Allen Park, Mich. – Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders drew a crowd of Giants players and coaches after this week’s joint practice with the Detroit Lions.
Sterling Shepard gave him a hug. Xavier McKinney and Adoree Jackson said hello.
Defensive line coach Bryan Cox, the three-time Pro Bowl linebacker, marveled at his former foe: “You look like you still can!”
But Saquon Barkley didn’t just say hi. Barkley stuck around.
And there, Barkley leaned against a blue fence and talked quietly with his idol and mentor about his life, his game, his career and his position. Sanders seemingly offered some counsel but mostly asked questions and listened.
Then Sanders told the New York Daily News what he thought of Barkley reporting to training camp rather than holding out.
“I think it was a mature way to handle it,” Sanders told The News. “He probably feels like he had to swallow his pride, but I think he has a game plan, a long-term plan that he’s looking at. So I think that’s probably the priority with him. I think he has a long-term plan.”
Barkley, of course, ended up signing his franchise tag for $10.1 million and getting $909,000 more in incentives that will be difficult to earn.
He joined a long list of running backs who have felt devalued and disrespected this offseason. The Colts’ Jonathan Taylor is embroiled in a spat with his team at this very moment.
Sanders granted that running backs obviously are in a tough spot because “we all know the quarterback position and passing game is paramount in today’s game.”
But he also said he’s seen “fantastic” running back play and questioned if they’ve been devalued completely across the board.
“Has it been devalued to the degree they’re saying? I don’t know,” the all-time great said.
Take the case of the Lions’ rival, the Minnesota Vikings, who cut running back Dalvin Cook outright into free agency.
“We’ll see,” Sanders said with a smirk. “Like with Dalvin Cook. We’ll see which one has been devalued. We’ll see have the Vikings been devalued, or is it just Dalvin that’s been devalued? I mean, we’ll see after this season.”
Unfortunately, Sanders does see a similarity to the evolution of a current endangered NFL species.
“It’s almost like what happened to the fullback,” he said. “The game and offensive schemes shifted.”
Still, he looks around the league and sees too many examples of top running backs affecting games.
“Certainly the emphasis on the running game has changed, but at the same time I still think you see phenomenal play at the running back position,” Sanders said. “Like Derrick Henry has been, like Jonathan Taylor was – he was in the MVP conversation his first year. I think you can still affect the game in so many ways from the running back position.
“You look at how the Lions’ running game last year was a big part of what they did … look at what the Niners do with their running game,” Sanders said. “It’s a big part of what they do.”
This is an issue that means something to Sanders, given his personal experience.
Sanders held out for more money entering his third NFL season in 1991. He had racked up 3,536 yards from scrimmage and 30 touchdowns in his first two years.
His 33-day absence cost him $49,500 in fines, according to a Baltimore Sun article published at the time. His new deal added a year and more millions to his existing rookie contract. It also supposedly called for the Lions to pay bonuses to certain offensive linemen if Sanders reached certain stats.
Sanders, 55, couldn’t lie this week: he doesn’t remember that last part.
“No,” he said with a smile. “I remember holding out, but the details about linemen getting paid, I’m not sure how much control I would have had over that.”
“But I’ll take credit for it if you want me to!” he joked with a smile, adding: “I certainly tried to take care of them in other ways, though, for sure.”
Sanders lamented that the running back market is “the reality of where they are” now, but he lauded Barkley for having a “long-term plan,” presumably connected to Barkley’s vision of being much more than a football player and taking advantage of his New York platform.
And he said this conversation is far from over. After all, the Lions just invested the No. 12 overall pick of April’s NFL Draft in Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs. And Gibbs had a dynamite practice on Tuesday.
“Guys are dealing with it the best they can,” Sanders said. “I think we’re seeing a lot of examples on both sides of that argument, and it just hasn’t really settled out into how it’s finally gonna be – if there ever is such a thing.”