Eagles RB Miles Sanders on Barry Sanders: ‘I wasn’t old enough to watch’

The NFL has this strange way of making young men feel old. Then again, maybe we are old. we’re starting to see guys enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and we remember when they were drafted. Philadelphia Eagles star Miles Sanders doesn’t have that problem. The man affectionately referred to as ‘Boobie’ turns 26 years young on May 1st. God willing, he still has more years remaining on this planet than he has already seen.

Miles is what some would call an ‘old soul’. What he lacks in years, he makes up for in wisdom. He isn’t just talented. He’s a student of the NFL and its history. That’s probably why his idol is a man that he never saw play.

Super Bowl Opening Night: Miles Sanders is a huge Barry Sanders fan even though the former isn’t old enough to have seen the latter play.

If you’re old enough to remember the whirlwind, consider yourselves lucky. Barry Sanders is a proud member of the 2004 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, and for a decade he blazed a trail that has yet to be duplicated.

A former NFL Most Valuable Player (1997), two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year (1994, 1997), NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (1989), six-time First-Team All-Pro (1989–1991, 1994, 1995, 1997), and ten-time Pro Bowler (1989–1998), Barry left the game in 1998 while still in his prime. Miles Sanders was a one-year-old at the time

Boobie knows talent when he sees it though. If you’re going to pattern yourself after someone, that would be the guy, and during Super Bowl Opening Night, Number 26 was given the chance to share his admiration.

Miles Sanders earned his first Pro Bowl nod in 2023. He only needs nine more to catch up with his idol. There may never be another Barry Sanders, but we’ll promise you this. If Boobie winds up being half the tailback that Barry is, he’ll carve his own place in NFL lore. That’s a promise.