INTRODUCTION

 

I know what you’re thinking. As you have picked up this book that purports to rank the top 65 National Football League players of the past 65 years, you are beginning to wonder: “Where do you get off ranking the best players of the past 60 years? What gives you the right?”

Ok, you’ve gotten it out of your system and it’s a fair question to ask. The ranking of players is largely a subjective activity even when objective criteria like yardage, points, and championships are considered. I have tried to give you a definitive list, but it is OK to disagree with my decisions. I can’t expect most readers to be in complete agreement especially when the debate between No. 65 and 66 was a long and hard one—even though I had to make both arguments myself.

I have covered the NFL through my entire adult life. I started covering the NFL in 1981, saw Lawrence Taylor practice and play as a rookie, and learned how hard a hitter he was by standing just a few feet away when he made contact with a ball carrier in practice. Although he was still in the first month of his career, I had no doubts that the New York Giants had found a special player.

I have been lucky enough to see and talk to most of the players on the list in person at one point or another in my career. I have also had the opportunity to talk to their coaches and get their opinions on what made these players so special. So as I have ranked these players I have tried to back those rankings with the valued thoughts of those who have played or made their living in the game for many years.

But more than that, I have tried to back those rankings with facts: Notes about players’ achievements, information about who they played with and what those teammates accomplished, and things that players had to overcome in their careers.

My rankings are based on achievement first and foremost. Joe Montana and Jim Brown are at the top of the list and Jerry Rice follows right behind. All three of these men did more to help their team win games than any players before or since.

Montana and Rice were coached by Bill Walsh, a man who recognized that both had brilliant talent even when others let it pass. Montana was a third-round pick from Notre Dame in 1979 and while Rice was a first-round selection in 1985 from Mississippi Valley State, he wasn’t taken until the 16th pick. Walsh himself never knew a thing about Rice until the 1984 season, when he took his 49ers into Houston to play the Oilers in a midseason game. The night before the teams met in the Astrodome, Walsh was watching the sports in his hotel room and that’s when he first became familiar with Rice. He had led Mississippi Valley State to a victory that day, running all over the field after making a series of circus catches. Walsh noticed that each of the catches had been difficult to make and that the receiver simply would run away from defenders after he made the catch. He knew he was looking at something special and further study only confirmed his initial analysis.

Walsh was questioned and criticized for taking a receiver from such a small school so early in the draft. But he wasn’t interested in winning good grades on Draft Day. He wanted to win games on Sundays and championships in January.

The great players each have their own unique style. Montana didn’t copy anybody, and neither did Brown or Rice. They followed their own instincts. All the players in this top 65 had their own way of doing things. Perhaps Emmitt Smith borrowed a stiff arm from Walter Payton, or Steve Young took a little bit of his ability to run away from a tackler from Fran Tarkenton’s improvisational ability, but these were all their own men.

I have looked for greatness and originality and sought confirmation through the numbers they achieved. I have given them their due and encourage you to read and digest my list. Is it written in stone? No, but it is written in black and white and I stand by my conclusions.

—Steve Silverman