Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith are two of the greatest running backs in NFL history. They also happened to be contemporaries, which let NFL fans and analysts compare them year after year. Today, I want to review how the media viewed these two players.

Sanders entered the NFL a year before Smith, and was an instant success. As a rookie, Sanders and Christian Okoye were the  top running backs in the NFL, with Thurman Thomas, Neal Anderson, and Dalton Hilliard rounding out the top five.  Here was the voting by the Associated Press, Pro Football Writers Association, Sporting News, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Pro Football Weekly, and the UPI.  I have noted whether each award was a 1st-team All-Pro honor, a 1st-team All-Conference honor, or a 2nd-team All-Pro honor.

In 1990, Smith entered the league, and while he earned the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award, he couldn’t compete for honors on a larger scale.  This was the start of a two-year period where the former Oklahoma State Cowboys, Sanders and Thomas, were the clear top two running backs in the NFL, with Anderson and Marion Butts also picking up some honors.

In 1991, Thurman Thomas was the MVP of the league according to the AP, PFWA, and the NEA, and he also picked up the AP Offensive Player of the Year award. Sanders, however, also won his first MVP this season, snagging the Bert Bell Award.  Smith started to get some honors, and was the media’s choice as the third best running back in the NFL this season.

In ’92,  Steve Young was outstanding and won most of the major MVP awards, but Smith earned his first MVP honors this season, being selected by the NEA as the best player in the NFL.  Barry Foster had a career season, and it was he — and not Sanders — who shared the first-team All-Pro awards.   Pro Football Weekly also made All-Conference choices this season.

The next season, 1993, Smith swept all the major awards, winning the AP, NEA, PFWA, and Bert Bell MVP honors.  Jerome Bettis (on the Rams) was probably the second-best RB this season, with Thomas the best running back in the AFC and fighting with Sanders for the title of third best running back in the NFL.

The 1994 season was when Smith held out to start the first two games of the season. And while Smith was great, Sanders was named the Offensive Player of the Year by the AP, while a dominant Steve Young would sweep all the major MVP awards.  These two swept the first-team All-Pro honors this season.

Finally, 1995 was peak Emmitt, as he led the NFL with 1,773 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns.  Brett Favre was the MVP choice by all the major organizations (he led the league in passing yards, TDs, and ANY/A), and Jerry Rice had a record-breaking season; Smith was third in the MVP voting.  From the All-Pro voting perspective, Smith and Sanders swept the 1st-team honors.

By 1996, Smith was no longer an inner circle Hall of Fame caliber back. Over the next 7 seasons, Smith would average 1,172 yards with 8 touchdowns and about 25 catches, which is a pretty remarkable average for a player from ages 27 to 33.  But he had no more legendary seasons, and only a few excellent ones. Sanders, of course, had a longer peak: he edged out Bettis (now with the Steelers) for the title of second best running back in the NFL, with both behind an emerging Terrell Davis.

In 1997, Sanders had his MVP season, sharing AP honors with Favre but winning the others (along with the AP OPOY award). He was the clear best running back in the NFL, with Davis as the clear second-best back.

Finally, 1998 was Sanders’ final season. This year, Davis had re-emerged as the best running back in the NFL, but Sanders was still a second-team AP All-Pro (this would be the first time since ’93 that he wasn’t a PFW All-Conference choice, however).

From a longevity perspective, Smith obviously edges out Sanders overall. But when it comes to awards, Sanders’ longevity looks much more impressive than Smith’s: he picked up some honor every year for ten years, with Smith’s honors really limited from ’91 to ’95. That said, during Smith’s peak, he was arguably even more impressive than Sanders.

What do you think?