College football: Ranking the NFL careers of Heisman Trophy winners 1975-2005

Ranking NFL careers of Heisman winners: 12. Billy Sims, RB, Oklahoma

Seeing number 20 on the Detroit Lions has people thinking we ranked Barry Sanders outside the top ten. Don’t worry, we’re talking about Billy Sims here, another college football player who tore up the fields in Oklahoma white taking the NFL by storm. Sims college career started with a few injuries that kept him out of the lineup, but once he finally got back into the lineup, it was hard to stop him.

Sims led the NCAA in rushing touchdowns for two straight seasons in 1978 and 1979. The Lions eventually took him with the first-overall pick. He made the Pro Bowl in the first three years of his career. He even helped the Lions make it to the playoffs in 1982 and 1983. That is incredibly impressive in itself! However, his success was short-lived.

In the middle of the 1984 season, his fifth in the league, Sims suffered a devastating knee injury against the Minnesota Vikings. On a sweep to the right on that terrible Metrodome turf, Sims was hit in the shoulders, but it was his knee that collapsed. Sims attempted to rehab the injury for two years before he gave up and retired. He attempted a comeback years later, but it was too late.

Maybe this is too high for Sims, but his career was going so well before it was ended in an instant. His knee buckled which ended a promising young career. We saw a glimpse of how great Sims could be. He was able to turn that greatness into success while he was able to.