Which player in NFL history would you draft No. 1?

Hawkeye0202 said:
Honest question? How many Super Bowls Brady wins with Jason Garrett as his coach? The greatest player in NFL history should have enough talent to overcome bad coaching IMO.
Click to expand...
The same number as Romo (assuming the rest of the team is also the same, and it's not just Garrett - keep Garrett and throw in a bunch of other great players and it's a different story).
 
Most likey Tom Brady or Jim Brown or Lawrence Taylor ya someone like that.
 
The most dominant player was Jim Brown. The best defensive players were probably Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White and Bob Lilly, in some order. The non-QBs who might fit best in today's league might be Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders.

But if this is about drafting to win a championship, QB is the primary. Phenomenal players at other positions simply don't have the same impact.

Brady is the obvious choice -- or Otto Graham. But I could make a strong case for Staubach, and if I were drafting, he'd be my choice. Staubach won a Heisman at Navy and took them to the Cotton Bowl long after the service academies were powerful football programs. When he was injured, Navy regressed to what would have been expected.

Staubach missed the most important years of his NFL career -- the formative years -- because of his military commitment. Had he joined the NFL on schedule, he almost certainly would have played in and won more Super Bowls. And he led the league in passing his final season. It is highly unlikely today -- given the difference in culture, pay, the end of Vietnam, etc. -- Staubach would be prohibited from joining the league when eligible. He would be much more valuable to the armed forces as an advertisement for the academy than as an active sailor.

I honestly think, given a typical career, Staubach would have won multiple Super Bowls -- as many as Brady and possibly more. His career was unique, so that can't be proven. But he is the best QB I've seen, and his game would fit in any era. He nearly beat the Steelers in two Super Bowls, and according to the voters, at least, basically half that team were Hall of Famers, along with their head coach.
 
Hawkeye0202 said:
Remember you're saying in your opinion this the greatest player in NFL history.

I struggled between Reggie White, Dan Marino, and Randy Moss but decided my choice would be Marino. No player IMO did so much with so little.


Click to expand...

Erik Williams. In his 2nd year in the NFL and first year as a full time starter he shut down Reggie White.

EW made Reggie White cry on national TV.

He is the only OLineman I've ever seen "Take over a game" in a game where on 1 drive of over 80 yards the Cowboys ran the ball on all snaps without passing (OK, there might have been 1 pass). EW would toss "his man" aside and then start mowing down defenders like bowling pins.

Teammates and opponents feared EW more than any other player according to Darren Woodson (More than LA).

EW was reportedly the only player that Charles Haley feared.

I personally saw Haley vs EW in training camp when EW got annoyed with Haley. With 1 hand he picked Haley up and all in 1 motion slammed him to the ground. I never saw Haley take a snap lined up against EW again and I attended all the training camps the preseasons before each Super Bowl season.

The Cowboys lost the 94 NFC championship because EW was out due to the car wreck that season. They were are a different team without him.

He never got HoF consideration for 2 reasons:
1. His peak was the 92 and 93 seasons due to the 94 car wreck. After the wreck he still made All Pro a couple of times and multiple Pro Bowls but he was far from his pre-wreck superhuman dominance.

2. Media/fans in the post Lawrence Taylor era came to believe that all teams played their best OT at LT.
EW played RT.

When it all came together for the Jimmy era Cowboys to start winning Super Bowls was when Jimmy moved Nate Newton from RT to OG and replaced Nate at RT with EW.

I've always had the feeling that if Jimmy had stayed 1 more year that EW would not have had the car wreck. Those players partied hard while Jimmy was the HC but they had some limits with Jimmy always in the their mind. Once Switzer took over any sense of limits was gone.
 
xwalker said:
Erik Williams. In his 2nd year in the NFL and first year as a full time starter he shut down Reggie White.

EW made Reggie White cry on national TV.

He is the only OLineman I've ever seen "Take over a game" in a game where on 1 drive of over 80 yards the Cowboys ran the ball on all snaps without passing (OK, there might have been 1 pass). EW would toss "his man" aside and then start mowing down defenders like bowling pins.

Teammates and opponents feared EW more than any other player according to Darren Woodson (More than LA).

EW was reportedly the only player that Charles Haley feared.

I personally saw Haley vs EW in training camp when EW got annoyed with Haley. With 1 hand he picked Haley up and all in 1 motion slammed him to the ground. I never saw Haley take a snap lined up against EW again and I attended all the training camps the preseasons before each Super Bowl season.

The Cowboys lost the 94 NFC championship because EW was out due to the car wreck that season. They were are a different team without him.

He never got HoF consideration for 2 reasons:
1. His peak was the 92 and 93 seasons due to the 94 car wreck. After the wreck he still made All Pro a couple of times and multiple Pro Bowls but he was far from his pre-wreck superhuman dominance.

