The 100 Greatest NFL Players of All Time Pt. 2
Players No. 100–91
Hello, and welcome to the journey as I reveal my top 100 players of all-time! In today’s article, I will reveal numbers 100-91, but first, if you missed the previous article where I discussed the three main factors of criteria for this list, you can find that here:
Without further ado, here are numbers 100–91!
#100: Kellen Winslow Sr., TE, Chargers(1979–87)
It is hard leaving off a lot of great players on this list, but ultimately Winslow’s greatness was just enough for me to earn him a spot on my top 100 list! Winslow was one of the first tight ends that were considered a lethal pass weapon in the NFL! In just his second NFL season, Winslow Sr. finished with 89 receptions for 1290 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, which earned him his first of five career Pro-Bowl appearances!
At the age of 24 following his second-year breakout, Winslow would continue to shine and catch the eyes of fans around the league! During that 1981 season, Winslow again finished with over 1,000 yards and would record a career-high 10 receiving touchdowns! This led Winslow to his second-straight Pro-Bowl appearance.
Over the new few years, Winslow’s consistency would take him from great to an all-time legend! During his next two seasons with the Chargers, Winslow would make two more pro-bowls, giving him four consecutive pro-bowl appearances.
Following the 1983 season, in which Winslow earned his fourth pro-bowl appearance, Kellen Winslow would play in four more seasons before retiring. Winslow was one of the top tight ends during his time period and you can make the case that there were only a handful of tight ends at most that were better than Winslow during his prime!
#99: Aaron Donald, DT, Rams(2014-Present)
At the age of only 29 years old, Aaron Donald is the youngest player to make the list and it required sheer dominance to complete such a feat! In today’s game, Aaron Donald is arguably viewed as heads and shoulders above the next best defensive player in the game! So far, Donald has made the Pro Bowl in all seven of his NFL seasons to-date! In all but one of those seasons, Aaron Donald also made the First-Team All-Pro!
Being recognized by fans year-after-year as one of the best in the game has shown that Donald is no ordinary player, but being recognized by peers as well is what makes Aaron Donald an extraordinary player! In his best season-to-date in 2018, Aaron Donald recorded a remarkable 20.5 sacks, which was not only a career-high but also a league-high! This stellar season helped Donald’s Rams make the Super Bowl for the first time since Kurt Warner and caused NFL players to vote Aaron Donald as the best player in the league!
More recently in 2019, Donald’s statistics dropped as he only recorded 12-and-a-half sacks, but his talent was still recognized as Donald was still voted as the third-best player in the league! It has become apparent that Donald is an elite pass-rusher regardless of what his stats suggest! If Donald continues on his current trajectory, Donald has the ability to fly up this list!
#98: Tim Brown, WR, Raiders/Buccaneers(1988–2004)
Tim Brown had a career that was as consistent as it gets and Brown did that with the same team for 16-out-of-his-17 NFL seasons. From 1993-to-2001, Brown recorded over 1,000 receiving yards every single season. It’s no fluke that he made the pro-bowl nine times in his career!
Although Brown never made the First-Team All-Pro throughout his career, opponents always knew what to expect with Tim Brown. He never managed to disappoint with nearly 15,000 receiving yards over his career and 100 receiving touchdowns. His star play and statistics added up over time making him one of the best receivers to ever play on paper! His efforts were recently recognized by the Hall-of-Fame in 2015, solidifying his legacy!
As a member of the Hall-of-Fames’ All-1990s All-Decade Team, Brown has shown that he belongs alongside fellow 1990s receivers and Hall-of-Famers in Cris Carter, Jerry Rice, and Michael Irvin! In a decade that produced some of the greatest receivers to ever play the game, Tim Brown stood out and that speaks volumes!
#97: J.J. Watt, DE, Texans(2011-Present)
Despite a career plagued with injuries, J.J. Watt has shown that he should be one of the most feared defensive linemen in the game when healthy! As the second-youngest player on this list, Watts’ extra experience has vaulted him over the likes of the youngest player on this list: Aaron Donald!
Over the first nine years of J.J. Watts’ career, Watt managed to make the First-Team All-Pro in five-out-of-the-six seasons, when he was fully healthy. Don’t be fooled by only five Pro-Bowl appearances through nine seasons, Watt’s dominance in all five of those seasons was matched by almost no defender in the entire league! In three of those seasons, Watt produced more than 17 sacks, which led the league twice!
