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Greatest Player From Each Team (1 Viewer)

Anarchy99

Footballguy
I am a sucker for the click bait articles. One of them (SportsDrop.com) listed these players as the "Best Of" from each franchise. Thoughts? Oversights? Snubs?

Code:
Team	Greatest	Runner Up	Challenger
ARI	L Fitzgerald	Dan Dierdorf	
ATL	Matt Ryan	Michael Vick	Julio Jones
BAL	Ray Lewis	Ed Reed		Lamar Jackson
BUF	Thurman Thomas	Bruce Smith	
CAR	Julius Peppers	Steve Smith	Cam Newton
CHI	Walter Payton	**** Butkus	
CIN	Anthony Munoz	Boomer Esiason	
CLE	Jim Brown	Otto Graham	
DAL	Emmitt Smith	Roger Staubach	Ezekiel Elliott
DEN	John Elway	Terrell Davis	Von Miller
DET	Barry Sanders	Calvin Johnson	
GBP	Brett Favre	Bart Starr	Aaron Rodgers
HOU	JJ Watt		Andre Johnson	Deshaun Watson
IND	Peyton Manning	Johnny Unitas	
JAC	Fred Taylor	Tony Boselli	
KCC	Tony Gonzalez	Derrick Thomas	Patrick Mahomes
LAC	L Tomlinson	Junior Seau	Philip Rivers
LAR	Marshall Faulk	Deacon Jones	Aaron Donald
MIA	Dan Marino	Larry Csonka	
MIN	Fran Tarkenton	Randy Moss	
NEP	Tom Brady	Rob Gronkowski	
NOS	Drew Brees	Willie Roaf	Michael Thomas
NYG	Lawrence Taylor	Michael Strahan	Saquon Barkley
NYJ	Joe Namath	Curtis Martin	
OAK	Marcus Allen	Ken Stabler	
PHI	Reggie White	Chuck Bednarik	Carson Wentz
PIT	Joe Greene	Jack Lambert	Ben Roethlisberger
SFO	Jerry Rice	Joe Montana	
SEA	Steve Largent	Walter Jones	Russell Wilson
TBB	Derrick Brooks	Warren Sapp	
TEN	Steve McNair	Eddie George	Derrick Henry
WAS	Sammy Baugh	John Riggins
 
I would have thought that a team with HOFers would have one as their best player. TEN had Earl Campbell or Warren Moon (unless they only counted guys that were Titans). Or Charlie Joiner over Boomer Esiason. And I would have thought Antonio Gates would have been in the mix for the Chargers.

 
Regarding the recency bias, I suspect the challengers are meant to be current players who could one day challenge for one of the top two spots rather than already being a top 3 player for their franchise. 

For my team, the Broncos, as big a fan as I am of Terrell Davis, not sure I would put him ahead of Shannon Sharpe for the runner-up spot. Tough call. 

 
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Anarchy99 said:
I would have thought that a team with HOFers would have one as their best player. TEN had Earl Campbell or Warren Moon (unless they only counted guys that were Titans). Or Charlie Joiner over Boomer Esiason. And I would have thought Antonio Gates would have been in the mix for the Chargers.
I think they were clearly only counting Tennessee Titans or there is no way George gets the nod over Campbell.

 
Matt Ryan and Michael Vick over Julio? 
 

Only 7 defensive players listed as the top player.  Tarkington over Alan Page is one that really jumps out at me.  

 
Why do some teams have 3 players listed while other teams do not?

Arizona = Aeneas Williams

Buffalo = Jim Kelly

Chicago = A certain coach named Mike Ditka

Cincinatti = Charlie Joyner

Cleveland = Ozzie Newsome

Detroit = Herman Moore or one of their older guys like Sims

Indianapoilis =Marvin Harrison or  Edgerton James

Jacksonville = Jimmy Smith

Miami = Jason Taylor

Minnesota = Randall McDaniel Alan Page John Randle Chris Doleman

New England = Emperor Palpatine

NY Jets = Kevin Mawae (most of their hof players I saw were mostly cast offs by the time they became a Jet. Long history of this team taking other teams HoF players once they are past their primes.

