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 best players in pro football history.

Best Players in Pro Football History: 111-125

I’m in semi-retirement as a football writer and historian, but my passion for pro football history hasn’t diminished even as my willingness to engage the modern game wanes. I recently re-read and admired the all-time pro football roster constructed by Bryan Frye following the 2014 season, and Bryan was gracious enough to offer me a platform for assembling my own all-time roster to challenge his. It was a fun exercise, and it required a lot of thought about the greatest players in history. That, in turn, led me to this project.

Over the next six weeks, I’ll reveal my personal list of the 125 best players in the history of professional football, with brief profiles on all of them. It’s probably the most ambitious sports project I’ve ever undertaken, so I hope you’ll be understanding about any disagreements. Inevitably, there are some heart-breaking omissions in any project like this. If I left off your favorite player, please understand that I didn’t “forget” him; I just had to make some hard choices. There are 280 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and that doesn’t include active or recently retired players who have already established HOF-worthy legacies. There are historically great, Hall of Fame-caliber players who are not on my list of the top 125 — most of them, in fact. Making this list is a much higher standard than making it to Canton, and missing the list shouldn’t be interpreted as an insult.

Let’s be clear: making this list at any point indicates that I have extraordinary regard for that player. I would like to write about the players in exclusively positive terms, but since this series is organized as a ranking, some of the comments will highlight weaknesses by way of explaining why the player isn’t even higher. I try to anticipate arguments that a player should be ranked higher or lower, and tailor the summaries accordingly, but please don’t misinterpret these justifications as disrespect for the player’s accomplishments. Everyone on the list was (or still is) incredible.

Intelligent, informed fans can disagree on innumerable issues. Something you’ll notice as you go through the list is my preference for well-rounded players: if a guy was a specialist with a glaring weakness (such as an elite pass rusher who didn’t play the run), he probably didn’t make my list. Hall of Fame? Maybe. Top 125? Probably not. I also emphasize the player’s contribution to team success. Football is a team sport, with team goals. Individual accomplishments are incidental to those goals, and to the player’s credit only so far as they advance his true purpose: winning football games. I hope I didn’t dock anyone for getting drafted by the wrong team and surrounded by terrible teammates, but when a player’s career corresponds to team success, or when a team falls apart without him, that speaks powerfully in his favor. It’s important, however, to remain cognizant of the roles played by teammates and coaches. It would be ridiculous to rank all 13 members of the 1960s Packers among the 100 best players of all time. When there are that many great players on a single team, even one as dominant as the Packers, probably only a couple of them were standouts on the level we’re looking for here. You’ll find three members of the Lombardi Packers listed among my top 125, and only one in the top 80.

A final note, which you can harmlessly skip if the particulars don’t bother you — where relevant, I’ve listed a player’s individual honors: Most Valuable Player awards, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards, consensus All-Pro selections, Associated Press All-Pro selections, Pro Bowl selections, Rookie of the Year awards, All-Decade selections, the 1969 NFL and AFL All-Time Teams, the 1994 NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, and Dr. Z’s 1999 All-Century Team. For MVP, Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year, I counted any such award from a major organization. Consensus All-Pro selections indicate first-team All-Pro status across all major organizations. AP selections include second-team honors. Pro Bowls, as most of you know, are much cheaper now than they once were, but the official tally is listed without prejudice — or rather, with the prejudices built into its tabulation. Please note that several of these honors were not consistently available prior to the mid-1950s. I recognize the All-Decade Teams selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame; I did not distinguish between first-team and second-team designations.

“Major organizations” are, depending on the time frame, the Associated Press, United Press, Pro Football Writers of America, The Sporting News, Newspaper Enterprise Association, The New York Times, and the official league designations. To be fair across eras, I used exactly three of the above, the ones I judged most authoritative at that point in time, whenever possible.

Best Players of All Time: 111-125

125. Pete Henry
Tackle (Pre-Modern)
Canton Bulldogs, 1920-23, 1925-26; New York Giants, 1927; Pottsville Maroons, 1927-28
4 All-Pro, 1920s All-Decade Team

We begin at the beginning: Wilbur Francis Henry is the oldest player on this list, born in 1897. He was probably the best NFL player of the early 1920s, either him or Paddy Driscoll. Henry played for the Canton Bulldogs in the NFL’s inaugural 1920 season. Despite playing mostly on the line, he was the league’s second-biggest superstar, trailing only Jim Thorpe. Thorpe, though he was a huge draw for the new league, was a decade older than Henry and significantly past his prime. Thorpe was a pretty good player in the NFL, but not a great one. Quoting from The Hidden Game of Football (Carroll, Palmer, and Thorn, 1988):

[Thorpe] was a great player from 1915 to 1920; after that, he was a great attraction. He is the only person in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who got there for what he did before there was a league . . . [Hall of Famer Joe] Guyon was in the same backfield as Thorpe much of the time from 1919 through 1924. His greatest claim to fame seems to be that some men who played against them both thought Joe was better than Jim. He probably was from 1921 on…

All of these claims are corroborated elsewhere. Henry, the league’s second-biggest superstar in the early ’20s, was its first truly great player. The Bulldogs won their first three NFL games by a combined score of 97-0, and went undefeated in back-to-back seasons. Henry was a giant for his era, 250 pounds. Listed at tackle, he was a good blocker, but he was better known as a kicker and punter — he held various kicking records for many years — and especially as a defensive lineman and punt blocker. Walter Camp, the father of the sport, called Henry the greatest lineman of all time.

Even though Thorpe was paid prior to the birth of the NFL, this list focuses on organized professional leagues from 1920 through the 2018 NFL season, so Thorpe isn’t ranked. He was a great player, but not in the time frame we’re looking at. It’s hard enough to compare players from the 1920s; it’s basically impossible before that.

