Despite being a two-time All-Pro, NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver who has managed to collect 13,899 receiving yards, there were more than a few DBs who proved themselves capable of rivaling Cris Carter. In fact, the 1999 Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner has all nine of them memorized in his head.
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During the most recent episode of his Fully Loaded podcast, Carter immediately cited the following when asked to list the toughest defenders that he ever competed against.
“There’s eight or nine cornerbacks or safeties that I played against throughout the course of my career; Deion Sanders, Darrell Green, Aeneas Williams, Charles Woodson, Rod Woodson, LeRoy Butler, Ronde Barber, John lynch.”
However, Carter did suggest that no one may have been a tougher opponent than his fellow Hall of Famer, Deion Sanders. “He was way beyond his years,” Carter explained. “With watching tape, isolating the receiver, long before people were starting to do that.”
According to the former WR1, Sanders was much of a competitor in the film room as he was on the field. “Deion is a guy that’s going to give you problems.”
“He has long arms and he has remarkable catch-up speed… [Deion] could play away from me but still contact me… His knowledge of football and route combinations, splits, leverage points, at what yardage the DB is beginning to panic, he understands routes… He was just way beyond his years.”
Apart from Sanders, Carter noted that he primarily struggled with physical DBs, such as the aforementioned Woodson brothers or Williams, who also happened to be faster and more athletic than him. All of them are unique in their own ways, but Carter also suggests that there’s just a “thin margin” separating these players from one another.
Thankfully, the former Minnesota Viking had his own intangibles and skills to fall back on, even when competing against defenders whom he described as being “uniquely good.”
“To me, I was never worried about elite speed, because I had elite catching ability and size. I could always hold a guy off and catch the ball with one hand. That was my ability. Guys would go, ‘Okay, I got you covered.’ Okay, but I’m still open.”
Ultimately, Carter believes that the success of DBs is predicated on having “traits that match up with wide receivers really well,” hence his favoritism towards players of his era who were considered to be distinctly athletic in some form or fashion.
The 1990s and early 2000s presented a different, much more physical brand of football, one that simply asked more of its secondary defenders. In the eyes of Carter, the willingness of past DBs to travel with the opposing team’s WR1 deserves more recognition, hence his effort to remind folks about what may be some forgotten legends.
