The 100 Greatest Football Players of All-Time

Methodology. (Last update: 2/25/25)

RankPlayerPositionYears
1Tom BradyQB2000-2023
2Jerry RiceWR1985-2004
3Peyton ManningQB1998-2015
4Lawrence TaylorLB1981-1993
5Ray LewisLB1996-2012
6Emmitt SmithRB1990-2004
7Aaron RodgersQB2005-active
8Reggie WhiteDE1985-2000
9Bruce SmithDE1985-2003
10Aaron DonaldDT2014-2024
11Joe MontanaQB1979-1994
12Patrick MahomesQB2017-active
13Drew BreesQB2001-2021
14Deion SandersCB1989-2005
15Anthony MunozOT1980-1992
16Brett FavreQB1991-2010
17Barry SandersRB1989-1998
18Rod WoodsonCB1987-2003
19Bruce MatthewsG1983-2001
20JJ WattDE2011-2022
21Joe GreeneDT1969-1981
22Alan PageDT1967-1981
23Derrick BrooksLB1995-2008
24Walter PaytonRB1975-1987
25Jim BrownRB1957-1965
26Ronnie LottS1981-1994
27Ed ReedS2002-2013
28Marshall FaulkRB1994-2005
29LaDainian TomlinsonRB2001-2011
30Randy MossWR1998-2012
31Terrell OwensWR1996-2010
32Steve YoungQB1985-1999
33Travis KelceTE2013-active
34Mike SingletaryLB1981-1992
35Randy WhiteDT1975-1988
36Charles WoodsonCB1998-2015
37Rob GronkowskiTE2010-2022
38TJ WattLB2017-active
39Champ BaileyCB1999-2013
40Jonathan OgdenOT1996-2007
41John ElwayQB1983-1998
42Junior SeauLB1990-2009
43Randall McDanielG1988-2001
44Jack LambertLB1974-1984
45Adrian PetersonRB2007-2021
46Eric DickersonRB1983-1993
47John HannahG1973-1985
48Larry AllenG1994-2007
49Willie RoafOT1993-2005
50Ken HoustonS1967-1980
51Walter JonesOT1997-2008
52Michael StrahanDE1993-2007
53Derrick HenryRB2016-active
54Jack HamLB1971-1982
55Warren SappDT1995-2007
56Von MillerLB2011-active
57John RandleDT1990-2003
58Marvin HarrisonWR1996-2008
59Lamar JacksonQB2018-active
60Dan MarinoQB1983-1999
61Mike WebsterC1974-1990
62Will ShieldsG1993-2006
63Darrelle RevisCB2007-2017
64DeMarcus WareLB2005-2016
65Alan FanecaG1998-2010
66Gino MarchettiDE1952-1966
67Bobby WagnerLB2012-active
68Bob LillyDT1961-1974
69Johnny UnitasQB1956-1973
70Deacon JonesDE1961-1974
71Merlin OlsenDT1962-1976
72Mel BlountCB1970-1983
73Joe ThomasOT2007-2017
74Brian DawkinsS1996-2011
75Brian UrlacherLB2000-2012
76Ted HendricksLB1969-1983
77Forrest GreggOT1956-1971
78Larry FitzgeraldWR2004-2020
79OJ SimpsonRB1969-1979
80Earl CampbellRB1978-1985
81Otto GrahamQB1946-1955
82Tony GonzalezTE1997-2013
83Julius PeppersDE2002-2018
84Mike HaynesCB1976-1989
85Jason TaylorDE1997-2011
86Josh AllenQB2018-active
87Myles GarrettDE2017-active
88Troy PolamaluS2003-2014
89Jack YoungbloodDE1971-1984
90Kevin GreeneLB1985-1999
91Luke KuechlyLB2012-2019
92Dick “Night Train” LaneCB1952-1965
93Dick ButkusLB1965-1973
94Sammy BaughQB1937-1952
95Russell WilsonQB2012-active
96Chuck BednarikLB1949-1962
97Joe SchmidtLB1953-1965
98Julio JonesWR2011-active
99Antonio BrownWR2010-2021
100Terry BradshawQB1970-1983

