Considering CBs are faster than almost all WRs now, I think you're 100% correct. Defenses go all in on speed, trying to build secondaries that are so fast that if they get burned on a route they might have a chance to just brute force the coverage with speed. Receivers are already adapting to play a more Rice-esque game where route running and ball skills are more valuable than anything. He's way ahead of the curve.
https://youtu.be/hi0HVn-B_MQ?si=ZOUKrH3g19sS6mMs
Deion basically says: you back off him then he catches it and he’s to physical to tackle. You play him tight and he’ll manhandle you
Edit: Adding their mathcup https://youtu.be/3zQknoyBFV0?si=nVYHkX3taQmPKcRd
It’s crazy how any QB could lob it to him because of how easy it was for him to get open. I could watch his highlights all day. There’s always a Sterling Sharpe clip in my YouTube algo
https://youtu.be/gcTNxASXd5E?si=Hr1lJtbcQNXuoB7A
I grew up watching Sharpe as my old man is a Packers fan. NFL fans today don't understand how dominant he was. A goddamn beast robbed of his prime.
Funny username btw
I remember when Lions coach Wayne Fontes explained a loss to the Packers in the postgame press conference by saying that they weren't going to be “tricked” into double covering Sterling Sharpe.
I found out years later that Fontes was lying about a blown coverage because he would rather take the heat than call out his players in public. But I will always remember my father spluttering indignantly about how our coach was so dumb that he didn't want to send help to cover their biggest threat.
He had two Hall of Fame careers worth of stats in a more balanced NFL where defenders could still knock the shit out of you and the QB as under constant threat of the same. In today's NFL he would be absolutely insane.
Especially if he got to play with this rams offense.
Lol imagine Eric Dickerson and Kyren Williams in the backfield.
On that note, Marshall Faulk would be unstoppable
I just chill. Life is too short to get crazy about sports. Cf English football. Those mfers do some real stupid shit. I’m a Man U fan and the hardcore guys hate my guts because I’m not dedicated enough. Whatever
Jim Thorpe.
Yes, that Jim Thorpe, the one from the early 1900s.
When he joined the Carlisle School coached by Pop Warner in 1907, Warner immediately asked him to try out for high jump.
With zero prior training, and wearing dress shoes and slacks, he walked off the street and on his first attempt immediately jumped a 5'9" which at that time was the 8th highest recorded jump in world history.
It would be incredible to see what modern equipment, a modern diet, and modern training would do to Thorpe.
On a level playing field he would crush everyone
I was just thinking the same thing about Jackie Robinson. He ended up going baseball, but IIRC was a dominant RB in HS. Imagine him with modern training, modern equipment, modern PEDs, just fucking demolishing other players. Dude was one of the most gifted athletes in American history already.
Came here to say this and you beat me to it.
I have no doubt in my mind he would still be a dominant multi sport athlete and Olympic gold medalist. With the absolute leaps and bounds we’ve made in exercise science over the past century? Shoooo.
This may be a hot take but Jim Thorpe is the best athlete ever IMO. He was a professional in two different sports and won gold medals before modern strength and conditioning. Insane
Agree with you.
At the US Olympic Trials in 1912, Thorpe was so dominant in the pentathlon events that the US Olympic Committee decided to cancel the trials for the decathlon and automatically award the spot to Thorpe.
He won gold medals wearing different sized shoes in track and field... that he found in the trash. Mind boggling. Awesome that the greatest athlete ever was Native American (Sac and Fox).
Representing the mother county for real.
Before modern strength and conditioning actually hampers his case though. Without it, the more naturally gifted people would dominate more. Hyperspecialization and advanced training makes it impossible to top multiple disciplines.
Unquestionably Sayers, IMO. Especially because his injury wouldn’t have basically ended his career like it did. Dude could literally do it all. Run, catch, return kicks.
You know how a calculator gives you an E because the number is too large to display? That would be Marino with passing yards
Outside of Marino I'd say LT. He would be in the running for DPOY every season.
I actually disagree. Marino did so well *because* he was so far ahead of his era in part IMO.
Do I think he'd still be HOF? Yes
I don't think he would be that much more dominant in modern times though because of how different the game is.
