Barry Sanders has no regrets about July 27, 1999 — the day he decided to suddenly retire from the NFL after 10 seasons with the Detroit Lions.
As Sanders recently explained to Robert Griffin III on the “RG3 and The Ones” podcast, he probably would have chosen a different method in letting the Lions know he was stepping away from football — he infamously notified the team by fax — but other than that, wouldn’t change a thing about the process.
“That’s just where I was at that point in my life,” Sanders said. “You used the word early… It’s funny because when I was playing, the average life span of a running back was 3.2 years, something like that. But I had a chance to play 10 years. I certainly had more in the tank, and I’m grateful for that… But at 10 years, and maybe even before year 10, I looked forward to those days when I wasn’t playing.
“There was something about me that didn’t look forward to it and whatever that was — I didn’t exactly know when that would be — but there was just something in me that said yeah, I look forward to those days when I’m not playing football, when I’m doing something else because I had played all my life. 10 years in the NFL and I think 10 years before making it to the NFL… I don’t know if I would do it by fax… But as far as I can answer that question, I think I would do it the same way and around the same time.”
Barry Sanders retired from NFL before reaching historic milestone
Sanders, the Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, surprised many when he retired just 1,457 yards short of becoming the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. In total, he compiled 15,269 yards and 99 touchdowns over the course of 10 seasons. He earned Pro Bowl honors each year of his career, and won his lone NFL MVP Award in 1997 after rushing for 2,053 yards on 6.1 yards per carry and 11 scores. Sanders rushed for over 1,300 yards in all but one season during his career — 1993 when he amassed 1,115 yards in just 11 games. He sits fourth on the all-time rushing list, only behind Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Frank Gore.
In the recently released documentary on Amazon Prime Video, “Bye Bye Barry,” the 55-year-old further explained what went into his decision to step away from the game of football.
“For me, just that thing that drove me to play, which is that passion, just wasn’t there,” Sanders said. “There was nothing really left to play for. I didn’t see us as any kind of a serious Super Bowl contender. … I felt like I was making a pretty clear decision. Just felt like, in my mind, this is pretty much it.”