You Are Here > Pro-Football-Reference.com > Players > S > Gale Sayers

Gale Sayers

Gale Eugene Sayers

Position: RB
Height: 6-0    Weight: 198 lbs.
Born: May 30, 1943 in Wichita, KS
College: Kansas

Career AV: 54 (1162nd overall since 1950)

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1977

4-time Pro Bowler & 5-time First-Team All-Pro (fine print)

Drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 1st round (4th overall) of the 1965 NFL Draft.
Drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1st round (5th overall) of the 1965 AFL Draft.

40

Rushing & Receiving

Rushing Receiving
Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS Att Yds TD Lng Y/A Y/G A/G Rec Yds Y/R TD Lng R/G Y/G YScm RRTD Fmb AV
1965*+ 22 CHI HB 40 14 0 166 867 14 61 5.2 61.9 11.9 29 507 17.5 6 80 2.1 36.2 1374 20 9 18
1966*+ 23 CHI HB 40 14 0 229 1231 8 58 5.4 87.9 16.4 34 447 13.1 2 80 2.4 31.9 1678 10 2 10
1967*+ 24 CHI HB 40 13 0 186 880 7 70 4.7 67.7 14.3 16 126 7.9 1 32 1.2 9.7 1006 8 8 9
1968+ 25 CHI HB 40 9 0 138 856 2 63 6.2 95.1 15.3 15 117 7.8 0 21 1.7 13.0 973 2 7 11
1969*+ 26 CHI HB 40 14 0 236 1032 8 28 4.4 73.7 16.9 17 116 6.8 0 25 1.2 8.3 1148 8 7 10
1970 27 CHI 40 2 0 23 52 0 15 2.3 26.0 11.5 1 -6 -6.0 0 -6 0.5 -3.0 46 0 1 1
1971 28 CHI 40 2 0 13 38 0 9 2.9 19.0 6.5 38 0 0 0
Career 68 0 991 4956 39 70 5.0 72.9 14.6 112 1307 11.7 9 80 1.6 19.2 6263 48 34 59

Kick & Punt Returns

Punt Returns Kick Returns
Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS Ret Yds TD Lng Y/R Rt Yds TD Lng Y/Rt APYd
1965*+ 22 CHI HB 40 14 0 16 238 1 85 14.9 21 660 1 96 31.4 2272
1966*+ 23 CHI HB 40 14 0 6 44 0 27 7.3 23 718 2 93 31.2 2440
1967*+ 24 CHI HB 40 13 0 3 80 1 58 26.7 16 603 3 103 37.7 1689
1968+ 25 CHI HB 40 9 0 2 29 0 18 14.5 17 461 0 48 27.1 1463
1969*+ 26 CHI HB 40 14 0 14 339 0 52 24.2 1487
Career 68 0 27 391 2 85 14.5 91 2781 6 103 30.6 9435

Passing

Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS QBrec Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD TD% Int Int% Lng Y/A AY/A Y/C Y/G Rate Sk Yds NY/A ANY/A Sk%
1965*+ 22 CHI HB 40 14 0 2 3 66.7 53 1 33.3 1 33.3 27 17.7 9.3 26.5 3.8 109.7
1966*+ 23 CHI HB 40 14 0 2 6 33.3 58 0 0.0 1 16.7 39 9.7 2.2 29.0 4.1 30.6
1967*+ 24 CHI HB 40 13 0 0 5 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 39.6
1968+ 25 CHI HB 40 9 0 0 2 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 39.6
1969*+ 26 CHI HB 40 14 0 0 2 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 39.6 1 3 -1.0 -1.0 33.3
Career 68 0 4 18 22.2 111 1 5.6 2 11.1 39 6.2 2.3 27.8 1.6 31.7 1 3 5.7 2.0 5.3

Defense & Fumbles

Def Interceptions Fumbles Tackles
Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS Sk Int Yds TD Lng PD FF Fmb FR Yds TD Tkl Ast Sfty
1965*+ 22 CHI HB 40 14 0 9 4 0 0
1966*+ 23 CHI HB 40 14 0 2 3 0 0
1967*+ 24 CHI HB 40 13 0 8 4 0 0
1968+ 25 CHI HB 40 9 0 7 0 0 0
1969*+ 26 CHI HB 40 14 0 7 2 0 0
1970 27 CHI 40 2 0 1 0 0 0
Career 68 0 34 13 0 0

Scoring Summary

Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS RshTD RecTD PR TD KR TD FblTD IntTD OthTD AllTD 2PM XPM FGM Sfty Pts
1965*+ 22 CHI HB 40 14 0 14 6 1 1 22 132
1966*+ 23 CHI HB 40 14 0 8 2 2 12 72
1967*+ 24 CHI HB 40 13 0 7 1 1 3 12 72
1968+ 25 CHI HB 40 9 0 2 2 12
1969*+ 26 CHI HB 40 14 0 8 8 48
Career 68 0 39 9 2 6 56 336

Similar Players

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Pro Bowls

1965
1966
1967
1969

First-Team All-Pro

1965
1966
1967
1968
1969

Rushing Att

1965 NFL 166 (7)
1966 NFL 229 (3)
1967 NFL 186 (7)
1969 NFL 236 (1)

Career 991 (170)

Rushing Yds

1965 NFL 867 (2)
1966 NFL 1231 (1)

1967 NFL 880 (3)
1968 NFL 856 (5)
1969 NFL 1032 (1)

Career 4956 (113)

