How Good Was Barry Sanders Actually?

he was the most Elusive and consistent running back to ever play the game until he shook the NFL world and his career was over far too soon but how good was Barry Sanders actually born and raised in Wichita Kansas Sanders immediately learned the value of working hard and not taking anything for granted he was the seventh of 11 children so his parents had more than their fair share to provide for as the family kept adding more mouths to feed doing so became a team effort Barry's father was a roofer and Carpenter while his mother was a registered nurse seeing how much his parents were doing for the family Barry and his brothers were inspired to help chip in as soon as they were old enough to participate he and two of his brothers began to serve as roofer's assistants to their dad from a very young age two things were established in the Sanders family you were going to grind for everything and there was no complaining little did Young Berry know that these life lessons would shape his development as an athlete when he wasn't helping to provide for his family Sanders was on the football field or the basketball court and while Barry's First Love was basketball his father believed that he had a better chance of getting a college scholarship from football so Barry shifted his Focus to the Gridiron his dad saw something special in him and believed in Barry's ability to play in the NFL but no one else shared that belief heading into Barry's senior year of high school he wasn't even the starting running back by that point he should have had colleges sending him dozens of letters and begging him to come on recruiting trips but as hard as it is to believe now his high school coach thought Barry was too small and afraid to get hit only standing at five foot eight his physical appearance didn't scream future division one Prospect so Sanders didn't get his shot to prove everyone wrong until the fourth game of the season the starting running back got suspended and Barry seized the moment not only did he make his coach look silly he made the Defenders look so too leaving them in the dust with a shiftiness that was almost unfair he rushed for 274 yards and scored four touchdowns this Stellar debut instilled confidence in Barry and propelled him to finish the season strong in his last five games that year he rushed for over 1 000 yards and nearly set a City record for total yards that season despite starting out as the backup and not only did Sanders prove his coach wrong but he was getting attention outside of just his father he earned All-State honors and was named an honorable mention All-American but even with these achievements and impressive stats Mary once again found himself being counted out because of his lack of size almost every major college program viewed him is too small to take a chance on with a scholarship as a result Sanders only received offers from four Schools Wichita State Iowa State Tulsa and Oklahoma State Barry decided that Oklahoma state was the place for him and committed to the Cowboys then once Sanders got to Stillwater and was ready to begin his college career it was more of the same old story Oklahoma State already had a Heisman candidate in the backfield with Thurman Thomas so Barry was going to have to sit and wait his turn in his first two seasons Sanders served as Thomas's backup and only rushed the ball a total of 179 times but in those limited opportunities Barry averaged over five yards per carry and scored 10 touchdowns his sophomore season even though he wasn't the starting running back Sanders began to make a name for himself he shined as a kickoff returner leading the nation in yards per return at 31.6 and the same moves that finally got him noticed by colleges were now causing headaches for opposing special teams units Barry was named a second team American as a return specialist so when Thurman Thomas left Oklahoma State for the NFL it was time for Barry to show that he could impact more than the return game with all eyes on Sanders he went out and rushed for 2628 yards and 37 touchdowns in 11 games to break down how absurd that is Barry averaged more than 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns per game over the course of an entire season those are video game numbers he set college football season records for total rushing yards all-purpose yards with 3248 points scored with 234 and rushing touchdowns and none of that includes the 222 yards and five touchdowns he scored while playing in only three quarters of Oklahoma State's bowl game that year and as a surprise to nobody Sanders the little running back standing at just five foot eight inches won the Sport's most prestigious award in the Heisman Trophy to this day that season is widely viewed as one of the most dominant individual seasons in the history of college football after a year like that one there was nothing left for Barry to accomplish in the college game so he declared for the 1989 NFL draft with his draft stock so high Sanders was projected to be a top five pick and the lions were excited to take him with the third overall pick along with using such an early pick for him the first deal Barry signed with Detroit speaks volumes to how much they valued him at the time his five-year 9.5 million dollar contract with a 2.1 million dollar signing bonus was far from the norm for a rookie especially a non-quarterback life was good for Sanders for the first time in his life he wasn't being doubted with the lions having bet so much on him Barry was their guy from the moment he arrived in Detroit but Sanders immediately found himself in a spot he wasn't used to a spot that brought a whole lot more pressure now expected to produce immediately Barry didn't shy away from the moment as a rookie he rushed for 1470 yards and 14 touchdowns while adding in 282 receiving yards Not only was that a franchise record for most rushing yards in a season by a rookie but it also set a franchise record for the most rushing yards by any lion ever along with those records Sanders was only 11 yards away from leading the entire league and rushing that year and as a result he won NFL offensive rookie of the year was selected to the Pro Bowl and was named a first team All-Pro following a picture-perfect start to his career expectations were sky-high for Barry in year two and again he lived up to them and led the