Sanders arrived in Dallas with a massive splash and immediate success. It’s what happens after that first splash subsides that’s the issue
History doesn’t repeat itself. But it sure does rhyme, sometimes in the most obvious possible ways … you know, like Neon/Deion.
As Deion Sanders and the Dallas Cowboys circle one another, eyeing a possible reunion, it’s worth taking a look back at the last time Sanders wore the Star. What does Deion’s brief but memorable run as a Cowboys player foretell for his potential as the Cowboys’ possible new head coach?
First off, for those who aren’t old enough to remember the 1990s, Deion Sanders stood at the literal center of the sports universe. In 2020s overexposure terms, he was Caitlin Clark plus LeBron James multiplied by, well, Coach Prime. But here’s the thing about Deion’s hype, much of which he generated himself: He backed up every dollop of it.
He played two sports at the pro level. He injected life into one moribund Atlanta franchise, and he reached the World Series with another. He stood toe-to-toe with future Hall of Famers in two different sports, and he was the centerpiece of the greatest NFL rivalry of the decade. He won two consecutive Super Bowls for two different teams.
So when Sanders joined the Dallas Cowboys just months after winning Super Bowl XXIX with San Francisco, well, it just seemed like the perfect marriage of megastar and national stage.
Prime turns it up to 11
This is tough for anyone who’s followed the Cowboys in the 21st century to reconcile, but in the mid-1990s, the Cowboys absolutely deserved the term “America’s Team.” When Sanders joined the Cowboys in 1995, Dallas was in the heart of its winningest era ever. Over the previous three years, Dallas had won two Super Bowls and lost in the NFC championship to Sanders’ 49ers. Led by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin, coached by Jimmy Johnson and later Barry Switzer, ruled by Jerry Jones, this was a dynasty in full flower. The Cowboys already inspired real fear in the rest of the NFL, and adding Deion to that mix in 1995 seemed just flat-out unfair.
Sanders had begun his career in Atlanta, bringing juice to a Falcons organization that had possessed exactly none in the franchise’s first 20-plus seasons. After the 1993 season, he jumped to San Francisco for a year, helping the 49ers win a Super Bowl. And after that, the Great Deion Sanders Courtship was on.
The Raiders, Dolphins, Broncos, Eagles and others all came calling, but Sanders ultimately chose Dallas, signing what was at the time a massive seven-year, $35 million contract. He didn’t make his debut in a Cowboys uniform until Week 9 thanks to baseball and an ankle injury; the only tangible result of that layoff was that 1995 was the only season from 1991 to 1999 in which Sanders wasn’t named to the NFL’s All-Pro team.
Sanders chose Dallas for a range of reasons, most notably the fact that he’d be able to play more offense. He loved being a shutdown cornerback, but he loved even more the spotlight that came with having the ball in his hands, and that didn’t happen frequently enough on the defensive side of the ball.
In Super Bowl XXX, Sanders caught a 47-yard pass in the first quarter that set up the Cowboys’ first touchdown in a 27-17 victory over Pittsburgh. That, plus a healthy ankle, gave Sanders enough encouragement that he wanted to become a key contributor on offense in 1996.
“This year I plan on getting sick with it … get down, do my thing, get busy, do the ultimate,” Sanders told Sports Illustrated in 1996. “They’re going to have to put seat belts in the stadium.”
As absurd as it sounds now, Sanders even wanted to become a triple-threat player, taking snaps and passing a la Kordell Stewart. Aikman, for one, wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea: “I’m not here to be a part-time player,” he said at the time. “If they want to do that, I can go somewhere else and play.” (Spoiler: He did not.)
Still, Sanders delivered what he promised for Dallas. He scored touchdowns on receptions, interceptions, fumbles and punts. He made the Pro Bowl every year from 1996 to 1999, was named first-team All-Pro from 1996 to 1998 and second-team All-Pro in 1999. With Sanders on the roster, Dallas won one Super Bowl and reached the playoffs in four of five seasons.
Divorce from Big D
By 1999, Sanders’ eye began to wander, right as it became clear his days in Dallas were drawing to a close. As theatrical as ever, he kept all his options open while reminding everyone of what he was still able to do.
“I live for these Sundays, man,” he told Peter King in 1999. “Now Monday through Saturday, that’s another thing. But Sundays are the best. I love shutting down my man, then I love fourth downs. I love sitting back there, getting ready to return a punt, knowing that the punter’s as nervous as a man on death row whose time has come.”
The Cowboys cut ties with Sanders before the 2000 season, right as the team was starting the downhill slide it’s still enduring — Dallas has won only four playoff games in the quarter-century since Sanders left. Switzer enjoyed initial success with Deion and Johnson’s roster, but wasn’t able to restock that roster himself to a championship level, and his successors struggled even more. (Remember Chan Gailey? Dave Campo? No? There’s a reason for that.)
Sanders, meanwhile, attempted to keep himself in an increasingly flickering spotlight. He tried to hang on to a pro career, retiring and un-retiring from both baseball and football and playing stints with everyone from the Baltimore Ravens to the Syracuse SkyChiefs (Toronto’s minor-league affiliate). After cycling through a range of occupations — charter school founder, TV commentator — he took a job as head football coach of Jackson State in 2020, and you know what happened next.
So what does Sanders’ first run in Dallas tell us about his potential second? Sanders thrived early on in the Dallas system, when it was clear he was the star among stars. But as the struggles piled up and the challenges grew, Sanders and the rest of the Cowboys fractured. Sanders left the Cowboys in 1999; Irvin retired that same year, and Aikman the next. Smith hung on for a few more largely ineffective seasons.
In Dallas, Deion did what he’s always done — arrived with a massive splash and immediate success. It’s what happens after that first splash subsides that’s the issue … but right about now, Dallas could use whatever splash it can get.
