As much as I love Emmitt Smith, I have to admit Sanders was probably better. He played on horrible teams, yet was a threat everytime he touched the ball. His footwork was incredible.

This guy was amazing. He never complained about money, he only wanted to win. If he had a better quarterback and offensive line, he would not have retired so early and would have set rushing records no one would ever touch including the great Emmitt Smith.

HE COULD SHAKE&TWIST TURN ON A DIME & ALL THAT. BUT WHEN IT CAME TO GOAL LINE SITUATIONS THERE RARELY GAVE HIM THE BALL. HMMMMMMMM I WONDER WHY? BECAUSE HE NOT EMMITH SMITH! NEVER WILL HAVE SUPER BOWL RINGS,NFL MVP AWARD & BEST OF ALL HE NOT & NEVER WILL BE ALL TIME LEADING RUSHER. SORRY DUSTINTOTHEMAX!

Great balance, great speed, great vision, great feet, great power in his legs and a man of great character! I guess I am saying that he was great! It is hard to compare him to other great backs. Dickerson only was great for 3 or 4 years, Sayers, as well. Emmitt played on a great team nearly his whole career and played much longer than Barry. Payton played much longer as well. Jim Brown played in a different era. I think Barry was the most gifted runner of all time.

Its not enough to hit him. This guy had a creepy knack for keeping his balance.


UPDATE: Ifs aside, he still threw down despite a horrible team around him and on raw talent was a better back than Emmitt Smith. Plus he had the good sense to hang it up before he was a joke like Emmitt, as Emmitt played junk seasons with the Cardinals just to break a couple records.

UPDATE: Is the Emmitt fan club back? Kids, it was all about the line with Emmitt. I could have banged out four yards a carry with those beasts. Eh, where's Emmitt on the list anyways...

A fine back, one of the best ever, but he's not on the same page as Brown, Payton, Dickenson, Sayers or Simpson. He's just behind them though, and not by much. As to his retirement, that's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned.

he's no Emmitt Smith, never was never will be. Never will have a superbowl ring. never mind 3 that Emmitt Smith has. Maybe if he didn't have his daddy tell the lions he's quiting the team & stuck it out maybe he would have one 1. Emmitt Smith never quitted on his team. Get that thru your thick scull all of you Barry Sanders fans. Emmitt Smith is the rushing king & you all can't do nothing about it. you can say what you want, but records he broke will always be there. so don't be jelious & just envy him.

Other than Jim Brown the greatest running back ever!!!!

he was unstoppable and couldnt be touched hes the greatest player to ever play the game!!!!!!!

The best running back ever (after Sweetness). Unfortunate that he played for such a horrible team. Left with class though. Said he was retiring, and he actually did. And seriously, how could you blame him??

Barry was the most exciting RB I've ever seen. If only he'd have had a team around him...?

As an all-around back goes, I wouldn't rank him as the best because he didn't have terribly good blocking or recieving skills, but damn was this guy a freak when he ran the ball!!! He was constantly making runs that would make your jaw drop, and would have easily won the career rushing title if he wouldn't have left the game early after the '98 season. Barry didn't care about the record, he just wanted to win. He didn't think he ever would win with the Lions. Instead we got to watch the overrated, over-the-hill Emmitt Smith hang on and limp to the all-time mark, then play for the Cardinals simply for the sake of putting the record further out of reach. Oh well...as a Packer fan, it was a pleasure to go against Barry all those years. He was great!!!

if you watched his games you would have been amazed of what you saw!! 1 second he would have been goin left anouther he will be goin right and then back left!! knowbody could every get him just amazin!

the only reason say sanders isnt the best of all time is becuase heretired so ealry in his prime if couldv just stayed for 3 or 4 years more and had a btter offensive line he wouldve lft paytons record in the dirt and with his moves man but for real the lions had the crapyest line of like all time like the raiders line and h still found a way to get out and bust big moves the guy had litlerally 10 pple coming his way!! unlike payton smith and jim brown and all those other guys barry hadno lie what so eveer so wtf ith all that he is the greatets back of all tim no offence tomlinson u wil be the gratest back of all time

Barry Sanders is the best running back of all-time. If he had played only 3 or 4 more years than he did he would have the most yards by a RB.

Yeah, look at his stats. Year in and year out they matched or beat those of Emitt Smith. I guess the fact that Emitt had one of the best run-blocking O lines in the history of the NFL has nothing to do with it, right? There is no "if"....Barry was the best.

