Brad Oremland is a longtime commenter and a fellow football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

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Players 125-111

This is the second article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. If you haven’t already read part one, I recommend you start there. Please keep in mind, if a player’s ranking seems low or if I highlight potential negatives to explain why he’s not even higher, that making this list at all essentially puts the player in the top one-third of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Best Players of All Time: 101-110

110. Dutch Clark
Quarterback (Pre-Modern)
Portsmouth Spartans, 1931-32; Detroit Lions, 1934-38
1,507 yards, 11 TD, 26 INT, 40.3 rating; 2,772 rush yards, 4.57 avg, 36 TD
6 All-Pro, 1930s All-Decade Team

Something you’ll notice occasionally in this series are contemporary players from the same position ranked back-to-back. When it’s hard to differentiate players within their own era and position, it seems intellectually dishonest not to rank them together. Benny Friedman (#111), who played in the late 1920s and early 1930s, was the final entry last week, but he’s back-to-back with another Pre-Modern QB, charter Hall of Famer Earl “Dutch” Clark. Friedman was a much, much better passer. Clark’s eyesight was so weak he had trouble seeing his receivers, and Friedman threw six times as many TD passes, despite that his best seasons (unlike most of Clark’s) were before passing was legal anywhere behind the line of scrimmage.

Clark wasn’t a quarterback in any modern understanding of the word. He passed for about half as many yards in his career as Mitchell Trubisky did in 2018. Clark was a pretty good passer for his era, but at that time, QBs weren’t judged on their passing. He led the NFL in rushing touchdowns four times — a telling accomplishment playing at the same time as Bronko Nagurski (1930-37) and Cliff Battles (1932-37) — and he had a famous 40-yard touchdown run in the 1935 NFL Championship Game. Clark was also a talented dropkicker, who led the NFL in scoring three times. He was a six-time All-Pro in seven seasons, and he joined Sammy Baugh as the only signal-callers in the first Hall of Fame class. Clark was particularly renowned for his intelligence and savvy, the best play-caller of his generation, at a time when that was among the QB’s most important duties.

Was he better than Friedman? He was a wildly different player. Friedman was the best passer of his era; Clark was a great runner and kicker. Friedman was a braggart who backed up his talk on the field; Clark was humble, and famously reluctant to call his own number. Friedman never won a championship; Clark was the hero of Detroit’s 1935 championship victory. If I were choosing a quarterback, I’d take Friedman in a heartbeat. Choosing the better overall player, I lean ever so slightly toward Clark.

109. Antonio Gates
Tight End
San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, 2003-18
955 receptions, 11,841 yards, 651 first downs, 116 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 5 AP All-Pro, 8 Pro Bowls, 2000s All-Decade Team

I remember the exact play when Antonio Gates erased any doubt in my mind that he was the best tight end in the NFL. It was Week 17 of the 2005 season, Chargers vs. Broncos. Early in the second quarter, Gates turned a two-yard gain into a 12-yard first down. On the play, he made John Lynch miss, made D.J. Williams miss twice, made Keith Burns miss, and turned Nick Ferguson around so hard that the Bronco safety fell down. That Bronco defense was no joke; it allowed the third-fewest points in the league (16.1/gm) and Denver went 13-3, but Gates made them look like amateurs.

From 2004-10, give or take, Gates was a game-changing talent, the hardest tight end in the league to defend. In 2006, he was the leading receiver on the league’s highest-scoring offense. Teammate and league MVP LaDainian Tomlinson scored 31 touchdowns that season, and Gates was the reason he didn’t see eight- and nine-man defensive fronts on every play. Gates was explosive, not just a check-down option or even a red zone target, but a deep threat. He had double-digit TDs four times, including 2010, when he only appeared in 10 games. His 116 TDs are the most of any tight end in history.

