NFL Nostalgia: Ranking the Best Playmakers in NFL History

[JohnTurney]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2719 ... fl-history

NFL Nostalgia: Ranking the Best Playmakers in NFL History
MIKE TANIER
JULY 20, 2017

[ChrisBabcock]

I'm a sucker for lists and rankings so of course I dove right into that link. It seems as though its a bit of apples and oranges though. I mean, "making a play" has as many different definitions as there are positions on a football field. You could probably shuffle that 25 into any order and still have a valid list. Also, um, no one makes plays on defense? Even still, no argument from me that everyone in that list was one of the all time great playmakers!

[Rupert Patrick]

I would have found a place for Deion Sanders, for what he could do on defense and as a returner. I would have put him in the top ten.

I would have swapped out Floyd Little with Crazy Legs Hirsch.

Not quite as many quarterbacks as I expected on the list.

[Bryan]

I never really thought of Brian Mitchell as a 'playmaker'. I'd have Terry Metcalf over Eric Metcalf. Not really sure how Floyd Little made the list. I'm sure I'm an idiot, but as I scrolled down the list and got to Gale Sayers at #2, my first thought was "Wow, he has Billy Johnson at #1!". My mind didn't even consider Barry Sanders for this list for some reason...if you don't have OJ Simpson or Jim Brown or Emmitt Smith, then you are probably going for more obscure guys, right? Then again, in my defense, how could you NOT have Billy Johnson on your top 25 list?

To me, playmakers are exciting players with unique highlights. Everything Billy Johnson did was incredible. Rick Upchurch was similar, but didn't have Johnson's moves. Fran Tarkenton might have the most unique highlight reel in NFL history. John Mackey always ran over the last guy by the goal line. Lemar Parrish's returns were all spectacular. Lesser guys like Joe Washington and Willie Galimore, Dickie Post, Jon Arnett...

[TanksAndSpartans]

Here's another list with some of the same players and the same two at the top spots (Bryan, this one has Washington, Galimore, and Post). I've been watching some of these videos at lunch on my phone recently and noticed the similarities http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/090 ... fl-history

[Bryan]

Here's another list with some of the same players and the same two at the top spots (Bryan, this one has Washington, Galimore, and Post). I've been watching some of these videos at lunch on my phone recently and noticed the similarities http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/090 ... fl-history

Thanks. I've always loved Facenda's line about Willie Galimore: "...but statistics are not the measure of this man. He painted pictures in the open field. Each run was a Rembrandt, and as a collection, they became a gallery that hung in the memory."

[Rupert Patrick]

I never really thought of Brian Mitchell as a 'playmaker'. I'd have Terry Metcalf over Eric Metcalf. Not really sure how Floyd Little made the list. I'm sure I'm an idiot, but as I scrolled down the list and got to Gale Sayers at #2, my first thought was "Wow, he has Billy Johnson at #1!". My mind didn't even consider Barry Sanders for this list for some reason...if you don't have OJ Simpson or Jim Brown or Emmitt Smith, then you are probably going for more obscure guys, right? Then again, in my defense, how could you NOT have Billy Johnson on your top 25 list?

To me, playmakers are exciting players with unique highlights. Everything Billy Johnson did was incredible. Rick Upchurch was similar, but didn't have Johnson's moves. Fran Tarkenton might have the most unique highlight reel in NFL history. John Mackey always ran over the last guy by the goal line. Lemar Parrish's returns were all spectacular. Lesser guys like Joe Washington and Willie Galimore, Dickie Post, Jon Arnett...

I think OJ was an inexplicable omission; as a package of moves, ability to change direction on a dime, and world-class breakaway speed, he may have been in a class of his own. These days I get the feeling that many feel it is somehow politically incorrect to remember him as a great football player, or are afraid of the online backlash of putting him on any kind of "all time best" list like this. On the other hand, Michael Vick was on the list, and he did some truly horrible things himself but lost a big chunk of his career because of it, but his reputation never recovered.

