Deion Sanders and Asante Samuel have been going back and forth recently. But after Samuel claimed that Deion wasn’t the greatest corner ever—and that he was better—analysts like Skip Bayless were baffled that anyone would compare themselves to Prime Time. It’s as if they forget that Deion is often considered the greatest corner of all time.
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It all started when the Colorado Buffaloes head coach went on TV and criticized a certain technique used by defensive backs. The technique is called the “T-Step,” and it involves preemptively turning your body to prevent a receiver from blazing past you. Deion was adamant that it was a dumb technique, even saying that if he saw one of his players using it, he’d rip their facemask off.
But Samuel clapped back on Twitter, arguing that it was the best technique ever, and one he relied on heavily throughout his career. This led to a heated exchange between the two, with Samuel eventually getting so fired up that he recorded a three-and-a-half-minute video explaining why he was better than Deion.
“Y’all can show me some highlights of him, and it looks pretty, I’ll give him that,” Samuel said in the video. “But y’all want me to believe he’s the greatest cornerback to ever live?”
Analysts like Skip Bayless found Samuel’s clapback puzzling. In his eyes and many others, Deion is the greatest cornerback to ever do it.
“Hey, we’re talking about the greatest lockdown cover corner ever,” Bayless told Deion in response to the video. “You could take a Jerry Rice or a Michael Irvinh, and just take them away.”
But this is nothing that Deion isn’t used to. He’s had to defend himself to the media many times over the years, and he’s gotten quite good at it. He talked about how many people in the past have tried comparing themselves to him. All have failed.
“It’s not fair, Skip. What is not fair, and I had some cats from yesterday, always challenging me and comparing themselves to me,” a frustrated Deion said.
And, Prime only had one answer for those guys in the past, and probably the same for Samuel now.
“I would look in the camera and tell them, ‘Stop comparing a monument to a darn moment.’ They had moments; I’m a darn monument, man. Like, stop the foolishness.”
It was a classic, confident answer from Deion. And honestly, this is an unfair fight. He was miles better than Samuel when you compare their stats. He doubled him up in Pro Bowl selections and quadrupled the amount of All Pros Samuel had. Let’s also not forget the most important thing: Deion is in the Hall of Fame, and Samuel is not. It’s a ludicrous comparison.
As Shannon Sharpe said on the matter, “Nobody will ever say Asante Samuel and Deion Sanders in the same breath.”
Fans also chimed in, unsurprisingly coming to the defense of Deion. One such netizen penned, “Asante has CTE, that’s all,” which is kind of a dark joke, given the state of brain trauma being found in NFL players post-mortem. But we get what they’re inferring.
Another fan wrote, “Tell ‘em, coach!!!!” as they supported what Coach Prime was putting down. After all, he is a coach. Samuel isn’t.
“Straight facts,” another added, showing their support for the Buffs coach. The comment section was heavily in favor of Deion here.
One last fan thought Prime’s choice of words was hilarious, “‘It ain’t fair to nobody,’” they wrote, echoing Sanders’ words.
In conclusion, Deion was the better corner of the two. And maybe Samuel found success doing his “T-Step” technique during his career. But not enough to make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Maybe he should do more research outside of interceptions and Super Bowls when comparing their stats. Let’s look at the overall body of work next time. Also, Asante never played wide receiver or returned punts during his career. Let’s not forget that.
