active players who are candidates for "best ever"

[Dragonborn10]

Only the QB's are in the discussion

Gates will make HOF but not GOAT. Megatron needs another decade to even get close to Rice and that is in a different era.

[Orton's Arm]

• Vinatieri could end up the highest scoring kicker ever, and has been clutch all the way back to the first Patriots SB win over the Rams.
  
• Brady and Manning will always be in that conversation, but no one will ever agree as everyone has their guy meaning Montana, Graham, Unitas, and so on. Manning will have to win it all this year and maybe another before he retires. If he won two more, especially in a row like Elway as he finished, it will be hard not to say he was the best for awhile. That would put him at 3-2, but finishing on top, and have all of the records over Marino, and Farve.
  
• Megatron, Watt, and Hester could end up as the best ever but they have a long way to go. Megatron was amazing last year with beating Rice's single season record. He needs to keep going and get the yards Carter, Rice, Brown, Reed had over a career. Let's not put a bust up in Canton for Watt yet although he is playing like the best ever at this moment. What if he gets a career ending injury like Bo Jackson, Terrel Davis and so on. Hester will most likely go down as the best returner in history, and with the changes to the kick offs, in the wedge, where they kick from, etc.no one will repeat it. But in the end, he like Tasker will never get a gold jacket.
  

 

Personally, I think Johnny Unitas was the best quarterback ever. Joe Montana and Steve Young are among the top five. Sid Luckman had this to say about Unitas, "He was better than me, better than Sammy Baugh, better than anyone." In 2004, The Sporting News named Unitas the best quarterback ever, with Joe Montana number two. He set a record by having four consecutive games with a 120 passer rating or better. Kurt Warner would later tie this record. While I'm not a fan of the passer rating stat in general, I see this as a very impressive achievement. Quarterbacks from Unitas' era had absolutely no business competing against modern era quarterbacks in terms of passer rating stats. But apparently someone forgot to mention that to Johnny Unitas.

 

Due to injuries to his elbow and fingers, he was had little or no use of his right hand after retirement. He was also unable to run after retirement, because he had artificial knees. After Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis, Unitas broke all contact with the team. He repeatedly instructed the Pro Football Hall of Fame to remove his memorabilia from display, unless he was listed as a member of the Baltimore Colts. (The Hall of Fame ignored those instructions.)

 

As for which QB is the best from the current era, right now it comes down to a discussion between Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees. Of those, I think Rodgers might be the most underrated. I'm not saying he's the best of the four--just the most underrated of the four. I think at least one of those guys belongs in the list of top five QBs all time. On the other hand, an argument could be made that there are non-modern QBs--such as Staubach--who also belong on that top five list.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Orton's Arm

[Rob's House]

How is Adrian Peterson not on this list?

 

Manning's great, but is he THAT great? His rise to prominence coincided perfectly with the rise of the pass-friendly rules. And he has more postseason choke-jobs to his credit than rings. Kind of reminds me of ARod. Great fantasy player. Much more ho-hum when it counts.

 

Everyone else benefits from the rule changes and pushing 40 he's still blowing them all out of the water.

 

And flaming out in playoffs is how it goes for teams that try to ride a QB to the SB. Manning, Brees, Rogers, Favre all have 1. Marino, who's arguably the best of them all, has 0. It's a team game.

[BillsPride12]

Watt just have one great season. Let's give him some times before we put him up there. Look at his stat.

 

One great season? The guy has been fantastic since he's been in the NFL and he's only gonna keep getting player. Stats don't tell everything(and the guys stats look pretty damn good to me, how many other D-lineman have 3 touchdowns this year?) The guy is as complete of a defensive lineman as I've ever seen and plays relentless. Trust me I hate crowning players until I feel they've truly earned it but in this case Watt is a guy who deserves all the praise he's been getting. I mean he still has to put up these kind of seasons for a long time before he can be considered one of the all-time greats but he's on his way. As long as he doesn't get injured I don't see the guy slowing down with the type of work ethic and mentality he has..A real throwback

[vincec]

Not saying I agree with all, but in the discussion I got .....

 

QB: Brady, Manning

TE: Gronk, Gates, (Winslow)

WR: Megatron, (Rice)

LT: Peters, (Munoz)

DL: Watt, (Sapp)

SS: Polamolu, (Lott)

DB: Revis, (Sanders)

NT: Wilfork, (Washington)

K: Vinatieri

KR: Hester

Edited October 22, 2014 by vincec

[K-9]

Not saying I agree with all, but in the discussion I got .....

 

QB: Brady, Manning

TE: Gronk, Gates

WR: Megatron

LT: Peters

DL: Watt

SS: Polamolu

DB: Revis

NT: Wilfork

K: Vinatieri

KR: Hester

 

Brady and Manning are in the discussion and I'll give Polamalu and Revis a mention, but nobody else on that list makes my best ever team.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Talley56]

Manning - yes, the only other one I may possibly give consideration to is Polamolu. The rest, no.

[PlayoffsPlease]

the QB discussion for all time greatest is between Manning and Joe Montana. To me Manning gets the nod, because he did it with multiple coaches and OC's and on two different teams. But that is the argument.

 

RB is still Jim Brown. Find old video of him. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry in an era where facemasking was legal. That was how people took him down.

