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Well, they did it. The NFL 100 All-Time Team “blue ribbon panel” threw an interception late in the fourth quarter, condemning the product it put out to be remembered as something only worth laughing at.
It’s because they left off Drew Brees. The best player in New Orleans Saints history is also one of the greatest players in the NFL’s history. He’s breaking everyone else’s records each week after a career spent beating his peers head-to-head.
Among his generation of quarterbacks, he trails only Tom Brady in prestige, and that’s because Brady was fortunate enough to play with a defense that carried him to several championships early in his career. Now that they’re both on the back nine, there’s no comparing who plays at a higher level.
In addition to Brady, here are the quarterbacks who did make the cut on the NFL 100 All-Time Team (listed in alphabetical order):
- Sammy Baugh
- John Elway
- Brett Favre
- Otto Graham
- Peyton Manning
- Dan Marino
- Joe Montana
- Roger Staubach
- Johnny Unitas
Most of those names are no-brainers; Brady, Favre, Manning, Marino, and Montana among them. The others are shamelessly catering to nostalgia, hyping up an era of football that wasn’t as impressive as some want to remember it. In the case of Baugh, the voters used his stats on defense and special teams to justify his inclusion, which is hilariously awkward.
Let’s be clear: nobody in the history of the NFL has done more with less than Brees, including everyone on this list. Until Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas rose to prominence in 2017, Brees had set the league on fire in New Orleans despite having shared the field with just one pass-catcher who earned a spot in the Pro Bowl (tight end Jimmy Graham). The Saints’ defensive personnel during Brees’ career is laughable, especially compared to the Hall of Fame-stocked units players like Brady, Manning, and Montana were able to lean on.
No, football was not better in the 1940’s — it was a sloppy, poorly-executed sport that hadn’t figured out important things like efficiency of movement or player safety just yet. Yes, it’s easier to pass in today’s game; that’s because decades of trail-and-error taught athletes the best ways to win. But those realities shouldn’t disqualify the best to ever do it from getting recognized for his accomplishments.
Overlooking the league’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns thrown in favor of quarterbacks who played in an era where most players (offensive linemen and defenders included) weighed 230 pounds or less is ridiculous. Are we really going to look back fondly on an era that predated desegregation?
This exercise has been lambasted before, for making head-scratching decisions like leaving off the NFL’s all-time leader in receiving yards per game (Julio Jones), or the best running back of the 2000’s (LaDainian Tomlinson), or the best cover corner in NFL history (Darrelle Revis). But Brees’ exclusion stands out even more glaring than the rest, because there are too many facts, stats, and other quantifiable values to argue against it.
If the voters wanted to highlight an often-forgotten era of the game and remember some of its most talented players, then fine, do that. But be honest about it. In this case, the selection panel let their feelings get in the way of the facts, and it led to Brees getting disrespected yet again in his storied NFL career. Here’s hoping they come to their senses when their votes really mean something, like induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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