Earnest Jackson ranks in the all-time elite tier for running backs — a career that places Jackson in the top 10% of all players at the position. The Knox value model assigns Jackson a career score of 75, reflecting sustained impact that most players at the position never approach.

On the boards· Appears on 2 boards

RBPIT#0ACT

Earnest Jackson

2× Pro BowlTop 6% all-time RBsIron Man🌅 Early Bloomer · 1984

Height5'9"

Weight213 lb

Born

Career Value · VORP

127 career value over replacement — #823 all-time of 4,695. 21.2/season above a replacement-level RB.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #202 (Rd 8) · SDG · 1983 · +54 vs expected KV-H

75actual

21 expected · Δ+54

Fan Rating

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Compare Earnest Jackson vs Player Report data error

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 23% of the all-time Rushing Yards leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

23% of the all-time Rushing Yards leader23

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leader at this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 91%.

Encyclopedia Coverage4/8 data layers

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Not available for this player

Defensive StatsNot available for this player

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro DayNot available for this player

Proprietary LayersKV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — era-normalized career rating 0–100 calibrated within position group (1999+ coverage). SIS (Snap Impact Score, 2012+) — per-snap production z-scored within position. VORP — value over replacement player. Durability IQ — games-played percentile adjusted for era.

Where this data comes from

Modern-era stats (1999+) come from nflverse's open data releases. Pre-1999 seasons are backfilled additively from Wikipedia and NFL.com's own official season pages — never from rights-restricted sources.

nflverse — CC-BY 4.0 — attribution required
Wikipedia — Facts extracted under Feist v. Rural Telephone; courtesy CC-BY-SA attribution
NFL.com — Official league site; facts extracted under Feist, courtesy attribution

Methodology · Trust Center

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average RBs aging curve. Group peak age: 21. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

From Scrimmage · Career

Scrimmage Yds

4,862

4,167 rush · 695 recv

Total TDs

22 rush · 2 recv

Total Touches

1,146

1,059 carries · 87 rec

Yds / Touch

4.2

rushing + receiving

Understanding These Stats

Rushing

Att — Rushing attempts (carries).

Yds — Rushing yards.

TD — Rushing touchdowns.

Y/A — Yards per carry — rushing yards ÷ carries. The core rushing efficiency rate; 4.5+ is solid, 5+ is elite.

TD% — Touchdown rate per carry (TDs ÷ carries × 100) — measures scoring efficiency per touch independent of volume. Red-zone workhorses lead here.

1D — First downs gained on rushing plays.

1D% — First-down conversion rate (first downs ÷ carries × 100) — how often a carry moves the chains. Top RBs convert on 25%+ of attempts.

Fmb — Rushing fumbles lost — the key ball-security stat for running backs. Below 1 per season is elite.

Receiving

Tgt — Targets — how many times the receiver was thrown to, regardless of completion.

Rec — Receptions — catches made.

Yds — Receiving yards.

College Stats

Texas A&MCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Texas A&M), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

Top Teammates

Gary AndersonK3y Harry NewsomeP3y Frank PollardRB3y Louis LippsWR3y

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

1988final season
Last recorded season with PIT
1986team change
Joined PIT (from PHI)
1985team change
Joined PHI (from SD)
1983draft
Drafted by SDG — Round 8, Pick 202
1983team change
Joined SD (from SDG)

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

5'9" / 213 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 6-season peers. See all →

peak 81

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C1983

A1984

A1985

B+1986

B+1987

C+1988

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 6 seasons.

85%

Era Translator

Rush Yds translated to the 2025 NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rush Yds	Rush Yds/G	→ 2025 Rush Yds	→ 2025 /G
1983	39	3.3	182+143	10.7
1984	1,179	73.7	1,537+358	90.4
1985	1,028	64.3	1,386+358	81.5
1986	910	70	1,536+626	90.3
1987	696	58	1,388+692	81.6
1988	315	26.3	720+405	42.3

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 8/31/2026

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

SIS (Snap Impact Score) — Per-snap production z-scored within position group and era (2012+). Measures how much a player produced per opportunity, not raw volume.

VORP (Value Over Replacement) — Sum of max(0, season KV-H − positional replacement level) across a career. Measures career value above the minimum-roster baseline at each position.

Durability IQ — 0–100 score reflecting how many games a player played relative to peers at the same position in the same era. Adjusts for injury-shortened seasons.