Yes, the Green Bay Packers are best known for their aerial prowess. Quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre have teamed up with a slew of legendary receivers to help the Packers stamp their mark on football.

But what about the running backs? Who have the star QBs been handing the ball off to? We’ll attempt to rank the best Packers RBs in this Betway Insider top 10. And as usual, all stats are courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and are updated through the end of the 2023 NFl regular season.

Who is the Green Bay Packers starting Running Back for the 2023 NFL season?

The Green Bay Packers 2023 starting running back is Aaron Jones, who’s been with the team since 2017. AJ Dillon serves as the complementary back.

Green Bay Packers Running Backs History

Green Bay Packers running back history can be described by legends of the Lombardi era: all-time greats like Tony Canadeo, Paul Hornung, and the legendary Jim Taylor.

Famous Green Bay Packers Running Backs

Other famous running backs for the Packers include 1,000+ rushers of recent memory like Ahman Green and Ryan Grant.

Ranking the Top 10 Greatest Green Bay Packers Running Backs of all time

  1. Eddie Lacy, 2013-2016

Former Packers running back Eddie Lacy had all of the makings of a future superstar. The 2013 second-round pick burst into the league with a Pro Bowl campaign his rookie year, rushing for 1,178 yards and 11 scores to win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Lacy would post 1,139 rushing yards in 2014 before starting to decline. The stocky runner struggled with injuries and weight issues over the next few seasons, falling out of the NFL all-together after one season with Seattle in 2017.

Lacy ranks 12th in franchise history for rushing yards.

  1. Aaron Rodgers, 2009-2022

No, former Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was certainly not a running back. However, Rodgers was a cunning runner (especially early in his career) who racked up an impressive 35 rushing touchdowns in Green Bay, remarkably the seventh most in Packers history.

Rodgers ran a 4.71 40-yard dash, so he wasn’t quite Eli Manning or Tom Brady scrambling out there. His signature run was always a composed rollout featuring various pump fakes before he would calmly reach out and extend the ball over the goal line. Oh yeah, and the signature “discount double check” celebration would typically follow.

  1. Dorsey Levens, 1994-2001

Who was the leading Packers rusher on the Super Bowl XXXI championship team? The answer is Dorsey Levens, who rushed for 61 yards in Green Bay’s first Super Bowl in a generation.

Levens wasn’t even the full-time starter that season: that was Edgar Bennett. An ACL tear to Bennett opened up more opportunities for an eager Levens, who responded with a Pro Bowl campaign. In 1997, Levens rushed for 1,435 yards, the third most by a Packer in a single season.

Levens would top 1,000+ yards one more time and has the seventh-most rushing yards in Packers history.

  1. Ryan Grant, 2007-2011

Ryan Grant is another past Packers running back, similar to Eddie Lacy, who is the epitome of early 2010s NFL nostalgia. Let’s not get it twisted though: Grant was a fantastic rusher who should not be considered a footnote of the QB Aaron Rodgers era.

Grant had back-to-back 1,200 rushing seasons in 2008 and 2009, posting a career-best in rushing touchdowns in 2009 to boot. Unfortunately, he missed practically the entire 2010 season with injury and missed the Packers Super Bowl run -- and saw RB James Starks pass him on the depth chart.

Grant left following the 2012 season, and he clocks in as the team’s sixth all-time leading rusher.

  1. Tony Canadeo, 1941-1944, 1946-1952

Former Packers tailback/running back may not have had the gaudiest numbers -- he averaged just 36.2 yards/game over his 11-year Green Bay tenure -- but he was a core part of a winning era. The Pro Football Hall of Famer became one of the first players in NFL history to top 1,000+ rushing yards in a season, rumbling for 1,052 in 1949.

The “Gray Ghost of Gonzaga” was a 2x First-team All-Pro, 1x Second-team All-Pro, a 1944 NFL Champion, and a member of the NFL’s 1940s All-Decade team. His 4,197 career rushing yards rank fifth in Packers history.

  1. Paul Hornung, 1957-1962, 1964-1966

Former Packers RB Paul “the Golden Boy” Hornung was the ultimate winner:

  • 4x NFL Champion, 1x Super Bowl Champion
  • 2x First-team All-PRo
  • 3x NFL scoring leader, 1x NFL rushing touchdowns leader
  • NFL 1960s All-Decade team, Pro Football Hall of Fame

Yes: Hornung was also the Packers' full-time kicker AND starting halfback, allowing him to accumulate a ton of points (the team even occasionally ran trick-passing plays for him).

Hornung’s 50 rushing touchdowns are the third-most in franchise history. He often split carries with fellow legendary Packers RB/FB Jim Taylor.

  1. John Brockington, 1971-1977

Brooklyn-born-and-raised former Packers running back John Brockington didn’t experience a lot of winning during Green Bay’s dry spell of the 1970s, but you certainly can’t put the blame on him. The 1971 first-round pick entered the league with a bang, winning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and earning First-team All-Pro honors by rushing for 1,105 yards.

Brockington would top 1,000+ yards on the ground in each of his first three seasons, earning Pro Bowl honors each campaign. The bruising back spent seven years in Green Bay and ranks fourth in franchise history for rushing yards.

  1. Aaron Jones, 2017-Present

Current Packers starting running back Aaron Jones has been arguably the most consistent presence of the HC Matt LeFleur era. His 5.0 career yards/attempt is the best amongst any Packer with 2,500+ rushing yards.

The 1x Pro Bowler has three seasons of 1,000+ rushing yards and two campaigns of 1,500+ total yards. He led the NFL with 16 rushing touchdowns in 2019 and has a credible case as one of the league’s best running backs over the past five seasons.

  1. Jim Taylor, 1958-1966

Former Packers fullback Jim Taylor qualifies as an RB for the purposes of this list -- he was just that dominant with the ball in his hands. After all, he did lead the NFL in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns during his MVP-winning 1962 campaign.

The 1962 season came during a stretch of five-straight 1,000+ rushing seasons for Taylor -- he also posted 10+ rushing touchdowns in four of those five campaigns. His contributions helped the Packers win 4x NFL Championship and the first-ever Super Bowl.

Taylor is a Pro Football Hall of Famer, a member of the NFL’s 1960s All-Decade team, and has the most rushing touchdowns in Packers history.

  1. Ahman Green, 2000-2009

Why is former Green Bay RB Ahman Green the best running back in Packers history? Here’s why he narrowly claims the title over Jim Taylor:

  • Most Packers rushing yards, most Packers yards from scrimmage (including receivers)
  • Five-straight 1,000+ rushing seasons
  • Most rushing yards by a Packer in a single season: 1,883 during the 2003 campaign
  • 4x Pro Bowler

Nostalgic Packers fans may lean toward Jim Taylor over Green, but we’re giving the top spot to the latter by the narrowest of margins.

Parameters of Rankings

Rankings are made based on a combination of 1) individual accomplishments, 2) team success, 3) franchise legacy, and 4) personal accolades.

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