9 thoughts on “The 100 Greatest Football Players of All-Time

  1. Nice list. But waaaay too many modern players. In all sports, especially one as subjective as football, the only way (IMO) to compare players from different eras is based on relativity; how good was player x relative to his peers? A good start to answering this question is to look at all-pro teams. You can’t just look at statistics because how well a player does relies on several factors (who he plays with, what game plan is called, etc.) But of course some years had more all-pro sources than others, so this must be accounted for. I think an efficiency rate is in order (how may teams did a player make divided by how many teams could he have made. You need to do 2 things here: account for a 1st team selection v a 2nd team selection and realize that not all all-pro teams are equal. A daunting, and subjective, task. I’d like to see you try it.

    1. Hey Frank, I appreciate the comment! The whole philosophy of this website is that modern players have been grossly underrated by people/publications who put together lists like these.

      Comparing eras is certainly not for the squeamish. You mentioned the importance of comparing players relative to their peers and that’s exactly how I construct my lists… with one major caveat. All eras are not created equal. It has never been more difficult to make an All-Pro Team, win a Super Bowl, lead the league in yards, touchdowns, or sacks than it has been in the last 30 years. Roughly 2/3 of all of the players who have played in the NFL have played since 1970. It stands to reason that a top-100 list would and should have a higher representation of players since 1970.

      I like your idea of an All-Pro efficiency measure. There are some factors that would make it tough as you mentioned. There would need to be a measure for league strength. For instance, it was much easier to make an All-Pro team in a 12-team league with half of the available competition in an entirely different football league (AFL), and racial quotas keeping talented minorities off the field.

  2. Nice list, but I have a couple of quibbles.

    Julio Jones and Antonio Brown, but no Thurman Thomas? He was the best offensive player on the best offense of the era and a league MVP (and should have been Super Bowl MVP in ’90). Also, Barry Sanders is a top 10 player. Even though he “only” played 10 seasons, what he did in those 10 years, on those Lions teams, behind that O-line, with those QB’s, was nothing short of miraculous.

    1. Hey Dan! I appreciate the comments and I love the quibbles. Apologies for the length, here. Barry’s place in history is a pretty popular debate, so I wanted to give this discussion the real estate that it deserves. I’ll hit on Thurman Thomas first, though.

      There’s all kinds of competition for the last 5-10 spots on the football top-100. There are more than enough arguments out there to be made for several who didn’t make it. Thurman Thomas is one of them. The argument for Thomas is that he led the league in yards from scrimmage for four consecutive seasons, was an elite receiver out of the backfield, and helped the Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls. The argument against him is that he was only good for four years. The drop-off from his age 26 to age 27 season was significant. His yards per carry fell to a paltry 3.7 which is borderline unplayable. He never led the league in rushing yards or touchdowns and only finished in the top 5 in rushing 4 times and the top 5 in touchdowns twice. There are just too many players across the history of the NFL who maintained a higher level of play than Thomas and did it for longer. Julio Jones and Antonio Brown are both examples of that, IMO. However, neither are long for the top 100. They’ve peaked at their current spots at the very back of the list.

      On Barry… I won’t begrudge anyone who wants to make the argument for Barry at any spot on the list. It’s easy to do. To steal from “The Rock,” he is the most electrifying man in NFL history. However, this list is built on a balance of ability and accomplishments. While a few extra seasons at an elite level certainly wouldn’t have hurt his case, I actually don’t think his early retirement limits his upside on this list. He played at an elite level for 10 seasons. For a RB, that’s unmatched. There are, however, other strong reasons why he doesn’t crack the top 10, IMO. First, the touchdowns. Barry didn’t routinely pick up the tough yards in short yardage situations. It’s easy to attribute E. Smith’s success to a great offensive line while also casting Barry’s line as being terrible, but there was more to their vast discrepancy in touchdowns than line play. E. Smith was a physical runner who could pick up the tough yards in short yardage situations in both the regular season and the playoffs. Barry wasn’t. In fact, the Lions stopped giving the ball to Barry in goal line situations after 1993. He only had 7 touchdowns from inside the 3 yard line from 1993-1998. Other Lions running backs over that span had 20! Throw in the fact that Barry had the most negative yardage plays in NFL history with a whopping negative yardage total of over 1,100 yards and a portrait of a brilliant runner with a pretty serious limitation emerges.

