Billy Sims ranks in the all-time elite tier for running backs — a career that places Sims in the top 3% of all players at the position. The Knox value model assigns Sims a career score of 80, reflecting sustained impact that most players at the position never approach.

RBDET#0ACT

Billy Sims

3× Pro BowlTop 3% all-time RBsIron Legend💭 What If? · 3+ seasons left

Height6'0"

Weight212 lb

BornSep 18, 1955

Age70

CollegeOklahoma See College Stats

Rookie yr1980

Draft1980 · Rd 1, Pick 1 · DET

All-Time Rank & Honors

career ranks, postseason ranks, awards, title context

Pro Bowls

Season honors and record seasons

Led NFL1981·Rush TD13 Led NFL1980·Rush TD13

Archetype Intelligence

Iron LegendExplore archetypes →

An all-time caliber running back (top 5% all-time) who combined elite production with excellent availability over their career. Iron Legends define eras — they show up, every game, for years on end.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 149 · #638 · High-Value

Worth 149 points of value above a freely-available replacement running back — top 15% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 5 of 5 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +29.8 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

5 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+29.8

Avg surplus

peak +35

5 seasons × ~29.8 surplus ≈ VORP 149

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

2 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Rushing								Receiving
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D
1980	—	DET	16	—	313	1,303	13	4.2	4.2	—	—	—	—	51	621	3	—	12.2	—	—	—
1981	—	DET	14	—	296	1,437	13	4.9	4.4	—	—	—	—	28	451	2	—	16.1	—	—	—
1982	—	DET	9	—	172	639	4	3.7	2.3	—	—	—	—	34	342	0	—	10.1	—	—	—
1983	—	DET	13	—	220	1,040	7	4.7	3.2	—	—	—	—	42	419	0	—	10.0	—	—	—
1984	—	DET	8	—	130	687	5	5.3	3.8	—	—	—	—	31	239	0	—	7.7	—	—	—
Career		—	60	—	1,131	5,106	42	4.5	3.7	—	—	—	—	186	2,072	5	—	11.1	—	—	—

Rushing

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	VAL
1980	25	DET	16	—	313	1,303	13	4.2	4.2	—	—	—	30
1981	26	DET	14	—	296	1,437	13	4.9	4.4	—	—	—	25.4
1982	27	DET	9	—	172	639	4	3.7	2.3	—	—	—	11.1
1983	28	DET	13	—	220	1,040	7	4.7	3.2	—	—	—	16.4
1984	29	DET	8	—	130	687	5	5.3	3.8	—	—	—	10.7
Career			60		1,131	5,106	42	4.5	—	—	—	—	93.6

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D
1980	25	DET	16	—	—	51	621	3	—	12.2	—	—	—
1981	26	DET	14	—	—	28	451	2	—	16.1	—	—	—
1982	27	DET	9	—	—	34	342	0	—	10.1	—	—	—
1983	28	DET	13	—	—	42	419	0	—	10.0	—	—	—
1984	29	DET	8	—	—	31	239	0	—	7.7	—	—	—
Career			60		—	186	2,072	5	—	11.1	—	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 80 · Great

A great career by KV-H: a remarkably steady profile that scores 80 of 100, era-normalized against rush yds/g peers across 5 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 80.4 × longevity 1 = KV-H 80· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 80

On-field 62.8

Availability 17.2

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rush yds/g)

1980bestavg 80elite 701984

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 28% of the all-time Rushing Yards leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

28% of the all-time Rushing Yards leader28

2 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader67

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 93%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average RBs aging curve. Group peak age: 21. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

From Scrimmage · Career

Scrimmage Yds

7,178

5,106 rush · 2,072 recv

Total TDs

42 rush · 5 recv

Total Touches

1,317

1,131 carries · 186 rec

Yds / Touch

5.5

rushing + receiving

College Stats

OklahomaCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Oklahoma), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

Top Teammates

Eric HippleQB4y Mark NicholsWR4y Rob RubickTE3y Robbie MartinWR2y Pete MandleyWR1y David LewisTE1y Mike FriedeWR1y Dave D'AddioRB1y

1980 Draft Class· this player went #1

#2Lam JonesWR #3Anthony MunozOT #5Curtis DickeyRB #7Junior MillerTE #13Earl CooperRB #15Marc WilsonQB #18Art MonkWR #25Vagas FergusonRB #27Charles WhiteRB #28Mark MaloneQB #29Joe CribbsRB #32Ray DonaldsonC #33Doug MarshTE #41Dave WaymerDB #46Matt SuheyRB #49Kevin HouseWR

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Billy opened the Detroit Lions RB lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Garry James (1986–1988).

Billy Sims 1980–1984Garry James 1986–1988Barry Sanders 1989–1998Ron Rivers 1995–1999Tommy Vardell 1997–1998Cory Schlesinger 1999–2006

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

1984final season
Last recorded season with DET
1980draft
Drafted by DET — Round 1, Pick 1

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'0" / 212 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 5-season peers. See all →

peak 81

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

B+1980

A1981

B+1982

B+1983

B+1984

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 5 seasons.

82%

Era Translator

Rush Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rush Yds	Rush Yds/G	→ 2025 Rush Yds	→ 2025 /G
1980	1,303	81.4	1,322+19	77.8
1981	1,437	102.6	1,754+317	103.2
1982	639	71	1,382+743	81.3
1983	1,040	80	1,530+490	90
1984	687	85.9	1,773+1,086	104.3

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

149 career value over replacement — #638 all-time of 4,642. 29.8/season above a replacement-level RB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #1 (Rd 1) · DET · 1980 · +18.2 vs expected KV-H

80actual

61.8 expected · Δ+18.2

💔+33.8 stolen VORP·0.9 szns lost

Fan Rating

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Compare Billy Sims vs Player Report data error

Billy Sims

All-Time Rank & Honors

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Rushing

Receiving

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

From Scrimmage · Career

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1980 Draft Class· this player went #1

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography