Sunday, September 08, 2019

NFL by the Numbers (updated)

To celebrate the NFL’s 100th Anniversary, USA Today published a list of the greatest players by jersey number. There were notable omissions, which I point out below. I compiled a similar list six years ago, which is linked below.

00. Jim Otto, Ken Burrough
0. No single zero? George Plimpton.
1. Warren Moon, Cam Newton. What about HOFers Curly Lambeau and Fritz Pollard?

2. Matt Ryan, Charlie Trippi
3. Bronko Nagurski, Jan Stenerud
4. Brett Favre, Tuffy Leemans
5. Paul Hornung, George McAfee, Donovan McNabb
6. Thomas Morestead, Jay Cutler, Johnny Hekker. No Kevin Butler?
7. John Elway, Mel Hein, Bob Waterfield
8. Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Larry Wilson. No Ray Guy?
9. Drew Brees, Sonny Jurgenson
10. Fran Tarkenton, Eli Manning
11. Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones, Norm Van Brocklin. Missing: Joe Guyon HOF
12. Tom Brady, Bradshaw, Namath Rodgers, Staubach. No Griese?
13. Dan Marino, Kurt Warner. No Jake Scott?
14. Don Hutson, Otto Graham, Dan Fouts. No YA Tittle?
15. Bart Starr, Steve Van Buren
16. Joe Montana, Len Dawson, Frank Gifford
17. Phillip Rivers, Don Meredith, Harold Carmichael
18. Payton Manning, Charlie Joiner. No Emmitt Thomas?
19. Johnny Unitas, Lance Alworth
20. Barry Sanders, Lem Barney. No Cliff Battles?
21. Deion Sanders, LaDanian Tomlinson
22. Emmitt Smith, Mike Haynes, Bobby Layne
23. Devin Hester, Troy Vincent, Adrian Foster
24. Darrelle Revis, Champ Bailey, Ty Law. What about Willie Brown, Willie Wood, and Lenny Moore?

25. Fred Biltnekoff, Richard Sherman. No Tommy McDonald?
26. Rod Woodson, Herb Adderley
27. Ken Houston, Steve Atwater, Eddie George
28. Marshall Faulk, Darrell Green, Adrian Peterson, Curtis Martin. No Yale Lary?
29. Eric Dickerson, Earl Thomas. No Harold Jackson?
30. Terrell Davis, Bill Willis, Clark Hinkle
31. Jim Taylor, Donnie Shell
32. Jim Brown, M Allen F Harris OJ Simpson.
33. Sammy Baugh, T Dorsett R Craig. No Ollie Matson?
34. Walter Payton E Campbell Thurman Thomas. No Herschel? HW gained more NFL yards than EW or TT. And no Cornell Green and Joe Perry?

35. Aeneas Williams, John Henry Johnson, Pete Philos
36. Jerome Bettis, LeRoy Butler
37. Doak Walker, Jimmy Johnson, Lester Hayes
38. Arnie Herber, George Rogers
39. Larry Csonka, Hugh McElhenny
40. Gale Sayers, Pat Tillman, Elroy Hirsch. Tillman was a great American and a great player, but not sure he belongs on this list. His would be a cool jersey to have.
41. Matt Snell, Alvin Kamara, Eugene Robinson. No Tom Matte?
42. Ronnie Lott, Sid Luckman, Charley Taylor, P Warfield
43. Troy Polamalu, Cliff Harris. No Dan Perkins?
44. John Riggins, Leroy Kelly, Dick LeBeau. No Floyd Little?
45. Emlen Tunnell, Kenny Easley
46. Todd Christensen, Tim McDonald
47. Mel Blount, John Lynch
48. Daryl Johnson, Stephen Davis. No Les Richter?
49. Bobby Mitchel, Dennis Smith
50. Mike Singletary, Alex Wojciechowicz
51. Dick Butkus, Sam Mills. No Jim Ringo?
52. Ray Lewis, Mike Webster, Patrick Willis
53. Harry Carson, Mick Tinglehoff, Randy Gradishar
54. Randy White, Brain Urlacher. No Chuck Howley?
55. Junior Seau, Derrick Brooks
56. Lawrence Taylor, Chris Doleman
57. Dwight Stephenson, Rickey Jackson. No Isaiah Robertson?
58. Jack Lambert, Derrick Thomas
59. Jack Ham, Luke Kuechly
60. Chuck Bednarik, Tommy Nobis. No Otto Graham?
61. Bill George, Curley Culp
62. Jim Langer, Charley Trippi.
63. Willie Lanier, Gene Upshaw, Lee Roy Selmon
64. Jerry Kramer, Randall McDaniel
65. Gary Zimmerman, Elvin Bethea. No Tom Mack?
66. Ray Nitschke, Clyde Bulldog Turner. No Larry Little?
67. Bob Kuechenberg, Kent Hull. Art Still?
68. Will Shields, Russ Grimm, Kevin Mawae. LC Greenwood? Joe Delamielleure?
69. Jared Allen, Jon Runyan, Tim Kumrie
70. Sam Huff, Ernie Stautner, Art Donovan. Jim Marshall?
71. Walter Jones, George Connor. Alex Karras?
72. Dan Dierdorf, Ed Too Tall Jones
73. John Hannah, Larry Allen, Joe Thomas. Leo Nomellini?
74. Bob Lilly, Merlin Olsen, Bruce Matthews
75. J Greene, D Jones, J Ogden, Howie Long, F Gregg
76. Marion Motley, Orlando Pace. Lou Groza?
77. Red Grange, Willie Roaf. Jim Parker?
78. Anthony Munoz, Bruce Smith, Bobby Bell, Art Shell. Curly Culp?
79. Rosey Brown, Bob St. Clair
80. Jerry Rice, S Largent, K Winslow. James Lofton? Tom Fears?
81. Night Train Lane, Doug Atkins, Torry Holt. Carl Eller? Art Monk? Andy Robustelli?
82. Raymond Berry, Ozzie Newsome.
83. Ted Hendricks, Andre Reed. John Jefferson?
84. Randy Moss, Antonio Brown, Shannon and Sterling Sharpe
85. Jack Youngblood, N Buoniconti, Antonio Gates, C Johnson. HOFer Del Shofner?
86. Buck Buchanon, Hines Ward.
87. Rob Gronkowski, Willie Davis. Claude Humphrey?
88. Alan Page, T Gonzalez, J Mackey, L Swann
89. Mike Ditka, Gino Marchetti. Otis Taylor?
90. Julius Peppers, Neil Smith
91. Kevin Greene, Leslie O’Neal, Cameron Wake
92. Reggie White, Michael Strahan
93. John Randle, Dwight Freeney
94. Charles Haley, DeMarcus Ware. Dana Stubblefield?
95. Richard Dent, Greg Lloyd. Sam Adams?
96. Cortez Kennedy, Clyde Simmons
97. Bryant Young, C Bennett, S Rice, La’Roi Glover
98. Robert Mathis, Jessie Armstead
99. JJ Watt, Warren Sapp, Jason Taylor. Gastneau? Hampton?

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