Watt’s career is not over, but he has done something that retired Hall-of-Famers like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed have never done! In 2015, J.J. Watt was named by his peers as the number one player in the NFL! Before J.J. Watt, in the NFL Top 100 show’s history, no defensive player had ever been ranked as the top NFL player by their peers! Nowadays, Aaron Donald is the only other defensive player to accomplish that feat.
Despite Watt’s unfinished career, his legacy has already been cemented as one of the greatest defensive linemen to ever play! The only thing possible now is for Watt to move up this list, which is something more than likely if he can stay healthy!
#96: Ray Nitschke, LB, Packers(1958–72)
As the oldest player to be revealed to this point, Nitschke’s legacy has stood the test of time! During the Packer’s dynasty, which featured greats like quarterback Bart Starr and head coach Vince Lombardi, Ray Nitschke became the heart and soul of their defense!
Throughout his career, Nitschke recorded 25 interceptions and earned first or second-team All-Pro honors an impressive seven times over the best eight-year span of his career!
Ultimately, his dominant play resulted in championships! Nitschke helped the Packers win five NFL titles during his playing days and was named the most valuable player of the 1962 NFL Championship Game when the Packers beat the Giants 16–7!
In a time period where 4–3 defenses were king, the success of the middle linebackers was vital to teams. Nitschke was far more than successful at the middle linebacker position and his hard-hitting nature struck fear into his opponents' hearts! To be frank, this list would be incomplete without arguably the best middle linebacker of the 1960s: Ray Nitschke!
#95: Troy Aikman, QB, Cowboys(1989–2000)
The first quarterback to be revealed and ultimately my fourteenth highest-ranked quarterback on this list, Troy Aikman, sneaks into my top 100 players of all-time at spot number 95!
Troy Aikman was the definition of a franchise quarterback during his career! His 12 seasons as the starting quarterback of the Cowboys are the most by any Cowboys quarterback ever!
During his time at the helm, Aikman led the greatest trio of the 1990s, which also featured Hall-of-Fame running back Emmitt Smith and Hall-of-Fame receiver Michael Irvin! Together, this trio would win three Super Bowls under Aikman’s leadership and help the Cowboys become a dynasty! Aikman would even have a few laughs against legendary 49ers quarterback Joe Montana when the Cowboys defeated the 49ers in the 1993 NFC Championship en route to a Super Bowl!
Yet, many argue that Aikman wasn’t the main reason behind postseason success with defensive stars Deion Sanders and Charles Haley and lots of offensive weapons to utilize. However, I believe that Aikman still has enough stand-alone value to make him an all-time great quarterback!
From the span of 1991–1996, Aikman made six consecutive Pro-Bowls, while posting a quarterback rating of over 80 in all of these seasons! Additionally, in his career as a whole, Aikman threw for over 30,000 yards and led 20 game-winning drives!
Yes, Aikman wasn’t the most gifted quarterback, but he was the right leader for the Cowboys dynasty and showed up when the Cowboys needed him! This, when it was all said and done, propelled Aikman into my top 100 players of all-time!
#94: Mel Renfro, CB, Cowboys(1964–77)
Mel Renfro makes this list outdueling fellow Cowboy Troy Aikman, to land one spot ahead of him!
Ultimately, Mel Renfro’s spot on this list can be solidified by just one stat. From Renfro’s rookie season in 1964 up until and including 1973, Renfro made ten consecutive Pro-Bowl appearances! Most players in the league are fortunate to make one Pro-Bowl as it cements their status as one of the best in the game. However, this wasn’t the case for Renfro, who completed this feat a whopping ten times in a row!
While Renfro’s career can be summed up by only one stat from his career, that isn’t all that deserves to be remembered about his career! All-in-all, Renfro recorded 52 interceptions as a whole with the Cowboys! Ten of these interceptions came during the 1969 season when Renfro led the league in interceptions and made the First-Team All-Pro!
His overall steadiness among the league’s best led Renfro to play even at the age of 36, proving his longevity! Mel Renfro was the full package and fits all three of my criteria: consistency, dominance, and game-changing stats! This made it impossible for me to leave a game-changing player like Renfro off my top 100 list! He deserves to be recognized as one of the best cornerbacks to ever play!
#93: Shannon Sharpe, TE, Broncos/Ravens(1990–03)
The colorful television co-host of Skip and Shannon: Undisputed may be spectating the game of football just like you now. However, don’t be fooled! When Shannon Sharpe played in the NFL he was a force to be reckoned with! Ultimately, Sharpe tops Kellen Winslow Sr. and becomes the second tight end to be revealed on the countdown so far!