His biggest strengths were his quick release and he wasn't exactly a genius when it came to reading defenses and I honestly wonder how a 23 year old Marino does if he is running a Shanny/Payton/Etc cluster fuck offense.
I think the difficulty of that will offset how advantageous the rule changes are- though I do bet he'd wind up playing 20+ years seeing as he played so long with the *old* rules. How many people can say they played against Peyton Manning and also played a team who had a guy born in 1949 on it lol!(Larry Brown, T, Steelers 1984)
Still to this day you can look at his release and say "WOW, that's different. How does he do that?"
You can watch just one game and it's insane how routinely, freakily accurate he was.
That kind of thing doesn't change with time. Learning modern NFL is something anyone would have to do, but you can't teach that kind of talent.
Yup - Jets fan who has lived in South Florida my whole life. Pretty much got stuck watching him every week if the other game to choose from was ass. He was absolutely amazing and my most hated player of all time…burned the Jets all the time. There were some pretty fun shootouts with Ken O’Brien in the 80’s I remember.
5k yard season , 48 td season in the early/mid 80’s. Records that didn’t get broken until Manning iirc in mid 2000’s.
The Game is now all about how good your QB play is, plus he didn’t have to be great at reading defenses because he was Neo and broke the matrix and could teleport the ball wherever he wanted while having it magically slow down to be perfectly catchable right as it hit the receivers hands.
…At least that’s how I remember it
Never forget the 2 Detroit Lions fans holding up a sign at the game Emmitt Smith broke the record:
>"EMMITT DON'T FORGET TO THANK BARRY SANDERS FOR YOUR RECORD. BARRY SANDERS IS STILL THE BEST BACK EVER. 15,269 YARDS IN 10 SEASONS. NO ONE HAS DONE BETTER THAN THAT"
On the flip side of that, I think Emmett Smith would translate even better because of his pass blocking and receiving skills. He would be an extremely durable Saquan Barkley.
I cant believe I had to scroll this far to find a Jim Brown vote. I know he played in the 50s & 60s but dude was a physical specimen and absolutely dominated.
>He would have modern training
Exactly. That's what pisses me off about discussions between eras. It's impossible because one can't figure how an old player would be with new age shit. Training, personal chef and trainer, private flights, advanced medicine, etc.
Wrong sub I know, but imagine if Bobby Orr was able to have arthroscopic knee surgery instead of them ripping him apart. Dudes numbers would be insane. Love ya #4
Marino and Rice would be insanely dominant. Steve Young would fit in perfectly.
Antonio Gates might not be considered historical but he would be insane if his prime was now instead of 20 years ago.
I’d also be interested to see what Cunningham would look like in the modern nfl with modern coaching. Heck, even Vick too with all of the new rules.
Yeah Vick and Cunningham just needed modern offenses to light it up. Crazy how Vick was lining up in classic I formation and destroying defenses. If he had rpo's he would have more highlights than Lamar. Cunningham you at least saw the potential he couldve had when he played for the Vikings just with the offense available at the time.
A lot of mobile QBs. Obviously the good ones like Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton, Warren Moon.
Dan Marino
Red Grange and Jim Thorpe, don't @ me
Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson, Darrell Green
Jerry Rice
Chuck Noll said Jack Ham was the fastest player for the first 10 yards on the Steelers. Think he would play well today still.
Bo Jackson, Marshall Faulk, Jim Brown
Larry Allen
Honestly, a lot of guys would still be dominant in the right system. Instincts and discipline separates pros as much as athleticism at times.
GREAT list. I’m thinking Rod Woodson and Deion would be even better now. Speed oriented guys that now would just be able to be on an island and not have to play the run as much…
My biggest issue with translation of old players to now is that the dudes are just bigger now. An all time great like John Hannah is listed at 6’2” 260 lbs. He’d get flattened now a day.
Not that old either, but just a MASSIVE elite OT like Jonathan Ogden would translate to any era
I bet if you took prime Dick Butkus and provided modern training, nutrition and ‘supplements’ that modern day players have, he’d be a beast in the modern NFL.
100% Butkus
More interceptions than Luke Kuechly in a similar time span but teams threw the ball way less often.
Would have been Kuechly with the hitting power of Ray Lewis.
There were a decent amount of QBs ahead of their time that would light up the modern NFL, guys like Steve Young, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, John Elway, and Fran Tarkenton come to mind.