Gates, a college basketball player, jump-started the trend of turning NCAA power forwards into NFL tight ends. Tony Gonzalez had been a college basketball player in addition to football, but Gates was a college basketball player who didn’t play football. He had size, speed, power, and explosiveness. He wasn’t a great blocker, but his size dictated matchups, and he was an impactful receiver. Gates has nine seasons with over 750 receiving yards, and his career stats are very impressive, but what distinguishes Gates is not his compilation of stats, it’s the way he played at his best.

108. Jason Witten
Tight End
Dallas Cowboys, 2003-17
1,152 receptions, 12,448 yards, 632 first downs, 68 TD
2 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 11 Pro Bowls

Here’s one of those back-to-back rankings. Whose career do you prefer, Antonio Gates or Jason Witten? Gates was a more explosive receiver, and more spectacular to watch. Witten was a better blocker, less one-dimensional. Gates had more All-Pro seasons, Witten made more Pro Bowls. That’s an accurate picture of their careers: Gates absolutely was more dangerous at his best, but Witten was healthier and more consistent and had more good seasons. You wouldn’t go wrong with either one, but I think Witten’s versatility, durability, and consistency gave his teams more options.

Witten’s 12,448 career receiving yards rank 2nd all-time among TEs, and his four 1,000-yard seasons are tied for the most of any TE in history. In 2012, Witten caught 110 passes for 1,039 yards (both best among TEs), despite beginning the season with a lacerated spleen. He holds franchise records for receptions, receiving yards, and games played. Witten also distinguished himself from contemporaries like Tony Gonzalez and Gates as a dedicated and effective blocker.

In case I haven’t been clear already, I’m essentially ranking Gates and Witten evenly. I think it’s entirely reasonable to rate Gates a little ahead, rather than Witten, and so close that some intelligent and serious analysts inevitably will do so. What I don’t believe is reasonable is to rate either one of them substantially ahead of the other. They were both excellent, in slightly different ways, but their legacies — pending any (unlikely) major developments in the future — are closely matched.

107. Jared Allen
Defensive End
Kansas City Chiefs, 2004-07; Minnesota Vikings, 2008-13; Chicago Bears, 2014-15; Carolina Panthers, 2015
136 sacks; 32 FF, 19 FR, 84 yards, TD; 6 INT, 55 yards, TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls

Jared Allen was a fourth-round draft pick, and made the league minimum salary his first three seasons in Kansas City, a remarkable bargain for a player who collected 27.5 sacks during those years, and led the NFL in fumble recoveries in 2006. What Allen offered in his best years was a premier pass rush and high-level run defense — already a rare combination — supplemented by impressive production in other areas. Allen’s career profile boasts an impressive résumé of black ink:

• Most fumble recoveries, 2006
• Most sacks, 2007
• Most tackles for loss, 2007
• Most safeties, 2008
• Most fumble return TDs, 2009
• Most safeties, 2009
• Most sacks, 2011
• Most safeties, 2011

Following the 2007 season, Minnesota traded a first-round draft choice and two third-round choices to obtain Allen. Each of the next three seasons, they ranked in the top eight in fewest yards allowed, with Allen winning first-team All-Pro honors in two of the three years. The exception, 2010, saw Allen overcome a slow start to finish with 11 sacks, 6 pass deflections, 2 interceptions, and a touchdown. Not bad for a down year. As context, that season, John Abraham led all defensive linemen in sacks with 13, so Allen was close to the league lead, and a better run defender and pass deflector than anyone ahead of him.

Allen had eight seasons of double-digit sacks, and he was unusually sound against the run. He wasn’t an imposing physical talent and he didn’t have a long career, but he had a peak all but a handful of defensive linemen would envy.

106. Clarke Hinkle
Fullback (Pre-Modern)
Green Bay Packers, 1932-41
3,860 rush yards, 3.30 average, 35 TD; 49 rec, 537 yards, 9 TD
2 consensus All-Pro, 8 All-Pro, 3 Pro Bowls

William Clarke Hinkle was a good kicker and punter, a great linebacker and blocker, and he retired as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. He is most famous for his wars with the Bears’ great fullback Bronko Nagurski. Hinkle was much smaller, only a little over 200 pounds, but he didn’t back down. In 1934, he famously rammed into the Bronko, breaking Nagurski’s nose and rib after the Bear cornered him on the sideline.

