Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

To mark the NFL's 100th Anniversary, USA Today has begun unveiling its sportswriting staff picks for the 100 greatest.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 785514002/

Interesting. I’m a sucker for lists. However... a pure kicker is the 95th greatest player in NFL history???

Sir Francis is #92 (coincidentally the same number as his Topps rookie card). Seems low to me. It’ll be interesting to see where that puts him in the QB rankings.

ChrisBabcock wrote:Interesting. I’m a sucker for lists. However... a pure kicker is the 95th greatest player in NFL history???

Ugh -- and it's Adam Vinatieri, no less. Another brainless exercise in argument-starting, per usual.

JohnH19 wrote:Sir Francis is #92 (coincidentally the same number as his Topps rookie card). Seems low to me. It’ll be interesting to see where that puts him in the QB rankings.

I also agree, few players (not only QBs) have been so consistente for a long period of time as Tarkenton.

Teo wrote:

JohnH19 wrote:Sir Francis is #92 (coincidentally the same number as his Topps rookie card). Seems low to me. It’ll be interesting to see where that puts him in the QB rankings.

I also agree, few players (not only QBs) have been so consistente for a long period of time as Tarkenton.

Well, this means that there will be 16-18 QB's on the 100 spots.
I think Brady, Brees, Manning, Rodgers, Favre, Elway, Marino, Young, Montana, Staubach, Bradshaw, Unitas, Namath, Starr, Graham, Luckman, Baugh would probably rank above Francis on this list. Aikman already made the list. I would also put Jurgensen and Norm Van Brocklin on the list, but I'm not holding much faith for this list. The NFL's Top 100 had 19 quarterbacks on it, and Rodgers and Brees didn't make the list (it was 2010.)

conace21 wrote:

Teo wrote:

JohnH19 wrote:Sir Francis is #92 (coincidentally the same number as his Topps rookie card). Seems low to me. It’ll be interesting to see where that puts him in the QB rankings.

I also agree, few players (not only QBs) have been so consistente for a long period of time as Tarkenton.

Well, this means that there will be 16-18 QB's on the 100 spots.
I think Brady, Brees, Manning, Rodgers, Favre, Elway, Marino, Young, Montana, Staubach, Bradshaw, Unitas, Namath, Starr, Graham, Luckman, Baugh would probably rank above Francis on this list. Aikman already made the list. I would also put Jurgensen and Norm Van Brocklin on the list, but I'm not holding much faith for this list. The NFL's Top 100 had 19 quarterbacks on it, and Rodgers and Brees didn't make the list (it was 2010.)

But knowing the NFL Network, they'll have to put Patrick Mahomes on the list, because everybody will have a cow if he is left off. Same with Odell Beckham Jr, just so they can show his one-handed glove catches.

When ESPN did their Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century 20 years ago, their basis for making Sandy Koufax the greatest pitcher and ignoring players like Walter Johnson, etc. was essentially, "We have plenty of film of him pitching, as opposed to just photographs ofJohnson."

MLB's similar fan poll that same year was so bad that they had to step in and add key people like Josh Gibson.

In short, these polls figure to be top-heavy with current or recent players.

conace21 wrote: I think Brady, Brees, Manning, Rodgers, Favre, Elway, Marino, Young, Montana, Staubach, Bradshaw, Unitas, Namath, Starr, Graham, Luckman, Baugh would probably rank above Francis on this list. Aikman already made the list. I would also put Jurgensen and Norm Van Brocklin on the list, but I'm not holding much faith for this list. The NFL's Top 100 had 19 quarterbacks on it, and Rodgers and Brees didn't make the list (it was 2010.)

The only guys that clearly rate ahead of Fran are Brady, P. Manning, Montana, Unitas, Graham, and Baugh. His overall career was clearly better than Namath's and about equal with the rest except, like Marino, he never won a championship. He did, however, go to more championship games than Brees, Rodgers, Favre, Marino, Young and Namath despite spending most of his career with the expansion Vikings and the possibly worse Giants. His genius for offensive football, along with his physical abilities, made those teams competitive.

Its starting to look kind of random, just to take one position, Terrell Owens is higher than two 75th Anniversary team receiver choices - Berry and Alworth.