124. Jason Peters
Offensive Tackle
Buffalo Bills, 2004-08; Philadelphia Eagles, 2009-18
1 consensus All-Pro, 6 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls

The dominant offensive tackle of his generation. Many people would argue for Joe Thomas, and I’d entertain arguments for Andrew Whitworth as well. Here’s the problem with Thomas. In his 11-year career, his teams went 48-128 (.273) and never made the playoffs. After his rookie season, they never ranked in the top half of the league in yards or scoring; they ranked among the bottom three in one or both categories seven times. Granted that there were a lot of other changes, they improved significantly in the first year after Thomas retired, improving by 7½ games and going from the lowest-scoring team in the league to basically average. No matter how many Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors you have — and Thomas has a lot — that’s not a historically great player. Either you’re not as good as your reputation, or your role on the team doesn’t matter, doesn’t facilitate team success. If we’re honoring players who are excellent at what they do, but with minimal impact on the game, how about Steve Tasker and Matthew Slater? I don’t believe that: offensive linemen do matter, and players like Peters and Whitworth have noticeably affected the quality of the offenses they played on. Thomas was a very good, very consistent player. I’ll support him for the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible. I don’t believe he was the greatest OT of this era.

Peters was a tight end at the University of Arkansas, and despite his size (about 330) has always been unusually athletic for a tackle. He’s a very good pass-blocker, and good at avoiding penalties, but where Peters really separated himself has been as a run-blocker. In his best seasons, Peters routinely drove his man five yards off the ball, cleared alleys, and got to the second level. Peters has played with a constantly shifting cast of quarterbacks, making the Pro Bowl with teams whose primary QBs were Trent Edwards, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, and Carson Wentz.

123. Herschel Walker
Running Back
Dallas Cowboys, 1986-89, 1996-97; Minnesota Vikings, 1989-91; Philadelphia Eagles, 1992-94; New York Giants, 1995
8,225 rush yards, 4.21 average, 61 TD; 512 rec, 4,859 yards, 21 TD
2 AP All-Pro, 2 Pro Bowls

In addition to his football career, Herschel Walker was a state champion sprinter, a Tae Kwon Do black belt, an Olympic bobsledder, a performer with the Fort Worth Ballet, and a professional mixed martial artist. It’s a rare résumé, and while plenty of athletes 60 or 70 years ago starred in multiple disciplines, Walker’s success in different fields is almost unique among more recent competitors. He’s one of the greatest pure athletes ever to play professional football. He had blazing speed, maybe the fastest running back of his generation, as well as impressive power.

Walker was a legend at the University of Georgia. As my god, a freshman, he might have been the greatest college running back of all time. ^[1]If you have never seen Walker’s highlights at Georgia, for heaven’s sake, what are you doing? Stop reading about football and watch. Walker had a combination of speed and power you … Continue reading He went on to a 15-year career in pro football, gaining over 1,000 yards from scrimmage with three different teams, four if you count the USFL’s New Jersey Generals.

This is an unorthodox ranking, but Walker is underrated for six major reasons. The first, chronologically, is that in 1983, Walker spurned the NFL when the rival USFL offered him more money. The USFL was a major league, including Hall of Famers Jim Kelly, Reggie White, Steve Young, and Gary Zimmerman, as well as many others who were productive in the NFL. Walker spent his early 20s, when he should have been rushing for 1,400 yards a year in the NFL, rushing for 1,800 a year in the USFL. When people assess Walker’s greatness as a football player, most of them ignore those three years, when Walker was in his athletic prime. The idea that Walker wasn’t one of the three or four best RBs in football from 1983-85 is ignorant and absurd.

Walker’s accomplishments in the USFL were validated by immediate success in the NFL. As a “rookie” in 1986, Walker had to share time with an established star in Tony Dorsett. ^[2]Dorsett was coming off a season with 1,300 rushing yards, 450 receiving yards, and double-digit TDs. He averaged 4.88 yards per carry, gained over 700 yards both rushing and receiving, and scored 14 touchdowns. The following year, he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage. The season after that, he rushed for 1,500 yards and gained another 500 as a receiver.

Walker’s success led directly to the second major reason he’s underrated: The Trade. From 1986-88, Walker was the best RB this side of Eric Dickerson, and that success inspired the Vikings to trade six 1st- or 2nd-round draft picks to acquire him. Because Walker could never live up to the trade, many fans saw him as a failure, even though he continued to play well.

A third reason Walker is underrated is that the Vikings underused him and misused him. In his three years with Minnesota, Walker never got 200 carries in a season. Furthermore, they treated him like a pure power back, wasting his speed by running him up the middle, and they didn’t throw him a lot of passes. It’s mystifying that the team would pay such a ransom for a player, and then ignore his talents. Walker was a good player with the Vikings, and his stats with them are good for that era, but the team’s mismanagement obscured his talent during the last seasons of his athletic prime.

I mentioned that Walker is underrated for at least six reasons. One is that fans ignore his three years in the USFL, where Walker averaged 1,852 rushing yards per season and set every significant league rushing record. Another is The Trade, which led to the misperception that Walker was a bust. A third reason was the Vikings’ mind-boggling misuse of their new star. Walker is also underrated because of something I glossed over earlier: he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage in 1987. That was a strike season, and Walker only played 12 games. His 16-game pace was 1,188 rushing yards and 953 receiving yards. The strike probably cost him 500 yards, including a shot at 1,000 yards receiving, which might have made people notice what a productive receiver he was.