league in rushing with 1 304 yards and 13 touchdowns in addition to his 480 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns for a second straight year he was selected to the Pro Bowl and named first team All-Pro while Sanders had personally gotten off to a nearly picture-perfect start to his NFL career it was one thing missing team success he was stuck playing for a team that had missed the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons and because Barry was so great in his first two years people now expected him to lift the franchise out of the gutter with the weight of the city on his shoulders ahead of the 91 season Sanders Rose to the occasion rushing for 1548 yards and scoring a league High 16 touchdowns on the ground round and most importantly he carried the Lions Back to the postseason for the first time since 1983 but Barry didn't stop there in the divisional round against the Cowboys he led Detroit to their first playoff win since 1962. Sanders had officially done the impossible and brought Joy to the motor City's football fans Sanders followed up this storybook season by rushing for 1 352 yards and nine touchdowns the following year by this point anybody familiar with the NFL was extremely aware of what Sanders was capable of doing to opposing defenses he was so quick and agile that Defenders looked hopeless trying to stay in front of him or chase him down it wasn't until his fifth season in 1993 when Barry would face his first real test of adversity in a week 13 game against the Bears Sanders suffered a torn MCL that forced him to miss the final five games of the regular season this marked the first Serious injury in Barry's career and people questioned whether he would be able to return to form after it his calling card was elusiveness so an injury like this could seriously detract from that ability because because of this Sanders for the first time in years found himself in a place far too familiar he once again had doubters when he returned from the injury in time for the Lions wild card playoff game but it was a situation he was comfortable being in because he had been there so many times before the Lions lost the game but Sanders shredded the Packers for 169 rushing yards and showed everyone he hadn't lost a step the 94 season was an opportunity for Barry to further cement his return and Sanders did so in emphatic fashion by Leading the league in rushing with 1883 yards while adding in 283 receiving yards that was the fourth most rushing yards in a season in NFL history and the seventh most total yards from scrimmage Barry hadn't lost a step he was better than ever John tierlink the Minnesota Vikings defensive line coach in 94 said that the only way to simulate Barry's unique abilities during their practices was to have the defensive lineman Chase chickens around the field that's how much trouble he was causing opposing defenses if that wasn't enough to let people know the injury was only a minor setback for an even bigger comeback the following two seasons just added to the narrative Sanders ran for over a combined 3000 yards while scoring 22 rushing touchdowns and totaling 545 receiving yards after becoming the first player ever to rush for more than 1 000 yards in eight consecutive years Alliance ahead of the 97 season recognized Barry's greatness through a new contract Detroit signed him to a six-year 34.56 million dollar deal that included an 11 million dollar signing bonus the contract made him the highest paid player in the league making more than any other player meant that Sanders would be asked to take his game up another level if that was even possible so Barry went out and did something that only two running backs had ever previously done he broke the 2000 rushing yard Mark he finished with 2053 rushing yards 305 receiving yards and 14 total touchdowns on his way to Breaking the single season record for most total yards from scrimmage and being named League MVP just like his Junior season at Oklahoma State this is still considered one of the greatest seasons ever by an NFL running back if there was a stat for broken ankles in 1997 Barry would have set the all-time record during the 98 campaign Sanders followed It Up by rushing for 1491 yards which left him just nine yards short of rushing for at least 1500 yards in five straight Seasons nonetheless Barry was clearly on top of his game and people couldn't wait to see what he would do the following year but in 1999 on the day before the Lions training camp was set to start Sanders shocked the football World to its core despite being healthy and showing no signs of slowing down and terrorizing defenses at the age of 30 Barry Sanders retired from football people were left speechless by the decision and couldn't understand it at all but for Sanders it wasn't about his health or playing ability he said the reason I'm retiring is simple my desire to exit the game is greater than my desire to remain in it even though he was on the verge of becoming the League's all-time leading rusher his head simply wasn't in the game anymore Sanders finished his career with 15 269 rushing yards which was only 1457 yards shy of Walter Payton's League record at the time at the pace Barry was at he would have broken the record The Following Season forgetting the hypotheticals what Sanders was able to accomplish in his 10 seasons was unheard of and still is to this day he holds the record for the most rushing yards through his first 10 seasons finishing with over 1 000 yards more than the next closest player and what makes this even more impressive is that Barry did it with nearly 200 less rushing attempts than that player Sanders also accumulated quite the list of honors in his decade of playing he made the Pro Bowl and was named either first or second team All-Pro in each season Barry led the league in rushing four different years and barely missed out on doing so a few other times when describing his running style Sanders said I had to be instinctive creative I knew I wasn't the biggest guy I wasn't running anyone over so I had to run around them he is without a doubt the most elusive player to ever grace a football field and one of the greatest running backs of all time

Channel: Nonstop

Views: 1,290,780

Keywords: NFL, Barry Sanders, Nonstop Sports

Id: PDXGG2xFx0c

Length: 11min 23sec (683 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 05 2022