Despite being drafted in the seventh round of the 1990 NFL Draft, Sharpe would eventually get his opportunity to shine and show doubters that they were wrong. Throughout his career, Sharpe would be named to eight Pro-Bowls and make four First-Team All-Pro appearances!
This success all came after Sharpe failed to muster up 500 receiving yards in his first two NFL seasons combined! Clearly, this slow start failed to define Sharpe and ultimately became just a footnote in his career! The rest of the story would be a success from there on out!
In his career, Shannon Sharpe would go on to win two Super Bowls with the 1990s Broncos led by John Elway, while winning his third and final Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2000!
In addition to Super Bowl titles, statistical success would also find Sharpe! In fact, Sharpe became the first tight end in NFL history to record over 10,000 career receiving yards, an accomplishment that shouldn’t be taken lightly!
Adding on to his resume, Sharpe would score 62 touchdowns over the course of his career alongside his 10,000-plus receiving yards! He achieved this stat total with an impressive three seasons of nine or more receiving touchdowns!
In conclusion, Sharpe should not only be remembered as one of the biggest draft-day steals in NFL history, but also as one of the best players to ever play the game!
#92: Isaac Bruce, WR, Rams/49ers(1994–09)
When Isaac Bruce made the Hall of Fame in 2020, I was thrilled! In my opinion, Bruce is one of the most underrated NFL receivers of all time! After being overshadowed for the majority of his career by fellow members of the Greatest Show on Turf, Bruce finally got his due respect when it was announced he would be joining the Hall of Fame in 2020!
Bruce’s magnificent stats immediately jump off the paper! Currently, Bruce ranks fifth all-time with over 15,208 receiving yards over a span of 16 years! The only receivers to have more receiving yards in their career are Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald, Terrell Owens, and Randy Moss. This is remarkable when considering the resume of the four receivers ahead of him! It took eight a thousand-plus receiving yard seasons and numerous amount of other impressive seasons for Bruce to achieve this feat!
One of these thousand yards is still considered today in my eyes as one of the greatest receiving seasons ever for a wide receiver! In 1995, Bruce had a splendid season with 1,781 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns! Yet, somehow Bruce was excluded from the Pro Bowl. This is might have been the biggest Pro Bowl snub of all time! However, that doesn’t take away from an all-time impressive season, in which the opposition had no answers for Bruce!
Unfortunately, when mentioning the greatest receivers to ever play, Bruce’s name is often not included. Hopefully, by including Bruce on this list, Bruce’s name will now be entered into that prestigious conversation.
#91: Earl Campbell, RB, Oilers/Saints(1978–85)
The ninety-first spot and final name to be revealed in this article might come as a big surprise! After all, most people would argue that Campbell deserves to be much higher on this list.
However, I’m not disrespecting Campbell’s name. I still think that Campbell is one of the greatest running backs to ever play the game by including him on this list! Here is why he is where he is.
First off, Campbell has achieved some things that other running backs have never achieved! This includes when Campbell was named the NFL MVP in 1979! During this campaign, Campbell scored an outrageous, league-high 19 rushing touchdowns!
Additionally, Campbell followed this up the subsequent season by rushing for over 1,900 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns, while averaging over 5 yards per carry!
Furthermore, after his first four years alone, Campbell had already rushed for over 6,000 career yards! Do the math. This required Campbell to average over 1,500 rushing yards per season over this span! Clearly, Campbell knew how to run the ball with success!
Yet, on the flip side, Campbell lacked overall consistency and efficiency in the pass-catching game. Campbell only played in eight seasons and recorded more than 100 receiving yards in only three of those seasons. Also, to prove his lack of consistency, Campbell would only have five 1,000-yard rushing seasons(not great for an all-time great running back). Unfortunately, Campbell received over 300 carries in all five of those seasons too, which makes this feat even less impressive.
His yard per carry average also saw a steady decline throughout his short eight-year career. In fact, Campbell only averaged more than 4.1 yards per carry the first three years of his career.
Truthfully, his early years had a wear-and-tear effect on Campbell and caused Campbell to record only the 37th most rushing yards all-time. It’s wild to think that even Matt Forte and Chris Johnson have recorded more career rushing yards than Campbell!
All-in-all, Campbell has definitely gone down as one of the all-time greats, but his greatness was short-lived and that reflected his ranking on this list.
That wraps up players 100–91 on my all-time list! Next time on my countdown, the first three offensive linemen and another quarterback will be revealed!
Let me know what you thought of the first ten players to be revealed to this point in the comments section below! Do you agree or disagree with my rankings?
