Part of a series. Previous post is here.
QB Joe Montana
Peyton Manning
Dan Marino
RB - Emmitt Smith
RB- Walter Payton
Jim Brown
Barry Sanders
WR - Jerry Rice
WR- Randy Moss
Marvin Harrison
Terrell Owens
TE- Tony Gonzalez
Shannon Sharpe
C Jim Otto
G Gene Upshaw
G John Hannah
T Anthony Munoz
T Ron Yary
OL Mike Webster
OL Bruce Matthews
OL Art Shell
DE Reggie White
DT Joe Greene
DE Bruce Smith
DL Alan Page
DL Carl Eller
DL Merlin Olsen
DL Bob Lilly
OLB Lawrence Taylor
ILB Ray Lewis
ILB Jack Lambert
OLB Junior Seau
LB Jack Ham
LB Joe Schmidt
LB Bill George
CB Rod Woodson
S Ronnie Lott
S Ed Reed
CB Deion Sanders
DB Mel Blount
DB Night Train Lane
DB Darrell Green
DB Ronde Barber
PK Morten Andersen
P Ray Guy
QB - There's a good case to be made for Manning, Marino, Elway, Favre, and Unitas all to be ranked first. If you order those six really in any way I'm unlikely to throw punches. That's probably not true when Manning retires; assuming an injury doesn't dramatically speed his decline, Peyton Manning retires as the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Edit: That's how you know I wrote this piece in the offseason.
RB - I don't know if there's a good case that the four backs aren't the four best backs of all time; there's a noticeable step down to get to the next group. Among the starters, Brown/Sanders are the best ever per game, but I'll take the career value for Smith/Payton to make them the starters.
WR - Hard after Jerry, who should be first by acclamation. The Moss/Owens movement makes their value hard to sufficiently appreciate. Berry/Irvin/Largent, all with just one team, are in the next group.
TE - Newsome/Gates/Winslow/Mackey might be the next 4 for an AFC dominated position.
OL - That is an AFC heavy line. Tingelhoff/Slater could replace Webster/Shell were you inclined.
DL - If you do any sort of advanced metric NFL study, what you're always struck by is how good those Vikings teams were. That the Minnesota Vikings, in existence now for 50 years, have never won a title is a statistical anomaly
OLB - The softest inclusion in that starting linebacker group is Lambert - I'm willing to say Ray Lewis is now the greatest linebacker of all time. Singletary/Nitschke/Hendricks could all take that last backup spot.
DB - Seau and Woodson are probably the players of the most recent vintage whose inclusion at the very top of the all time list would most surprise. And Barber - Ronde Barber=super underappreciated by a mass public.
I'd welcome debate. It's a challenging roster to put together. I'm trying not to rely on previous conceptions of who the best football players were. I think the one guy here who I am insufficiently scrutinizing is Guy.