That’s the fifth reason Walker is underrated: he did many things well. Most people want things to be simple. When we think about the greatest running backs of all time, it’s normal to look no farther than career rushing yards. But Walker was also an excellent receiver, with five 500-yard receiving seasons, and when the Vikings made him a return man, he was perhaps the best kickoff returner in the NFL, with a better average than celebrated returners like Rod Woodson, Deion Sanders, and Eric Metcalf.

I’m not sure why Walker isn’t perceived as a great receiver. He had almost exactly as many receiving yards (4,859) as Roger Craig (4,911), and he had more receiving TDs (21-17). Walker sometimes played wide receiver or tight end. He had hundreds more career receiving yards than players who are thought of as great receiving RBs, like Thurman Thomas and Brian Westbrook. He’s 12th on the career list for all-purpose yards (18,168), nearly 10,000 above a rushing total that is wildly inadequate to judge his career. Even in his 12th year of pro ball, at age 32, Walker had a 91-yard rush, a 93-yard reception, and a 94-yard kickoff return.

The final reason Walker is underrated is the shape of his career. He spent a long time being good after he had fallen off the radar. From 1989-94, Walker gained over 1,000 yards from scrimmage every season, scored double-digit TDs three times, and was one of the most effective kickoff returners in the NFL. People sort of forgot about him after 1990 or so, even though he was still a top-10 RB, because he wasn’t Barry or Emmitt or Thurman Thomas. Walker also switched teams several times, which kept him from developing an identity as the Vikings’ running back, or the Eagles’ running back; he seemed like a literal journeyman.

Walker is among the greatest running backs in history solely on the basis of his NFL credentials. He had nine good seasons, including three as one of the best RBs in the league. But he also spent three prime seasons in a major league whose stats are seldom acknowledged. Walker was probably a better player in the USFL than the NFL, but let’s assume that if Walker had gone directly to the NFL rather than joining the Generals, he would have merely duplicated the results of his first three NFL seasons (1986-88). He’d have basically the same stats as Marshall Faulk:

Player   RshYd    Avg  RecYd  TD
Faulk    12,279  4.33  6,875  136
Walker   11,961  4.25  7,392  119

With three prime seasons restored, Walker might have matched or exceeded Faulk’s yardage totals, plus he had 5,000 return yards, which aren’t shown above. If a running back’s only job was to take hand-offs, Walker would have been a good one. But he was also a valuable receiver and a gifted returner, with a strong peak and a long, steady career. If people didn’t dismiss the USFL years or if they appreciated the enormity of Walker’s receiving and returning contributions, he’d be appropriately recognized among the greatest players in history. Question conventional wisdom.

122. Pete Pihos
End
Philadelphia Eagles, 1947-55
373 receptions, 5,619 yards, 61 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 6 AP All-Pro, 6 Pro Bowls, 1940s All-Decade Team

In the NFL’s early days, when everyone played the whole game, there were only a handful of positions. Quarterbacks, many of whom were really triple-threat tailbacks, also played a defensive position that resembles safety. Halfbacks on offense also played halfback on defense — today we call it cornerback. Centers doubled as linebackers, and so on. End, the position that evolved into modern wide receivers, was primarily a blocking position until 1940 or so. And when it was time to play defense, those players lined up as defensive ends. They were critical defensive players: run stoppers and pass rushers.

Pete Pihos was a great receiver when that position was still referred to as “end.” He led the NFL in a major offensive category six times, but he may have been even better as a defensive player. Beset by injuries in 1952, the Eagles needed Pihos on defense. He only caught 12 passes that season, but on October 26, 1952, Paul Zimmerman counted six sacks by Pihos against the Giants. Pihos was named first-team All-Pro as a defensive end. He switched back to offense the following season, and led the NFL in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving TDs. He made four straight All-Pro teams — one on defense, three on offense — then retired, still the best player in football at his position.

Pihos played better at the end of his career than any other receiver in history, but he wasn’t a late bloomer. In his second season, Pihos ranked 2nd in the NFL in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving TDs. He was an all-league selection six times: 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, and 1955. He was also named second-team All-NFL by at least one major organization in 1947 and 1950, giving him eight all-league recognitions in nine seasons. Despite his relatively brief career and his season spent playing defense, “The Golden Greek” ranked fourth all-time in touchdowns upon his retirement. He started for teams that won back-to-back NFL titles in 1948 and 1949. Hall of Fame coach George Allen called Pihos “the first great tight end.”

121. Brian Urlacher
Middle Linebacker
Chicago Bears, 2000-12
41.5 sacks; 11 FF, 15 FR, 177 yds, 2 TD; 22 INT, 324 yds, 2 TD
1 DPOY, 4 consensus All-Pro, 5 AP All-Pro, 8 Pro Bowls, Defensive Rookie of the Year, 2000s All-Decade Team

Brian Urlacher played twelve seasons in the NFL (not counting the 2009 campaign, which he missed on injured reserve), during which he was showered with honors. He was a top-10 draft pick, Defensive Rookie of the Year, eight-time Pro Bowler, 2005 Defensive Player of the Year, and a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Early in his career the hype was excessive, but his play eventually grew to match it. During Urlacher’s career, the Bears twice led the NFL in fewest points allowed, ranking among the top five three other times. The team had other excellent defensive players, including Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman, but Urlacher was the centerpiece.

A college safety, he brought extraordinary speed and coverage skills to the middle linebacker position. He was good at diagnosing plays, made a ton of tackles in the backfield, and was one of the best blitzers ever at his position, with five seasons of 5+ sacks. Urlacher was also dangerous with the ball: he scored four touchdowns and gained over 500 yards on INT and fumble returns. What ultimately set Urlacher apart was the big play. His speed and quickness facilitated impact plays like sacks, INTs, and big returns. Urlacher wasn’t known for toughness, and wasn’t great at shedding blocks; he was at his best in space, utilizing his speed rather than battling with linemen. He was a good fit for his era, in which short passing increasingly dominated offensive strategy.

