A week after Saints quarterback Drew Brees broke the single-season passing yardage record, one of his teammates may break a single-season yardage record of his own: Darren Sproles is within reach of the all-time record for all-purpose yards in a season.
The current record is held by Derrick Mason, who had a total of 2,690 yards in 2000, when he was a starting receiver and the primary kick returner for the Titans. With one game left this season, Sproles has 2,528 all-purpose yards, meaning if he has 163 all-purpose yards on Sunday (which would be a slightly below-average game for him this year), he’ll have the record.
Asked by the New Orleans Times-Picayune if he was thinking about the record, Sproles said he didn’t even know about it.
“That’d be cool, but it’s not on my mind,” Sproles said. “That’s not my main focus. My main focus is just to help this team win. And that’s all that’s on my mind when I go out there and play.”
Although he’s always been an all-purpose back, Sproles also said that he never patterned himself after the all-purpose yardage leaders and instead aspired to be an every-down back.
“But my all-time favorite is Barry Sanders,” Sproles said. “That’s who I always tried to be like.”