Raiders = Howie Long 

SF 49ers = Ronnie Lott or Charles Haley

Tampa Bay = Tony Dungy

Washington = Darrell Green

 
Deion Sanders should be on the list as a Falcon.  

Gale Sayers deserves an honorable mention, but I wouldn't bump out Payton or Butkus for him

Randy Moss should be ahead of Fran Tarkenton on the Vikings list, and it's not even close.  Check out Randy's first 7 seasons.

Don Hutson should be the #1 Packer - He was the WR1 every single year of his career (11 straight).  If you owned him in FF in 1942, he scored more than the next 3 WR's combined!

 
Hahaha it's really, really worth noting that the 3rd name is meant to be a modern era player that could challenge to be in the top 2. Some franchises definitely could go deeper than a top 2 but *who from today* might crack those top two is the point. 

Makes it a different take. I was about to laugh at Carson Wentz and say they misspelled Randall Cunningham. Or how come there isn't a 3rd name for the Bears, who could have an arguable top 5 (after Sweetness, the single best player in NFL history), but don't have a single player on their current roster that could challenge Walter or Butkus. And of course I'd have to agree. So two Bears only. I was also going to throw down Danny White over Zeke but again the 3rd name is for.........

 
This is a pretty awful list. I feel like the person who made this list thinks football started in the 1980's, and then looked up an old player a few times to try and hide that. Also way too many RB's, and nowhere near enough OL/DB. 

I'd say they got the right best player on about 10-12 teams. 

 
Anarchy99 said:
I would have thought that a team with HOFers would have one as their best player. TEN had Earl Campbell or Warren Moon (unless they only counted guys that were Titans). Or Charlie Joiner over Boomer Esiason. And I would have thought Antonio Gates would have been in the mix for the Chargers.


I think they were clearly only counting Tennessee Titans or there is no way George gets the nod over Campbell.
Right. 

I'm still taking Bruce Matthews over McNair. Even if you only count the Tennessee years. 

Although, if that's the case how does Marshall Faulk make the list for the LA Rams?

 
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Colts

1 - Peyton Manning

2 - Johnny Unitas

3 - Lenny Moore

4 - Bubba Smith

5 - Marvin Harrison

6 - Mike Curtis

7 - Jim Parker

8 - Raymond Berry

9 - Bert Jones

10 - Edgerrin James

11 - Reggie Wayne

 
Jets:

1. Joe Namath

2. Don Maynard

3. Darrell Revis

4. Curtis Martin

5. Kevin Mawae

6. Joe Klecko

7.  Winston Hill 

8. Nick Mangold

9. Mark Gastineau

10. Wesley Walker

I can't count such Hall of Famers that spent their twilight years with the team and were mostly shells of themselves like Ronnie Lott, LaDanian Tomlinson (who was still good), Brett Favre, Ed Reed, Jason Taylor, Ty Law (who was still good) or Steve Atwater.

 
Jets:

1. Joe Namath

2. Don Maynard

3. Darrell Revis

4. Curtis Martin

5. Kevin Mawae

6. Joe Klecko

7.  Winston Hill 

8. Nick Mangold

9. Mark Gastineau

10. Wesley Walker

I can't count such Hall of Famers that spent their twilight years with the team and were mostly shells of themselves like Ronnie Lott, LaDanian Tomlinson (who was still good), Brett Favre, Ed Reed, Jason Taylor, Ty Law (who was still good) or Steve Atwater.
I remember watching Namath as a kid. Lived in CT and with the blackout rules I didn’t have any other choice. He was very good early in his career and not very good past his first five years. His numbers overall aren’t that great. Losing record, 50% completion rate, almost 50 more INTs than TDs. I get that passing totals were way lower than today, but is he really the best the Jets have to offer?

