Barry Sanders. Although, Jim Brown was the best of his era no doubt.

I just find it hard to compare running backs from different eras. Maybe we can do a best of each decade? ;)

Don’t get wrong here, Sanders was legit (he got robbed by sharing the MVP with the league’s favorite man-crush, Brett Favre) but he also benefited from running on astro-turf at least nine games of the season. In the sixties teams would have saturated the field the night before and not cut the grass that week and Barry would have had zero footing to make those cuts. Butkus would have tore his head off. Small backs had a hard time making a living in the NFL back then and they had to have the ability to lay some wood on a linebacker and run through tackles (like Floyd Little for example). I think Barry could have played because he was just too talented but I doubt 2000 yards a season would be realistic and I think his career would have been shorter. But as Zappa said, comparing players from different decades is pretty tough to do and reserved for Madden NFL games.

You have no idea what you are talking about. The NFL was a run driven league in the 60’s. CB’s could kill WR’s and defenses were designed to stop the run. PLUS there were no domes and fake ass grass. Go love Barry all you what I dont care, but to say He would have rushed for 4000 in season is dumb and ignorant and proves some people have no idea what they are talking about

Him running over an overrated Bosworth and the 91 yards TD run. BFD!!! He was a good athlete but not even close to the best. I am with Diehard on this

Instead of baseing a statement on only what you have seen, I would suggest you do some research on a guy named Jim Thorpe. Sounds like you probably have never heard of him.

After Thorpe their are dozens more that did way more than Bo. The truth is – that Bo really didn’t know. Sorry to burst the bubble.

and being unfair to boot in denigrating the stars of yesteryear compared to today’s players. The only reasonable comparison is how dominant a player is in his own time. A lineman of the fifties or sixties would be fifty or sixty pounds lighter than today’s linemen and slower to boot, but if you transplanted past stars to the present they’d be faster and bigger. They’d have access to the same training methods and nutritional conditions as today’s players, and would still have the intense drive that made them the best of their time. You can’t just say “if he were playing today” about a player and not assume that he’d have all the advantages today’s players have. You can’t have it both ways. Conversely, an ordinary 320 pound lineman would also be ordinary if he played in the sixties. He wouldn’t necessarily be way bigger and faster than the players of that era, because he wouldn’t be able to take modern training methods, huge staffs, special diets, etc. back in time with him.