OPINION: Deion Sanders is overhyped in Atlanta sports historical landscape
Deion Sanders' recent back-and-forth with Todd Gurley II on whether or not he was serious about not having any other Atlanta Falcons wear the No. 21 he made famous has brought Prime Time back in the Atlanta spotlight.
Sanders receives the flowers he deserves as a legend of the game and as a legendary athlete in general. The former Atlanta Brave and Falcon is on many people's Mount Rushmore of Atlanta sports. As the years go on, and younger generations rely more on highlights and stories moreso than live games and week-to-week coverage, a lot of reality can get covered up.
Sanders only played five seasons in Atlanta. In those five seasons, he was named an All-Pro three times before he jetted to conference foe San Francisco.
Granted, Sanders' legacy in Atlanta by no means is limited to the field. His confidence, his dance and being one of the faces of M.C. Hammer's "Too Legit to Quit" Falcons makes him forever intertwined with the city.
Sanders is one of the Falcons' Ring of Honor members, and that should be enough recognition for him from the franchise.
Sanders' story is somewhat similiar to another star athlete in Atlanta who has been portrayed as an iconic, cornerstone piece of the franchise.
Pete Maravich has always been an Atlanta Hawks legend. In 2017, the Hawks decided to retire Maravich's jersey. Maravich became, unofficially, the seventh player in franchise history to have his number retired. Bob Petit; Lou Hudson; Dominique Wilkins; I believe Jason Collier, even though his number doesn't hang from the rafters; and Dikembe Mutombo. Former owner Ted Turner and former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed also were honored with retired numbers 17 and 59.
Maravich only played in Atlanta for four seasons, where he appeared in two all-star games and was named to an All-NBA team, before heading back home to play with the New Orleans Jazz, a franchise he spent the majority of his career with.
It's widely understood why the Atlanta Falcons would never retire Michael Vick's number. Beyond the controversy, Vick only started for the franchise for four seasons. He missed the majority of the 2003 season due to injury and he didn't start for most of 2001 because he was a rookie quarterback.
No one should question Vick's impact or influence on the game of football and the city of Atlanta but it should be understood he's not going to get his jersey retired because four seasons is not enough.
The next Falcons who makes a strong case to get his jersey retired is the current No. 2. Matt Ryan has been the starting quarterback for the franchise in three different eras and three different decades. He won an MVP award and took the team to its second Super Bowl ever in a season that was as close to perfect as it could be. Double digit quality seasons with a team merits a jersey retirement ceremony, as Dave Holcomb put it, "a handful of seasons."
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