Best of the Packers: Top 10 running backs since 1960
By Phil Watson
Gerry Ellis in an undated photo. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons/This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1978 and March 1, 1989 without a copyright notice, and its copyright was not subsequently registered with the U.S. Copyright Office within 5 years.)
7. Gerry Ellis (1980-86)
The Green Bay Packers signed unheralded rookie Gerry Ellis as a free agent after he had been released by the Los Angeles Rams in July 1980.
Ellis wound up starting 13 games at fullback for the Pack as a rookie, rushing for 545 yards and five touchdowns and also hauling in 48 receptions and three more scores.
He moved to the running back spot in 1984 and led the NFL with a 5.5-yard per carry average in 1985. Ellis ran for a career-high 860 yards in 1981, the same year he set a career-best with 65 receptions.
He retired after the 1986 season with 836 carries for 3,826 yards and 25 touchdowns and 267 receptions for 2,514 yards and 10 scores.
He is eighth in franchise history with 3,826 rushing yards.
A seventh-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams out of Missouri in the 1980 NFL Draft, Ellis was cut before he ever got to training camp with the Rams.
Ellis was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1994.
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