120. Brian Dawkins
Safety
Philadelphia Eagles, 1996-2008; Denver Broncos, 2009-11
26 sacks; 36 FF, 19 FR, 76 yds, TD; 37 INT, 513 yds, 2 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 5 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls, 2000s All-Decade Team

In his best seasons, Brian Dawkins was everything you could ask a safety to be. He broke up a lot of passes and he had 15 straight seasons with an interception. He was a big hitter who forced 36 fumbles, including four seasons with 5+ FF. He was a devastating blitzer, the only player with 25 interceptions, 25 sacks, and 25 forced fumbles. ^[3]Since 1982, when sacks became an official statistic. Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson raved, “Brian could play strong safety, corner, free safety and not miss a beat.” Dawkins was a leader on consistently excellent defensive units, among the top three in tackles for three teams that ranked top-five in fewest points allowed, and a five-time team defensive MVP. During the Andy Reid–Jim Johnson era, Dawkins seemed to be a part of every big play Philadelphia made on defense. He started in five NFC Championship Games, and his postseason record includes 4 INT, 3 FF, 2 sacks, and 1 Super Bowl appearance.

Dawkins was the outstanding player on the most consistent defense of the ’00s. He and Donovan McNabb were the only Eagles to make the Pro Bowl every season from 2001-04, when Philadelphia played in the NFC Championship Game every year, and Dawkins was the only Eagle to make the Pro Bowl in any of those seasons and also in 2008 — when the team ranked 4th in scoring defense, 3rd in fewest yards allowed, and reached the NFC Championship Game. Dawkins didn’t pick off a lot of passes, but he had good range and good football IQ, consistently taking the right path to the ball. He was good at reading the offense, a superb one-on-one tackler, and the best of his generation at the safety blitz.

119. Lou Groza
Offensive Tackle-Kicker
Cleveland Browns, 1946-59, 1961-67
264/481 FG, 810/833 PAT, 1,608 pts
1 MVP, 4 consensus All-Pro, 6 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls, 1950s All-Decade Team, 50th Anniversary Team

Lou Groza played in more major league championship games than anyone else in history, 13. He was a standout tackle, but particularly renowned as the greatest placekicker of his generation. Groza, nicknamed “The Toe,” led the NFL in field goals and field goal percentage five times each. For context, that’s more than Morten Andersen and Nick Lowery combined. Despite putting in a full day on the offensive line for most of his career, Groza retired with the most field goals, extra points, and points scored of any player in history.

Groza garnered an impressive résumé of postseason honors, including nine Pro Bowl selections and the 1954 Sporting News MVP, and it’s important to put those in context. The Pro Bowl roster didn’t include a separate spot for kickers until 1960, and the Associated Press didn’t begin naming an All-Pro kicker until 1970. Groza was honored as a tackle. Having said that, selectors in Groza’s era were possessed by the curious idea that football players should be evaluated as players rather than solely on the basis of a specific position. Specifically, they subscribed to the notion that special teams performances ought to be considered among the player’s accomplishments. Thus, great kickoff and punt returners such as Jack Christiansen and Emlen Tunnell were evaluated not solely on their defensive play, but also on their substantial contributions in the return game. Groza was selected for numerous honors as a tackle, but that should not imply that his line play was the sole consideration in those honors; it wasn’t. It’s preposterous, for instance, that a pure offensive lineman would win MVP. In 1954, Groza led the NFL in field goals, field goal percentage, and extra point percentage.

That was his third consecutive season leading the league in field goals. In the Browns’ first NFL season, Groza broke the single-season field goal record (13), also leading the league in field goal percentage and extra point percentage. In the NFL Championship Game, Groza kicked the winning field goal in the closing seconds, which he recalled as “my biggest thrill.” In ’52 he broke his own field goal record (19 FG), then broke it again in ’53 (23 FG). When the NFL’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team was named in 1969, Groza was chosen as the starting kicker.

118. Dan Hampton
Defensive Line
Chicago Bears, 1979-90
1 DPOY, 1 consensus All-Pro, 5 AP All-Pro, 4 Pro Bowls, 1980s All-Decade Team

Apart from the strike-shortened 1982 season, only two teams in the decade of the 1980s yielded under 200 points: the 1985 Bears and the 1986 Bears. The two teams combined to go 29-3. The ’85 team is particularly distinguished by its postseason success: shutouts in both playoff games, and a 46-10 blowout of the Patriots in Super Bowl XX. New England’s starting quarterback was benched without completing a pass, and the Pats had -19 yards at halftime. The Bears forced 6 turnovers, scored a safety, and limited the Pats to 6 rushing yards, the fewest in Super Bowl history. No defense in history has so strongly distinguished itself.

But Chicago’s defensive dominance wasn’t limited to the ’85 postseason. From 1984-88, the Bears ranked first or second in total defense every year, and top four in fewest points allowed each season, including three years leading the NFL. The ’84 Bears set a single-season sack record that still stands, and the ’86 Bears allowed fewer yards and fewer points than the ’85 team. Altogether, Dan Hampton started for nine teams that ranked among the top 10 in both yardage and scoring. That is one of the greatest defensive dynasties of all time, and it produced three Hall of Famers: Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, and Hampton. Head coach Mike Ditka compared Hampton to his own former teammate Bob Lilly. Defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan told Sports Illustrated, “I don’t want to get into comparing him, but nobody has played tackle better than Hampton. And surely no one has played it with more heart. Dan’s my hero.”

