How often do players like Witten and Ware come around?

[Staggerlee]

Reading another post got me thinking about this. After they retire, how long do you think it will be before we get another player (at whatever position) who is as good and productive as these two?

I really have to try and make myself stop and take notice and appreciate them as I often take them for granted. Both are definitely top 3 in the nfl at their position and arguably number 1. Might be a long time before we see talent like this again......Dez maybe?

 

[YosemiteSam]

Once a decade? At least thats *about* how often the Cowboys seem to get them.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Honestly? I think every team has one or two of them. Some teams have even more. Like I look at Green Bay and how many do they have? Steelers have about 4 or 5 of them.

 

[theogt]

Honestly? I think every team has one or two of them. Some teams have even more. Like I look at Green Bay and how many do they have? Steelers have about 4 or 5 of them.

Do what? We're talking guys that set (and are on pace to set) all time records. How many of those do Green Bay and and Pittsburgh have? There's probably only a dozen (at best) other players in the league on the same level as Ware and Witten. In any given season, you might have a handful of players better than them at their position, but almost nobody compares over the same time span.

 

[bbgun]

It can be done. We replaced one HOFer (Lilly) with another (Manster) in the span of one year.

 

[burmafrd]

Potential first ballot HOF guys. Maybe 20 or so in the league at any one time. So no team has more than a couple usually and many have none. Buffalo Bills? KC Chiefs? I could go on.

 

[theogt]

Potential first ballot HOF guys. Maybe 20 or so in the league at any one time. So no team has more than a couple usually and many have none. Buffalo Bills? KC Chiefs? I could go on.

It'd be a cool thread idea to have people suggest who they think are 1st ballot HOFers currently playing.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Do what? We're talking guys that set (and are on pace to set) all time records. How many of those do Green Bay and and Pittsburgh have? There's probably only a dozen (at best) other players in the league on the same level as Ware and Witten. In any given season, you might have a handful of players better than them at their position, but almost nobody compares over the same time span.

Okay i'm thinking more of about game changing 1st tier talent type players. I wasn't really thinking about stats or the record books. In that case maybe not since Ware is a outside linebacker and Witten is a tight end. I said the Packers have 5 of them because I consider Aaron Rodgers, Charles Woodson, Jermichael Finley, Clay Matthews and Nick Collins to be 1st tier at all of their positions. But will any two or more of them break records? A bit early to tell.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Reading another post got me thinking about this. After they retire, how long do you think it will be before we get another player (at whatever position) who is as good and productive as these two?

I really have to try and make myself stop and take notice and appreciate them as I often take them for granted. Both are definitely top 3 in the nfl at their position and arguably number 1. Might be a long time before we see talent like this again......Dez maybe?

Not often, I kin tell you that.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

:laugh2: Depends on who you ask here. Seems that some on this board think Witten can't run and that Ware never gets sacks that matter. So by that logic pretty much every draft.

 

[theogt]

Okay i'm thinking more of about game changing 1st tier talent type players. I wasn't really thinking about stats or the record books. In that case maybe not since Ware is a outside linebacker and Witten is a tight end. I said the Packers have 5 of them because I consider Aaron Rodgers, Charles Woodson, Jermichael Finley, Clay Matthews and Nick Collins to be 1st tier at all of their positions. But will any two or more of them break records? A bit early to tell.

Yeah, in any given year you can have guys perform at high levels. But I think the OP is talking about guys that do it year in and year out to a point where they'll have their names up there as all-time greats.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Yeah, in any given year you can have guys perform at high levels. But I think the OP is talking about guys that do it year in and year out to a point where they'll have their names up there as all-time greats.

Well in that case the list is a lot shorter. Just going through a couple of teams I think the Polamalu and Ben R are locks. I think Willis is a lock and Veron Davis could be if he keeps his play up. I'll probably say they're about 5 or 6 teams who have 2 guys who are locks. A lot of teams have one guy like the Pats and Saints. But yea the list is a lot shorter when you put it that way.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Players like them? Every three or four years.

High character, hard working, humble future hall of famers? Only a handful every decade.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Players like them? Every three or four years.

High character, hard working, humble future hall of famers? Only a handful every decade.

Handful? AS in FIVE?

 

[Staggerlee]

But I think the OP is talking about guys that do it year in and year out to a point where they'll have their names up there as all-time greats.

That's what I was driving at, thanks.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Let's keep it simple and say there are 32 guys (an average of one per team) like that in the league at any given time. Some of them are hard to see because they're just starting out (say, Suh or Dez, perhaps), some are at the tail end (Favre last season), some, like Ware and Witten, are right in their prime. Guys like that play a long time; let's say 10 years - many will play longer, some will be cut down early by injuries (which means that fewer than 32 will actually end up as first-ballot HOFers). So, on average, each team gets one every decade, and about 3 of them come into the league (and leave it) each year.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

It can be done. We replaced one HOFer (Lilly) with another (Manster) in the span of one year.

While that is true, and a good point, look how long it took us to replace Jay Novacek and Charles Haley. Used those examples since the OP was about Ware and Witten.

 

[burmafrd]

60's we had a bundle led off by lilly and Roger and Renfro, etc. But in the 70's the spiggot started to go dry. We got Manster. Did not get any for a while. Got 2 (Emmitt, LA) in the 90's and looks like we got 2 in the 00's.

actually we got 2 in 88 and 89.(Irvin and AIkman)

 

[Mash]

I love Witten but we had similar players like him ......IMHO TE's are easy to find now. Look at our division...every team has a very good TE. He will be missed and he is probably a HOF....but for some reason I dont think he would be hard to replace.

Ware? Hard to find a player like that. He isnt just a pass rusher. Pure Football player. How many yrs did we try to find a pass rushing DE?

 

[YosemiteSam]

60's we had a bundle led off by lilly and Roger and Renfro, etc. But in the 70's the spiggot started to go dry. We got Manster. Did not get any for a while. Got 2 (Emmitt, LA) in the 90's and looks like we got 2 in the 00's.

actually we got 2 in 88 and 89.(Irvin and AIkman)

We got Tony Dorsett in the 70s too. (1977)