SI's 100 football jerseys

SI put up a feature listing the best NFL players by jersey number. Not all the way through, but figured this would be a good debate.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1008/nfl.best.players.by.jersey.number.00-49/content.7.html


First odd one to me is Donovan McNabb at No. 5 over Paul Hornung. Hornung was overrated, but he was the game's biggest threat for a couple fo years. McNabb was never the best player or even QB at any point in his career.

 

Other ones that I felt were off.
12: Brady over a host of guys including Staubach.
52: Ray Lewis over Mike Webster.
60: Otto Graham over Chuck Bednarick...my only problem was Graham was already listed at 14.
75: Deacon Jones over Joe Greene
84: Shannon Sharpe over his brother Sterling.
87: Dwight Clark over Dave Casper
99: Warren Sapp over Dan Hamilton.

 

CW:

Shannon will be in the HOF, Sterling needs a ticket.

 

Had Sterling's neck injury not forced an early retirement, that wouldn't be the case. The guy retired before he turned 30, and he averaged 105 receptions, 1,285 yards and 14 touchdowns in Favre's three years as quarterback -- and before Favre blossomed into an MVP.

 

No problem with 52.

Big problem with 75.

 

Like OZ said, Sterling was the better player, but got injured. Shannon only got to the NFL because of his brother's name. He excelled and will be a worthy Hall of Famer, but Sterling opened the door.

 

Shannon was an impossible matchup for defenses. I would take him over his brother in a heartbeat.

 

But it did.

So, instead of doing it based on "what ifs", they did it based on what DID happen.

Weird how some people do that.

 

#41 Tom Matte or Charlie Waters > Keith Byers
#45 Homer Jones, Emlen Tunnell or Gary Fencik > Kenny Easley.

 

The Dwight Clark one was the most curious. Sure it was on the cover of SI - but Clark was a two-time PBer - Casper is in the HOF.

Hell of a way to gin up page views. Anyone notice that Rushin is writing for SI.com again?

 

Not while Jim Brown walked the earth.


McNabb and Hornung in their primes are actually pretty comparable: Pro Bowlers, but not All-Pro.