Hinkle led the NFL in touchdowns in 1937 and scoring in 1938. He led in field goals in 1940 and ’41. He was a consensus All-Pro in ’37 and ’38, but Hinkle was named first- or second-team All-Pro by at least one major organization in every season of his career. He led the Packers in rushing seven times, tied with Jim Taylor for the most in franchise history, and his all-time rushing record stood until 1949, nearly a decade after his retirement.

By modern standards, Hinkle was not a great running back. But in a small league, and combined with his other abilities, he was a critical player on teams that went 80-35-4 during his career. Hinkle was also an important postseason player. He had two punts blocked in championship games, but he also recovered an opponent’s blocked punt to set up the clinching touchdown of the 1936 NFL Championship Game. He scored in the 1938 Championship, but got run over at the goal line on the Giants’ game-winning touchdown. In his final game, a playoff loss to the Bears, Hinkle scored the game’s first touchdown.

105. Norm Van Brocklin
Quarterback
Los Angeles Rams, 1949-57; Philadelphia Eagles, 1958-60
23,611 yards, 173 TD, 178 INT, 75.1 rating
1 MVP, 1 consensus All-Pro, 1 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls, 50th Anniversary Team

Norm Van Brocklin was one of the great deep passers of all time. He led the NFL in yards per attempt four times, and his 7.6 net yards per attempt is — by far — the highest figure in history. That is a hugely important stat, and Van Brocklin’s is the best ever. Van Brocklin was an accurate passer at any range, but his NY/A is also a function of his mastery at avoiding sacks. Although precise sack data for those years does not exist, sack yardage does, and it appears that Van Brocklin took sacks at less than half the rate of his contemporaries, easily the best of his era. Van Brocklin wasn’t a scrambler, but like Dan Marino or Peyton Manning, he was exceptional at getting rid of the ball before pressure arrived. He was a thinker and a hard worker more than an exceptional athlete, but he had a great football mind and he maintained touch on his passes even though he threw hard.

Van Brocklin’s greatness is further validated by his success with two teams. The Rams of the early ’50s were an offensive powerhouse, featuring two Hall of Fame receivers and the greatest run game of that era. But the Eagles were not good in the mid-50s, and Van Brocklin turned them into a winner, earning a league championship in 1960 and then retiring on top. He and Peyton Manning are the only starting quarterbacks to win NFL championships with two different teams, ^[1]Tobin Rote could potentially join this group, winning an NFL title with the Lions in 1957 and an AFL title with the Chargers in 1963. he was the first QB to make nine Pro Bowls, and he still holds — 67 years later — the single-game record for passing yards (554).

Van Brocklin always played with excellent receivers. He had Tom Fears and Crazy Legs Hirsch in Los Angeles, then Tommy McDonald and Pete Retzlaff in Philadelphia. But success didn’t come to Van Brocklin; he worked hard to ensure success. In his 1996 book All Madden, John Madden explains that Van Brocklin taught him how to watch film. Madden was with the Eagles in ’59, though he never played because of a knee injury.

“In the morning I’d get to Franklin Field early so I’d be out of the whirlpool before the real players arrived for practice. Norm Van Brocklin, the Dutchman, the quarterback who would lead the Eagles to the 1960 NFL championship, was the only other player there that early. He’d go into a little room, sit next to a rickety old movie projector, and watch game films. ‘Hey, Red,’ he called to me one day, ‘C’mon in and sit down.’ … He taught me how to recognize what the defensive backs and linebackers were doing. I learned zone and man-to-man, and combination coverages. To attack those defenses, I learned how to use different pass patterns: ins, outs, comebacks, hooks, posts, ups. Sitting there watching the film, he would read the coverage and tell me what he could do against it.” Van Brocklin saw everything, and he always put his teammates in position to succeed. “I knew I was ten years behind the Dutchman,” concluded Madden, “but ten years behind him was ten years ahead of anyone else my age.”

