Fantasy Index

Factoid

Jamaal Charles

Charles compares favorably with all-time greats

Gotta hand it to Jamaal Charles. The guy gobbles up the yards, consistently. He’s been in the league for eight years, and he’s averaged at least 5 yards per carry in all of them.

Contrasting that to Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin (two backs recently added to the Hall of Fame) those guys never reached 5 yards per carry in their careers. They were under 4 yards per attempt 13 times. Different kinds of backs, but just saying.

Emmitt Smith reached 5 yards per carry once. He was under 4 yards per attempt five times.

The more similar backs are Jim Brown and Barry Sanders. Those guys had a lot of big years.

Brown went over 5 yards per attempt in five of his nine seasons. Sanders was in the league for 10 years and went over 5 YPA in half of them.

Sad to see Charles’ career coming to a close. He’s been in the league for eight years, so he’s running out of games. He’s suffered early season-ending injuries in two of his last five seasons. But he’s been a great one.

Here are the YPA for Charles, Brown and Sanders. (If you go to tenths, than Charles’ 4.97 rounds up to 5.0).

CHARLES vs. BROWN vs. SANDERS
YearPlayerAttYardsAvg
2011Jamaal Charles12836.92
1963Jim Brown2911,8636.40
2010Jamaal Charles2301,4676.38
1997Barry Sanders3352,0536.13
1958Jim Brown2571,5275.94
2009Jamaal Charles1901,1205.89
1960Jim Brown2151,2575.85
1994Barry Sanders3311,8835.69
1965Jim Brown2891,5445.34
2008Jamaal Charles673575.33
2012Jamaal Charles2851,5095.29
1989Barry Sanders2801,4705.25
1964Jim Brown2801,4465.16
2015Jamaal Charles713645.13
1990Barry Sanders2551,3045.11
1996Barry Sanders3071,5535.06
2014Jamaal Charles2061,0335.01
2013Jamaal Charles2591,2874.97
1995Barry Sanders3141,5004.78
1957Jim Brown2029424.66
1961Jim Brown3051,4084.62
1993Barry Sanders2431,1154.59
1959Jim Brown2901,3294.58
1991Barry Sanders3421,5484.53
1998Barry Sanders3431,4914.35
1992Barry Sanders3121,3524.33
1962Jim Brown2309964.33

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index