Best NE player? Brady, Revis or Gronk

Nice stacked hand BB gets to play on any given Sunday.

The King, Brady, best of all all time. Some argue fading. Might not even be best at his position in the current NFL. GOAT.

The Ace of Spades, Revis. The silent assassin. An elite player and generational talent. Tops in NFL by wide margin. But position advantage can be nullified with proper game planning away from the "Island".

The Jack, Gronk. Unstoppable. Best in current NFL, and not even close. Not so sure all-time, time will tell. Injuries have been a factor, perhaps they still are...

*MY "best" is for --currently--, i.e. "recently, right now and going forward a bit" compared to NE and league-wide.

Brady. We've survived and thrived without the other two for years (although they certainly pushed us over the hill this year). Without #12 (and with other choices out there at QB) I shudder at what we might have been for the last 14 years.

How come "SERIOUSLY?" isn't an option.

Best player: Brady. The importance of a QB in the NFL makes it really difficult to compare to all other positions.
Best player compared to his positional peers: Gronk

PatsDeb said:

Brady. We've survived and thrived without the other two for years (although they certainly pushed us over the hill this year). Without #12 (and with other choices out there at QB) I shudder at what we might have been for the last 14 years.

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The question wasn't "which player is most important to the Patriots"; that's a significantly different question and the answer is clearly Brady.

The question as I understand it is what player is the best player at his position relative to other players at his position. Great question. Both Gronk and Brady have the potential to be considered the best all-time at their position. Perhaps Revis as well but I'm not so sure.

The jury is still out, but I may actually lean towards Gronk if he can play at this level for another 5 years. From what has already been accomplished, I'd go with Brady.

Concussion Protocol said:

Best player: Brady. The importance of a QB in the NFL makes it really difficult to compare to all other positions.
Best player compared to his positional peers: Gronk

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That basically sums it up. Gronk is might be the best player in the game when you compare peers. I cant think of another player who is that far ahead everyone else in his position. Watt maybe? Murray?

Also, I think we are talking about in the game today. Obviously all time/over a career its TB because he is in the discussion of GOAT FB player of all time. And Gronk has a while to go.

Today - Gronk

The best player on the Pats is Gronk though Brady is more important. No other player in the NFL dominates his position the way Gronk does.

Brady or Rodgers? tough call right now (not career but currently)
Revis or Sherman or other? Pretty close.
Gronk or ??? No one else is even close.

That could just be weakness at the TE position but I think Gronk is just a once in a generation talent at the position that is currently in his prime (unlike Brady that is a 1 in a generation talent at his position but currently not in his prime).

Also when looking at the Pats you could easily include Slater and Gost in this discussion though they are not as impactful as the above 3. I believe those 2 are the best at their respective positions right now.

Right now? I would go with Gronk. Gronk is playing at a level that makes him arguably the best TE of all time. Brady may be the greatest QB of all time, but he isn't quite at his peak anymore. Revis is still one of the greatest CBs of all time, but I don't know if he is better than Deion or maybe Michael Hayes.

bradys our best player, it's not even close.

Brady..without him do we even come close in that SB? No

Brady is, the QB position has to do so much more, it's hard to consider anyone but him the best.

I like what @Concussion Protocol said though, best relative to positional peers = Gronk by far. Revis and Brady have challengers, Gronk is a TE who can block with the best while producing at an elite WR level.

None of those exist outside of ours, his position might need a new title to represent what he does, he's much more than a TE or WR.

TruthSeeker said:

The question wasn't "which player is most important to the Patriots"; that's a significantly different question and the answer is clearly Brady.

The question as I understand it is what player is the best player at his position relative to other players at his position. Great question. Both Gronk and Brady have the potential to be considered the best all-time at their position. Perhaps Revis as well but I'm not so sure.

The jury is still out, but I may actually lean towards Gronk if he can play at this level for another 5 years. From what has already been accomplished, I'd go with Brady.

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I'd still answer your interpretation of the question the same way.

