I never understood the details of why this was an issue or question, maybe for the contract stuff signed before the retirement. He played 10 seasons as an elite RB in the 90s. To have that level of success for a decade is amazing. Only three seasons he didn’t play every game but still more than 10/season.
Nothing but respect for that man. The class and way he played the game I’ll never forget, even as a snotty nose little kid I can vividly remember watching him play the game the right way. Luckily got to see him in the silver dome several times
It’s really not that shocking that a Running Back retired after 10 years in the nfl. Most guys don’t last for more then 3. The freaks Can last over 10 years and be productive as a running back.
What new info did anyone learn from this article? The Lions sucked then and had wasted many years of his prime already. He didn’t want to punish his body under those circumstances. I thought this had been known since the early 2000’s. 🤷🏻♂️
Especially witnessing that second major injury to a teammate
It’s so crazy how everyone says Barry Sander retired too early in his prime after playing 10 years, and in this era he would be considered ancient if he somehow survived 10 years. Zeke hasn’t even play 10 years and people were begging for him to retire 5 years ago.
Barry almost never took direct hits though. His wear and tear was almost certainly much less than even young Zeke.
It was not big mystery. The Lions sucked they were going to continue to suck and he didn’t want to continue take a physical beating playing for a mediocre team.
Saying they sucked is a bit far. They were missing pieces though
Why do people always pretend he retired super young and in his prime. He was 30 and already played for ten seasons. The wheels were about to fall off.
Tldr he saw the lions were going no where.
“I can’t win with these cats”
Misleading title. Should be “Barry Sanders explains AGAIN why he decided to retire…just like he has before.”
He’s said why like 4x
“Lions killed me”
ESPN used to do mockumentary type interviews on Sunday morning countdown. They did one where Barry said “I’m tired” but they thought he said “I’m retired” so he just rang with it. 😂
Ring ring
Lmao didn’t we already cover this the day he retired. Leave the legend at peace. News is so wack these days.
To paraphrase, “I simply could no longer tolerate being a part of this loser organization”.