Top 5 Snubs of the NFL 100 Team
The votes are in for the NFL 100 Team, the best players over the last 100 years of the game. Now for the fun part — the arguing! There’s been enough talent over the last century of football to easily create a top 200 list and still not have room for many fan favorites. There necessarily had to be some difficult cuts. However, these five are egregious enough to merit a rebuttal.
5. Adrian Peterson (RB) /LaDainian Tomlinson (RB)
Ok, so really it’s a Top 6 list because I’m an indecisive coward. I think the reason at least one of these two didn’t make the cut is that they played during the sunset of running back relevance. Since the 1980s, there’s been an enormous gulf between the league average rushing yards and passing yards per game, and it’s only growing wider. The scoring outlook is even worse. No active back is even close to sniffing 100 rushing TDs, whereas Peterson is at 4th all-time at 118 and Tomlinson is 2nd at 145.
Peterson was the last of the true workhorse backs who could be counted on to carry his team to victory. Tomlinson was the best of the 2000s, when the diminishment of the role was looming on the horizon, but not yet fully realized. The coming decade will likely see no such dominant ball carriers. Pass-happy offensive schemes and tandem backfields have fully taken hold of the league. If Frank Gore ever retires, the era of the workhorse running back will be over, and it might be gone for good. Statistically, Peterson and Tomlinson are comparable to the running backs already on the roster. I don’t think it’s fair to punish players who are the last of their kind simply for outlasting the golden years of their position.
ARGUABLE CUT: Earl Campbell (RB)/ OJ Simpson (RB)
These two climbed to higher peaks, but didn’t display the sustained excellence of either Peterson or Tomlinson. Their dominance only lasted about 5 seasons each, whereas Peterson’s and Tomlinson’s lasted about 8 each. Also, OJ is a murderer; just throwing that out there.
4. Ozzie Newsome (TE)
In the 1960s, Mike Ditka and John Mackey were the first to show the deep-threat potential of the position. In the 1980s, Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome showed that the Tight-End could be the best overall athlete on offense. Why give spots to both Mackey and Ditka but not to both Winslow and Newsome?
ARGUABLE CUT: Honestly none, since this was more a problem of only giving TEs a paltry 5 spots, especially compared to 10 WRs.
3. Mike Singletary (MLB)
Middle Linebacker is the most iconic position in football, so there's a glut of legends at the position. It especially kills me that there’s no room for less-decorated players like Ray Nitschke. The NFL 100 Team further complicated this issue by lumping all linebacker positions together. The main victims here are pass rushing LBs not named Lawrence Taylor, and you can click here to see my take on that.
In a crowded field of icons and a confusing roster spot, Singletary still stands out. He was the best defender on the legendary ‘85 Bears, a team that’s still synonymous with dominant defense. And those unblinking eyes! Iconic.
ARGUABLE CUT: Joe Schmidt (MLB)
Both smart, both champions, both insanely decorated. But for me, a truly great middle linebacker must strike fear in the heart of the offense. Schmidt wasn’t even the most feared MLB of his era. That honor goes to the less-decorated Sam Huff.
2. Bronko Nagurski (RB)
This is an absolute travesty. Bronko Nagurski was THE icon of the hard-nosed “3 yards and a cloud of dust” era of football. At 6'2", 226lbs, he was easily the best physical specimen of the 1930s. His highlight reel looks like a adult somehow signed up for a peewee league. And just look at that mug!!!
FIRM CUT: Dutch Clark (RB/QB)
Nagurski’s fellow charter HOF inductee was not included on the NFL’s 75th anniversary team, nor did he make the NFL Network’s or Sporting News’s Top 100 players lists in 2010 and 1967, respectively. Nagurski was on all three, ranking highest at #19 on the NFL Network’s list.
- Terrell Owens (WR)
Cutting Nagurski is unbelievable, but cutting Owens is all-too predictable. That doesn’t change the reality that its the single most egregious snub on the NFL 100 Team, and it speaks to the NFL media’s absolute refusal to face its own shortcomings.
Statistically, Owens is unimpeachable. He’s top 3 in receiving TDs and receiving yards, and has five All-Pro selections.
The counter arguments? He’s a toxic locker room presence and a media distraction.
Except he wasn’t a bad teammate. Not if you actually bother to ask his teammates and coaches. Steve Young and Pete Carroll certainly didn’t think so. While he didn’t get along with Donovan McNabb, few others who played alongside Owens will speak ill of him.
His true difficulty was getting along with the press. And it’s impossible to understand the T.O. drama without understanding racism in sports media. There’s been lots of research on the subject, but I found this quote from Joe Kozlowski’s article in Sportscasting.com especially enlightening:
“When someone like Baker Mayfield, for example, says he “woke up feeling pretty dangerous,” Twitter holds it up as “swag” or star power. Similarly, Tom Brady yelling at his teammates is viewed as leadership. When someone like Odell Beckham Jr., however, breaks out a questionable touchdown celebration or gets emotional on the sidelines, he’s a distraction…Think about that next time you hear someone called a diva or a distraction.”
Is Owen’s also responsible for his reputation? Did he make mistakes? Sure. But his first round HOF snub was punishment enough. There’s also zero doubt that Owens has unduly suffered from racist media narratives, and it’s far past time for the media to make amends for the damage they’ve done. I believe Terrell Owens is a man with a big heart, but who is also not at peace with himself, on or off the field. Inclusion on the NFL 100 Team would have been the perfect time for the NFL media establishment to extend the olive branch. This was the perfect chance to heal and it’s been squandered.
FIRM CUT: Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch.
A cool nickname doesn’t make up for only 3 Pro Bowl and 2 All Pro selections. Raymond Berry and Pete Pihos were far more decorated in the same era. Hirsch retired 2nd all-time in receiving yards and 4th in touchdowns, but these marks were all quickly surpassed in the high-flying 60s.
….
100 years of NFL greatness, 5 great NFL snubs. It’s as inevitable as it is infuriating, but that’s what keeps us coming back for more. See you in 2120 for my top 10 snubs of the past 200 years!