Leatherheads

By Mark Megna

This book ranks the greatest players in history overall and by position by using the All- Pro Awards and recognition that they received during the era in which they played. This subjective technique was necessary given the difficulties of ranking players of different positions and eras all on one list such as skill players verse lineman from 1923 to 2013.

Many of the greatest players in history had relative lengthy careers which is significant due to the violence of the game. The book identifies many players who suffered from concussions, other medical difficulties and even died on the field. It also addresses the mistreatment of amatuer athletes in the sport. College athletics is the only business in America which is allowed not to pay its employees.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499008821

Mark Megna

Mark Megna is the author of 3 sports history books. "The Greatest" ranks the greatest baseball players in history by using an "absolute adjusting slugging percentage" relative to the era in which they played. It is considered the greatest formula ever invented for objectively ranking players. "All Net" ranks the greatest basketball players in history by using an objective "production per minute" formula. Controversy arose when it was determined that Charles Barkley produced more per minute than LeBron James and was therefore greater and ranked higher in history. "Leatherheads" ranked the greatest football players in history by using a subjective formula necessary for ranking skill players verse non skill players.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by MARK MEGNA.

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4990-0883-8

eBook 978-1-4990-0882-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/01/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Offense—1st Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Offense—2nd Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Offense—3rd Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Defense—1st Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Defense—2nd Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Defense—3rd Team

