NFL Nostalgia: Ranking the Best Playmakers in NFL History

[JuggernautJ]

Well, the greatest playmaker I've ever seen was Jerry Rice but I'm guessing many of the "usual suspects" are being excluded on this logic:

"An all-time great playmaker must have the versatility to beat opponents in many different ways. With one or two exceptions, this is a countdown for rusher-receivers who also returned kicks and for scrambling quarterbacks who perhaps punted now and then."


Even though Jerry Rice rushed 87 times for 645 yards and 10 TDs... and threw for a TD:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... ceJe00.htm

Sorry, Jim Brown is too one dimensional for this list.

[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.

Agreed.

If this list had been compiled in 1993, OJ Simpson likely would have been ranked number one.