 
I remember watching Namath as a kid. Lived in CT and with the blackout rules I didn’t have any other choice. He was very good early in his career and not very good past his first five years. His numbers overall aren’t that great. Losing record, 50% completion rate, almost 50 more INTs than TDs. I get that passing totals were way lower than today, but is he really the best the Jets have to offer?
It's more for the impact he made and his first few season - I really did not get to watch him play until he was totally washed up. Oh course it "helps" the Jets aren't exactly a storied franchise.

 
For Baltimore, it's hard to go wrong with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, but it's tough to leave off Jonathan Ogden who is legitimately in the discussion as one of the best Tackles of all time, just as Lewis and Reed are in that discussion at their positions. It's been said before, but the Ravens had a pretty good draft in 96 when they picked up two first ballot HOFers who are both in the Top 5 all-time at their positions, maybe Top 3

 
Jets:

1. Joe Namath

2. Don Maynard

3. Darrell Revis

4. Curtis Martin

5. Kevin Mawae

6. Joe Klecko

7.  Winston Hill 

8. Nick Mangold

9. Mark Gastineau

10. Wesley Walker

I can't count such Hall of Famers that spent their twilight years with the team and were mostly shells of themselves like Ronnie Lott, LaDanian Tomlinson (who was still good), Brett Favre, Ed Reed, Jason Taylor, Ty Law (who was still good) or Steve Atwater.
No Larry Grantham? 

Colts

1 - Peyton Manning

2 - Johnny Unitas

3 - Lenny Moore

4 - Bubba Smith

5 - Marvin Harrison

6 - Mike Curtis

7 - Jim Parker

8 - Raymond Berry

9 - Bert Jones

10 - Edgerrin James

11 - Reggie Wayne
Gino Marchetti seems like an omission. Love seeing Lenny Moore that high. He's the most underrated RB in history in my opinion. 

I could be biased as I was always a huge fan of the guy, but I thought Dwight Freeney was better than James or Wayne, and much more responsible for the Colts success than either of them were. 

Gale Sayers deserves an honorable mention, but I wouldn't bump out Payton or Butkus for him

Randy Moss should be ahead of Fran Tarkenton on the Vikings list, and it's not even close.  Check out Randy's first 7 seasons.
I'd actually bump Butkus for Singletary. In fact, I'd actually argue Butkus was the 3rd best LB in Bears history. I don't know when it happened(maybe when he failed as a HC?) but Mike Singletary became really underrated for some reason. He's a top-3 LB of all-time in my opinion. Top-2 if you don't count LT as he'd probably be viewed as an edge rusher these days, like Von Miller is.

Moss shouldn't even be on the Vikings list in my opinion. The Vikings have had a ton of great players. Alan Page is the first name that springs to mind, followed by guys like Randall McDaniel, Carl Eller, and John Randle. I'd have a hard time making a case for Moss over any of those guys, especially since his best season was as a Patriot.

 
Here are the Top 3 players from each franchise based on Approximate Value from PFR. This list is A LOT different.

