History of the Detroit Lions that feat was Buddy Parker, in 1952–53 during his second and third seasons at the helm. In 1997, Barry Sanders ran for 2,053 rushing yards. At the time, his career total rushing 15,269 yards was second only to Walter Payton's 16,726 yards and he joined Jim Brown as the only players among the NFL's 50 all-time rushing leaders to average 5 yards a carry, but he retired abruptly after the 1998 season. Emmitt Smith has since broken Payton's record, accumulating 18,355 career rushing yards, which bumped down Sanders to the #3 spot on the list of total career rushing yards.
Jim Brown in yards from scrimmage (6), highest average yards from scrimmage per game in a career (125.52), and most seasons leading the league in combined net yards (5). In 2002, "The Sporting News" selected him as the greatest football player of all time, as did the "New York Daily News" in 2014. On November 4, 2010, Brown was chosen by NFL Network's NFL Films production "" as the second-greatest player in NFL history, behind only Jerry Rice. "Source": Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former professional American football player and actor. He was a running back