ESPN Reporter Jeremy Fowler led the survey, which polled executives, coaches, scouts and players to find the top 10 RBs.
Here is the ESPN Results
1) Nick Chubb, Cleveland Browns
2) Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
3) Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders
4) Saquon Barkley, New York Giants
5) Derrick Henry, Tennessee Titans
6) Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
7) Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints
8) Dalvn Cook
9) Tony Pollard, Dallas Cowboys
10) Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers
I believe I read Jones was 11th, I couldn't tell if that was fact or assumptions (ESPN article is behind a paywall).
Jones retweeted a post the Packers made about him, starting the following. “Over the last 4 years (2019-2022), Jones is 6th in total yards and 3rd in touchdowns among RBs. Finished 5th or better in overall RB grade at PFF 3 of last 4 years. He's 4th ALL-TIME among RBs in yards per carry!”
With all that positive being said Jones has had a bit of a fumbling issue, being the worst of all the starters, at least in PFF grading. But whole he's the worst (by a good margin) Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler and Alvin Kamara all joined him in the bottom 6 of the starters.
Looking at the ESPN list of top 10 RBs, the two that really stood out to me as questionable were Saquon Barkley and Tony Pollard. If you want to tell me Barkley is too 10, I got no issue with that, but I was surprised to see him listed so high as it feels like the guy is usually injured. Barkley has the physical talent, but does he have the availability to be with the others in the top 7? Tony Pollard played absolutely great, my issue with including him is that in four seasons, he only has one season with 165 snaps on the field. That's not carries or touches, but snaps. Most of these guys are getting over 200 carries (not snaps, but carries) per season. And to Pollard credit he did get over 200 carries last year, but I would like to see a bigger sample of being on the field.
That being said, Barkley and Pollard were key in pass blocking, something some teams put a lot more focus on (Wide zone teams usually use their RBs as passing weapons more than pass blockers). But Pollard and Barkley joined Jamaall Williams and AJ Dillon as clearly top 7 pass blocking RB (with the decent gap below them). Jones was average there.
Where McCarthy, Elker and Pollard were among the top 6 RBs in receiving, will a pretty good gap under those six. Jones was #11, so not bad himself, but also not in Elker range for teams trying to break a tie between Elker and Jones for the last spot in the top 10.
So it seems, as a pure runner, Jones is probably clearly in the top 5, but add in fumbles, pass blocking and receiving and he drops (at least that seems to be the case in this survey).
So what do you think of ESPN list, and where do you see Jones fitting in?