NFL's 100 greatest players

So the NFL Network released its Top 100 players of all time. I have no problems with their top 5 - Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Montana and Walter Payton. The problem when one makes these lists is how do you compare the different eras? What stands out in all the old footage is that the players that were great were typically large for their positions for that time period or fast for their era. For example, Brown was a 220 lb running back that ran a 4.4. He was larger than all the linebackers at the time and of course no one have ever seen anything like him. Now, if you don't weigh 240, you are undersized at linebacker. Not to take away from Brown's greatness, but one can not ignore the size and speed differences in the game.

Don Hutson also made the list at number 9 even though played from the mid-30s to mid 40s. From the film, Hutson was a speed guy, one of those 11 in the 100 kind of guys. Well no one else had that kind of speed so of course he was unstopable. Now, every secondary in the league has track type athletes. So I wonder how his skills would compare to the guys in the 60s and 70s and to today. 

I have three big problems with the list. First, Deion Sanders is too low. The first cornerback is at 30 -Night Train Lane while Prime Time appears at 34. I won't debate who is the better corner but one of them should have been in the top 25.

Emmitt Smith is also ranked too low. I hate the Cowboys and believe that he was helped by a great line. Given that, I can not overlook the massive production. At every step of the way, he produced at historic levels. He rushed for nearly 9,000 yards in high school which was the 2nd most yards ever in the U.S. when he graduated. He left Florida as their all time leading rusher with nearly 4000 yards in 3 seasons. Then he goes on to retire from the NFL as the all-time leading rusher with over 18,000 yards rushing and scored more touchdowns than everyone else in history except Jerry Rice. Rice by the way was number 1 on the list. I think Smith gets discriminated against because of his running style. He was short and was considered too slow even though he had his share of long runs. He didn't have that long stride or break-away speed that fans drool over. He didn't have those breathe-taking cuts that some backs had. He simply produced. Produced at a greater rate than any other running back ever in the history of the NFL. Plus he won 3 Super Bowls. For this, he deserved to be in the top ten.

My last problem is that Joe Namath made the list. You know what his completion percentage was? 50.1%. Want to know what his TD to INT numbers were? Namath threw 173 touchdowns with 220 interceptions. He had a career 65.5 passer rating. Namath lost more games than he won. Namath's name should be no where near this list. He is perhaps the most overrated player in league history.