ARI Jim Hart 136 Larry Fitzgerald 133 Larry Wilson 112
ATL Matt Ryan 179 Mike Kenn 138 Julio Jones 113
BAL Ray Lewis 221 Terrell Suggs 150 Ed Reed 131
BUF Bruce Smith 194 Thurman Thomas 136 Jim Kelly / Andre Reed 132
CAR Cam Newton 123 Steve Smith 120 Luke Kuechly 107
CHI W Payton 168 Mike Singletary 159 Brian Urlacher 150
CIN A Munoz 164 Ken Anderson 161 Ken Riley 127
CLE C Matthews 124 Jim Brown 122 **** Schafrath 115
DAL E Smith 163 Randy White 149 Bob Lily 148
DEN John Elway 203 Tom Nalen 130 Rod Smith 126
DET B Sanders 150 Lem Barney 121 Matthew Stafford 118
GBP Brett Favre 222 Aaron Rodgers 184 Ray Nitschke 120
HOU A Johnson 120 JJ Watt 112 Duane Brown 79
IND P Manning 219 Marvin Harrison 161 Reggie Wayne 155
JAC Jimmy Smith 135 Fred Taylor 106 Marc Brunell 103
KCC W Shields 157 Len Dawson 144 Derrick Thomas 138
LAC P Rivers 204 Dan Fouts 162 Junior Seau 160
LAR M Olsen 160 Jack Youngblood 139 Jackie Slater 129
MIA Dan Marino 216 Jason Taylor 144 Zach Thomas 142
MIN Carl Eller 165 Fran Tarkenton 161 Jim Marshall 157
NEP Tom Brady 280 John Hannah 147 Steve Grogan 116
NOS Drew Brees 218 Rickey Jackson 144 Jahri Evans 135
NYG L Taylor 182 Eli Manning 165 Michael Strahan 160
NYJ Don Maynard 132 Mo Lewis 117 Larry Grantham 115
OAK Jim Otto 154 Gene Upshaw 151 Tim Brown 143
PHI D McNabb 126 Reggie White 126 Brian Dawkins 120
PIT Big Ben 186 Mike Webster 162 Jack Ham 148
SFO Jerry Rice 215 Steve Young 158 Joe Montana 146
SEA S Largent 140 Russell Wilson 129 Walter Jones 126
TBB D Brooks 191 Ronde Barber 150 Warren Sapp 124
TEN B Matthews 210 Warren Moon 120 Mike Munchak 116
WAS D Green 148 Chris Hanburger 126 Charley Taylor 125


Note that these scores are only for the time spent with this team (ie, not their total over their careers).

 
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I remember the Hannah and Grogan era for New England but how about some Vinatieri kicker love for the Patriots?

Probably harder to slot him on the Colts.

 
I remember the Hannah and Grogan era for New England but how about some Vinatieri kicker love for the Patriots?

Probably harder to slot him on the Colts.
I don’t see any way a kicker could be considered the best player in the history of a franchise, let alone one that has split his career almost evenly between two teams. 

 
Anarchy99 said:
. And I would have thought Antonio Gates would have been in the mix for the Chargers.
Kellen Winslow was on the NFL100 team, Gates was not, so arguably, Gates isn't even the best TE in Chargers history

 
Moss shouldn't even be on the Vikings list in my opinion. The Vikings have had a ton of great players. Alan Page is the first name that springs to mind, followed by guys like Randall McDaniel, Carl Eller, and John Randle. I'd have a hard time making a case for Moss over any of those guys, especially since his best season was as a Patriot.
His first 7 years were with the Vikings, and he tallied 9152 yds and 90 TD's.  The only WR in the history of the NFL that can compete with that is Jerry Rice, who had 3 more TD's, but 80 less yards.  No other WR even comes close.  IMO Moss is the best WR ever to play the game.  And, as you said, he didn't even have his best season in MIN.

 
Kellen Winslow was on the NFL100 team, Gates was not, so arguably, Gates isn't even the best TE in Chargers history
IMO, the NFL 100 team was not really a list of the 100 greatest players of all time. It was a list of 100 top tier players across the history of the league . . . incorporating a set allocation of players from each era to focus more on the history of the game. They hardly took any current or recent players at all, so they not only avoided any recent player bias but probably went overboard in excluding them. So IMO, not a representative list at all of who the all-time best players were.

But since you brought up Winslow . . .

Approximate Value Scores:
Gates 127 . . . Winslow 71

HOF Monitor Scores:
Gates 113.63 (2nd all time for TE's)
Winslow 95.96 (6th all time for TEs)

 
IMO, the NFL 100 team was not really a list of the 100 greatest players of all time. It was a list of 100 top tier players across the history of the league . . . incorporating a set allocation of players from each era to focus more on the history of the game. They hardly took any current or recent players at all, so they not only avoided any recent player bias but probably went overboard in excluding them. So IMO, not a representative list at all of who the all-time best players were.

But since you brought up Winslow . . .

Approximate Value Scores:
Gates 127 . . . Winslow 71

HOF Monitor Scores:
Gates 113.63 (2nd all time for TE's)
Winslow 95.96 (6th all time for TEs)
Both great IMO.....yeah the NFL100 didn't have LaDainian on it, complete joke IMO.

