PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME MEMBER

#21 Deion Sanders - DB

Deion Sanders Career NFL Stats 1989-2000, 2004-05
G
SOLOTKL
AST TKL
COMB TKL
SACKS
INT
INT TD
FF
FR
FRTD
188
254
20
512
1.0
53
9
10
13
1
 

 

Deion Luwynn Sanders was born on August 9, 1967 in Fort Myers, FL. He is the son of Connie Knight and Mims Sanders. There’s no question of Sanders athletic gift. From a young age, Sanders was always the best athlete no matter the sport. At each level of competition, the kid from Fort Myers electrified fans in every sport he played. In football, Sanders would become one of the best in NFL history.

 

 

Deion attended North Fort Myers High School. Sanders had the type of high school career athletes dream of. He played baseball, basketball and football. Just imagine the sport he loved the most, basketball, was the only one he didn’t play professionally! Playing basketball was also where Deion got his famous nickname ‘Prime Time’ when a friend called him that after a great game. He earned All-State honors in all three sports. Sanders decided to attend Florida State to continue his sports career.

 

Deion Sanders College Career Stats and Notes

Sanders played for Florida State from 1976-80. He had 14 career INTs at FSU, helping them make a bowl game appearance each year. Sanders was a two-time Consensus All-American. However the athletic Sanders didn’t only star in football on campus. He still played baseball and ran track. Sanders helped the FSU baseball team reach the 1987 college World Series. There was really no sport Prime couldn’t excel in.

 

Awards and Achievements
MVP
All-Pro

1st Team: 1992,1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998

Pro Bowl Selections
1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
Defensive Player of the Year Award
Achievements

Super Bowl Champion

XXIX, XXX

Member of 1990s All-Decade Team

Member of NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team

 

 

Deion Sanders NFL Career Stats and Notes

Even at the highest level of competition, Deion was a multi-sport athlete. Sanders was selected 5th overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He was also drafted by the New York Yankees. With baseball and football seasons occurring at the same time, Deion would never play a full season with his baseball team. Prime played his first five seasons in the NFL with the Falcons and a couple of those years with the Atlanta Braves. In 1992, he became the first athlete to play in a NFL game (Falcons vs. Dolphins) and suit up for a MLB game (Braves vs. Pirates) on the same day. Sanders is the only athlete to ever play in both the Super Bowl and World Series.

In 1994, Sanders signed with the San Francisco 49ers. The move paid immediate dividends for both Deion and the 49ers. Sanders was finally on a team that seemed to need one more piece to get over the hump of beating the Dallas Cowboys. In the trilogy after losing the first two NFC Championship games to Dallas, San Francisco won 38-28 and went on to win Super Bowl XXIX. The following year Sanders signed with the Dallas Cowboys.  That season Sanders helped the Cowboys win their 5th Super Bowl as they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX.

Sanders played a total of five seasons in Dallas before signing with the Washington Redskins in 2000. After one season, Sanders retired from the game. In 2004 Sanders returned to the NFL, this time with the Baltimore Ravens. Prime played two years in Baltimore before retiring for good in 2006. Sanders was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

 

Deion Sanders 1994 NFL Defensive Player of the Year

When Prime joined the San Francisco 49ers in 1994, to many it seemed to be for one reason: to match up against Michael Irvin when they meet in the playoffs. The regular season was very important as it would determine where the game would be played based on record. Sanders made sure the game would be played in the Bay.

Sanders turned in one of the most electrifying and dominant seasons for a cornerback. It was a season full of highlights: from his first game as a 49er when he returned an interception 71 yards for a TD, to his homecoming game against the Falcons in Atlanta where he took an INT back 92 yards for a score (in front of the Atlanta sideline), to another 89 yard INT return for a TD against the Chargers late in the season. It all added up to the 49ers clinhcing homefield advanatege with a 13-3 record and Sanders winning the 1994 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.

 

 

List of Pro Football Hall of Fame Members