Greatest Multi-Sport Athletes of All-Time Ranked: Deion Sanders Over Bo Jackson?

Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders was one of the best overall athletes in his playing days. Coach Prime is arguably the greatest defensive back in football history, but also played baseball in MLB during the same time period.

FOX Sports Ranks Deion Sanders As Greatest Multi-Sport Athlete of All-Time

Deion Sanders Colorado Buffaloes Coach Prime NFL MLB Rankings Multi-Sport Athlete Shedeur Sanders Travis Hunter — Unknown date 1992; Atlanta, GA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Atlanta Falcons cornerback Deion Sanders during the 1992 season at Fulton County Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Imagn Images | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

On Thursday, FOX Sports released their rankings for the top 10 multi-sport athletes of all-time. They ranked Colorado coach Deion Sanders No. 1 overall for his time as a player both in the NFL and MLB.

Sanders played for the Florida State Seminoles from 1985 through 1988, making multi All-American teams. He was selected No. 5 overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. Sanders had an illustrious 14-year career in the NFL primarily with the Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys. He made six All-Pro teams, eight Pro Bowls, won two Super Bowls, and was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In his NFL career, Sanders tallied 53 interceptions, 512 total tackles, 10 forced fumbles, and defensive touchdowns.

While Sanders was doing this on the football field, he was also playing professional baseball as an outfielder. He had a nine-year MLB career with the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants. Sanders was a career .263 hitter, with 168 runs batted in, 186 stolen bases, and 39 home runs.

Here is FOX Sports’s complete top 10.

From Deion Sanders to Jackie Robinson, we ranked the 10 best multi-sport athletes of all-time: pic.twitter.com/cnklCqoDXu
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 31, 2025

1. Deion Sanders

2. Jim Thorpe

3. Bo Jackson

4. Charlie Ward

5. Jim Brown

6. Jackie Robinson

7. Bob Hayes

8. Dave Winfield

9. Gene Conley

10. Kyler Murray

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From Playing to Coaching

After Deion Sanders retired from playing baseball in 2001 and football in 2005, he spent a lot of time on TV as a NFL analyst. In addition to this, Prime started to become Coach Prime. He coached his sons Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders at Trinity Christian High School as an offensive coordinator in 2017.

In 2020, Sanders got his first collegiate coaching position with the Jackson State Tigers. He coached the Tigers from 2020 through 2022. He had an overall record of 27-6.

The Colorado Buffaloes football program then took a shot and hired Deion Sanders following the 2022 season. Colorado was coming off of a 1-11 season. Right away, Colorado became must-see TV. The Buffaloes went 4-8 in Coach Primes’s first year in 2023, but it was clearly progress from where they were a season before.

In 2024, Colorado took a massive step forward. They went 9-4 in Sanders’s second season led by Heisman trophy winner and two-way star Travis Hunter and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Both of these players were selected in the 2025 NFL Draft so Coach Prime will have to find a way to fill the void they are leaving in 2025.