Hampton’s capacity for punishment was legendary. He wore short sleeves in sub-zero temperatures, needed hundreds of stitches, broke more than a dozen bones, had 10 operations on his knees alone, and disfigured most of his fingers, including one he nearly had amputated. He intimidated opponents, though not exclusively with his toughness. Hampton was a fearsome pass rusher; in the strike-shortened 1982 season, he had nine sacks in nine games. Playing both end and tackle, he went on to beat that mark three times. He also clogged the middle of the line, creating opportunities for Singletary. “Let’s be realistic,” said Ditka. “If our tackles play good football, the middle linebacker will be good. If they don’t, Mike will be blocked by too many people. Our defense protects the middle linebacker.”

Hampton eschewed the limelight sought (and received) by many of his teammates, and was sometimes overshadowed not only by Singletary, but lesser talents such as Refrigerator Perry. Hampton refused to appear in the Super Bowl Shuffle video — “I thought it was pretentious” — and didn’t speak to the press the season after the Bear’s record-setting 46-10 victory in Super Bowl XX. Despite his relative lack of publicity, Hampton’s importance to the team was obvious. John Turney has written about the “Hampton affect”:

During Dan Hampton’s career, in the games he played the Bears allowed 104.0 yards rushing a game for 3.8 yards per rush and 0.6 rushing touchdowns per game.

Clearly, you can see there was a “Hampton affect”—the team performed better when he was in the lineup.

Those stats are from reasonably large samples of 157 games played and 24 games missed. In 1988, Hampton started every game. The Bears went 12-4, led the league in fewest points allowed, and ranked 2nd in lowest yardage allowed. In 1989, Hampton was injured and only played four games. The Bears dropped to 6-10 — their first losing season in seven years — and bottom 10 in both points and yards allowed. In 1990, with Hampton back in the lineup, they rebounded to 11-5 and top 10 in both major defensive categories. Hampton was the outstanding DT of his generation; Randy White is the only Hall of Fame DT born within a decade of Hampton. I believe Hampton is the only player thus distinguished at any offensive or defensive position.

117. Michael Irvin
Wide Receiver
Dallas Cowboys, 1988-99
750 receptions, 11,904 yards, 65 TD
1 consensus All-Pro, 3 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls, 1990s All-Decade Team

I hate to say this, because I remember “The Playmaker” in the early ’90s. He was obnoxious on the field, and there were troubling allegations against him off the field. But today, he is underrated. His statistics and honors are fine, but they don’t jump off the page. He was first-team All-Pro just once, in 1991. He was second-team All-Decade. Comparing his receiving stats to contemporaries Cris Carter and Tim Brown:

Player   Rec     Yds    Avg   TD
Brown   1,094  14,934  13.7  100
Carter  1,101  13,899  12.6  130
Irvin     750  11,904  15.9   65

Other than yards per reception, which is mostly an indication of playing style and offensive scheme rather than skill or accomplishment, Brown and Carter dwarf Irvin in every category. His stats are Hall of Very Good, not Hall of Fame. But what if we add another stat, first downs? I’m not aware that anyone has complete first down data for these players, so prior to 1991 I estimate it using the following formula: receptions * [.55 + (yds/rec – 10) * 0.0312]. This estimation is imperfect, but it usually produces an acceptable approximation. Here it is applied to Brown, for every season of his career. “Est” shows estimated first downs, and “Act” shows actual first downs, for seasons in which official league data exists.

Year  Rec Yds Est Act TD
1988  43  725 33  ?  5
1989   1    8  0  ?  0
1990  18  265 13  ?  3
1991  36  554 26 26  5
1992  49  693 33 33  7
1993  80 1180 56 57  7
1994  89 1309 62 68  9
1995  89 1342 63 66 10
1996  90 1104 56 58  9
1997 104 1408 69 65  5
1998  81 1012 51 52  9
1999  90 1344 63 64  6
2000  76 1128 53 59 11
2001  91 1165 58 61  9
2002  81  930 48 48  2
2003  52  567 30 28  2
2004  24  200 12  8  1

Consistently, the formula produces pretty accurate guesses. Here’s Carter:

Year Rec Yds Est Act TD
1987   5   84  4  ?  2
1988  39  761 33  ?  6
1989  45  605 30  ? 11
1990  27  413 19  ?  3
1991  72  962 47 44  5
1992  53  681 34 34  6
1993  86 1071 54 61  9
1994 122 1256 68 63  7
1995 122 1371 72 80 17
1996  96 1163 59 57 10
1997  89 1069 55 54 13
1998  78 1011 50 57 12
1999  90 1241 60 65 13
2000  96 1274 63 73  9
2001  73  871 45 44  6
2002   8   66  4  5  1

There’s a little more variance this time, but mostly close to the mark. For Irvin, however, the formula dramatically underestimates his first down production.

Year  Rec Yds Est Act TD
1988  32  654  28  ?  5
1989  26  378  18  ?  2
1990  20  413  18  ?  5
1991  93 1523  70 79  8
1992  78 1396  62 71  7
1993  88 1330  62 75  7
1994  79 1241  58 65  6
1995 111 1603  76 88 10
1996  64  962  45 46  2
1997  75 1180  55 59  9
1998  74 1057  51 48  1
1999  10  167   8  8  3

Brown and Carter are representative of how the formula normally functions; Irvin is an outlier who represents the formula’s biggest flaw, which I call “the Norv Turner problem.” Turner was the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator from 1991-93, which were Irvin’s three All-Pro seasons. My formula, usually pretty reliable, consistently and dramatically underestimates the first down production of wide receivers in Norv Turner offenses; it short-changes Henry Ellard even more than Irvin. Going by basic stats, you simply can’t capture the production of Turner’s receivers.