Special Teams

Greatest Players of All-Time Ranked

Commentary on Players of Interest

1 Peyton Manning—Quarterback

2 Joe Montana—Quarterback

3 Lawrence Taylor—Outside Linebacker

4 Reggie White—Defensive End

5 Bruce Smith—Defensive End

6 Ray Lewis—Middle Linebacker

7 Johnny United—Quarterback

8 Brett Favre—Quarterback

9 Jim Brown—Running Back

10 Jerry Rice—Wide Receiver

11 Mike Singletary—Middle Linebacker

12 Barry Sanders—Running Back

13 Joe Greene—Defensive Tackle

14 Steve Young—Quarterback

15 Bruce Mattews—Guard

16 Alan Page—Defensive Tackle

17 Merlin Olsen—Defensive Tackle

19 John Elway—Quarterback

20 Marcus Allen—Running Back

21 Don Hutson—Wide Receiver

22 Anthony Munoz—Tackle

23 Tom Brady—Quarterback

24 Dan Marino—Quarterback

25 Derrick Brooks—Outside Linebacker

26 Jack Lambert—Middle Linebacker

27 Walter Payton—Running Back

28 Franco Harris—Running Back

29 Randy White—Defensive Tackle

31 Charles Woodson—Cornerback

32 Rod Woodson—Cornerback

33 Charley Taylor—Wide Receiver

34 Tony Gonzalez—Tight End

35 Willie Roaf—Tackle

36 Paul Krause—Safety

37 Ed Reed—Safety

38 Ken Houston—Safety

39 Ronnie Lott—Safety

40 Willie Wood—Safety

41 Bart Starr—Quarterback

42 Roger Stauback—Quarterback

43 Junior Seau—Outside Linebacker

46 Emmit Smith—Running Back

47 Clarke Hinkle—Running Back

51 Bob Lilly—Defensive Tackle

55 Deon Sanders—Cornerback

56 Mel Renfro—Cornerback

58 Tim Brown—Wide Receiver

59 Forest Gregg—Tackle

64 Terry Bradshaw—Quarterback

65 Warren Moon—Quarterback

66 Sid Luckman—Quarterback

67 Shane Lechler—Punter

68 Derrick Thomas—Outside Linebacker

71 O J Simpson—Running Back

72 Earl Campbell—Running Back

131 Lem Barney—Cornerback

132 Herb Adderley—Cornerback

133 Jim Ringo—Center

139 Shannon Sharpe—Tight End

150 Ray Guy—Punter

157 Ray Nitsche—Middle Linebacker

158 Randy Gradishar—Middle Linebacker

162 Morten Anderson—Kicker

163 Paul Hornung—Running Back

170 Bronco Nagurski—Running Back

171 Larry Csonka—Running Back

174 Jerry Kramer—Guard

184 Rosey Grier—Defensive Tackle

185 Elvin Bethea—Defensive End

187 Carl Eller—Defensive End

188 Claude Humphrey—Defensive End

189 Jack Youngblood—Defensive End

191 Lester Hayes—Cornerback

194 Mel Blount—Cornerback

202 Fred Biletnikoff—Wide Receiver

208 Mike Ditka—Tight End

213 Joe Thomas—Tackle

230 Drew Brees—Quarterback

231 Boomer Esiason—Quarterback

232 Dan Fouts—Quarterback

233 Bob Griese—Quarterback

234 Fran Tarkenton—Quarterback

235 Ken Anderson—Quarterback

236 Ken Stabler—Quarterback

237 Norm Van Brocklin—Quarterback

238 Otto Graham—Quaterback

239 Y A Tittle—Quarterback

243 Isish Robertson—Outside Linebacker

253 Willie Lanier—Middle Linebacker

256 Tony Dorsett—Running Back

257 Frank Gifford—Running Back

260 Alan Ameche—Running Back

264 Gale Gillingham—Guard

299 Gene Washington—Wide Receiver

300 Randy Moss—Wide Receiver

301 Sterling Sharpe—Wide Receiver

304 Michael Irvin—Wide Receiver

307 Lynn Swan—Wide Receiver

308 Mark Clayton—Wide Receiver

330 Dick Anderson—Safety

334 Aaron Rodgers—Quarterback

336 Jim Kelly—Quarterback

337 Roman Gabriel—Quarterback

338 Sonny Jurgensen—Quarterback

349 Lee Roy Jordan—Middle Linebacker

358 Gale Sayers—Running Back

359 Chuck Foreman—Running Back

360 Billy Sims—Running Back

361 Curtis Martin—Running Back

362 Eddie George—Running Back

363 Lawrence McCutchen—Running Back

364 Ricky Waters—Running Back

365 Roger Craig—Running Back

373 Leroy Kelly—Running Back

391 Kevin Williams—Defensive Tackle

394 Curley Culp—Defensive Tackle

403 Mark Gastineau—Defensive End

423 Calvin Johnson—Wide Receiver

424 Harold Carmichael—Wide Receiver

425 Harold Jackson—Wide Receiver

426 Bob Hayes—Wide Receiver

Greatest Quarterback of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Running Backs of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Wide Receivers of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Tight Ends of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Offensive Tackles of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Offensive Guards of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Centers of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Defensive Ends of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Outside Linebackers of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Middle Linebackers of All-Time Ranked

Greatest Cornerbacks of All Time Ranked

Greatest Safeties of All-Time Ranked

Passing Ratings—All-Time

Passing Completion Percentage—All-Time

NFL Passing Touchdowns—Career

Rushing Yards—Career

Rushing Yards per Carry—Career

Receiving Yards—Career

Touchdowns—Career

Interceptions—Career

Sacks—Career

MVP Award by Year

Heisman Award by Year

Super Bowl Champions

NCAA National Champions

Hall of Fame Members

Jim Thorpe

List of Players who died playing football

List of some of the players who have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy or sued due to complications due to repeated head traumas.

Conclusion

Jim_Thorpe.jpg

Dedication

To my son Tony Megna

One of the most amazing things that I ever witnessed was his demonstration of incredible will. In 2008 he was only second to J.J. Watt in defensive performance of his unit for the Wisconsin Badgers. In the spring of 2009 he was the top performing linebacker on the great plays chart. All that witnessed it know what an unbelievable show he put on under the most difficult of circumstances due to severe headaches caused by on field collisions which ultimately ended his football career.

He made more plays during the week than James Laurinaitus made during the game.

—Bret Bielema

(Statement made prior to issuing the Scout Player of the Week Award after the Ohio State game in 2008.)

He probably had one of the best springs out of all us.

—Senior Linebacker Javery McFadden

The way he played in spring, he would have helped our football team, no doubt.

—Defensvie Coordinator Dave Doeren

Introduction

This book is very unique because I was able to develop a scoring system in which I could rank every player in NFL history regardless of the position they played. This is vey difficult since most of the players on the field don’t have statistics to reflect how good of players that they are. It is nearly impossible to rank players of different positions like quarterback, running back, wide receivers with offensive tackles, defensive tackles, middle linebackers, and cornerbacks all on the same master list of who the greatest players are of all time. I, therefore, decided to go back to 1923 and identify all players who have ever made first or second team All-Pro and assigned them each one point for every year that they achieved this subjective award. Unlike my two other books on baseball The Greatest and on basketball All Net in which I was able to rank all of the players in history based solely on objective statistics this book was going to require a subjective analysis. Not only is it difficult to identify a players worth in the current NFL in which we can watch them play but this obviously is not possible for players in the distant past. Therefore, this subjective ranking was the best simple system that I could think of. Players also received 2 points for every MVP award, Defensive Player of the year Award, Super Bowl MVP Award and Heisman Award summarized as follows:

Scoring System

1 Point—1st or 2nd Team All-Pro for each year given the award

2 Points—League MVP

2 Points—Defensive Player of the Year

2 Points—Super Bowl MVP

2 Points—Heisman Award

In this crude way I was able to rank the top 2000 players in the history of football by position and overall without ever seeing 70 percent of the players ever play. This scoring system tends to favor players that have had lengthy careers which is very significant in football given that the game is extremely violent and the average player only lasts a few years typically.

Later on in the book I identify players who died or who endured chronic lifelong injuries including brain abnormalities due to the repeated excessive collisions. These players from both the NCAA and NFL are all due compensatory damages for this fact. Also, I believe that the NCAA should be required to pay all players for their 1000 hours per year of commitment including both current and past players at the going rate of the value that they produced. Many universities gross $50 to $100 million per year from this business. They are the only business in America that is not required to pay its employees. Letting a player sit in an existing class at the university is not real wages even for players who are on scholarship. It is actually a crime to allow this any further. I honored Jim Thorpe specifically for the way he was treated over his amateur status in history.

That aside, this is a celebration book of the great achievements of the greatest players in the history of a great game. It is America’s greatest game. If a player ever was ever good enough to make All-Pro twice he is in the book and ranked. If a player did not make All-Pro at least twice he is not in the book. It is that simple.

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Offense—¹st Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Offense—²nd Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Offense—³rd Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Defense—¹st Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Defense—²nd Team

Greatest Football Teams of All-Time

Defense—³rd Team

Special Teams

Greatest Players of All-Time Ranked