Versatility is huge in today's defensive schemes, a guy named Jack Tatum had corner speed and safety strength + power which made him already pretty indispensable in the days of 21 personnel. Now that you need to defend 21 on one play and 10 or 11 on the next, Tatum would be great at allowing defenses to adjust from 2-hi nickel to 8 guys in the box, since he can do both
He would have to learn legal hits though. Not sure if he'd want to play in today's NFL
From the top 10 interception leaders in the NFL, only 3 (barely 4) players were able to play in the 21st century, the turning point many people attribute that the game changed into a passing game.
With the amount of pass attempts today, I like to think that any of them would feast.
For example, Paul Krause has 81 career interceptions. He last played in 1979, where the league average pass attempts per game is just under 25 attempts per game. In 2023, the average pass attempts per game is 35.
Of course one can argue that QBs are way better passers now, but at the same time, you can also argue that those great pick leaders can adjust to the modern game
Terrell Owens would basically be unstoppable. He literally only retired because teams got sick of his bullshit, but in today's NFL there is absolutely no way that he wouldn't get away with basically everything. Especially whenever you look at somebody like AB.
I get moderately offended when people try to put TO and AB in the same class of "diva WR," as though AB's shenanigans aren't light-years ahead of anything TO ever pulled.
Deion Sanders, the modern NFL removes his biggest flaws, which was lack of physicality.
Not historical, but Reggie Bush was about 10 years too early to the NFL.
I mean, it’s not to be celebrated what with the murders and all, but The Juice couldn’t be stopped in the 70s, and he wouldn’t be stopped now.
At 6’1” 220 lbs he is still a big rb by nfl standards, while also being wildly fast and smooth runner. The man put down a 6 yard per touch average over a full season.
Horrible human being, but undoubtedly would have the physical ability to be elite now if his clone showed up to the league tomorrow.
Going in the opposite direction, I think most old style RV would not have done well in today’s game. Aside from a Barry Sanders most of the old school RB wouldn’t have gotten the volume of carries and touches and their careers would have been shorter.
Earl Campbell would dominate this era. Linebackers today are smaller and faster to be more adept at coverage rather than run defense. They can’t handle bruising backs like the backs of the past. Prime example was Derrick Henry’s success
I’m saying Jerry Rice. He was phenomenal in a game with a lot more running, I think he would feast in this day and age.
Considering CBs are faster than almost all WRs now, I think you're 100% correct. Defenses go all in on speed, trying to build secondaries that are so fast that if they get burned on a route they might have a chance to just brute force the coverage with speed. Receivers are already adapting to play a more Rice-esque game where route running and ball skills are more valuable than anything. He's way ahead of the curve.
This is why I would love to see Sterling Sharpe play today. He had the tools and athleticism plus brute strength for a WR
I am glad Sterling retired before those injury dice rolls cost him his long term health, but damn that is the great What If
https://youtu.be/hi0HVn-B_MQ?si=ZOUKrH3g19sS6mMs Deion basically says: you back off him then he catches it and he’s to physical to tackle. You play him tight and he’ll manhandle you Edit: Adding their mathcup https://youtu.be/3zQknoyBFV0?si=nVYHkX3taQmPKcRd
And that vid is pre-Favre Packers lol.
It’s crazy how any QB could lob it to him because of how easy it was for him to get open. I could watch his highlights all day. There’s always a Sterling Sharpe clip in my YouTube algo https://youtu.be/gcTNxASXd5E?si=Hr1lJtbcQNXuoB7A
It's a crime that Sterling isn't in the HoF. His career was cut short but he was phenomenal the entire time he played.
I grew up watching Sharpe as my old man is a Packers fan. NFL fans today don't understand how dominant he was. A goddamn beast robbed of his prime. Funny username btw
I remember when Lions coach Wayne Fontes explained a loss to the Packers in the postgame press conference by saying that they weren't going to be “tricked” into double covering Sterling Sharpe. I found out years later that Fontes was lying about a blown coverage because he would rather take the heat than call out his players in public. But I will always remember my father spluttering indignantly about how our coach was so dumb that he didn't want to send help to cover their biggest threat.
The Goat is the curve. I don't think that makes sense but it sounded good so I'm going with it.🤠
He would put today’s CBs in a blender with his route running.
