Picking the best of the best in a sport where guys literally run into each other at the speed of a car crash is a messy business. You’ve got people arguing over stats from the 1940s like they actually saw the games, while others think football didn't exist before the invention of the iPhone. Honestly, trying to nail down the nfl top 100 players of all time is basically an exercise in making people angry.
But we have to do it.
The league tried to settle this officially back in 2019 for the 100th anniversary. They put together a "Blue Ribbon" panel—coaches like Bill Belichick and John Madden, legendary players, and historians—to build a definitive roster. It wasn't just a list; it was a team. They didn't even rank them 1 to 100, which felt like a bit of a cop-out to some fans, but it highlighted one truth: comparing a 330-pound offensive tackle to a scat-back is sort of impossible.
The Unfathomable Dominance of Jerry Rice and Tom Brady
For a long time, the consensus "best" was Jerry Rice. In 2010, NFL Network did a massive project where they actually ranked them. Rice took the top spot. It made sense. The guy didn't just break records; he moved the goalposts so far that nobody is ever catching him. He has 22,895 receiving yards. To put that in perspective, the person in second place is about 5,000 yards behind. That's like an extra four or five "good" seasons.
Then Tom Brady happened.
You can hate the Uggs or the TB12 diet, but seven Super Bowl rings ended the argument for most people. When Brady won his seventh with the Buccaneers at age 43, he didn't just pass Joe Montana; he passed every single NFL franchise. He has more rings than any team in history. That’s just stupid. It shouldn't be possible in a league designed for parity.
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Why the Old Guard Still Matters
Some fans roll their eyes when they see names like Don Hutson or Sammy Baugh. "They played against accountants and farmers," they say. Kinda true, but you have to look at how much better they were than their peers.
Don Hutson led the league in receiving yards in seven different seasons. In 1942, he had 1,211 yards. The guy in second place? He had 571. Hutson was literally twice as good as the next best person on the planet. If you don't put a guy like that in your nfl top 100 players of all time, you're just not paying attention to history.
Jim Brown is the other one. He played nine seasons. He led the league in rushing in eight of them. He just got bored and went to go be a movie star. Imagine if Barry Sanders or Walter Payton just quit at 29 while still being the best player in the league. Brown averaged 5.2 yards per carry for his entire career. For a power back in the 60s, that's just dark magic.
The Defensive Monsters Nobody Wanted to Block
Offense gets the highlights, but the defensive side of the 100-man roster is where the real nightmares live.
- Lawrence Taylor: He is the reason the "Left Tackle" is the second-highest-paid position on the field. He was so fast and so violent that Joe Gibbs had to invent the three-tight-end set just to try and slow him down. It didn't work.
- Reggie White: The Minister of Defense. He had 198 sacks. He had a "hump move" where he would literally toss 300-pound men through the air with one arm.
- Deacon Jones: The man who coined the term "sack." He used to head-slap offensive linemen so hard their ears would ring for a week. They had to ban the move because of him.
The "Modern" Snubs and Surprises
When the official NFL 100 list came out, people lost their minds over who was left off. Drew Brees didn't make the cut for the 10 quarterbacks. Neither did Aaron Rodgers at the time. The panel went with guys like Dutch Clark and Sammy Baugh instead. It feels weird seeing a guy with 80,000 yards get bumped for a guy who played in leather helmets, but that’s the "all-time" part of the equation.
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It's about impact.
Take Devin Hester. He made the list as a returner. He’s the only player who ever made a coach terrified to kick the ball away on 4th down. That’s greatness. Or look at Shane Lechler and Ray Guy. Yes, punters. If you're building the best 100, you need the guys who mastered their specific craft better than anyone else.
Sorting Through the Chaos: Who is the Real #1?
If you had to pick a Mount Rushmore today, in 2026, it looks different than it did even five years ago. Patrick Mahomes is already screaming toward the top 10. But for now, the hierarchy usually settles into a few camps.
- The Winner: Tom Brady.
- The Statistical Freak: Jerry Rice.
- The Pure Athlete: Jim Brown.
- The Defensive Force: Lawrence Taylor.
Most experts would tell you that if you're drafting a team to win one game for the survival of the human race, you take Brady. If you want the most talented football player to ever walk the earth, you might actually take Anthony Muñoz or Lawrence Taylor.
The nfl top 100 players of all time isn't just a list of stats; it's a story of how the game changed. From the T-formation to the West Coast Offense to the modern RPO-heavy era, these 100 guys are the ones who forced the league to evolve.
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How to Evaluate These Legends Yourself
If you’re looking to dive deeper into these rankings without just swallowing what the TV talking heads tell you, here’s a better way to look at it:
- Check the "All-Pro" counts, not just Pro Bowls. Fans vote for Pro Bowls; experts and coaches vote for All-Pro. It’s a much better measure of who was actually the best in a given year.
- Look at "Era Adjustment." Don't compare raw stats. Look at how much better a player was than the average player in their specific decade.
- Watch the tape. Seriously. Go find 1980s Lawrence Taylor highlights. It looks like he’s playing at a different speed than everyone else on the field.
The debate will never truly end, and that's the best part about it. Every Sunday, someone else has a chance to start their journey toward that list.
Next Steps for the History Buffs
To really get a feel for the scale of these careers, your next step is to head over to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s online database and compare the "First-Team All-Pro" selections of your favorite modern star against the legends on the NFL 100 list. You might be surprised at how many "guaranteed" Hall of Famers today still have a long way to go to catch up to the dominance of the 1960s and 70s icons.