If Barry Sanders was playing in todays NFL would he have been as successful?

[beats2rock]

Just wondering since we haven't really seen anything like him since. Defenses are faster now than they were in the 90s.

[JaguarCrazy2832]

Defenses also cant hit the way they used to as well. I think people that were bigger/stronger in their time would struggle moreso in this NFL

[August4th]

I think he would of just as good

[Buddyboy]

33 minutes ago, August4th said:

I think he would of just as good

Yup, certain players, Jim Brown, Hornung, Gifford, Sayers, Payton, Marcus Allen would find a way.

[SteelKing728]

If he were used like Alvin Kamara, sure.

[VanS]

1 hour ago, beats2rock said:

Just wondering since we haven't really seen anything like him since. Defenses are faster now than they were in the 90s.

Do you have any evidence to support this?  I know people like to believe that athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger now.  But I've yet to see any tangible evidence of it. Its not like we have combine data going back that far so we can trace an increase in average speed.

I personally think the dominant players of the past would be dominant now.  And in some cases, even more dominant considering the current generation of talent in the NFL isn't that good.  The NFL goes through cycles when it comes to the overall talent in the league.  Some eras are better than other eras.  With that said, I would not count the current era of NFL football as being among the best we've seen.  The 90s and early 00s had far more talent in the NFL than we have right now.

[beats2rock]

22 minutes ago, VanS said:

Do you have any evidence to support this?  I know people like to believe that athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger now.  But I've yet to see any tangible evidence of it. Its not like we have combine data going back that far so we can trace an increase in average speed.

I personally think the dominant players of the past would be dominant now.  And in some cases, even more dominant considering the current generation of talent in the NFL isn't that good.  The NFL goes through cycles when it comes to the overall talent in the league.  Some eras are better than other eras.  With that said, I would not count the current era of NFL football as being among the best we've seen.  The 90s and early 00s had far more talent in the NFL than we have right now.

Since rules on hitting have changed and its turned to more of a passing league than it was back then its assumed defenses especially linebackers have changed from more bigger harder hitting guys to more guys that are quicker to the ball. I'm not sure if this would have changed whether he would have had more success or not I"m just throwing it out there as a possible factor

[kingseanjohn]

9 hours ago, SteelKing728 said:

If he were used like Alvin Kamara, sure.

I came to say, put him in an Andy Reid or Sean Payton offense and he'd do wonders.

[Thomas5737]

I think a decent amount of past running backs would find it a little tougher now, not because defenses are better but because more offensive lines are pass protect first and there aren't the same number of good blocking offensive linemen as there once was. Yes, defenses are a little faster now and probably a little smaller to compensate for a heavier pass load.

That said, Barry didn't use the traditional run blocking offensive line. He played like most of us do in Madden, figure out a way to take it yard on most plays. He probably failed more often than most backs as far as negative plays but he succeeded a higher percentage of the time than other backs at turning a 2 yard run into a big gainer. So yeah, Barry would be good in this era and probably any era where running backs are still used.

As far as acting like the 90s were a lesser breed of players take a look at some of the players in the 90s. Could Randy Moss play in this league? Reggie White? Derek Thomas? Deion Sanders? Steve Young?

[john305]

I think he'd be just fine, Barry Sanders would work in any era. He just needs a coach that doesn't abandon the run.

[Soko]

11 hours ago, VanS said:

But I've yet to see any tangible evidence of it. Its not like we have combine data going back that far so we can trace an increase in average speed.

That’s not “tangible” evidence. You’d be hard pressed to find any “tangible” evidence of speed.

[Danger]

Just think of LeSean McCoy but less of an off the field headache.

[theuntouchable]

8 hours ago, Thomas5737 said:

I think a decent amount of past running backs would find it a little tougher now, not because defenses are better but because more offensive lines are pass protect first and there aren't the same number of good blocking offensive linemen as there once was. Yes, defenses are a little faster now and probably a little smaller to compensate for a heavier pass load.

That said, Barry didn't use the traditional run blocking offensive line. He played like most of us do in Madden, figure out a way to take it yard on most plays. He probably failed more often than most backs as far as negative plays but he succeeded a higher percentage of the time than other backs at turning a 2 yard run into a big gainer. So yeah, Barry would be good in this era and probably any era where running backs are still used.

As far as acting like the 90s were a lesser breed of players take a look at some of the players in the 90s. Could Randy Moss play in this league? Reggie White? Derek Thomas? Deion Sanders? Steve Young?

I think the smaller/faster players would get wrecked by Barry. I think he’d do just as well now as he did then.

also, just wanted to point out that the negative play stat on Barry is vastly misused. He had the most negative yardage but did not have the most negative plays (Emmitt actually has more of them even if you don’t count his last years with the cardinals). 

[UKTexans]

1 hour ago, Danger said:

Just think of LeSean McCoy but less of an off the field headache.

And more elusive.

[dtait93]

1 hour ago, Danger said:

Just think of LeSean McCoy but less of an off the field headache.

 

4 minutes ago, UKTexans said:

And more elusive.

And better.