Getty Barry Sanders at halftime of a Lions game in 2016.
The Detroit Lions don’t always make the right headlines nationally, but time and again, the team does still manage to do some good things that get them on the radar of folks across the world.
One of the best decisions the team ever made was drafting Barry Sanders in 1989. Not only did Sanders go on to have a Hall of Fame worthy career in Detroit, but he put the Lions on the map such a way nationally where folks would tune into games simply to watch and see what Sanders would do next.
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One person who was clearly like that is former NBA player and NBA Champion Kendrick Perkins. Now an NBA analyst, Perkins was recently asked to name his favorite non-NBA athlete of all-time. Perhaps not surprisingly, the answer from him was the electrifying Sanders.
Like many who grew up watching Sanders run wild in the 1990s, Perkins will remember not just how the player dominated, but how he was able to make it look so easy at times on the field. It was what turned casual fans into Sanders fanatics and made the Lions appointment viewing even though the team largely struggled in a big way during his tenure on the field.
Sanders’ Career Stats & Highlights
To see Sanders run the ball for Lions fans through the years was to believe given what he was able to do with the team on the field. Sanders routinely had the quickness and deft ability to break plenty of ankles on the football field and remains one of the greatest highlights in the game fans love watching even years after his retirement. Athleticism is something that came naturally to Sanders, something that was constantly proved with every big play he turned in.
With the Lions, Sanders rushed for 15,269 yards and 99 touchdowns. He was routinely thought of as the best running back in the league, and would have shattered plenty of NFL rushing records had he decided to keep playing. Sanders, however, walked away from the game in 1999 on the eve of training camp, which stunned the Lions and all of their fans. The parties then went through a frustrating split for multiple years, based mostly upon the fact that the franchise made him pay back part of his contract amid retirement. Since, though, time has healed all wounds between the sides.
Sanders the Favorite of an Entire Generation of Fans
While the question might not get asked as much about modern players, it’s easy to see with the benefit of time that Sanders may represent one of the last elite do everything runners in the history of the NFL. In modern times, teams are more likely to hand the ball off sparingly or utilize a quick passing game in order to pile up yards or move the ball down field. In the past, the running back played a more vital part in the offense, taking hand offs and making big plays in order to be the engine of the offense. In Detroit as the above highlights show, this was Sanders in a major way. That’s no doubt a reason a large cross-section of society supports Sanders as one of the greatest runners of all-time. Certainly, for anyone who was young or of age to understand, Sanders still represents their top back ever.
Perkins would no doubt agree with this assessment, which is a common one for plenty of fans.
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Former NBA Champion Picks Barry Sanders as Favorite NFL Athlete Ever