattered Smith’s all-time touchdown record. If Tomlinson played a few less games, he might’ve surpassed Brown’s touchdown per game record. Unfortunately, this is most likely why he hasn’t been as celebrated as other running backs in the history of the NFL, and why he’s been known as just the player who holds the record for running back combined touchdowns in a season, despite his illustrious numbers.

Though stripping this barrier of reputation away, Tomlinson proves himself 

to be one of the best running backs ever. Alone, his 2006-2007 season was so dominant that for NFL fans who only know him for this, already places him in the Top 10 RBs all-time. This season is one of the few instances that challenge the “quarterback doctrine”, in which one believes that quarterbacks are the most valuable position in the game. Tomlinson’s 33 touchdowns to 1 turnover shattered every quarterback's numbers that year, except for the league’s touchdown leader, Peyton Manning, who had mildly worse, but a respectable 35 touchdowns to 10 turnovers.

Now looking at Tomlinson’s career as a whole, not just his 2006-2007 season, should convey that he has a case as being not only a top 10, or a top 5 running back of all time. For his position, it was previously mentioned he’s 5th all-time in yards. 4th all-time in yards per game. 2nd all-time in touchdowns. 2nd all-time in touchdowns per game. 1st all-time in touchdowns for a season. This should demonstrate that regardless of the adjective— “dominant”, “long-lasting”, “productive”, etc., Ladainian Tomlinson’s name can’t be ignored in any positive all-time evaluation of running backs. He may not have led in many categories for his position, but when looking at these leaderboards, Tomlinson’s name is perhaps the least avoidable out of any running back, despite his underrated status.