Running back and return specialist Darren Sproles earns a place on our snubs list for two reasons. For one, it felt odd for a player with 11,313 return yards and nine return touchdowns to only receive a handful of votes.
Sproles had fewer return touchdowns than Josh Cribbs (11), Dante Hall (12) and Devin Hester (19), plus fewer return yards than Cribbs and Hall. However he did have more total return yards than Hester (11,028)—albeit over a longer career—and some impressive individual seasons.
The three-time Pro Bowler led the NFL in punt return yards twice and led the league in all-purpose yards once.
The other reason we want to mention Sproles is his prowess as an all-around player. We didn’t have a category for all-purpose player, but Sproles would have been at or near the top of the list.
Over his 14 seasons, Sproles recorded 232 carries, 553 receptions, 8,392 scrimmage yards, 55 scrimmage touchdowns, 19,696 all-purpose yards and 1,715 postseason all-purpose yards. He ranks sixth on the all-time all-purpose yards list behind Jerry Rice, Brian Mitchell, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and Frank Gore.
One could easily argue that Sproles was the NFL’s best utility player of the past quarter-century.