NFL Top 100 Players Positional Breakdown

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Tier 1
Brady, Montana, Young, Marino, Manning, Johnny U, Jergenson, Luckman, Van Brocklin, Rodgers.

Tier 2 ... Captain America, Moon, Fran, Favre, Y.A. , Sammy, Brees, Warner, Starr, Otto,

Tier 3 ... Elway, Bradshaw, Cunningham, Wilson, Ben, Mcnair, Kelly, Rivers, Romo, Vinny, Bledsoe

 

[primetime]

There's inevitably a bias towards players who have been retired for a while but still played in living memory and against players who are currently playing. Anyone with half a brain would take Drew Brees for 15 years over Terry Bradshaw for 15 years if you were starting a team now and had a choice of either as 22 year olds, but Bradshaw may still make the all-time team over Brees because of that bias. Similarly, Lenny Moore over Adrian Peterson or Ladainain Tomlinson is pretty much nuts but it will definitely happen because of that anti-recency bias.

I'll even be surprised if Gronk makes it even though he absolutely should.

Patriots who will make it are Brady, Belichick, Moss, Hannah, Vinatieri, and probably Haynes. Gronk and Revis probably should be there as well but both are iffy.

Offense

1. » Quarterbacks: 10 (Brady, Manning, Unitas, Montana, Marino, Elway, Starr, Graham, Baugh, Brees)
   » Running Backs: 12 (seen)
   » Wide Receivers: 10 (Rice, Moss, Hutson, Berry, Allworth, C.Johnson, Largent, Harrison, Fitzgerald, Carter. Would put Antonio Brown over Carter but lol not happening now)
   » Tight Ends: 5 (Gronk, Ditka, Newsome, Sharpe, Winslow)
   » Tackles: 7 (Munoz, Gregg, Brown, Roaf, Ogden, Pace, Thomas)
   » Guards: 7 (Hannah, Parker, Upshaw, Allen, McDaniel, Martin, Munchak)
   » Centers: 4 (Hein, Webster, Otto, Dawson)
   
   Defense
   » Defensive Ends: 7 (White, Jones, Marchetti, Smith, Watt, Strahan, Atkins)
   » Defensive Tackles: 7 (Greene, Lilly, Olsen, White, Sapp, Donald, Randle)
   » Linebackers: 12 (6 MLB/ILB; 6 OLB) (Lewis, Butkus, Lanier, Nitschke, Hendricks, Ham, Lambert, Taylor, Nitschke, Miller, Willis, Ware)
2. » Cornerbacks: 7 (Sanders, Lane, Haynes, Blount, Woodson, Woodson, Revis)
   » Safeties: 6 (Lott, Reed, Wilson, Houston, Tunnell, Easley)
   » Kickers: 2 (Stanerud, Vinatieri)
   » Punters: 2 (Guy, Lechler)
   » Kick Returners: 2 (Hester, Johnson)

There are probably some ancient guys I'm missing.

 

[Deus Irae]

Anyone with half a brain would take Drew Brees for 15 years over Terry Bradshaw for 15 years if you were starting a team now and had a choice of either as 22 year olds

Who you'd choose would depend on when you were choosing. It's a different game now, and Bradshaw's game was tailor made for the deep ball era and not today's version of dink/dunk, while Brees wouldn't survive a single season in the 70s or early 80s.

 

[lancerman]

There's inevitably a bias towards players who have been retired for a while but still played in living memory and against players who are currently playing. Anyone with half a brain would take Drew Brees for 15 years over Terry Bradshaw for 15 years if you were starting a team now and had a choice of either as 22 year olds, but Bradshaw may still make the all-time team over Brees because of that bias. Similarly, Lenny Moore over Adrian Peterson or Ladainain Tomlinson is pretty much nuts but it will definitely happen because of that anti-recency bias.

I'll even be surprised if Gronk makes it even though he absolutely should.

Patriots who will make it are Brady, Belichick, Moss, Hannah, Vinatieri, and probably Haynes. Gronk and Revis probably should be there as well but both are iffy.

Offense

1. » Quarterbacks: 10 (Brady, Manning, Unitas, Montana, Marino, Elway, Starr, Graham, Baugh, Brees)
   » Running Backs: 12 (seen)
   » Wide Receivers: 10 (Rice, Moss, Hutson, Berry, Allworth, C.Johnson, Largent, Harrison, Fitzgerald, Carter. Would put Antonio Brown over Carter but lol not happening now)
   » Tight Ends: 5 (Gronk, Ditka, Newsome, Sharpe, Winslow)
   » Tackles: 7 (Munoz, Gregg, Brown, Roaf, Ogden, Pace, Thomas)
   » Guards: 7 (Hannah, Parker, Upshaw, Allen, McDaniel, Martin, Munchak)
   » Centers: 4 (Hein, Webster, Otto, Dawson)
   
   Defense
   » Defensive Ends: 7 (White, Jones, Marchetti, Smith, Watt, Strahan, Atkins)
   » Defensive Tackles: 7 (Greene, Lilly, Olsen, White, Sapp, Donald, Randle)
   » Linebackers: 12 (6 MLB/ILB; 6 OLB) (Lewis, Butkus, Lanier, Nitschke, Hendricks, Ham, Lambert, Taylor, Nitschke, Miller, Willis, Ware)
2. » Cornerbacks: 7 (Sanders, Lane, Haynes, Blount, Woodson, Woodson, Revis)
   » Safeties: 6 (Lott, Reed, Wilson, Houston, Tunnell, Easley)
   » Kickers: 2 (Stanerud, Vinatieri)
   » Punters: 2 (Guy, Lechler)
   » Kick Returners: 2 (Hester, Johnson)

There are probably some ancient guys I'm missing.