Barry Sanders rushed for over a thousand yards in every single one of his seasons. He even beat O.J. Simpson's record for most yards gained in a single season (O.J. had 2,003 yards) Barry Sanders had 2,053 yards. His 2,053 yards is behind only Jamal Lewis (2,066) and Eric Dickerson (2,135) He is the third all time leading rusher in NFL history with 15,269 yards. What really makes me mad is that he retired at the age of only 30. If he had played for a few more seasons he would have easily beat Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith. Walter Payton had 16,726 yards and Emmitt Smith had 18,355. If you think about it Barry could have easily beaten their records. That is why I think Barry Sanders is the best running back in NFL history. He also made the Pro Bowl in all of his ten seasons in the NFL.

Haters recognize the greatestrunning back hands down!

his huge thighs says it all like some one we know patriots ring a bell what about the name maurice drew u know what im talking about guys

Looked like an artist when he held the ball. It was amazing seeing him juke and spin around opponents much bigger than him

He was not only the best, but the most exciting to watch. I have to rate him number one of all time for three reasons. He has the second highest yards per carry (Jim Brown being number one) and he was the most elusive and exciting player to watch in all of football history. Third, he was a humble man with alot of class.

Barry Sanders rarely played on 3rd down passing downs. A great runner but many are better.

Hands down, THE best RB who have ever put on a football helmet other than Walter Payton. It's a shame he retired early. The only reason Emitt broke the record for rushing yards in a career in 2002 because of that reason.

It seems to me that there is no gray area in everyones arguments. So let's settle this once and for all. In terms of pure skill Barry was better than Emmitt. Yes he quit, but that is none of your business. It took Emmitt I think around 4 years after Barry retired to pass him in yards. Yes Emmitt had a better O-Line, a real quarterback and a great coach, but he was still a good running back. I see all these one star ratings on both Emmitt and Barry's sites, and that is just absurd. The one star should be given to the people giving those ratings. Anyone who doesn't have the respect for the game to realize the greatness of both of these men should go to the politics page, you would fit right in. Oh and by the way Jim Brown was the greatest running back of all time, HANDS DOWN!!!

definently the greatest running back of all time. but if he had a good offensive line then we probably wouldn't have seen him make all those great plays becase he would just be running through the gaps and hole the o. line had made for him, that means no jukes, breaking tackles, or explosiveness. but it would make me happy to have seen him on a(n) half decent team then he would have probably have had double the yards but not in a more gracefull style of his godly running back years for my home-town team of the Detroit lions. the lions showed his skills but also constricted him by sucking and never winning a superbowl.

definently the greatest running back of all time. but if he had a good offensive line then we probably wouldn't have seen him make all those great plays becase he would just be running through the gaps and hole the o. line had made for him, that means no jukes, breaking tackles, or explosiveness. but it would make me happy to have seen him on a(n) half decent team then he would have probably have had double the yards but not in a more gracefull style of his godly running back years for my home-town team of the Detroit lions. the lions showed his skills but also constricted him by sucking and never winning a superbowl.

never seen a better running back period. he made a game very interesting watching him juke defenders. sure do miss watching him.

The numbers speak for themselves. Emmitt is the best of all time. Don't tell me Barry would have been better with Dallas' line...they a are 2 different types of runners. Emmitt found creases and ran up the middle. Barry ran around the outside. If Emmitt wanted to, he could still be rushing for 1,000 yards this season for the lowly Cardinals!