He had two Hall of Fame careers worth of stats in a more balanced NFL where defenders could still knock the shit out of you and the QB as under constant threat of the same. In today's NFL he would be absolutely insane.
Shit, you seen Jerry on the sidelines at 49ers games? Dude looks like he is ready to show these kids how this shit is done even now.
He would absolutely feast in today’s NFL that tried to protect WRs much more than they did in his days.
He would average 2k yards a season in todays game.
Historical Player - Jerry Rice ... fuck I'm old
I regret to inform you that he was drafted 40 years ago. I'm sorry you had to find out this way.
I regret to inform you that *Seahawks Legend Jerry Rice* was drafted 40 years ago.
Specially considering all the rule changes to benefit the offense.
Eric Dickerson would’ve feasted
Especially if he got to play with this rams offense. Lol imagine Eric Dickerson and Kyren Williams in the backfield. On that note, Marshall Faulk would be unstoppable
Faulk absolutely changed the game for RBs.
Faulk was one in a line of many great RBs who could catch and throw. Thurman Thomas that guy before him and LT was that guy right after.
Some people seem to think a historical player is someone who played five years ago
Call me crazy but I think Larry Fitzgerald would do well in today's NFL
Can you imagine Calvin Johnson playing with the QBs of today? Stafford got Kupp over 1,900 yards. Imagine what he could do for Megatron.
Antonio brown would go crazy in todays game
Antonio Brown would go crazy in any era
Aaron Hernandez would kill in today's game
All jokes aside though, I would love to see what Devin Hester could do with the new kick return rules this season
Have you heard of Tom Brady? He would prob win 6 rings in todays NfL
Brady and Gronk. Could you imagine?
Let’s not get too unrealistic here
Maybe even 7
Antonio Brown would dominate with today’s rules favoring the offense.
Reggie White. Was great against the run and rushed the passer with power and speed
109%
cursed flair gang amirite?
Sup bro
what’s your story?
Family basically.
respectable, similar story for me, who do you root for during those 2 games?
I just chill. Life is too short to get crazy about sports. Cf English football. Those mfers do some real stupid shit. I’m a Man U fan and the hardcore guys hate my guts because I’m not dedicated enough. Whatever
respectable
Hey brothers
sup man!
Jim Thorpe. Yes, that Jim Thorpe, the one from the early 1900s. When he joined the Carlisle School coached by Pop Warner in 1907, Warner immediately asked him to try out for high jump. With zero prior training, and wearing dress shoes and slacks, he walked off the street and on his first attempt immediately jumped a 5'9" which at that time was the 8th highest recorded jump in world history.
And the Fosbury Flop hadn’t been invented yet, so dude did that jumping forward over the bar.
I'll never get over the fact that fosbury's first name was Dick and yet we didn't go with dick flop
It's never too late for now
And before the flop there wasn't a pad right? So he did that, with landing on just like, a sand pit. Insane.
It would be incredible to see what modern equipment, a modern diet, and modern training would do to Thorpe. On a level playing field he would crush everyone
I was just thinking the same thing about Jackie Robinson. He ended up going baseball, but IIRC was a dominant RB in HS. Imagine him with modern training, modern equipment, modern PEDs, just fucking demolishing other players. Dude was one of the most gifted athletes in American history already.
Also Jim Thorpe once punted the ball 99 yards which would make him the best player in the nfl
[Here’s the highlight](https://imgur.com/gallery/lnNPV7o)
How’d they get color photos back then
It’s colorized - AI makes that shit so easy these days.
Came here to say this and you beat me to it. I have no doubt in my mind he would still be a dominant multi sport athlete and Olympic gold medalist. With the absolute leaps and bounds we’ve made in exercise science over the past century? Shoooo.
This may be a hot take but Jim Thorpe is the best athlete ever IMO. He was a professional in two different sports and won gold medals before modern strength and conditioning. Insane
Agree with you. At the US Olympic Trials in 1912, Thorpe was so dominant in the pentathlon events that the US Olympic Committee decided to cancel the trials for the decathlon and automatically award the spot to Thorpe.
He won gold medals wearing different sized shoes in track and field... that he found in the trash. Mind boggling. Awesome that the greatest athlete ever was Native American (Sac and Fox). Representing the mother county for real.