 

Kickers are tough. The cowboys kicker just set the record for highest career kick percentage ever at 91%. Not sure what makes someone a better kicker than making more of your kicks than anyone else. Viniteri is a beneficiary of location, location and location.

 

Calvin Johnson puts up numbers to put him in a discussion with Jerry Rice and Don Hutson. There are legitimate arguments for Calvin though.

 

Everyone else in the original OP, might qualify as the best at their position in the game today, or even during the last 5 or 7 years, but none of them really are likely to be considering the best ever at their position when they leave the game.

 

I don't know how anyone can say Watt is better than Bruce Smith or Reggie White, if you actually saw those guys play.

 

if you go back to the Bills golden era, guys like Marino and Elway were in the discussion with Montana. Guys like Smith, White, Lawrence Taylor, Munoz, Kellen Winslow, where amazing talents, and a generation before them Alan Page, Joe Green, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert etc. were in the discussion for best ever (still are). Always lots of good talent in the NFL.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

I fully expect us to view Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck in the future the same way we currently have viewed Manning and Brady over the last 10 years.

[CJallDAY]

Definitely Hester, hard to argue that right now. Viniateri has made some clutch kicks but you have to have a good team to even be in that position.. bailey is technically the most accurate kicker ever right now so i would say hes in a position to make the claim until he screws it up.

 

As for the QBs Peyton will always have the era factor as an asterisk next to his numbers but when its all said and done he will have thrown for twice as many TD passes as Montana and probably hold every other record. Add to this the fact that he won a SB, despite losing several playoff games, he got the monkey off his back that guys like marino and kelly have. Hard to argue with that

Edited October 22, 2014 by CJallDAY

[rsherman12]

Only Manning, Brady, Polamalu, and Hester depending on how their careers finish. The other guys are either too young to tell yet, or are potential 1st/2nd ballot HOFers.

[Orton's Arm]

Definitely Hester, hard to argue that right now. Viniateri has made some clutch kicks but you have to have a good team to even be in that position.. bailey is technically the most accurate kicker ever right now so i would say hes in a position to make the claim until he screws it up.

 

As for the QBs Peyton will always have the era factor as an asterisk next to his numbers but when its all said and done he will have thrown for twice as many TD passes as Montana and probably hold every other record. Add to this the fact that he won a SB, despite losing several playoff games, he got the monkey off his back that guys like marino and kelly have. Hard to argue with that

 

> Peyton will always have the era factor as an asterisk next to his numbers but when its all said and done he will have

> thrown for twice as many TD passes as Montana and probably hold every other record.

 

Over the course of his career, Peyton Manning has averaged 7.7 yards per attempt, compared to 7.4 for Tom Brady. So you have to give Manning a slight edge there. Montana averaged 7.5 yards per attempt. There will be those who argue that Montana's 7.5 is better than Manning's 7.7, because Montana played in an earlier, less passing-friendly era. I'm not entirely sure I agree with that argument, but it will be made.

 

Compare all this to Johnny Unitas, who averaged 7.8 yards per attempt playing in an earlier era than Montana. Unitas also has about as many career passing yards as Montana, despite the fact that Unitas played only in 12 and 14 game seasons, in an era when passing was less common than it later became. Montana played in 16 game seasons. There was more passing in the '80s and early '90s (when Montana was playing) than there had been in the '50s, '60s, and early '70s (Unitas' years). Unitas was an extremely impressive quarterback, and may have been better than either Montana or Manning.

[Martifal]

One great season? The guy has been fantastic since he's been in the NFL and he's only gonna keep getting player. Stats don't tell everything(and the guys stats look pretty damn good to me, how many other D-lineman have 3 touchdowns this year?) The guy is as complete of a defensive lineman as I've ever seen and plays relentless. Trust me I hate crowning players until I feel they've truly earned it but in this case Watt is a guy who deserves all the praise he's been getting. I mean he still has to put up these kind of seasons for a long time before he can be considered one of the all-time greats but he's on his way. As long as he doesn't get injured I don't see the guy slowing down with the type of work ethic and mentality he has..A real throwback

+ 1

[Bill from NYC]

Walter Jones or Anthony Munoz perhaps but Peters?

Orlando Pace was the best I have ever seen. His career didn't last as long as some LTs but when he was on, there was nobody better.

 

This of course is jmo.

 

Hmmm. Only the QB IMO. Maybe Watt.

 

Watt is interesting. He already might be one of the best to play DE if one excludes longevity.

 

That said, he has a tall mountain to climb to be the "best ever." Reggie White and Bruce Smith were flat out great. Then of course there is a player that most here probably never heard of. I was even very young when I saw him, but I don't know if I can call any DE better than a man named Deacon Jones.

 

[GunnerBill]

The thing with Watt is he is more than just a Defensive End. He lines up as a DE and as DT and can do pretty much everything you'd want from someone playing at either of those positions. If he does it over the long term he will be in the conversation I reckon.

Edited October 22, 2014 by GunnerBill

[truth on hold]

The thing with Watt is he is more than just a Defensive End. He lines up as a DE and as DT and can do pretty much everything you'd want from someone playing at either of those positions. If he does it over the long term he will be in the conversation I reckon.

IMO there's no doubt he's every bit as disruptive as white and smith in their prime. You never could take your eyes off any one of them if you're on offense. And like them he has his own distinctive playing style too. If he can keep it up for another 8-10 years, he's definitely in the conversation. Getting clowney back will make him that much more dangerous.