Rushing TD

1965 NFL 14 (2/51)
1966 NFL 8 (2)
1967 NFL 7 (4)
1969 NFL 8 (3)
Career 39 (100)

Long Rush

1965 NFL 61 (3)
1966 NFL 58 (6)
1967 NFL 70 (3)
1968 NFL 63 (5)

Yds/Rushing Att

1965 NFL 5.2 (3)
1966 NFL 5.4 (2/85)
1967 NFL 4.7 (4)
1968 NFL 6.2 (1/21)

1969 NFL 4.4 (6)
Career 5.0 (25)

Rushing Yds/Game

1965 NFL 61.9 (3)
1966 NFL 87.9 (1)

1967 NFL 67.7 (3)
1968 NFL 95.1 (1)

1969 NFL 73.7 (1)

Career 72.9 (30)

Long Reception

1965 NFL 80 (4)
1966 NFL 80 (10)

Touchdowns

1965 NFL 22 (1/12)

1966 NFL 12 (5)
1967 NFL 12 (3)
Career 56 (148)

Points Scored

1965 NFL 132 (1/54)

Rushing/Receiving TD

1965 NFL 20 (2/19)
1966 NFL 10 (6)

Non-Offensive TDs

1965 NFL 2 (2)
1966 NFL 2 (1)

1967 NFL 4 (1/4)

Career 8 (25)

Yds From Scrimmage

1965 NFL 1374 (3)
1966 NFL 1678 (1)

1969 NFL 1148 (4)

All-Purpose Yds

1965 NFL 2272 (1/29)

1966 NFL 2440 (1/7)

1967 NFL 1689 (1)

1968 NFL 1463 (3)
1969 NFL 1487 (2)
Career 9435 (139)

Touches

1965 NFL 232 (2)
1966 NFL 292 (1)

1967 NFL 221 (5)
1969 NFL 267 (2)
Career 1221 (172)

Yds/Touch

1965 NFL 9.8 (1)

1966 NFL 8.4 (4)
1967 NFL 7.6 (5)
1968 NFL 8.5 (5)

Kick Returns

1965 NFL 21 (10)
1966 NFL 23 (6)
Career 91 (195)

Kick Return Yds

1965 NFL 660 (6)
1966 NFL 718 (5)
1967 NFL 603 (6)
Career 2781 (120)

Kick Return TD

1965 NFL 1 (1/58)

1966 NFL 2 (1/13)

1967 NFL 3 (2/3)
Career 6 (1)

Long Kick Return

1965 NFL 96 (3)
1966 NFL 93 (3)
1967 NFL 103 (3/22)

Yds/Kick Return

1965 NFL 31.4 (2/21)
1966 NFL 31.2 (1/24)

1967 NFL 37.7 (2/2)
1968 NFL 27.1 (3)
1969 NFL 24.2 (10)
Career 30.6 (1)

Punt Returns

1965 NFL 16 (10)

Punt Return Yds

1965 NFL 238 (5)

Punt Return TD

1965 NFL 1 (2/89)
1967 NFL 1 (1/89)

Career 2 (74)

Long Punt Return

1965 NFL 85 (1/98)

1967 NFL 58 (3)

Yds/Punt Return

1965 NFL 14.9 (2/59)

Kick & Punt Returns

1965 NFL 37 (8)

Kick & Punt Return Yds

1965 NFL 898 (3)
1966 NFL 762 (6)
1967 NFL 683 (7)
Career 3172 (140)

Fumbles

1965 NFL 9 (4)
1967 NFL 8 (1)

1968 NFL 7 (3)
1969 NFL 7 (3)

Fumbles Recovered

1965 NFL 4 (9)
1967 NFL 4 (1)

 
Stats are Year Lg Value (Rank Season/Rank in Top 100 All-Time Seasons)

All-Pro Teams

1965Sporting News: 1st Team All-Conf.
 Associated Press: 1st Team All-NFL
 Newspaper Ent. Assoc.: 1st Team All-NFL
 NY Daily News: 1st Team All-NFL
 UPI: 1st Team All-NFL
1966Sporting News: 1st Team All-Conf.
 Associated Press: 1st Team All-NFL
 Pro Football Writers: 1st Team All-NFL
 Newspaper Ent. Assoc.: 1st Team All-NFL
 NY Daily News: 1st Team All-NFL
 UPI: 1st Team All-NFL
1967Sporting News: 1st Team All-Conf.
 Associated Press: 1st Team All-NFL
 Newspaper Ent. Assoc.: 1st Team All-NFL
 NY Daily News: 1st Team All-NFL
 UPI: 1st Team All-NFL
1968Pro Football Weekly: 1st Team All-NFL/AFL
 Sporting News: 1st Team All-Conf.
 Associated Press: 1st Team All-NFL
 Pro Football Writers: 1st Team All-NFL
 Newspaper Ent. Assoc.: 1st Team All-NFL
 NY Daily News: 1st Team All-NFL
 Pro Football Weekly: 1st Team All-NFL
 UPI: 1st Team All-NFL
1969Associated Press: 1st Team All-NFL
 Pro Football Writers: 1st Team All-NFL
 Hall of Fame: 1st Team All-NFL
 Newspaper Ent. Assoc.: 1st Team All-NFL
 NY Daily News: 1st Team All-NFL
 Pro Football Weekly: 1st Team All-NFL
 Sporting News: 1st Team All-NFL
 UPI: 1st Team All-NFL

Fantasy

Year Age G FantPos FantPt VBD PosRank OvRank
1970 27 2 RB 5 122
1971 28 2 RB 4 120
9