Getty Barry Sanders before a Super Bowl radio row appearance.
Detroit Lions legend Barry Sanders remains an inspiration to the running backs in the NFL, even though many may have been too young to watch him play or follow his career.
Thankfully, the world has Youtube highlight reels for that, and one such player entranced by those performances from Sanders is Minnesota Vikings runner Dalvin Cook. Recently, Cook talked openly about the fact that he watches Sanders highlights for his own motivation and to learn the craft.
Dalvin Cook keeps Barry Sanders highlights on his iPad: “Because of how he sets his runs up and how he develops things in his mind. Every time I watch his plays, I see something different from him. I want to be as explosive as him, know that’s not possible but” do my best.
Obviously, as Cook admits, he doesn’t have all of Sanders’ moves, but he studies the tape to simply try and see what Sanders was seeing at the time or to try and make the type of moves he made on the field. As he admitted, he wants to be as explosive as Sanders, even though he knows it probably isn’t possible.
So far in his career, Cook has done a decent enough job to be explosive in his own right, putting up 2,528 rushing yards and 23 career touchdowns through Week 4 of the 2020 season. If he is able to improve upon that with some patented Sanders spice, there’s no telling how good he could become in the future.
Probably not as good as Sanders was, though. That’s something Cook would likely admit himself.
Barry Sanders Stats
To see Sanders run the ball for Lions fans and NFL 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, no matter whether he was on the grass or the hardwood, something that was revealed recently.
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. It is a situation not unlike what is happening with Calvin Johnson currently.
Barry Sanders a Lions Legend Forever
Since, time has healed all wounds and Sanders has patched things up with the Lions and has become engaged in their alumni group. He also makes several visits a year to games the team is playing in, and was recently named to Detroit’s All-Century team, which is a major feather in his cap given what he was able to do as a team leader and a dominating force in the franchise.
As a result of his early retirement, Sanders maintains his health and vitality and looks phenomenal. It’s not a stretch to say that he could possibly still grind out some tough yards in the league at this point in time.
Cook knows all about the greatness of Sanders, which is awesome to see considering he is part of the next wave of elite NFL runners.
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