We’ve sort of forgotten Dutch Van Brocklin. He played football when baseball got more attention, and he played on the West Coast before games were widely televised. He played at the same time as Otto Graham and John Unitas, and sportscasters today aren’t too interested in the third-best quarterback of the pre-Super Bowl era. He was irascible, perfectionist, a sore loser. But he was an every-year Pro Bowler, and two-time NFL champion, who still holds notable passing records.

104. Jimmy Johnson
Cornerback
San Francisco 49ers, 1961-76
47 INT, 615 yds, 2 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 6 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls, 1970s All-Decade Team, All-Century Team

Paul Zimmerman’s all-time favorite CB: “I’d never seen anyone as smooth and graceful in his pass coverage.” In 1999, Zimmerman — Sports Illustrated’s legendary Dr. Z — named 41 players to his All-Century Team. Thirty of those 41 will appear in this series, with many of the exceptions coming from special teams (sorry, wedge buster Henry Schmidt). J.J. Johnson was one of four CBs named to the team, a downfield cover man who closed everything down, similar to Deion Sanders or Darrelle Revis. The latter comparison should resonate with younger fans: at a time when he was widely recognized as the best cornerback in the game, Revis didn’t have big numbers, because opponents wouldn’t throw to his area. Johnson’s situation was similar. He was a consensus All-Pro every year from 1970-72, seasons in which he recorded 2, 3, and 4 interceptions, respectively. In those three seasons combined, he gained just 70 yards on INT returns, but he was recognized as a dominant player who dictated opponents’ game plans.

Jimmy Johnson, the younger brother of gold medal decathlete Rafer Johnson, is the only Pro Football Hall of Famer with a sibling more famous than himself. Jimmy was a tremendous athlete himself, an All-American track star and NCAA hurdles champion at UCLA. Early in his football career, Johnson spent one season as a wide receiver; he once gained 181 receiving yards in a game. As a defensive back, Johnson wasn’t a physically dominant player, but he provided smothering coverage and shut down his side of the field. Unlike Sanders, however, he wasn’t afraid to tackle, even spending a season at safety. The 49ers retired his jersey number (37) the first year Johnson retired from playing.

Zimmerman wrote passionately on Johnson’s behalf many times. I’d encourage you to read the section on Johnson in Zim’s 2006 all-time defense if you haven’t seen it before.

103. Aaron Rodgers
Quarterback
Green Bay Packers, 2005-18
42,944 yards, 338 TD, 80 INT, 103.1 rating
2 MVP, 2 consensus All-Pro, 3 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls

For better or worse, fantasy football has changed the way fans engage with the game. I play in one fantasy league every year, a small league with four teams. Each year, owners keep 1-6 players, redrafting the rest of our rosters. I drafted Rodgers in 2008 and kept him for a decade. That means I spent a decade having a positive reaction every time Rodgers was involved in a good play — and he was involved in a lot of good plays. I hope my enthusiasm didn’t rise to the level of bias, but I noticed and celebrated Rodgers’ accomplishments, not that you needed a rooting interest to identify Rodgers as the most exciting QB of the early 2010s. He had a big arm, he could run, and he took shots downfield. He’s probably the most accomplished Hail Mary passer of all time.

Rodgers holds career records for passer rating and TD-to-INT ratio. He’s had two MVP seasons, he’s had excellent performances in the postseason, including a brilliant game in Super Bowl XLV, and he led a minor dynasty that is unlikely to produce any other Hall of Famers. When your team averages an 11-5 record for nearly a decade and you’re the only year-to-year standout, that speaks very well of a player.

I spent a decade rooting and cheering for Aaron Rodgers, so I hope no one will misunderstand if I explain why I have Rodgers outside the top 100, albeit not by much. Part of the problem is longevity. Peyton Manning was a top QB for 15 seasons. He made 14 Pro Bowls and 10 AP All-Pro teams. Tom Brady has been a top QB for 17 seasons; he’s made 14 Pro Bowls, too. Drew Brees has 12 Pro Bowls. Brett Favre has 11. John Elway, Dan Marino, Warren Moon, they were all top players for about a decade and a half, and all made nine or more Pro Bowls (at a time when that was harder than it is today). Aaron Rodgers hasn’t yet sustained greatness for that period of time, and it’s hard to rank him ahead of his peers who did.