I voted Gronk because my definition of the best is that one guy that nobody wants to be their assignment that week and right now Gronk is an unstoppable force of nature. I think there are two types of "best" players, those that kill you with precision, will, and intelligence (Brady, revis) and those that kill you with brute force and athletism (gronk). Brady in his prime is clearly the best patriot of all time but he is not prime Brady anymore IMO. I have seen brady do more with less in previous seasons and while the Super Bowl excuses a lot, those first four weeks Brady looked like crap (yes o line issues and his weapons getting on the same page/coming back from injuries were a factor) and I believe a younger Brady would not have looked as bad despite the issues. It was not til Gronk started looking like Gronk in week 5 that the patriot season took off. When Brady or revis beat you, you just shake your head in admiration and go damn need to study more, be better prepared next time. It's like flunking a test. When you play Gronk he will go around, thru, and over you. Then when he is done he will throw you out the club like a rag doll. You leave the game shaking in fear going thank goodness that **** is over. That's why IMO the best player of those three RIGHT NOW, is Gronk by a fair bit. Thankful I get to root for all three because they are all fantastic among the best at their position in the NFL caliber players. It's a good problem to have

Brady. Take away his rookie year where he only threw the ball a few times and the year he was injured Brady has played 13 full years as a starter. He's been to 6 Super Bowls. If he makes it next year that will be one out of every two years in his career he's been in the big game.

how is this even a question?

4thRing-Hunt said:

Brady. Take away his rookie year where he only threw the ball a few times and the year he was injured Brady has played 13 full years as a starter. He's been to 6 Super Bowls. If he makes it next year that will be one out of every two years in his career he's been in the big game.

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Again, not sure why people think this is all time. If we were talking all time who would start such a stupid topic. Since the op isnt stupid TB really dosent make senses. Sure, he plays a much more importaant position, and the team is in more trouble with him gone than Gronk but this isnt close.

Its Gronk by a mile right now. There isnt even a flaw in Gronks game and TB has a couple.

Bruins29 said:

Again, not sure why people think this is all time. If we were talking all time who would start such a stupid topic. Since the op isnt stupid TB really dosent make senses. Sure, he plays a much more importaant position, and the team is in more trouble with him gone than Gronk but this isnt close.

Its Gronk by a mile right now. There isnt even a flaw in Gronks game and TB has a couple.

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Can't agree. While he helped out, Gronk didn't bring the team back from 10 pts. down in the 4th quarter of the Superbowl. Nor did he bring them back (twice) from 2 TDs down in the AFC Championship game.

PatsDeb said:

Can't agree. While he helped out, Gronk didn't bring the team back from 10 pts. down in the 4th quarter of the Superbowl. Nor did he bring them back (twice) from 2 TDs down in the AFC Championship game.

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Gronk can be eliminated from action by the other team. It is a function of the position. TB really cant. I see the other side but I think the question was legitimate and people are not looking at the question correctly.

There is no way you can say TB is a better QB right now, than Gronk is at TE. Gronk is far and away the leader while TB and Rogers are discussed as interchangeable. With Gronk there is no discussion and he has more competition because there are more starting Tight Ends in the league than QBs

That is all that is being asked. Not who made key plays, not who is more important, not who is more clutch in a certain game. Even in Bradys prime people were saying Payton Maanning was better. And he was putting up the numbers to justify the conversation.

When has anyone ever said the same for Gronk? You cant even find a hint of a flaw in Gronks game. I can name a couple in TBs.

Brady takes us further without Gronk than Gronk would take us without Brady.

Like others have said Gronk is head and shoulders above his peers at his position and it's not even close. It only took me the 2011 season to see Gronk will become the greatest tight end of all the time. I rolled my eyes in 2011 everytime people compared Graham to Gronk. It wasn't the fact that Gronk had great stats that season. It was the fact that he was so dominant at run blocking and never left the field unlike Graham. People are finally seeing what Graham is, a glorified receiver. Gronk is the epitome of what a tight end is. If Gronk didn't get injured in 2011 playoffs and 2012-2013 injury plagued seasons he would have already been talked of as the greatest tight end of all time.

This season I've seen some of the mediots finally acknowledge if they could have one tight end they would want Gronk. With all these receiving type tight ends these days when someone praises a tight end I only have one question. Can he block?

If people consider Gonzalez to to be one of if not the greatest tight end of all time I'm going to go out on a limb and say Gronk will be the greatest tight end of all time and it won't be even close. With that being said there's no reason any future tight ends can't be as good or better than Gronk. But with the current history of tight ends, nobody comes close.

Revis is a once in a generation player. Who knows if he's the greatest at his position.

All 3 are important. That's why it's a team game.

Brady > Gronk > Revis for me.

I voted Gronk. Because I feel that today, he is so far and away the most dominant player at his position. The QB position has other players in the same realm Brady occupies. Namely Rodgers. I understand the votes for Brady. Lifetime of success dominating the very most important position.

I give Gronk props for being so influential on game day despite playing a position most would view as far less important.