I explain all this to demonstrate that when we look at Michael Irvin’s statistics, we don’t accurately gauge what he contributed to the offense. His reception and yardage totals underestimate what he meant to the team, because Irvin produced an inordinate number of first downs. His receptions were more valuable than other players’ receptions. His yards were more valuable than other players’ yards. Bill James has noted a similar problem in baseball, where many people still like to use batting average as a gauge for performance. James noticed that batters will normally match their hit total in two other categories: secondary bases, and runs plus RBI. Secondary bases include walks, extra bases, and stolen bases minus caught stealing. When we talk about a .300 hitter, for instance, we assume he has a secondary average close to .300, and that he scores or drives in about 1 run per hit. When that assumption holds, batting average delivers a fairly accurate picture of the player’s offensive production. In other cases, however, it misleads us. Similarly, when we judge receivers by their reception and/or yardage totals, we mentally assume a certain level of first down production. Most of the time, that assumption is close enough not to mislead us. Michael Irvin is an exception.

Looking again at Brown, Carter, and Irvin, what if we adjust our perspective in two ways I imagine are relatively uncontroversial? [1] We’ll de-emphasize receptions, instead focusing on yards, first downs, and touchdowns. [2] We’ll emphasize peak performance, with less weight on compiled career statistics and more on seasons when the player was an offensive difference-maker.

Irvin retired with seven 1,000-yard seasons, plus 962 in a suspension-shortened (11 games) 1996, a season in which Irvin led the league in receiving yards per game. Four times, Irvin gained over 1,300 yards. He gained 70 or more first downs four times, including seasons of 75, 79 and 88; he had three of the top ten receiving-first-downs seasons of the 1990s. ^[4]Jerry Rice had two, and nobody else had more than one. His touchdown total is low, but we might attribute that partly to Emmitt Smith, the most prolific goal-line runner of all time.

Brown had nine 1,000-yard seasons, and — like Irvin — four of at least 1,300 yards. However, Irvin’s best seasons came between 1991-95, and Brown’s between 1994-99, when receiving yards were cheaper. Brown never gained 70 first downs in a season, though he scored many more TDs than Irvin.

Carter had eight 1,000-yard seasons, though only one of at least 1,300 yards. He gained 70 or more first downs twice, and he was a prolific scorer, with six seasons of double-digit TDs, compared to two for Brown and one for Irvin.

From this perspective, the three receivers rate close to equal. But Irvin also spent his best seasons on run-oriented offenses, which Brown and especially Carter did not. That he was able to produce similar statistics is remarkable. We’re not done. Irvin leads the trio in black ink. He led the NFL in receiving yards once and in first downs three times, including 1991, when he led by 27%. Irvin created 79 receiving first downs that year, and no one else had more than 62. Carter led the league in receiving TDs twice (and receptions once, if you think that matters outside the context of first downs and yardage). Brown never led the league in anything. Well, he tied for the lead in receptions one year.

Irvin also ranked 2nd in yardage twice and 2nd in first downs once. Carter never ranked 2nd in a significant category; Brown was 2nd in yardage once. Irvin was better player, at his best, and a guy who never ran a six-yard pattern to pad his stats on 3rd-and-8. He was big for that era, and strong and fast. He was also a great postseason performer. In 16 postseason games, Irvin caught 87 passes for 1,315 yards and 8 TDs. He had six 100-yard postseason games, plus four more with over 80 yards. That includes 114 yards and 2 TDs in Super Bowl XXVII, one of three Super Bowl victories in Irvin’s career. If you had told me in the early ’90s that I would argue at such length for Michael Irvin, I might have punched myself in the face. I’m still not wild about it, but Irvin was a great player.

116. Jack Youngblood
Defensive End
Los Angeles Rams, 1971-84
4 consensus All-Pro, 7 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls, 1970s All-Decade Team

Sacks became an official stat in 1982, just as Youngblood’s career was winding down. That was a strike season, but in his final two years, 1983-84, Youngblood totaled 20 sacks. John Turney, the authority on pre-1982 sack numbers, credits Youngblood with 151½ career sacks. Most famous for playing in Super Bowl XIV with a broken leg, Youngblood deserves more recognition for his dominance and consistency. Similar to Cal Ripken in baseball, whose excellence is sometimes obscured by his consecutive-games streak, Youngblood’s legendary toughness has sometimes overshadowed his accomplishments and led to the misperception that he’s only famous for playing on a broken leg. He was a fantastic player.

On January 8, 1971, Washington’s new head coach, George Allen, traded Marlin McKeever and six draft choices, including the 10th overall pick in that year’s draft, to his old team, the Los Angeles Rams, for six of his favorite veterans from LA. The Rams used that 10th selection on linebacker Isiah Robertson, and their own first-round choice, 20th overall, on Florida’s Jack Youngblood. As a rookie, Robertson intercepted four passes, made the first of six Pro Bowls, and won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, as well as second-team All-Pro (NEA) and first-team All-NFC (SN). Youngblood played well, too, but he was a part-timer behind Deacon Jones. Youngblood became a starter in 1972 and a star in 1973. In 1975 UPI named him NFC Defensive Player of the Year. Youngblood had a complete skill set: speed and power, great pass rush and great against the run. He didn’t play for as long as Bruce Smith or Reggie White, and he wasn’t as outstanding at his peak as Deacon Jones, but he was one of the finest DEs in history.