Here’s a chart that I suspect will surprise you; it surprised me. It shows first down percentage, by season, for Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, and Rodgers.

2009: Manning [40.8], Rivers [40.7], Brees [39.3], Brady [36.8], Roethlisberger [36.6], Rodgers [33.3]

2010: Rivers [40.4], Brady [36.6], Manning [36.4], Rodgers [36.2], Roethlisberger [35.4], Brees [34.6]

2011: Brees [40.8], Brady [40.6], Rodgers [38.7], Rivers [38.2], Roethlisberger [38.0], Manning [N/A]

2012: Brady [38.4], Brees [38.2], Manning [38.1], Rodgers [35.0], Roethlisberger [34.0], Rivers [31.9]

2013: Manning [42.7], Rivers [40.1], Brees [35.5], Rodgers [34.7], Brady [33.7], Roethlisberger [32.7]

2014: Rodgers [40.0], Brees [37.5], Roethlisberger [37.4], Manning [36.6], Brady [36.5], Rivers [35.1]

2015: Roethlisberger [35.6], Brees [34.7], Brady [34.4], Rivers [32.2], Manning [31.7], Rodgers [28.0]

2016: Brees [37.7], Brady [36.5], Roethlisberger [35.0], Rivers [34.9], Rodgers [34.4]

2017: Brady [37.3], Rivers [36.4], Brees [36.2], Roethlisberger [35.6], Rodgers [32.7]

2018: Rivers [39.4], Brees [39.3], Roethlisberger [35.5], Brady [34.7], Rodgers [31.0]

The chart begins in 2009, which was the first year “defenseless receiver ” rules were in place, and works significantly to Rodgers’ benefit, since his 1stD% in 2008 was just 31.9, lowest among the qualified players listed above. I realize I’m comparing Rodgers to the best QBs of his generation, but all these players have longer careers than Rodgers, and if we want to rank Rodgers in the same neighborhood as them, he needs to be clearly superior during the period they were all active. Instead — by this metric, at least — he lags behind. He ranks last (among this elite group) in five of the ten seasons listed, and in the bottom half of the group eight of the ten seasons. He has never led the league in first down percentage (Tony Romo was at 40.6% in 2014).

Last September, on my fantasy league’s draft day, I traded Aaron Rodgers for DeAndre Hopkins. Rodgers has become a game manager. Rodgers’ net yards per attempt, from 2008-18, with his MVP seasons bolded: 6.7, 7.0, 7.4, 8.2, 6.6, 7.8, 7.7, 5.7, 6.5, 5.8, 6.3. His four lowest figures have come in the last four seasons, mirroring his cratered first down numbers, and I’d be surprised if he significantly expands his legacy beyond this point. His decline in performance seems related to mindset and playing style — with heavy emphasis on avoiding interceptions and less on creating positive plays — as much as to physical limitations or personnel, so perhaps a coaching change will help, but Rodgers is 35 now, and he’s had some major injuries. The likelihood that he’ll play better now than he did in any of the previous four seasons seems pretty low. Let’s recognize, too, that 2015, when Rodgers averaged 5.67 NY/A with a 28.0% first down percentage, was one of his seven Pro Bowl seasons. His case for historic excellence rests on basically half a dozen seasons. I’m not saying he hasn’t been a great player — he’s a no-doubt, first-ballot, inner-circle Hall of Famer — but I don’t think his case to rank among the top 10 greatest QBs of all time is particularly strong, and I’m not confident that he’ll make a persuasive case going forward.