 
I don’t see any way a kicker could be considered the best player in the history of a franchise, let alone one that has split his career almost evenly between two teams. 


I get the whole kicker thing, but Vinatieri had like 3 game winning kicks in the Superbowl for the Patriots and huge part of their historical franchise lore. Guy was as clutch as any kicker ever. Just the first thought that popped into my head reading the list.

 
I get the whole kicker thing, but Vinatieri had like 3 game winning kicks in the Superbowl for the Patriots and huge part of their historical franchise lore. Guy was as clutch as any kicker ever. Just the first thought that popped into my head reading the list.
As far as Adam V goes, neither of his 2 SB winning kicks would have resulted in losses had he missed. The games would have gone to OT instead and the outcome would still need to be decided. He did not have a miss-and-go-home kick in a SB IIRC. His greatest kick was the 45-yarder to send the game to OT in the Tuck Rule game in the snow against the Raiders. Either way, IMO, a handful of clutch kicks does not merit consideration as "greatest of all time player" for a team. And if it does, that just means the team really didn't have many great players.

 
His first 7 years were with the Vikings, and he tallied 9152 yds and 90 TD's.  The only WR in the history of the NFL that can compete with that is Jerry Rice, who had 3 more TD's, but 80 less yards.  No other WR even comes close.  IMO Moss is the best WR ever to play the game.  And, as you said, he didn't even have his best season in MIN.
If you think Moss is the best WR ever, I'm not going to convince you otherwise. However, I think that is a silly statement. I'm not sure Moss was even the best WR of his era, let alone all time.

Moss wasn't half the WR Jerry Rice was. That isn't an insult to Moss at all. Its hard to quantify a guy like Don Hutson, so for the sake of focusing on Rice/Moss, I'll ignore him, and say that post merger, no WR was half as good as Rice. First 7 year numbers are irrelevant, the NFL changed a lot in almost 15 years. Moss never led the NFL in receiving yards, Rice did 6 times. Moss needed 16 games to break Rice's TD record that Rice set in 12. Rice's best seasons trump Moss's despite playing in a less WR friendly era. Forget stats too, just look at the players themselves.

Rice was incredible, he was the best or 2nd best WR for over a decade, at everything a WR can do. Big plays deep, route running, run after catch, catches in traffic, hands on difficult throws , re-routing when plays break down, and of course, rising to the occasion and making plays when they mattered most. Moss was the best at maybe 2 of those things during his era. Rice's game had zero weaknesses, and he outworked everybody. 

Moss is a top-10 WR all time, maybe even top-5, but he's not in Rice's league. I'd argue the drop off from Rice to Moss is bigger than the drop off from Moss to say AJ Green. The drop off from #1 to #2 is bigger at WR than it is at any other position. I'd go so far as to say Rice might be the best player in NFL history regardless of position, even factoring in how much more value QB has. 

Also, this was a question limited to teams. Moss's non-Vikings career doesn't count. So his 7 years, while great, don't match up with a guy like Alan Page, a 6 time 1st team all-pro. 9 pro bowls(back when that mattered) and is one of only 2 defensive players, to win the NFL MVP. 

Frankly, I'd have Moss between 6-10 among all time Vikings. There are 14 Vikings in the HOF(some may be more claimable by other teams) but its not like there aren't a ton of great names to choose from. Randall McDaniel, Ron Yary, John Randle, Carl Eller. 

 
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Frankly, I'd have Moss between 6-10 among all time Vikings. There are 14 Vikings in the HOF(some may be more claimable by other teams) but its not like there aren't a ton of great names to choose from. Randall McDaniel, Ron Yary, John Randle, Carl Eller. 
Based on Approximate Value as a Viking, Moss ranks 16th. ADP is 15th.

