Tommy Wilson
Teams
Los Angeles Rams (1956-1961)
Cleveland Browns (1962)
Minnesota Vikings (1963)
Playoffs
Appearances - 0
Conf Champ Games - 0
Super Bowls - 0
Championships - 0
Awards and Honors
Pro Bowl - 1 (1957)
All-Pro Second Team - 1 (1957)
All-Time Ranks
League Leads
Rushing Yards (#5-1957)
Rushing Touchdowns (#2-1958)
Yards per Rush (#2-1957)
Rushing Yards per Game (#4-1957)
Total Touchdowns (#4-1958)
Yards per Touch (#2-1958)
Tommy Wilson is the only player in this countdown who did not play college football, signing with the Rams as a free agent in 1956, when he was 24 years old. He made this list almost completely on the strength of his first 3 seasons, even though he only started about half of his games during those 3 years.
In his rookie season, he averaged 7.3 yards per rush, racking up 470 yards on only 64 rush attempts. He was the team's starting running back for most of his second season, and racked up 711 total yards, which earned him his only trip to the Pro Bowl and a spot on the All-Pro Second Team, also the only time that would happen in his career.
In his third season he was moved to fullback, and he had his best overall season. While he only ended up with 576 total yards, he scored 10 touchdowns on the season, by far the most of his career, and he also had a very impressive 6.5 yards per carry on the season.
He played a few more years for the Rams, but his role became pretty limited, and he ended up spending one year each with the Browns and Vikings, also mostly as a backup, though he did score 4 touchdowns in his final season. He has largely been forgotten today, but for a few years he was a very good running back, and he deserves to be recognized for that.
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