NFL's Top 100 Players of All-Time: Debate

According to the NFL, Jerry Rice is the greatest player ever; Joe Namath ranks 100th.

Apparently, when it comes to the greatest NFL players of all time, the only thing people agree on is that Jerry Rice heads the list. After that, the debate goes on.

The NFL Network just concluded its weekly series The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players and has now unveiled the top 10 - one list compiled by an NFL "blue-ribbon panel" and one list generated by fans' votes.

Who got it right?

According to the NFL, the Top 10 goes like this:

1. Jerry Rice 2. Jim Brown 3. Lawrence Taylor 4. Joe Montana 5. Walter Payton 6. Johnny Unitas 7. Reggie White 8. Peyton Manning 9. Don Hutson 10. Dick Butkus.

With the exception of Jerry Rice (who was inducted into the Hall of Fame three months ago), the fans saw it differently. Their list:

1. Jerry Rice 2. Joe Montana 3. Walter Payton 4. Barry Sanders 5. Peyton Manning 6. Brett Favre 7. Dan Marino 8. John Elway 9. Jim Brown 10. Emmitt Smith.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the fans were keen on big-name passers, placing five quarterbacks in the top 10. In fact, Steve Young was ranked the 13th greatest player of all time by the fans; the NFL has him 81st. While Joe Namath was deemed the 42nd greatest player by the fans, the NFL put him at the bottom: #100.

The NFL list gives more props to defense, putting Lawrence Taylor at #3 and Dick Butkus at #10 (Not one defender made the fans' top 10).

The fans also apparently did not appreciate history as much as the NFL. Thirty-three of the NFL's top 100 players were nowhere to be found on the fans' list: None of them debuted after the 1970s.

Other interesting tidbits about the top 100:

= Peyton Manning was the only active player to crack the top 10 in both lists.

= Bengals' great Anthony Munoz was the highest ranked offensive lineman, coming in at #12 in the NFL list; the fans put him at #80

= Packers wide receiver Don Hutson, whose 99 career TD catches stood 44 years as a league record, was the ninth greatest player of all time according to the NFL. The player who starred in the 30s and 40s did not make the fans' list.

= Quarterbacks led position players with 19 making both lists; no punters or kickers made the cut.

= The Bears and Cowboys each had 8 players make the lists; the Saints, Texans, Seahawks, Panthers, Jaguars had no representatives.

[MirromanXKL]

I think Montana is perhaps the greatest winning QB of all time....no question...but is he "greater" John Unitas? No no way.. if montana had to play under the conditions that Unitas played for...he would have been out in half his career...in Unitas' time...defensive backs had a green light to kill, they also had a green light to beat up the receivers...if manning, elway, marino, or montana had to play in Unitas' time they would not have been anywhere near as great...Unitas was the real deal, I saw him very late in is career as a kid...but he was a hero..even as an old man, he led the Baltimore colts to the superbowl...oakland almost killed him..yet he stood in there took the hits and did it..as an old man with half the team montana had...Johnny U is the greatest QB and greatest football player in history...besides the QB is the most important position!!! Rice was great but he was a receiver...what happened to stallworth and swan? no respect again for the greatest team of all time?

[mandy328]

I agree that Jerry Rice was a fantastic player. but he needed someone on the other end of the ball to make those spectacular plays as do all QBs and receivers. Running backs need blockers.
In my humble opinion the greatest would be a game changer.
My list... Dick Butkus - Joe Green - Deacon Jones - Ray Rice. They dominated their positions and many times the opponents game strategy

[JRMayo]

Mandy - no disrespect to Ray Rice, but he is not in the to 20 of RBs all time. Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Tony Dorsett, Earl Campbell, AD Adrian Peterson, Barry Sanders, Curtis Martin, Eric Dickerson, OJ the Killer, all were better than Ray Rice. It's nice to be a fan, but you do have to be serious.
You wrote Ray Rice - did you mean to write Jerry Rice. He arguably is the greatest player of all time, and is certainly the best WR of all time.

