Here’s the case for Graham:
He’s the only QB on the list who was universally considered the greatest QB by individual accolades and the greatest QB by team accolades.
Starr was magnificent in the 60s and won 5 titles. During his career, though, he wasn’t regarded as the league’s best QB. He threw a lower volume of passes, and guys like Jurgensen and Unitas overshadowed him. I’d rank him right behind Graham personally. I love Starr.
Unitas is kind of the other half of Starr. Almost unheard of for individual accomplishments, and he was a relatively successful winner (not an all-time choker like Manning, but not Starr either); he came up short in the big games often. Arguably the Colts, and not the Packers, would have been the team of the 60s had Unitas not been upset with a bunch of superpower teams
Staubach was also awesome, but due to a shorter career and the Cowboys losing twice to the Steelers, it’s hard to rank him at the top of this very exclusive list. That said. I was really glad the NFL100 put him on their list because he is very underrated by modern short-sighted evaluators. I’d rank him best QB of the 70s.
Graham was universally hailed as the NFL’s best player of the 1950s. He dominated the stat sheet, end of season awards, and championships. He played in the AAFC’s four championships, winning all 4, and then in the NFL’s 6 championship games, winning 3. Yes, that’s 10 consecutive total championship games played, and 6 consecutive in the NFL. You can’t count AAFC, but consider that the competition at the top was similar to the NFL since the Browns made the transition and dominated. The 49ers and 1st iteration Baltimore Colts also came over. I imagine if Fantasy Football was around in the 50s, Graham would have a “Gretzky” effect where the team that has the first pick has to make a ton of concessions, or you just can’t draft him.
That said, I don’t claim to be smarter than anyone and to each their own. I won’t die on the hill ranking one of the very best over other very bests.
@Deus Irae has also studied QBs meticulously, and we have a similar list with just Starr and Graham swapped.
