OT....How Good Was Lawrence Phillips?

[Brit patriot]

I have just finished watching 'Running For His Life' which I found on Vimeo. Sad story, and I thought well told.

However, as a non college football fan (we don't get it here) how good was LP? Did his troubles lead him to be blown up, or was he truly the best prospect around?

 

[billdog3484]

he was an amazing college football player. was drafted very high but never amounted to anything in the pros. there will be people who tell you he didnt do anything in pros because of off the field issues, but he wasnt great when on the field. waste of a talent. we will never know how good he could have been if he stayed out of trouble. just a bust.

 

[archstanton543]

How good was he?

 

[RobertWeathers]

He was a pretty incredible talent.

I think he was a good RB who played on -at the time a bad STL team.

His last year was Orlando Pace and Tucker's rookie year.

I do think his boozing hurt his production

Rich Books was a moron. He was HC his rookie year. Hell he even chased Jerome Bettis out of town. He had no idea what to do with RBs

By the time Vermeil came in Phillips was cooked.

Not sure what LP would have been like if he had Emmitt Smith's brain.

 

[fnordcircle]

His B&E game needed work.

 

[PatsBoy12]

He was an absolute monster on the field in college and an even greater monster off the field in the pros.

 

[XLIX]

He really only had 1 noteworthy season, and it is worth noting that he played for a dominant Cornhusker team. They could've put any halfway decent player in the backfield and that guy could've gotten 1,000 yards.

 

[rads2005]

Yeah he was good with Nebraska but wasn't that great in the pros. I don't think he was that amazing in college. He had great stats but I remember not being that impressed watching his tape. I followed both the NFL and college really closely back then. I think he went to NFL Europe after bad behavior/poor performance led him to getting kicked off the Rams. He did well there, had someone vouch for his character and he signed with the 49ers. Initially he was ok, had a 48 yard run or something like that for a touchdown, but was below average after that. He laughed during a team film session when it was pointed out he missed a block that led to the quarterback getting slammed.

 

[letekro]

Hard to say. Good size and speed combo, but everyone that ran behind that Nebraska line averaged a million yards a carry. This group included talented players (Ahman Green and Tommie Frazier) and not so talented (Joel Mackovicka)

 

[stephens44]

He was about as good as Blair Thomas, Tim Worley, etc.

 

[Le Numéro Douze]

He was pretty great that one year with the Montreal Alouettes in 2002 I think. He replaced Alouettes legend Mike Pringle and helped the Als win their first Grey Cup since 1977.

 

[Sfpat]

He had all of the talent to be one of all time best RBs except for that stuff between the ears. You can get by without that stuff in college, but you need it in the NFL (i.e. work ethic, discipline, etc.)