Who is the greatest football player ever?

[Samuel L. Jackson]

But... I lumped the whole human race together... Who got offended...polar bears?

[Cutler]

Brett Favre

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

First guy I thought of was Barry Sanders. Anyone that can make Detroit a relevant franchise must have some kind of superpowers.

Jim Brown made something of Cleveland too.

[mountainpantherfan]

Jim Brown made something of Cleveland too.

Wrong, while Brown was great, Cleveland was a better team just before Jim Brown than they were with him. From 46 to 55 they won 7 championships. During the Jim Brown era, 57 to 65, they only won one championship.

[KillerKat]

I think the NFL is divided into 2 eras. The pre-merger era and the post-merger era. In the pre-merger era before 1970, there were only 10 teams for the AFL and only 6 for the NFL. So there were only a small number of teams with less talent therefore not much competition and each league only played against their own small number of teams.

After the merger of 1970 you had 16 teams that all played each other plus more talent coming in and more teams joining so therefore more competition. So comparing pre-merger players to post-merger players is like comparing apples and oranges.

IMO I think its more relevant to pick players after the merger because of the increase in competition therefore whoever stood out was legit. In the pre-merger era its hard to tell if those that stood out really were that good or were just playing against weak competition and might have been hidden if there was more talent in their leagues like it was after the merger. There are some players pre-merger that have a poo load of all-pro selections, but their stats were well below those of post-merger players who had way less all-pros if any.

[top dawg]

I really don't think that you can pick the greatest player ever in a team sport. We should probably break it down by key positions. But, just to humor you, I am going to say Terry Bradshaw. Led his team 4 times to the dance! 4 Rings!

[MurkN]

Paul Hornung could do it all back in the day

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

By the way he's headed, Chris Johnson could be in this discussion 15-20 years down the road.

[PanthersPhan18]

Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers

followed by DeAngelo Williams.

[Matt Foley]

The question isn't who is the greatest athelet? Or the best at a position? The question is "Who is the greatest football player of all time?" Since this crosses positional lines using stats is useless. And athletic superiority alone means nothing in terms of playing football.

So for me one of the easiest ways to look at this question is to look at championships.

My answer: Otto Graham.

In just ten season, all with the Cleveland Browns, Graham was a 5 time pro-bowler, 9 time All-Pro, 3 time league MVP, played in 10 championship games and won 7 championships...all before Jim Brown joined the Browns. He has the highest winning percentage of any QB ever and also won an NBA championship in only one season playing professional basketball.

Very compelling argument

[Lonestar13]

Joe Montana

[pstall]

Someone mentioned Hornung and I agree. Overall football talent who played multiple spots and had records for scoring etc.

I'm giving this to him for just straight football player and he did do it all over the field at a high level.

[Makish]

good luck catching this dude...or tackling him for that matter

bo Jackson

6'1 320

40 time 4:12

[powellj1]

bo Jackson

6'1 320

40 time 4:12

This guy could catch him tackle him or run over him if he so felt the need!!