Detroit Lion running back Billy Sims probably...

Detroit Lion running back Billy Sims probably will not return to the National Football League team this season because his injured knee is too painful, Coach Darryl Rogers said.

Sims has been out of action since undergoing reconstructive surgery on his right knee after he injured it in the eighth game of the 1984 season.

Sims, 30, spoke with Rogers on the telephone recently and told the coach he still was experiencing pain in the knee, Rogers said.

“That is what he has, and I don’t really believe he’ll be back,” Rogers said. “He’s rehabilitating it and he’s still trying to come back, but his basic feeling is that we won’t be able to come back in the fall.”