      The other part that keeps Barry’s ceiling capped outside of the top-10 is playoff success. Barry would have, by far, the worst playoff resume of any player in the top-10 or top-15. In fact, he has one of the worst playoff resumes of anyone in the top-100. It’s easy to say that he played for terrible teams, but a). That’s not as true as the narrative suggests and b). Part of that playoff disappointment is on Barry. In six playoff games, he broke 70 yards just once and scored just 1 touchdown. In 17 playoff games, E. Smith broke 70 yards 14 times and scored 19 touchdowns. Emmitt didn’t just have playoff success, he was the primary reason his team had playoff success. Barry was phenomenal, but his limitations keep him outside of the top-10, IMO. The highest I could rate him is #13 ahead of Deion. Anything higher than that and I run out of ammunition. I like where he’s at, but I wouldn’t begrudge anyone for bumping him up just behind Drew Brees. I’d also like to point out that I have him as the 2nd greatest running back of all-time and the 16th greatest player in the 100+ year history of the NFL in a sport that has 25+ different positions and nearly 30,000 players. I’m all about Barry!

  3. There was a comment about Darrell Green that I didn’t get a chance to read all the way through before it was mistakenly deleted. Apologies! Literally all I saw were the words “Darrell Green.” Feel free to repost the comment and I’d be happy to move this response to the new post. Meanwhile, I’ll address Darrell Green’s resume. First, Green is unquestionably among the next 10 players who just missed the top-100. He was a difficult omission. Green’s longevity is off the charts, but that just isn’t enough to overcome the fact that he was only named 1st Team All-Pro once and 2nd Team All-Pro twice in 20 years and was named to a relatively meager 7 Pro Bowls. Champ Bailey is a good comp for Green. Bailey was named 1st Team All-Pro 3 times and 2nd Team All-Pro 4 times. Bailey was also a 12-team Pro-Bowler. In a crowded field, Green just misses the cut.

  4. Hello Jake, that was my comment, I like your reasoning. Half of that comment was about where he places among other all-time great Cornerbacks. Thanks for the response.

    1. Hey Nic!

      Added to my original comment below: In terms of cornerbacks who are not on the list, Herb Adderley, Richard Sherman, Stephon Gilmore, Ronde Barber, Lester Hayes, Patrick Peterson, and Aeneas Williams are in a tight group with Green. Green is safely among the top-20 cornerbacks of all-time and could be as high as 10 depending on where you put him in the group above. I’d personally have him ahead of Gilmore, Barber, Peterson, and Hayes. Adderley, Sherman, A. Williams, and D. Green are right on the fringe of the top-100 overall.

      Original comment:

      There was a comment about Darrell Green that I didn’t get a chance to read all the way through before it was mistakenly deleted. Apologies! Literally all I saw were the words “Darrell Green.” Feel free to repost the comment and I’d be happy to move this response to the new post. Meanwhile, I’ll address Darrell Green’s resume. First, Green is unquestionably among the next 10 players who just missed the top-100. He was a difficult omission. Green’s longevity is off the charts, but that just isn’t enough to overcome the fact that he was only named 1st Team All-Pro once and 2nd Team All-Pro twice in 20 years and was named to a relatively meager 7 Pro Bowls. Champ Bailey is a good comp for Green. Bailey was named 1st Team All-Pro 3 times and 2nd Team All-Pro 4 times. Bailey was also a 12-team Pro-Bowler. In a crowded field, Green just misses the cut.

  5. Hey Parker!

    I’ll take a look and see if it makes sense. I’m currently wrapping up the tennis lists and then it’ll be golf next. It takes quite a bit of time to do these lists right, so it wouldn’t be until mid-to-late 2025 before I finish the golf list. I appreciate the suggestion.

Leave a Reply

Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *