Along With Butkus, Best Players I've Ever Seen

[HarveyWallbangers]

Sorry, but longevity plays a part in it. Sayers didn't play long enough. Didn't he only have about 3-4 healthy years. Payton was a warrior.

I just can't put Dickerson in those top 5. I remember him being a fumbler and I don't remember him catching the ball that well. Dickerson only had one year where he averaged more than 4.6 yards/carry.

[The Shadow]

Sorry, but longevity plays a part in it. Sayers didn't play long enough. Didn't he only have about 3-4 healthy years. Payton was a warrior.

I just can't put Dickerson in those top 5. I remember him being a fumbler and I don't remember him catching the ball that well. Dickerson only had one year where he averaged more than 4.6 yards/carry.

Payton was a threat to go 25 yards every time he touched the ball.
Sayers was a threat to go the distance every single time he touched the rock.
It was amazing. He was truly electric.
I believe he played 6 years before the knee injury.

[Rastak]

Sorry, but longevity plays a part in it. Sayers didn't play long enough. Didn't he only have about 3-4 healthy years. Payton was a warrior.

I just can't put Dickerson in those top 5. I remember him being a fumbler and I don't remember him catching the ball that well. Dickerson only had one year where he averaged more than 4.6 yards/carry.

I gotta crash but longevity doesn't play into who I think the best player I ever saw was. OJ Simpson and Eric Dickerson were electric. Sayers and Brown amazing. Other guys just played a long time....(Emmit Smith, Franco Harris, Walter Payton etc etc etc).

[cheesner]

I think Barry Sanders was the best player I've ever seen.

I'm not a huge Sanders guy, he was a top tier guy but he isn't the best I ever saw.

I agree. Too many carries where he got 0 or 1 yards. He wasn't a guy that would take it up into the hole when you needed a couple of yards. Most exciting RB ever? Hell yeah.

I still rank Jim Brown as the best RB of all-time. Watch him and tell me he doesn't look like a guy who could play in today's game.

I'd actually go with Walter Payton as the second best all-around RB. I also think Marshall Faulk is underrated when talking about the best RBs of all-time.

I agree whole heartedly. Sanders was way over-rated. He would break a big one most games and that makes great highlight ESPN material, but he was responsible for killing many drives per game by losing a couple of yards on consecutive carries. If he was so great, why did the Lions suck all those years while he was playing?

Someone not mentioned, that should be, is Ladanian Thomlinson. Okay, he is having a down year so far, but last year I would say he ranks up there with Jim Brown (Who was the best)

[The Leaper]

I agree whole heartedly. Sanders was way over-rated. He would break a big one most games and that makes great highlight ESPN material, but he was responsible for killing many drives per game by losing a couple of yards on consecutive carries. If he was so great, why did the Lions suck all those years while he was playing?

Because Wayne Fontes was their coach and Scott Mitchell was their QB?

Barry is easily one of the top 5 RBs of all time. The guy could've put up more yards than Emmitt Smith had he played a full career...and his OL was VASTLY INFERIOR to the studs Smith had to run behind. Put Barry behind the Cowboy OLs and he runs for 30,000 yards in his career.

Who cares if Sanders wasn't a strong runner? The guy single-handedly forced any defense to keep 8 men in the box at all times. If the Lions would have had the smarts to find any kind of offensive threat to put around him, they could have created an unstoppable offense.

To think that Green Bay could've had both Sanders AND Favre. Yikes.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Who mentioned Emmitt Smith? Personally, I don't consider Smith a top 5 RB.

Sanders may not have had great OL (although he didn't necessarily have horrible lines either). He did benefit from playing in a run and shoot type of offense in his career--with the likes of Herman Moore, Johnnie Morton, Brett Perriman, etc. opening up things for him.

Barry wasn't dealt the bad hand that a guy like Payton was. Payton had nothing around him.

[ZachMN]

My father said that Sam Huff was unequivicolally better than Nitschke. Also, he said that Huff and Jim Taylor just hated each other and basically had grudge matches when playing against one another. In an old film, I saw Huff hit Taylor after Taylor was already down by two other Giants. IT looked personal......
no call either....

[KYPack]

My father said that Sam Huff was unequivicolally better than Nitschke. Also, he said that Huff and Jim Taylor just hated each other and basically had grudge matches when playing against one another. In an old film, I saw Huff hit Taylor after Taylor was already down by two other Giants. IT looked personal......
no call either....

Dad's wrong. Huff was a solid player & both of 'em were HOFers. But Ray was a SPECIAL guy. A lot of Huff's reputation was built on the fact that he played in NY and got 10 times the media coverage Ray did.

