Lions icon Barry Sanders shares experiencing a heart-related "health scare" on Father's Day
Barry Sanders was silent when Father's Day came almost a week ago. Now he has revealed the reason. The Detroit Lions Hall of Famer was last publicly seen on June 6 commemorating the reopening of the Michigan Central Station in the neighborhood of Corktown.
On Friday, he addressed his situation in a statement on his X.com account. It read:
“Over Father’s Day weekend, I experienced a health scare related to my heart. It was unexpected and served as a reminder of the importance of staying vigilant about our physical well-being, even when we are feeling fine."
His full statement can be seen below:
Sanders played his entire 10-season career with the Lions, amassing 15,269 rushing yards and 99 touchdowns - fourth and tenth in the respective categories.
Analyst surprisingly ranks Barry Sanders behind LaDainian Tomlinson
Elsewhere, The 33rd Team's Dan Pizzuta recently released his list of top 10 NFL running backs of all time. He put Barry Sanders fourth, ahead of names like Emmitt Smith and Marshall Faulk, saying:
"If the NFL logo were the silhouette of a player like the NBA’s is of Jerry West, it would be hard to argue against Barry Sanders making a defender miss in the open field. That was Sanders’ game, and he was the best at it."
However, the next man up was San Diego Chargers legend LaDainian Tomlinson. That prompted a response from Yardbarker's Adam Patrick, who disagreed with the notion, calling it "a bit puzzling" given their stats and accolades:
"When comparing his career to Tomlinson's, (Sanders) averaged more rushing yards per game, more yards per reception, more yards per carry, and more total yards per matchup. (He) was also voted to five more Pro Bowls and four more first-team All-Pro teams in addition to leading the NFL in rushing two more times than Tomlinson did."
He then posited that a few factors may have played into how the two were ranked - strength of rosters each played in and team success. But at the same time, he opined that they should not be taken into account:
"This shouldn't be a ranking about which running backs played on the best teams. It wasn't Sanders' fault that the Lions front office didn't surround him with better talent.
"When it comes down to strictly determining who was the better running back during their NFL career, regardless of team success, Sanders should be given a higher ranking over Tomlinson 100 percent of the time."
The two other players ranked ahead of Sanders were Walter Payton and Jim Brown.