115. Cal Hubbard
Tackle (Pre-Modern)
New York Giants, 1927-28, 1936; Green Bay Packers, 1929-33, 1935; Pittsburgh Steelers, 1936
2 consensus All-Pro, 6 All-Pro, 1920s All-Decade Team, 50th Anniversary Team

Similar in some ways to Pete Henry, Cal Hubbard began his career around the same time that Henry ended his. Like Henry, Hubbard was a giant in the 1920s. He’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, and size alone made him a force to be reckoned with, but he was also quick, filling gaps before opponents could get through. Hubbard began his career as an end on offense and a linebacker on defense. After two seasons in New York, however, Hubbard — born in the tiny town of Keytesville, Missouri — requested a trade to Green Bay, a midwestern city that offered the small-town atmosphere in which he was most comfortable. Legendary Packers coach Curly Lambeau switched Hubbard from end to tackle, and it was there that he had his greatest seasons, helping the team to three consecutive league titles from 1929-31.

Hubbard is most famous as the answer to a trivia question: he is the only person in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Canton, OH) and the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown, NY). After his football career, Hubbard became an American League umpire, and later the league’s supervisor of officials. He was highly respected in both roles, and elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in that capacity in 1976, one year before his death from cancer. He was a charter member of the PFHOF in 1963. Henry, Hubbard, and Mel Hein were the only linemen in the inaugural class. Hubbard was highly respected as both an offensive and defensive player, though it is as an offensive tackle that he is most remembered. I’ve rated Hubbard a little higher than Henry, but they’re probably close to equal. Hubbard was a better offensive player, but it’s close defensively, and Henry was much more important on special teams.

114. Jack Christiansen
Safety
Detroit Lions, 1951-58
46 INT, 717 yards, 3 TD
4 consensus All-Pro, 6 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls, 1950s All-Decade Team, 50th Anniversary Team

Jack Christiansen was a terrific range safety, and possibly the greatest punt returner who ever lived. As a rookie, he averaged 19.1 yards per punt return, with 4 TDs — a single-season record (since tied). The next season, Christiansen averaged 21.5 yards per punt return with another 2 TDs. For the remainder of Christiansen’s career, the NFL counted fair catches as punt returns, so PR statistics from that era are extremely low (and misleading out of context), but Christiansen’s still stand out. From 1950-2018, an average punt return gained 8.71 yards, and one out of 93 was returned for a touchdown (1.1%). From 1953-58, when the league counted fair catches as returns, instead of a historically normal 8.7 average, punt returns averaged 5.9 yards. During Christiansen’s career, PR TD rates were higher than normal, 1.49%. Christiansen averaged 12.8 yards per return and scored 8 TDs on just 85 returns, a 9.4% TD rate that is the highest in history. By way of comparison, Devin Hester scored on 4.4% of his punt returns, and that’s without counting fair catches against him. Gale Sayers was primarily a kickoff returner; he only scored 2 PR TDs in his career. Christiansen didn’t share Hester’s longevity, and he played in an era when it was easier to stand out, but I’d as soon have Christiansen return punts for me as anyone in history.

Christiansen’s excellence was not limited to special teams. As a safety, he had excellent range and great ball instincts; he led the league in interceptions twice, and had at least 8 INTs in a season four times. In 1953, he intercepted 12 passes, returned for 238 yards, including a 92-yard touchdown. In 1952, Christiansen played part-time on the Lions’ offense. He rushed 19 times for 148 yards (7.8 avg) and 2 touchdowns, and he caught three passes for 32 yards. Counting his rushing, punt returning, and interception returns, Christiansen scored 13 career TDs, one of the highest marks for a primarily defensive player, and a testament to the explosiveness of a man who only played 89 games.

Christiansen’s partner safety, Yale Lary, is also in the Hall of Fame as a combination defensive back and special teamer: Lary was among the greatest punters of his generation. While quarterback Bobby Layne is most remembered today, it was the Lions’ defense that led the team to NFL titles in 1952, ’53, and ’57. Layne was injured in ’57, and defensive captain Joe Schmidt wasn’t on the team yet in ’52. Christiansen played a vital role on those teams.

113. Larry Fitzgerald
Wide Receiver
Arizona Cardinals, 2004-18
1,303 receptions, 16,279 yards, 116 TD
1 consensus All-Pro, 3 AP All-Pro, 11 Pro Bowls

This is a passing era, and Fitzgerald is one of a dozen receivers whose accomplishments, at the time Fitzgerald entered the league, would have been unimaginable for anyone but Jerry Rice. Most of those dozen receivers missed my list of the top 125 players in history. Three factors distinguish Fitzgerald:

1. His excellent postseason résumé. On January 3, 2009, Larry Fitzgerald had 101 yards and a touchdown in a 30-24 playoff win over the Atlanta Falcons. The following week, Fitzgerald had 166 yards and a TD in the divisional round of the playoffs. In the NFC Championship Game, Fitz had 152 yards and 3 touchdowns. In Super Bowl XLIII, he tallied 127 yards and 2 TDs, including a go-ahead, 64-yard touchdown with 2:37 remaining. Altogether, Fitzgerald had 546 yards and 7 TDs in the 2008 NFL postseason. He had 82 yards and 2 TDs in his first playoff game the next season, and 176 yards and a TD in the divisional round of the 2015 postseason.

2. His longevity and sustained performance. Fitzgerald led the NFL in receptions over a decade apart (2005 and 2016), and he now ranks 3rd all-time in receptions, 3rd in receiving first downs, ^[5]He’s officially second, but Jerry Rice’s record is incomplete. Listed behind Fitzgerald, Rice made at least 200 more first downs. 2nd in receiving yards, and 6th in receiving touchdowns. He’s had nine 1,000-yard receiving seasons, including four 1,400-yard seasons, and he’s made nine Pro Bowls. He’s caught double-digit TDs five times, and he tied for the NFL lead in receiving TDs twice (2008 and ’09). There are a number of contemporary receivers whose peaks were as good as or better than Fitzgerald’s, but few have been as good for as long.

