Walter Payton or Barry Sanders?

Question

Who would you rather have in your backfield. Walter Payton, or Barry Sanders?

Answer 1

Barry...Sweetness was great, but Barry was the best ever. Just think, Sanders had to play for Detroit...enough said.

Answer 2

Wow, that's tough to answer. Being a Lions fan, I am somewhat predisposed to picking Barry, but Sweetness didn't hold the all time rushing record for all of those years for nothing.

On pure entertainment value, there may never be a better RB then Mr. Sanders. 75 years from now, when they are showing old clips of great NFL moves on ESPN Classic 7, Barry will still be shown breaking ankles and perfecting the NFL version of the killa crossova. However, while he was always capable of breaking the 60 yard run, no NFL player has had more negative rushing plays then Barry. Sometimes, if a team was willing to take the gamble and always put 9 in "the box" and bring the outside LB's around the ends to help play contain D, Barry would be susceptible to games of 14 carries for 20 yards.

If I were building a team today using any players I wanted, then Payton would be my 1st choice at RB. Sweetness was everything you could wish for in a RB. He had great hands, great instincts, great speed, and great agility. Was he #1 in any of those 4 categories? Probably not, but he was surely top 5 all time in those 4 categories and that is what makes him the best RB of all time.

Sorry Emmitt Smith fans, he may have the record, but put Walter, Barry, Jim Brown, or Earl Campbell behind the Dallas line with Aikman and Irvin on that team, and those 4 would have racked up more yards then Emmitt.

Answer 3

No question, hands down, its sweetness! Walter Payton. Barry Sanders was a great football player, but he could not block as well as Walter, and he could not catch as well as Walter. Walter Payton did not have the speed or size of any other hall of fame backs, including Barry, but his heart was the largest. Sweetness was the greatest player to ever play the game, and always will be.

Answer 4

I'm a fairly young guy as i've said answering other questions, so i'm going to have to go with Barry Sanders. He's a guy who was just so good at every level, with his quickness and incredible moves and yet he was never a selfish player, he didn't care about records and really had a burning desire to win. Unfortunatley Detroit could never give him that, but he stayed loyal to that city and those fans and played 10 great seasons there. I'm not diminishing Walter Payton at all, because he was a better back. But i'd rather have Sanders.

Answer 5

Barry Sanders

Answer 6

Walter Payton

Answer 7

Walter Payton

Answer 8

Walter picked up key first downs on several scoring drives during a game. Barry ran behind the line of scrimmage all day until he found daylight for one or two spectacular runs. If I'm watching, I want to be entertained I want Barry. But I'm partial to winning... I want Walter.
In the search, I input: negative yard runs nfl backs and just like I thought: Barry Sanders is the all-time leader in NEGATIVE yards by a running back.

Answer 9

Barry Sanders. If he had not retired the records would have been so far removed that they would have never been touched. Nobody could take over a game and bring so much excitement than Barry. Not only the greatest NFL player but the best college player ever.

Answer 10

For my team it would be Payton...Sanders never was a football guy...he was the typical weird running back. Payton was a leader on the team and got others motivated...Sanders would break off an awesome run and instead of pumping up the defense, he'd sit...he, Ricky Williams, Robert Smith of the Vikings were guys who did football because they were good at it not because they loved the game...