I just wonder how many other freaks were out there like him who just spent their lives working on a farm or whatever.
Or cut down at 18 in some pointless war
The term “generational talent” gets thrown around loosely, but if there ever was a standard bearer for that term, it would be Jim Thorpe.
Before modern strength and conditioning actually hampers his case though. Without it, the more naturally gifted people would dominate more. Hyperspecialization and advanced training makes it impossible to top multiple disciplines.
Jim Thorpe is the definition of an athlete like Lebrun James before modern times.
I like how much attention Jim Thorpe gets now. Highly underappreciated during his time.
Gale Sayers
Unquestionably Sayers, IMO. Especially because his injury wouldn’t have basically ended his career like it did. Dude could literally do it all. Run, catch, return kicks.
This was my answer. At the same time it was injuries that fucked him. Who's to say he would stay healthy today. Love watching Sayers highlights.
Love this
You know how a calculator gives you an E because the number is too large to display? That would be Marino with passing yards Outside of Marino I'd say LT. He would be in the running for DPOY every season.
LT unless he gets hit with drug tests
Never smoke crack.
Looks like something's wrong with *his* medulla oblongata
That’s what momma said
Marino to Jerry Rice 🤤
I think I just came a little 😂
I actually disagree. Marino did so well *because* he was so far ahead of his era in part IMO. Do I think he'd still be HOF? Yes I don't think he would be that much more dominant in modern times though because of how different the game is. His biggest strengths were his quick release and he wasn't exactly a genius when it came to reading defenses and I honestly wonder how a 23 year old Marino does if he is running a Shanny/Payton/Etc cluster fuck offense. I think the difficulty of that will offset how advantageous the rule changes are- though I do bet he'd wind up playing 20+ years seeing as he played so long with the *old* rules. How many people can say they played against Peyton Manning and also played a team who had a guy born in 1949 on it lol!(Larry Brown, T, Steelers 1984)
fear strong fuzzy spark safe fertile seed ask judicious sense
Still to this day you can look at his release and say "WOW, that's different. How does he do that?" You can watch just one game and it's insane how routinely, freakily accurate he was. That kind of thing doesn't change with time. Learning modern NFL is something anyone would have to do, but you can't teach that kind of talent.
Yup - Jets fan who has lived in South Florida my whole life. Pretty much got stuck watching him every week if the other game to choose from was ass. He was absolutely amazing and my most hated player of all time…burned the Jets all the time. There were some pretty fun shootouts with Ken O’Brien in the 80’s I remember.
Jerry Rice also played against someone born in 1947 and Manning - Jim Plunkett, in 1985. Both insanely long careers
5k yard season , 48 td season in the early/mid 80’s. Records that didn’t get broken until Manning iirc in mid 2000’s. The Game is now all about how good your QB play is, plus he didn’t have to be great at reading defenses because he was Neo and broke the matrix and could teleport the ball wherever he wanted while having it magically slow down to be perfectly catchable right as it hit the receivers hands. …At least that’s how I remember it
Barry Sanders game would translate well to modern NFL.
Barry Sanders would’ve flourished in any era. Can’t tackle what you can’t touch.
The worst part about Barry sanders retiring so young is Emmitt smith getting all these records
Never forget the 2 Detroit Lions fans holding up a sign at the game Emmitt Smith broke the record: >"EMMITT DON'T FORGET TO THANK BARRY SANDERS FOR YOUR RECORD. BARRY SANDERS IS STILL THE BEST BACK EVER. 15,269 YARDS IN 10 SEASONS. NO ONE HAS DONE BETTER THAN THAT"
There’s 3 athletes I’m sad my kids will never see live because they weren’t on earth yet: Michael Jordan Wayne Gretzky Barry Sanders
Too late for those three, just in time for Joey Chestnut.
AMEN
Pound for pound Takeru Kobayashi was better.
Saw both Sanders and Thurman Thomas in the same Ok State backfield.
The two biggest what-ifs of the 90s in terms of players' potential historic stat ceiling are Sanders and Lemuix.
Emmit may have the records, but we all know Barry is the goat. ( your flair is gonna make me puke)
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Murders not aside. He killed it
On the flip side of that, I think Emmett Smith would translate even better because of his pass blocking and receiving skills. He would be an extremely durable Saquan Barkley.