Easily the greatest collage running back, really playing only his junior year while backing up Thurman Thomas his first two. His marks of single season rushing and single season touchdowns are still records in the NCAA, and no one is has ever really come close to matching them. He was short, but tough and stocky. Something like 5'8 but also just over 200 pounds! He was too quick, and too strong to be brought down by one player, and his greatest attribute of all, explosiveness. He was probably the greatest back to watch, as he could make the best talkers look extremely bad. Whereas Brown would simply run a player over (noting wrong with that though), he would go around them easily. He could juke anyone, and he was probably the greatest player with the least amount to say. Unlike the great players of today (really no one comes close to his caliber today, but, for the purpose of comparison) he did not shove anything in the defense's face, rather, after he made a great play, it simply got up and went on to make another one. In other words, he was no Chad Johnson. Never have I ever seen someone of such great talent been so soft spoken. It is quite amazing too me to see such a player be so humble. I am proud today to be a Lions' fan simply because he wore that Honolulu blue for 11 seasons. Throughout his career, Sanders fought for yards against one man, another legend, Emmitt Smith. Both these men battled for rushing titles against each other for many, many years. Now, I am not trying to take away from Smith, who may be the better all around player, but if you compare the players he had around him (especially the offensive line), the Cowboys' talent completely overshadows the Lions' (or lack there of). The D-Boys had one of the greatest QBs ever in Troy Aikmen, we had Scott Mitchell. How many times did Dallas' entire (or a large part of it) go to the Pro Bowl? And how many Pro-Bowl OLM did the Lions'? And what happened to Smith's productivity after that great OL began to break up due to money problems, retirements and injuries? Smith's numbers went down from consistently over 1500 yards to consistently under 1200. I once heard that throughout his career in Dallas, when ever Smith touched the ball, the average FIRST TACKLE ATTEMPT was made 3-4 yards from the line. So, on average, the first attempt the defense had at Smith was three yards from the O-Line. Sanders' average; 0. On average, the first tackle attempt was made at the line itself. I heard this from a writer of ESPN's SportCentury special on Sanders, and was not all that surprised. Smith ended his career in shame, IMO, playing as a backup back to one of the worst teams in the league, only playing because he wanted to break Payton's record, a record Walter well always deserve more. I understand Sanders' retirement completely. One, he was tired of being on a team like the Lions were in the last 20th, early 21st Century. 2nd, and more importantly, he felt as if he could not play the game like he use to be able to. He retired with controversy, but he retired with his dignity, his last year putting up 1500 yards rushing, almost 2000 all purpose. Smith retired about 2 (maybe 3 or 4) years late, both years he spent playing with the Cardinals. His second last year where he tallied an amazing 200 total yards, great work, and finished under 3 yards a carry. His last year, where he played a bigger role, he tallied 900 yards, but still only averaged about 3 yards a carry. Sanders never had under 1300 yards when he got over 300 attempts. I think that the most amazing stat Sanders has made is that he had 99 or 100 touchdowns in his career (can't remember which). What's so amazing about that? The Lions', in all their wisdom, didn't use Sanders in a lot of Red Zone situations. So, all those chances within the ten or five were given to a bigger back with a tenth of the talent. He could have easily tallied more, but maybe that actually did lead to his lack of injuries. His decision to retire well always be called into question, and even his longevity, but this is hardly ever called into question with Jim Brown. He played one year less then Sanders, and he is still considered the greatest, mostly because the question of 'What could have been?' is made, same really with Billy Sims. So, I think 'What could have been?' is far more clear with Sanders', and what could have been was a rushing record. Anyway, Sanders was not a legendary blocking back, nor a great receiving back, but, his ability to make holes where there were none, and make plays with a sad offense around him were his career accomplishments. In his entire career, he averaged over 5 yards a carry and was selected to the Pro-Bowl every single year of his career. He could have easily surpassed Payton's record at 31, but, maybe most shocking to die-hard fans, and toughest to understand, he just didn't care that much. It wasn't an issue,

Sanders was not only the greatest Running Back to ever touch a ball but he was also a true role model and professional. Never once has he done an endzone dance or celebrate in any way. He simply did his job phenominally, broke the plane of the goal line and handed the ball to the line judge and trotted back to the sideline.

He's the greatest player of all time. End of discussion.

Frankly, the best pure talented running back I've ever seen. I give much respect to Emmitt Smith and what he did in his career, but Barry Sanders handed him the rushing title. When it comes to impacting the game from the running back position, Barry is the Micheal Jordan of football.

This guy was the best back in the nfl, and in my opinon the best ever. He didn't have a good team or offensive line, yet he excelled still. At the goal line he didn't get the ball because the offensive line couldn't stop the defensive, and he scored well beyond the goalline.

this guy is the greatest running back ive ever seen. stay str8 barry much love cya.

We used to watch him when he played for Oklahoma State, and he was sensational. He was even better in the NFL. I can't find anyone who will explain why he quit so early, when he would have surely broken Walter Payton's record. Did someone threaten him? (anybody out there know?)

Terrible O-Line and still at the top for league leader in yards every year. He led the Lions to playoffs. If he had Emmitt Smiths O-Line or if he wouldnt have retired so early he would have about 20,000 yards. Watching him was just amazing.

I agree. Sanders had trash O-Line's, and he still efficiently carried his teams offense. The only year he had a passing game was when Scott Mitchell passed for 4,000+ yards, and Moore and Perriman set the record for most yards and receptions between a receiver duo. And he retired because he never envisioned the Lions ever winning a superbowl. And I agree with his decision, the organization expected him to do everything and wasn't committed at all. But the way he did it, in the middle of training camp was a little unlike him. But still, nontheless he had a good reason I suppose. And Emmitt Smith wouldn't have the TD's he had if the Cowboys decided they would let Aikman throw the TD's at the goaline instead of Smith running it. Priest Holmes is a really similar player, except he had a passing attack even betterthen Aikman's, which means that Priest might actually be on the same level as Emmitt in his prime.

this guy ran for 1,000 yard seasons every year with a terrible offensive line. they didn't give him the ball inside the red zone because he wasn't a power back. emmitt smith had quite possibly the best offensive line in the history of the league, so they moved defenses, which allowed him to waltz into the end zone. he chose not to continue his career and retired in his prime. he is hands down the greatest nfl player ever! he hasn't played in 5 years, yet they still show his clips in pregame videos because there hasn't been anyone near as gifted as he was in the open field before or since.