They were both great, but Huff unequivocally better than Nitschke?

NFW.

Ask the old players, most of 'em would laugh. Ray had a game in, game out ferocity I've yet to see. Ray Lewis had some of that, but not for the length of time that Ray did.

[oregonpackfan]

My father said that Sam Huff was unequivicolally better than Nitschke. Also, he said that Huff and Jim Taylor just hated each other and basically had grudge matches when playing against one another. In an old film, I saw Huff hit Taylor after Taylor was already down by two other Giants. IT looked personal......
no call either....

As a "Senior" poster, I agree with KY that Nitschke was a much better MLB than Huff. Huff gained much of his fame with his personal challenges with Jim Taylor.

I also would rank Nitschke higher than Butkus. Ray had more range than Nitschke.

[mraynrand]

Best Football Player ever:





"In 1950, the Browns, 49ers, and Colts were absorbed into the NFL. Commissioner Bert Bell, intent on teaching the upstarts a lesson, scheduled their regular season debut against two time World Champion Philadelphia. Otto's first pass in the NFL was a touchdown as the Browns stunned the Eagles. The Browns lost two games on their way to a 30-28 Championship victory over the Los Angeles Rams, the team which had defected from Cleveland after winning the '45 title. Lou "The Toe" Groza kicked the game winning field goal giving the Brown's their first NFL title and Otto his first big league MVP.

The Browns fought their way to the title game again in '51, '52 and '53 but lost to the Rams and Lions twice. Rebounding in '54, with Otto throwing three scores and running for three more, the Browns buried the Lions, 56-10. Retiring after the season, Otto was coaxed back for one more year and led the Cleveland franchise to it's final Championship under his tenure, throwing for two scores and running for two more in a career ending 38-14 victory over the Rams. Named league MVP for the second time, Otto retired at age 33 after ten seasons."

[ZachMN]

My father said that Sam Huff was unequivicolally better than Nitschke. Also, he said that Huff and Jim Taylor just hated each other and basically had grudge matches when playing against one another. In an old film, I saw Huff hit Taylor after Taylor was already down by two other Giants. IT looked personal......
no call either....

Dad's wrong. Huff was a solid player & both of 'em were HOFers. But Ray was a SPECIAL guy. A lot of Huff's reputation was built on the fact that he played in NY and got 10 times the media coverage Ray did.

They were both great, but Huff unequivocally better than Nitschke?

NFW.

Ask the old players, most of 'em would laugh. Ray had a game in, game out ferocity I've yet to see. Ray Lewis had some of that, but not for the
length of time that Ray did.

Fair enough, I can't say. Its like the 'bias' we hear about still. Here in MN last year before Morneau won the MVP all the local rags and sports guys were reading stories from the Big Apple about how Morneau wasn't as good as Jeter blah blah blah so...the more things change the more they stay the same I guess

[HarveyWallbangers]

Morneau is a good player, and I'm glad he won the MVP over Jeter, but he was a weak winner last year. The top players on the top AL teams had down years last year. Normally, it takes a year like ARod had this year or Pujols had last year to win MVP. I'm happy for Morneau though. He seems like a good guy. He was a little disappointing this year. Prince Fielder had a better year this year than Morneau did last year, and he won't win MVP.

[Carolina_Packer]

To think that Green Bay could've had both Sanders AND Favre. Yikes.

Speaking of overrated...Tony Mandarich could not be reached for comment. Yeah, that one makes me wince every time I think about it.

[The Shadow]

My father said that Sam Huff was unequivicolally better than Nitschke. Also, he said that Huff and Jim Taylor just hated each other and basically had grudge matches when playing against one another. In an old film, I saw Huff hit Taylor after Taylor was already down by two other Giants. IT looked personal......
no call either....

As a "Senior" poster, I agree with KY that Nitschke was a much better MLB than Huff. Huff gained much of his fame with his personal challenges with Jim Taylor.

I also would rank Nitschke higher than Butkus. Ray had more range than Nitschke.

Huff gained fame when a tv network aired a show called "The Violent World of Sam Huff".
Nitschke was superior.

[Noodle]

I used to dig watching Larry Czonka with the Dolphins. The guy was as close to Bronco Nagurski as we'll ever see. One of the last great fullbacks in the game, a crunching runner, and tough as nails.

Also, Fred Biletnikoff was a flat out player.

Ol' Jack Lambert was in the Nitschke mold, complete with fangs. One bad ass mfer.