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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Att | Yards | Avg |
| 2011 | Jamaal Charles | 12 | 83 | 6.92 |
| 1963 | Jim Brown | 291 | 1,863 | 6.40 |
| 2010 | Jamaal Charles | 230 | 1,467 | 6.38 |
| 1997 | Barry Sanders | 335 | 2,053 | 6.13 |
| 1958 | Jim Brown | 257 | 1,527 | 5.94 |
| 2009 | Jamaal Charles | 190 | 1,120 | 5.89 |
| 1960 | Jim Brown | 215 | 1,257 | 5.85 |
| 1994 | Barry Sanders | 331 | 1,883 | 5.69 |
| 1965 | Jim Brown | 289 | 1,544 | 5.34 |
| 2008 | Jamaal Charles | 67 | 357 | 5.33 |
| 2012 | Jamaal Charles | 285 | 1,509 | 5.29 |
| 1989 | Barry Sanders | 280 | 1,470 | 5.25 |
| 1964 | Jim Brown | 280 | 1,446 | 5.16 |
| 2015 | Jamaal Charles | 71 | 364 | 5.13 |
| 1990 | Barry Sanders | 255 | 1,304 | 5.11 |
| 1996 | Barry Sanders | 307 | 1,553 | 5.06 |
| 2014 | Jamaal Charles | 206 | 1,033 | 5.01 |
| 2013 | Jamaal Charles | 259 | 1,287 | 4.97 |
| 1995 | Barry Sanders | 314 | 1,500 | 4.78 |
| 1957 | Jim Brown | 202 | 942 | 4.66 |
| 1961 | Jim Brown | 305 | 1,408 | 4.62 |
| 1993 | Barry Sanders | 243 | 1,115 | 4.59 |
| 1959 | Jim Brown | 290 | 1,329 | 4.58 |
| 1991 | Barry Sanders | 342 | 1,548 | 4.53 |
| 1998 | Barry Sanders | 343 | 1,491 | 4.35 |
| 1992 | Barry Sanders | 312 | 1,352 | 4.33 |
| 1962 | Jim Brown | 230 | 996 | 4.33 |
—Ian Allan