Barry Sanders doesn’t want to talk about the future of the game of football. Not right now, anyway. He wants to watch the game, preferably on a very good couch. The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been asked countless times about retiring early, something more and more players are doing with health concerns on their mind. Player safety is at the forefront of a dialogue about the league that’s introduced new rules this season and will change the way athletes play and fans talk about football.
But to Sanders, what matters is that football is back, and he’s excited to see what happens in the league even if Le’Veon Bell isn’t back just yet for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But Sanders understands. After all, he held out himself and knows that it’s a “business decision” for both parties.
Sanders spoke to Uproxx on behalf of Tostitos about the Le’Veon Bell situation and talked about how modern running backs are different from him. He also discussed the value of preseason football, whether he thinks the league will expand its regular season and which current player is a throwback to his era and style of play. There is also a lot of discussion about couch refrigerators.
You talked to us a few months ago and were asked about your favorite running backs. One guy you mentioned was LeSean McCoy, who I’m certainly familiar with. What is it about him and maybe the way that he attacks the game that is different from other backs?
McCoy, he’s been at it for a while. I don’t know if he’s at 10 years yet, but he’s getting close to it. He’s one of those guys that because of his style, he’s been able to last this long. But he’s very slippery, he’s very strong for a guy his size: He’s not very big. Great vision — he normally sees the hit coming before it happens. You don’t see a lot of guys getting big, solid hits on Shady.
He’s a good pass receiver, too, and so he’s just a good, all-around back. A guy that, in a lot of ways, is kind of a throwback to guys from the 80s and 90s.
It seems more and more teams are platooning their backs, trying to take advantage of one particular skill of a player — speed or strength or size — to wear down defenses with multiple fresh backs. If you were playing in this era would it hurt you to not get a rhythm in the offense? Does that impact a running back?
I think it depends on the player. I grew up playing the game a certain way. Some of these players, they kind of have adapted to the way the game is played now.
But as you’ve seen in the NFL, even given what I just said, there are guys that command the ball 20 times a game. You look at a guy like Le’Veon Bell: he carries the ball and is involved in the passing game.
You mentioned Shady, you look at Zeke Elliott, he touches the ball 20 times a game. You look at (Leonard) Fournette, (Kareem) Hunt, (Todd) Gurley. There’s still enough guys that are going to command the ball 20-plus times a game and probably before long add (Alvin) Kamara onto that list, depending on how long Mark Ingram is there. And so you have a lot of both in today’s NFL.
You mentioned Bell, who is entering an interesting situation with the Steelers in his holdout. If you were going through the same situation, where is the breaking point? I’m not sure anyone knows the best way to handle this but it seems like the only thing anyone knows is that he won’t be in Pittsburgh this year.
You know what, yeah it’s a tough call. Because on both sides, business decisions have to be made. I’ve held out my share of training camps: my first year in the NFL I didn’t attend one training camp practice because I was holding out of camp. You have to make that decision and you have to do what’s best for you and the Steelers have to do the same thing. You hope they can come to an agreement because it just seems like it was a great marriage with him and Ben Roethlisburger and Antonio Brown.
But normally around that first part of the season, after that last preseason game, around that first regular season game, somebody’s going to break. Someone’s going to sort of come more than halfway and deals get done. So I think that’s really where, because he’s been to camp, a player like that doesn’t necessarily need to be there, in my opinion. And so I think that there’s much greater motivation to get a deal done after that last preseason game. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see something happen within the next couple of weeks.
The length of the preseason always becomes a topic of conversation at the end of August. Would you be in favor of shortening preseason and maybe adding to the regular season, as people like Jerry Jones have suggested recently?
I think it will always be debated, but I think the way it is now is working pretty good for everyone. I don’t think there are enough owners that want to change it, I don’t think there are enough teams that want a change the way it is now. I think preseason, obviously is valuable, because you really have a lot of players to evaluate. Old and new. And so the game will always be tweaked, but I don’t see them going to 18 games anytime soon.
You’re working with some brands to stay involved with the game in retirement. What are you doing with Tostitos this season?
Tostitos has this gameday couch, and this thing has all the bells and whistles. They allow a guy like me to really perfect their “homegate” when they can’t get out to the stadium. So the stadium sofa has an iPad on it that you can check in on your fantasy football games and leagues. It has a USB charger. It has lights. It has a refrigerator so you can keep your beverages cool. All those great things you need for modern fans who love to stay connected.
So there’s a contest going between September 6 and 10. If you hashtag #TostitosHomegate and #Entry you have a chance to win the sofa.
So do you get a stadium sofa out of this deal or are you just kind of spreading the good word here?
I don’t think that I’ll get one out of it. Maybe we can write that into the contract, maybe it’s a little late for that. But it’s going to go to one lucky fan who enters the contest.
So what does your Sunday look like when the NFL is in season? Do you bounce between games or stay on one game? Do you go to see games in person a lot?
It depends, but I certainly like to sit down and watch the game and take in several games. Sometimes I’m able to go out to Lions games as well but if I’m not there then I’m at home kind of checking in on multiple games at once.