102. Emlen Tunnell
Safety
New York Giants, 1948-58; Green Bay Packers, 1959-61
79 INT, 1,282 yards, 4 TD
2 consensus All-Pro, 6 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls, 1950s All-Decade Team, 50th Anniversary Team

Emlen the Gremlin is often referred to as the first purely defensive player in the Hall of Fame, but this is not really true. As almost all accounts of Tunnell’s career acknowledge, he was a brilliant kick returner. He averaged 26.4 yards per kickoff return, led the league in punt return yardage twice, and scored six return TDs. Special teams contributions notwithstanding, Tunnell was the first primarily defensive player, the first one whose offensive contributions were insignificant, voted into the PFHOF. He also broke the Hall’s color barrier, as the first African American elected.

Tunnell intercepted at least six passes in each of his first 10 seasons, and was nicknamed the Giants’ “Offense on Defense,” with 1,282 INT return yards, a record that stood for 40 years. Tunnell is remembered more for his 79 interceptions and explosive return game than for his tackling, but he was a big hitter, too. Packers teammate and fellow HOFer Herb Adderley called him the hardest-hitting safety who ever played.

Tunnell was a scout and assistant coach after his playing career ended. Paul Zimmerman, in The New Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football, remembered Tunnell as a thoughtful and kind-hearted coach, sympathetic to players about to be cut: “Emlen Tunnell used to have a special place in his heart for low-draft rookies, especially the ones from the poorer homes. Not all assistants were so concerned. ‘Do me a favor, will you?’ he once asked a writer. ‘Go over to some of these guys with your notebook and pencil and pretend you’re interviewing them, even though you don’t really intend to write anything. It’ll mean a lot to them. It’ll give them something to remember.’ ”

Zimmerman also passed along a story suggesting that Tunnell had one of the game’s earliest end zone celebrations. He quotes QB Paul Governali saying that on a punt return TD by Tunnell, “as he crossed the goal line he twirled the ball on one finger and then tapped it back over his shoulder to the ref.” If true, that’s a pretty impressive move.

101. Lenny Moore
Running Back-Flanker
Baltimore Colts, 1956-67
5,174 rush yards, 4.84 average, 63 TD; 363 rec, 6,039 yards, 48 TD
1 MVP, 4 consensus All-Pro, 5 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls, Rookie of the Year, 1950s All-Decade Team, 50th Anniversary Team

For all but the most legendary older players, all we generally see are the stats. Lenny Moore’s stats are strange. Was he a running back or a wide receiver? He was both, and that makes it hard to appreciate how exceptional he was. Moore was blazing fast, and his balance and agility were extraordinary. Sometimes when you see highlights of players 50 years ago, they don’t look all that impressive. Moore does.

When you really look, Moore’s stats are sensational, too. Let’s start with touchdowns: Moore scored 113. That’s still 15th all-time, and it ranked 2nd — behind only Jim Brown — for two decades after his retirement. Moore remains the only player in history with at least 40 rushing TDs and at least 40 receiving TDs. He scored on 5.9% of his carries, the highest rate in history for a player with at least 1,000 attempts. Moore was the most explosive player in football, maybe in the history of football. He once scored in 18 consecutive games, a record that stood for 40 years.

Moore produced like a good running back and an elite wide receiver, combined. In 1958, he ranked 2nd in the NFL in receiving yards, averaged 7.3 yards per carry, scored 7 rushing TDs and 7 receiving TDs — in 12 games — and won an NFL Championship. In 1964 he scored 16 rushing touchdowns. Whatever you needed him to do, he could do it.

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This series will continue here every Tuesday and Thursday for the next five weeks. I welcome your comments and questions below, but I hope to avoid spoilers in the comments, so please don’t take it amiss if I avoid questions that address the rankings of players not yet listed. However, I am also using this series to launch my Twitter account, and if you follow me (@bradoremland), I will DM you the name and rank of a random player between 51-100. If you prefer, DM me the name of a specific player, and I’ll tell you whether he’s top 50, 51-125, or not on the list. Those ranks are subject to mild tweaking between now and publication, as I am an inveterate tinkerer. Thanks for reading. Next article: Best Players in History, 91-100.