LINK

 
As far as Adam V goes, neither of his 2 SB winning kicks would have resulted in losses had he missed. The games would have gone to OT instead and the outcome would still need to be decided. He did not have a miss-and-go-home kick in a SB IIRC. His greatest kick was the 45-yarder to send the game to OT in the Tuck Rule game in the snow against the Raiders. Either way, IMO, a handful of clutch kicks does not merit consideration as "greatest of all time player" for a team. And if it does, that just means the team really didn't have many great players.
Yeah, fair point, I was thinking of it in a bit of a different context I guess, superbowls and all time NFL scoring leader, etc. Wonder how close Gronk got in that ranking?

 
Jets:

1. Joe Namath

2. Don Maynard

3. Darrell Revis

4. Curtis Martin

5. Kevin Mawae

6. Joe Klecko

7.  Winston Hill 

8. Nick Mangold

9. Mark Gastineau

10. Wesley Walker

I can't count such Hall of Famers that spent their twilight years with the team and were mostly shells of themselves like Ronnie Lott, LaDanian Tomlinson (who was still good), Brett Favre, Ed Reed, Jason Taylor, Ty Law (who was still good) or Steve Atwater.
I would put Maynard #1.  Namath was a 50.1% passer with 173 TDs and 220 INTs.

 
If you think Moss is the best WR ever, I'm not going to convince you otherwise. However, I think that is a silly statement. I'm not sure Moss was even the best WR of his era, let alone all time.

Moss wasn't half the WR Jerry Rice was. That isn't an insult to Moss at all. Its hard to quantify a guy like Don Hutson, so for the sake of focusing on Rice/Moss, I'll ignore him, and say that post merger, no WR was half as good as Rice. First 7 year numbers are irrelevant, the NFL changed a lot in almost 15 years. Moss never led the NFL in receiving yards, Rice did 6 times. Moss needed 16 games to break Rice's TD record that Rice set in 12. Rice's best seasons trump Moss's despite playing in a less WR friendly era. Forget stats too, just look at the players themselves.

Rice was incredible, he was the best or 2nd best WR for over a decade, at everything a WR can do. Big plays deep, route running, run after catch, catches in traffic, hands on difficult throws , re-routing when plays break down, and of course, rising to the occasion and making plays when they mattered most. Moss was the best at maybe 2 of those things during his era. Rice's game had zero weaknesses, and he outworked everybody. 

Moss is a top-10 WR all time, maybe even top-5, but he's not in Rice's league. I'd argue the drop off from Rice to Moss is bigger than the drop off from Moss to say AJ Green. The drop off from #1 to #2 is bigger at WR than it is at any other position. I'd go so far as to say Rice might be the best player in NFL history regardless of position, even factoring in how much more value QB has. 

Also, this was a question limited to teams. Moss's non-Vikings career doesn't count. So his 7 years, while great, don't match up with a guy like Alan Page, a 6 time 1st team all-pro. 9 pro bowls(back when that mattered) and is one of only 2 defensive players, to win the NFL MVP. 

Frankly, I'd have Moss between 6-10 among all time Vikings. There are 14 Vikings in the HOF(some may be more claimable by other teams) but its not like there aren't a ton of great names to choose from. Randall McDaniel, Ron Yary, John Randle, Carl Eller. 
FWIW, I have Rice as the 2nd best WR  ;)

 
Based on Approximate Value as a Viking, Moss ranks 16th. ADP is 15th.

LINK
This is because he only played 7 seasons for the Vikings.

Randy Moss is 37th in career AV i at 161. He produced 61.5% of his AV as a Viking.

I  think this is a good way to break these lists down. I will always think of Moss as a Viking but he put up some very good numbers after leaving the Vikings. Its a matter of perspective that sorting the AV out answers. Still when we think of these players in the HoF context we are valuing their whole careers when comparing them to other options.

 
Right. 

I'm still taking Bruce Matthews over McNair. Even if you only count the Tennessee years. 

Although, if that's the case how does Marshall Faulk make the list for the LA Rams?
Rams took the name with them.  Oilers are defunct.

 
CAR Julius Peppers Steve Smith Cam Newton

Smitty has to be number one.  Kuechley was far more dominant at his position than Peppers.  Lastly, CMac is a much stronger challenger than Newton.

 

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