DUDE, BARRY SANDERS IS THE GREATEST ALL-TIME. HE'LL FAKE YOU OUT BEFORE YOU CAN SAY "D**N I MISSED HIM". AND HE ONLY PLAYED TEN SEASONS! AND THATS THE REASON WHY THE LIONS WERE LOSING, THEY DIDN'T GIVE HIM THE BALL INSIDE THE RED ZONE. BARRY SANDERS IS THE GREATEST ALL-TIME. -COMMENT ME BACK IF YOU AGREE WITH ME.

best of any back ever in the numbers and grace.

Probably the best that will ever grace the gridiron. I have such a mancrush on him it's not even funny. I won't bash other backs (you know who) but how many pro-bowlers did Barry have blocking for him and how many did that other guy have. That's what I thought. I don't get why people give him 1 star for quitting, who here hasn't got fed up with a crappy job or company and wanted to walk out. I'm fairly certain that if the Lions had actually put forth some effort to win instead of relying on him every year to sell tkts and get them 8 or 9 wins he might have stuck around longer. Long live Barry and my Barry Sanders figurine collection.

All though I think that the Sweatness definitely deserves to be up close to the top, I think that if Barry would have continued on the pace that he was on and was alos on a better team w/ a better Off. Line, he would have been the best w/o question.

Barry sanders is the greatest running back of all time ( so far ) http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=4584 just because he doesnt have as much as yards as Emmitt Smith look he was only like what 10 years pro? if he didnt quit so early he would have Emmitt Smith's records right now

A gift from the football gods...If only for a short while. Took Emmit Smith like two extra years, or something to even catch up to Sanders, and Smith had the superior offensive line! Barry Sanders was the most electrifying player at ANY position in my admittedly heavily biased opinion.

What an amazing player. My favorite Barry moment was during a Thanksgiving day game. My mom walked in from cooking and Barry ran hog-wild for a 40 yard TD run. My mom just said: That was AMAZING! (She hated football.)

Barry Sanders was a great RB, very smart and very slick. He just was surrounded by lousy players. He did the best he could. He's one of the greatest RB's ever.

Next to Gale Sayers as the most electrifying running back of all time. Could/should be all-time leading rusher in NFL history; too bad he decided to pout about the Lions not trading him...

A running back who never stopped moving his legs no matter how bad trouble looked for him. Just kept running.

Great running back, and all people that have seen this man run know how many ankels he's broken. Not quite as skillful and all around talented as walter payton, but a very close second. Only if would have played longer, and for a more productive team.

A great running back who could have played longer.

Bottom line the best I've seen in 24 yrs...(other than Bo Jackson)

PBeaver, football is a team sport, it's not his fault he's the only star on the team. Anyway Sanders is arguebly the greatest back ever. He was an athlete and his elusiveness can literally break legs.

barry sanders is the greatest running back of all time and if he didnt retire he would have shattered that rushing record now held by emmit smith. Ill never forget it the whirlwind move the spin the complete stopping on a dime and reversing direction the man was completely unbelievable and i love him to death although mainly in his career i was a little boy there will never be another running back like BARRY JAMES SANDERS

Take it from a man that saw Jim Brown, and Walter Payton play. Both were among the greatest players in NFL history. However I will tell you this. Barry is in a class by himself. People often wonder how Barry would have done behind a decent line, and a competent QB. Look no further than his junior season at Oklahoma St. It confuses me that in a day of sharpies, cell phones, and fake mooning celebrations, a man of class would be verbally attacked and labeled a quitter etc. As they say in life, The more humble an individual is before man, the more he will get rode over roughshod. One of the greatest accomplishments of my life has been the ability to tell my children and grandchildren that I saw Barry Sanders run. Ohh.. and to all those Lions fans still bitter. I envy all of those that were able to witness him in person.

greatest RB ever

Quit too soon.

Barry Sanders is the greatest back of all time because he didn't have an offensive line that could block for him like the Cowboys and he still made it to just 1400 yds away from the record. He is also the best because he was the most exciting athlete to watch in the 90's, I wish he didn't walk away from the game early and we wouldn't have to be here defending him.

Greatest running back of all time. Had no O-Line yet ran around defenders like it was nothing. A shame that he retired so early but Barry was a very humble back, he didn't care about all the fame and glory and that is awesome.