Can Barry Sanders Still Play?

Barry Sanders seemingly retired from the NFL at the top of his game. Does he still have “it”?

It’s a known fact that Barry Sanders left football too soon. He just couldn’t handle losing. I personally don’t blame him, but we need to get one thing straight. He could totally still play.

Barry Sanders is the best running back of all time. There’s no question. I will not #embracethedebate. Emmit Smith holds the NFL all time rushing record, but I have every reason to believe that Barry would have broken it if he kept playing. In fact, we might as well give Barry the record retroactively. Maybe we’ll put an asterisk on it. Emmit Smith can keep his Dancing With The Stars trophy (and his super bowls), Barry gets the rushing record.

In a recent interview on the Pardon My Take podcast, Barry said that he felt like he could still play in 2014. I don’t care that he laughed when he said it, I believe him.

It’s not like the Lions would have been better off without him. Look at some of the Lions running backs the last few years:

Maurice Morris

Keiland Williams

Mike Bell

Aaron Brown

Mikell Leshoure

Eldra Buckley (Who the fuck?!)

Yeah, that’s what I thought. A 40+ year old Barry Sanders would have been preferable to any of those guys. You can’t tell me otherwise.

Could you imagine Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson on the same offense? I can’t even handle that thought, it’s just too much. Jim Schwartz would have won a Super Bowl. That’s something I never thought I would say.

Man. When does football start?