Missing Gonzalez for TE’s who is absolutely going to make it.

 

[primetime]

Missing Gonzalez for TE’s who is absolutely going to make it.

Oh yeah, completely missed him and you're totally right. He's there over Newsome (Winslow and Ditka were 75th anniversary so seem unlikely not to make it). Newsome, Mackey, and Antonio Gates are the honorable mentions I guess.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Who you'd choose would depend on when you were choosing. It's a different game now, and Bradshaw's game was tailor made for the deep ball era and not today's version of dink/dunk, while Brees wouldn't survive a single season in the 70s or early 70s.

Not many would considering the rules. If OL'm can't use their hands/extend arms then pass pro will probably suffer.

It's why list like these should be broken down to eras.

Roughly
Start - 78

78/9-2004/6

04/06 - present

 

[primetime]

Who you'd choose would depend on when you were choosing. It's a different game now, and Bradshaw's game was tailor made for the deep ball era and not today's version of dink/dunk, while Brees wouldn't survive a single season in the 70s or early 70s.

Yes boomer, Drew Brees, a guy who could throw the ball from one end zone to the other in his prime, would have been a terrible fit in "the deep ball era."

 

[Deus Irae]

Yes boomer, Drew Brees, a guy who could throw the ball from one end zone to the other in his prime, would have been a terrible fit in "the deep ball era."

Brees wouldn't hold up to the beating. Brees also wouldn't have had the Kamara's of the world to bail his ass out on dump offs the way he has for the past decade plus, because that wasn't the game yet. I'm not belittling Brees when I'm pointing out that his game fits the modern league a lot more than it fits earlier eras, while Bradshaw is a better fit for earlier eras.


Oh, and I'm sorry to disappoint you in your snark, but I'm not a boomer.

 

[primetime]

Oh, and I'm sorry to disappoint you in your snark, but I'm not a boomer.

You sure post like one

 

[Deus Irae]

You sure post like one

OK. Thanks for that input.

 

[primetime]

Sure, it's dumb that Tomlinson and Peterson didn't make the list of the top 100 players of all time, but I'm just glad Bettis didn't get named to the running back list, because you know there was some not insignificant number of voters who wanted it to happen. I still can't believe he's in the Hall of Fame.

 

[jimnance]

Mike Haynes won’t be in the top 7 corners of all time IMO.

Dude. Mike Haynes is easily a top 5 all-time cb. Many, many people have him as #1. There's not a cb playing right now who even sniffs the top 5.
Gilmore would have to keep up what's doing for another 5 years, minimum, then he has a shot.

 

[jimnance]

Brady
Montana
Unitas
Graham
Bradshaw
Staubach
Starr
Manning
Elway
Marino

I'm not sure about the entire list, but your top 3, in that order, are ironclad locks. I think it's a bit of a drop-off after those 3.

 

[TinhWoodhead]

no Mahomes and Lamar???

 

[ViperGTS]

no Mahomes and Lamar???

Sh*t was just gonna post this. Thank god for modern media and digital 4k multi angle and analysis or Brady would be a footnote in favor of the next best thing for the rest of time.

 

[Ring 6]

Tier 1
Brady, Montana, Young, Marino, Manning, Johnny U, Jergenson, Luckman, Van Brocklin, Rodgers.

Tier 2 ... Captain America, Moon, Fran, Favre, Y.A. , Sammy, Brees, Warner, Starr, Otto,

Tier 3 ... Elway, Bradshaw, Cunningham, Wilson, Ben, Mcnair, Kelly, Rivers, Romo, Vinny, Bledsoe

My thoughts off the cuff.
Jurgensen top 10 a major head scratcher.
I think you missed some guys aikman k Anderson and fouts come to mind
Your 90s on stat compilers seem to favor recency over guys like Brodie, stabler, griese, Jim hart, Dawson etc.
Elway should be higher imo.
Bledsoe and vinny don’t belong in a top 30 imo

 

[Zarozzor]

EVERY top 10 list should have Staubach

 

[Doctor DDS]

Always interesting to see how they value peak vs length of career.

Peak Players:
Gale Sayers - really only 5 years
Staubach - only started 114 games
Gronk - had equivalent of about 7 full years -clearly best TE at height of powers
Terrell Davis - 2 playoff runs put him into HOF
Bo Jackson - ultimate what if player - even his peak was way too short - 23 starts, 2800 rushing yards, 5.4 YPC

 

[DarrylS]

Statistically it is difficult to exclude Brees from this conversation, his short passing cannot be minimized..

If I remember correctly early in his career #12 game plans were similar and that was often referred to as part of our running game..

It is is difficult to compare what Baugh, Graham, Starr et all did in days gone by to the game of today... it seems as though there need to be different categories..

 

[Doctor DDS]

Brees is a great player and clearly a 1st ballot HOFer. Just not sure he belongs in top 10 All-Time.

QB rating - 104.2 Dome, 91.4 Outdoors. 0 MVP's.

Has there ever been a player in NFL history that has played in more favorable conditions?
How many games has he played in the rain, snow, heavy winds or a combination of all 3? Players before the year 2000 typically played outside and often played on muddy or poor conditioned grass fields where being precise was virtually impossible let alone the rule differences.

Another mark against Brees is his minimal post season success (8-7) and general lack of signature moments (his one Super Bowl win is mostly remembered for Manning's pick 6 and an on-side kick) Not all of this is his fault and he played well enough in several of his post season losses but I think when selecting the top 10 QB's of all-time winning multiple championships will be the deciding factor. (it's why I think Marino should rightfully miss the cut as well)