2. Media/fans in the post Lawrence Taylor era came to believe that all teams played their best OT at LT.
EW played RT.

When it all came together for the Jimmy era Cowboys to start winning Super Bowls was when Jimmy moved Nate Newton from RT to OG and replaced Nate at RT with EW.

I've always had the feeling that if Jimmy had stayed 1 more year that EW would not have had the car wreck. Those players partied hard while Jimmy was the HC but they had some limits with Jimmy always in the their mind. Once Switzer took over any sense of limits was gone.
Click to expand...

Good stuff......funny though (lol). Never knew that about him and Haley.
 
Hawkeye0202 said:
Good stuff......funny though (lol). Never knew that about him and Haley.
Click to expand...

I heard a rumor way back when that I've never been able to confirm but it is interesting if it did happen.

It was with regards to the famous story about Jimmy pulling Haley into the toilet at halftime then flushing and telling Haley that the flush represented his career going down the drain.

The rumor was that EW was involved in that incident with Jimmy having EW push Haley into the toilet stall. Enhanced versions of the rumor where that EW held Haley's head in the toilet and that Jimmy threatened Haley by telling him "I'll let him loose on you" meaning that Jimmy had been the only thing keeping EW from going off on Haley.

The rumor was from a local sports reporter but I've never heard a player/coach or other media person confirm it. The reporter did not see it happen but said EW was definitely involved and that the enhanced part of the story might or might not have happened.
 
1. brady - continued excellence no one can argue with
2. mahomes - potential to be #1 if success continues
3. putty - qb is most important, but hc is almost as important
 
Tom Brady and it’s not even close. 30 playoff wins, which is almost twice as many as the next guy on the list (Montana with 16)

Belichick is going to find out this season how important Brady was to his success as a coach.
 
Any other answer than a QB is pretty silly, because you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.

My answer Pat Mahomes or Manning
 
JJHLH1 said:
Tom Brady and it’s not even close. 30 playoff wins, which is almost twice as many as the next guy on the list (Montana with 16)

Belichick is going to find out this season how important Brady was to his success as a coach.
Click to expand...
Yeah just like he did in 2008 when he went 11-5 with Matt Cassell as his starting QB.... oh wait

Or well we can point to 2017 when he went 3-1 in Brady's four game suspension.

Yeah, super important.
 
Hawkeye0202 said:
My only question here is.....how much Brady wins w/o Belichick or Montana w/o Rice or Walsh?
Click to expand...
Yeah this is why I would think about drafting Deion Sanders. I don’t care who is coaching, or who his other teammates are, you know he will shutdown whoever he covers.
 
QuincyCarterEra said:
Any other answer than a QB is pretty silly, because you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.

My answer Pat Mahomes or Manning
Click to expand...
It depends on the question. Like is this a typical draft? Because I'd rather get a quarterback later with my next pick. I also have a hard time answering this question and saying MAhomes when he';s just a 2nd year pro.
 
this is a heck of a question! I want to pick a QB because that's the most valuable player on any team's roster. If you don't have a QB that can perform, nothing else matters. But a QB's ability is so dependent on having talent, coaching, game-planning, etc. around him that any number of top-flite QB's would suffice. But a fast release, accuracy, and the will to win WITHOUT the ego of stat-padding is what i'd have to have, and i guess that would be Troy Aikman (i'm a homer!)

BUT at the same time, if a QB's abilitites are so dependent on the players around him, if i had to pick one player that absolutely elevated the team, yet was not easily neutralized by other variables (such as bad teammates, poor coaching, poor gameplanning), i think i'd have to say someone in the defensive backfield. And there's several of them: Rod Woodson, Deion Sanders, Ed Reed, guys like this that played a position on the field that allowed them to see what was coming at them and they changed games with their football smarts and their physical ability. This is the type of player to build a team around, but ONLY if he's a historically great player. Not too many of those guys. Lots more QB's to suffice the need available than DB's that are historically great.
 
12+88=7 said:
You have my answer in your comment, Reggie White.
Click to expand...

Reggie White in his prime, circa 1986-88. In 1987 he had 21 sacks in 12 games.

The version that Erik Williams played against with the Packers in the 93-96 was still great, but not ungodly like he was in his earlier years.
 
JJHLH1 said:
Tom Brady and it’s not even close. 30 playoff wins, which is almost twice as many as the next guy on the list (Montana with 16)

Belichick is going to find out this season how important Brady was to his success as a coach.
Click to expand...

Both points are great.

It almost seems silly to chose anyone but Brady.

Great players make coaches look really smart.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 686 (members: 31, guests: 655)

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
465,470
Messages
13,877,206
Members
23,791
Latest member
mashburn
Back
Top