3. He helps the team even when he doesn’t make the catch. Fitzgerald is big (6-3, 225) and strong, a physical receiver and a good blocker. Have you noticed that great blocking WRs tend to play with one another? I don’t know how much of it is coaching emphasis and how much is simply the influence of the teammate, but the connection seems clear. Art Monk is probably the most famous good-blocking WR of all time, and his undersized teammate Gary Clark (5-9, 175) was a relentless downfield blocker. Hines Ward was the most celebrated blocking WR of the ’00s, and his teammate Plaxico Burress became a very good blocker. Fitzgerald and longtime teammate Anquan Boldin are among the best blocking WRs of their generation.

Fitzgerald is a good route runner and he has excellent hands. He’s smart and focused, a consistent performer and a team player, and he’s saved his best moments for the biggest moments. Earlier this year he signed an eight-figure contract to return for his 16th season in Arizona.

112. Deion Sanders
Cornerback
Atlanta Falcons, 1989-93; San Francisco 49ers, 1994; Dallas Cowboys, 1995-99; Washington, 2000; Baltimore Ravens, 2004-05
53 INT, 1,331 yards, 9 TD; 10 FF, 15 FR, 35 yards, TD; 1 sack
1 DPOY, 6 consensus All-Pro, 7 AP All-Pro, 8 Pro Bowls, 1990s All-Decade Team, All-Century Team

Deion Sanders had a glaring hole in his game. He wasn’t a tackler. He was sort of a defensive Cris Carter (“All Cris Carter does is catch touchdown passes”), who didn’t always give max effort on routine plays. He was a tremendous talent, but this is as high as I could bring myself to rank him.

I’m not alone among analysts and historians in feeling that Sanders was overrated, though there are also good analysts who rate him much higher than this. One point upon which we agree is that Sanders was an excellent kick returner. Actually, tallying Sanders’ All-Pro totals was tricky, because in 1992, Sanders was second-team All-Pro as a corner and a consensus All-Pro as kickoff returner. Does that count only as an AP selection, because CB was Sanders’ primary position? Does it count as a consensus selection, because returner is a valid position, too? Or does it count as both, a second-team selection and a consensus selection at a different position? I chose the middle option, counting it only once, but as a consensus All-Pro nod. YMMV.

In 2011, I ranked Sanders as the 12th-best return specialist of all time. As a returner, he gained over 5,500 yards and scored 9 TDs. That talent translated to INT returns, and Sanders ranks 4th all-time in INT return yardage, tied for 5th in INT return TDs. He also played a little bit of wide receiver, with 784 yards and 3 TDs, though that aspect of his career is often overstated.

First and foremost, Deion was a shutdown corner, the outstanding coverage man of his era. He had great speed, and his reliable hands and outstanding return ability intimidated opposing passers. When he played in Dallas, the Cowboys used him man-to-man against the opponents’ top receiver, cheated their safety to the other side of the field, and played the rest of their pass defenders in a zone. He truly dictated the gameplan.

Sanders was a phenomenal three-sport athlete at Florida State, and he played in 641 Major League Baseball games, earning about 6 WAR in his career. He is the only player to appear in both a World Series and a Super Bowl, winning Super Bowl rings with both the 49ers (XXIX) and Cowboys (XXX).

111. Benny Friedman
Quarterback (Pre-Modern)
Cleveland Bulldogs, 1927; Detroit Wolverines, 1928; New York Giants, 1929-31; Brooklyn Dodgers, 1932-34
66 pass TD, 18 rush TD
4 All-Pro

It’s a shame we don’t have complete stats for Benny Friedman, because he was the one truly exceptional passer of the 1920s. It’s common to hear Sammy Baugh credited as the first great passer, but that’s probably not right. Baugh was a great passer, and his influence popularized passing as a legitimate offensive strategy. But Friedman, by all accounts, was a magnificent passer, without peer among his contemporaries.

Friedman was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, more than 20 years after his death. At least three reasons contributed to the long wait. First, and most obviously, there were very limited passing statistics during his career. At a time when baseball, boxing, and college football ruled the sporting landscape, stats were among the few ways for players to make a mark that would be remembered. But they simply don’t exist for this period. Friedman’s HOF page reads, “Although official statistics were not kept, he is believed to have completed more than half his passes, at a time when 35 percent was considered a very good performance.” Friedman led the NFL in passing TDs four years in a row, and in rushing TDs once. But if we had more comprehensive stats, we could outline exactly far ahead of his contemporaries Benny was as a passer.

A second factor in Friedman’s relative lack of recognition is that his teams never won a championship. The Bulldogs and Wolverines went a combined 15-6-2 with Friedman, and Tim Mara bought the Wolverines in 1929 just to get Friedman for the Giants. New York went 13-1-1, but Green Bay went 12-0-1 and was awarded the title. The Packers did beat the Giants, 20-6, the week before Thanksgiving. The Giants went 13-4 the next year, but again lost the title to Green Bay. Friedman’s teams were always good, but never the best.

As a third consideration, Friedman’s HOF induction was probably delayed by his own personality. Friedman bragged about his own greatness in a way that turned people off. But he was right. Friedman was by far the best passer of his era, as well as a successful runner and kicker. He led the NFL in extra points in 1928 and ’29. Passing stats exploded toward the end of Friedman’s career, with passing rules dramatically liberalized, but Friedman’s career record for pass TDs stood until 1941.

* * *

Subsequent articles in this series will feature 10 players. You can find those articles here every Tuesday and Thursday for the next six 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. I’m 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.

This series continues with:

Players 110-101