[jthorison12]

Good to see Reggie White near the top. Watched this guy for several years as a Packer. Don't think I'll ever see anyone man-handle opponents like he did. Reggie Reggie Reggie

[BCorrigan87]

I would have put former Raider and Oiler great Dave Casper on this list. When you keep in mind that the Raiders kept falling short in the AFC title game against the Steelers in 1974 and 75' it makes perfect sense. Casper came in for an injured Bob Moore in the second half and almost caused the Steelers to lose. He made one particularly brilliant catch over Jack Lambert who is deservedly on this list. In 1976, Casper's first year as a starter, he torched the Steelers for 7 catches, 124 yards, 2 touchdowns, in Oakland's opening game 31-28 victory over Pittsburgh. In the AFC title game he set the tone for the day by diving into a scrum and ripping a Raider fumble out of Lambert's hands. The year before Lambert had victimized Oakland with 3 fumble recoveries on the sheet of ice field. Oakland handily beat Pittsburgh 24-7 and then steamrolled Minnesota to win Superbowl XI. All Dave did the following year was catch 5 touchdowns in 2 playoff games not icluding the 42 yard over the shoulder beauty called "Ghost to the Post" which enabled Oakland to tie the game and eventually beat the Baltimore Colts on his winning touchdown catch in the 6th period.

Casper also was regarded by many as the single greatest blocking tightend to have ever played. After six games of the 1980 season, Dave was traded to the Houston Oilers. Earl Campbell, although having rushed for 178 yards against the Chiefs in the fifth game of the year, was still averaging for him what a paltry 60 yards per game up til' that point. With Casper's brutish blocking Campbell went on an absolute tear. He reeled off 202 in Dave's first Oiler game, 206 in his second, etc. The finest performance in my opinion was against the Chicago Bears. Casper, ailing with a sore hamstring, was lined up nose to nose most of the game against Chicago strongman defensive end Mike Hartenstine. The same Hartenstine who had nearly decapitated Eagles qb Ron Jaworski the game before. I have this game on dvd. Casper utterly dominated Hartenstine. Blowing him off the line, slide blocking, cutting him, zone blocking. Casper put on an absolute clinic. Campbell rushed for 212 yards and the Oilers eked it out 10-6. Picture any tightend (Save for that monster out in NE the Gronkster - that guy didn't even look human this year. He is scary good!) in the leauge today who could be head to head with a starting defensive end and dominate him all game the way Casper dominated Hartenstine. This is what made Casper a special and unique talent. A rarified talent.

[jt92202]

Steve Largent from the Seahawks should be in the top 100. There are many great players now and in the past so it's hard to pick and choose But Steve still holds a few receiving records and I don't know many WR that were as great to watch as him!!

[BigBlivefromny]

hEY MY 2 CENTS SAYS BUBBA SMITH, THE GREAT defensive player who just died, was one of the most dominant defensive players ever, along with Dick Butkus,but i got to watch Bubba more and loved him..RIP!

[Harden_Tar]

Where is Marcus Allen? He played like a maniac, wore little or no padding and even suvived being benched by Al Davis for a couple of years.

[Henri_Rochard]

"...no punters or kickers made the cut..."

I can't say if he was one of the top 100 NFL players of all time, but the 1970s Oakland Raiders wouldn't have had as much success without punter Ray Guy.

I'm glad my man made both lists: Walter Payton.

[Forty-Four]

What about the Saints kicker who kicked the 64 yarder..he should be on there..so should Jason Hanson, the Lions kicker who is on the top 10 all time scoring list. Pretty good considering all he scores is ones and threes

[DenverBroncofan]

Joe Montana was oversted, being Steve Young took the same team to the Superbowl when he left...

[euge005]

How soon they forget. Too much hype for current glory and an inadequate sense of history.