[Gary Najman]

I never really thought of Brian Mitchell as a 'playmaker'. I'd have Terry Metcalf over Eric Metcalf. Not really sure how Floyd Little made the list. I'm sure I'm an idiot, but as I scrolled down the list and got to Gale Sayers at #2, my first thought was "Wow, he has Billy Johnson at #1!". My mind didn't even consider Barry Sanders for this list for some reason...if you don't have OJ Simpson or Jim Brown or Emmitt Smith, then you are probably going for more obscure guys, right? Then again, in my defense, how could you NOT have Billy Johnson on your top 25 list?

To me, playmakers are exciting players with unique highlights. Everything Billy Johnson did was incredible. Rick Upchurch was similar, but didn't have Johnson's moves. Fran Tarkenton might have the most unique highlight reel in NFL history. John Mackey always ran over the last guy by the goal line. Lemar Parrish's returns were all spectacular. Lesser guys like Joe Washington and Willie Galimore, Dickie Post, Jon Arnett...

I like that they included Jackie Smith on the list. I've always think (even as a Cowboys fan) that he is unfairly remembered for his dropped pass in the endzone in Super Bowl XIII, but in his prime he could do it all: receive, rush, block, even punt.

[Gary Najman]

I never really thought of Brian Mitchell as a 'playmaker'. I'd have Terry Metcalf over Eric Metcalf. Not really sure how Floyd Little made the list. I'm sure I'm an idiot, but as I scrolled down the list and got to Gale Sayers at #2, my first thought was "Wow, he has Billy Johnson at #1!". My mind didn't even consider Barry Sanders for this list for some reason...if you don't have OJ Simpson or Jim Brown or Emmitt Smith, then you are probably going for more obscure guys, right? Then again, in my defense, how could you NOT have Billy Johnson on your top 25 list?

To me, playmakers are exciting players with unique highlights. Everything Billy Johnson did was incredible. Rick Upchurch was similar, but didn't have Johnson's moves. Fran Tarkenton might have the most unique highlight reel in NFL history. John Mackey always ran over the last guy by the goal line. Lemar Parrish's returns were all spectacular. Lesser guys like Joe Washington and Willie Galimore, Dickie Post, Jon Arnett...

I think OJ was an inexplicable omission; as a package of moves, ability to change direction on a dime, and world-class breakaway speed, he may have been in a class of his own. These days I get the feeling that many feel it is somehow politically incorrect to remember him as a great football player, or are afraid of the online backlash of putting him on any kind of "all time best" list like this. On the other hand, Michael Vick was on the list, and he did some truly horrible things himself but lost a big chunk of his career because of it, but his reputation never recovered.

I second that, Simpson was great, I'm sad that I only saw him live on TV as a 49er, but the NFL Films productions dedicated to him (even as good as they are, esp. the BIlls '73 season) don't serve him the right justice: in every weekly highlights in the mid-70s they were great O.J. runs, catches and moves.

[JeffreyMiller]

I never really thought of Brian Mitchell as a 'playmaker'. I'd have Terry Metcalf over Eric Metcalf. Not really sure how Floyd Little made the list. I'm sure I'm an idiot, but as I scrolled down the list and got to Gale Sayers at #2, my first thought was "Wow, he has Billy Johnson at #1!". My mind didn't even consider Barry Sanders for this list for some reason...if you don't have OJ Simpson or Jim Brown or Emmitt Smith, then you are probably going for more obscure guys, right? Then again, in my defense, how could you NOT have Billy Johnson on your top 25 list?

To me, playmakers are exciting players with unique highlights. Everything Billy Johnson did was incredible. Rick Upchurch was similar, but didn't have Johnson's moves. Fran Tarkenton might have the most unique highlight reel in NFL history. John Mackey always ran over the last guy by the goal line. Lemar Parrish's returns were all spectacular. Lesser guys like Joe Washington and Willie Galimore, Dickie Post, Jon Arnett...

I think OJ was an inexplicable omission; as a package of moves, ability to change direction on a dime, and world-class breakaway speed, he may have been in a class of his own. These days I get the feeling that many feel it is somehow politically incorrect to remember him as a great football player, or are afraid of the online backlash of putting him on any kind of "all time best" list like this. On the other hand, Michael Vick was on the list, and he did some truly horrible things himself but lost a big chunk of his career because of it, but his reputation never recovered.

Agreed.