Watching Calvin Johnson shred his defense on Sunday, Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones would have loved to have had one of his old cornerbacks back: Jones said on Tuesday that he believes Deion Sanders, the Hall of Famer who played cornerback in Dallas from 1995 to 1999, could have done the job of covering Megatron.
Asked on KRLD-FM if Sanders could have shut down Megatron, Jones answered, “Yes, I do.”
Jones elaborated that Sanders was as good a shutdown corner as he’s ever seen, and so he’d like Sanders’s chances against any receiver.
“Deion has such catch-up speed and he had real good center-field ability,” Jones said, via ESPNDallas.com. “He could really play the ball, and he had such ability to get into position to play the ball. Now, you’re talking about the greatest cover guy maybe that’s played this game. I’ve seen where he’s been declared the greatest cover guy. Hall of Famer. But I do think he could do a real good job on Johnson. Johnson’s going to get some probably, but I think he could do a great job. Deion’s a great player.”
Sanders was a phenomenal player, and maybe the best cornerback ever to play the game. But at 6-foot-1 and 198 pounds, it would have been a tall order for him to cover the 6-foot-5, 236-pound Johnson. Prime Time vs. Megatron would have been a great battle to see.