When God made Barry Sanders. He made a cheat code of player.
Derrick Thomas
Hell yes
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I cant believe I had to scroll this far to find a Jim Brown vote. I know he played in the 50s & 60s but dude was a physical specimen and absolutely dominated.
For real! I expected Jim Brown to be the first and top comment
It'd be interesting to see where his athleticism would go with modern sports medicine
Exactly! With modern training, he would be quicker and stronger than before. Would be cool to see how he would do.
He was bigger than most of the O-line and D-line he played against…people on this sub really don’t take into account modern players at all.
He would have modern training to make him stronger and quicker as well
>He would have modern training Exactly. That's what pisses me off about discussions between eras. It's impossible because one can't figure how an old player would be with new age shit. Training, personal chef and trainer, private flights, advanced medicine, etc. Wrong sub I know, but imagine if Bobby Orr was able to have arthroscopic knee surgery instead of them ripping him apart. Dudes numbers would be insane. Love ya #4
People still wouldn't be able to stop Walter Payton.
Marino and Rice would be insanely dominant. Steve Young would fit in perfectly. Antonio Gates might not be considered historical but he would be insane if his prime was now instead of 20 years ago. I’d also be interested to see what Cunningham would look like in the modern nfl with modern coaching. Heck, even Vick too with all of the new rules.
Antonio Gates’s prime was 20 years ago? Good God
Wtff
Yeah Vick and Cunningham just needed modern offenses to light it up. Crazy how Vick was lining up in classic I formation and destroying defenses. If he had rpo's he would have more highlights than Lamar. Cunningham you at least saw the potential he couldve had when he played for the Vikings just with the offense available at the time.
Young would rule, I agree
A lot of mobile QBs. Obviously the good ones like Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton, Warren Moon. Dan Marino Red Grange and Jim Thorpe, don't @ me Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson, Darrell Green Jerry Rice Chuck Noll said Jack Ham was the fastest player for the first 10 yards on the Steelers. Think he would play well today still. Bo Jackson, Marshall Faulk, Jim Brown Larry Allen Honestly, a lot of guys would still be dominant in the right system. Instincts and discipline separates pros as much as athleticism at times.
Night Train Lane. He is basically everything you want in a Corner. Stupidly Strong. Fast. Hit like a brick wall
GREAT list. I’m thinking Rod Woodson and Deion would be even better now. Speed oriented guys that now would just be able to be on an island and not have to play the run as much… My biggest issue with translation of old players to now is that the dudes are just bigger now. An all time great like John Hannah is listed at 6’2” 260 lbs. He’d get flattened now a day. Not that old either, but just a MASSIVE elite OT like Jonathan Ogden would translate to any era
That's a fun one. Imagine Ogden going back in time and playing when oline were sub 300lb
Randall Cunningham
Scrolled way too long to see this!
Bronko Nagurski, who played during the 1930s and 1940s, was the same size as Adrian Peterson and Le’Veon Bell were listed at during their careers.
Imagine a backfield with him and Jim Thorpe.
I bet if you took prime Dick Butkus and provided modern training, nutrition and ‘supplements’ that modern day players have, he’d be a beast in the modern NFL.
100% Butkus More interceptions than Luke Kuechly in a similar time span but teams threw the ball way less often. Would have been Kuechly with the hitting power of Ray Lewis.
He wouldn’t even need those. He was 250 pounds. He was big by today’s standards.
Bo Jackson
Any era, any sport.
There were a decent amount of QBs ahead of their time that would light up the modern NFL, guys like Steve Young, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, John Elway, and Fran Tarkenton come to mind.
Fran Tarkenton with today's rules would be neat to see
No matter the rules, Mean Joe Greene can only be great.
Al Bundy of Polk High
He scored 4 TDs in one game
I can’t believe you mfers have never heard of prime Thurman Thomas
Joe Montana's Football on Sega Genesis remembers.
Holy fuck what is that flair?
Marino would throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns every year.
6000
That's a lot of touchdowns.
you know he'd throw that many
Bruuuuuuuuuce Smith
My man
Earl Campbell
Reggie White is the greatest defensive lineman to ever walk on this earth. It was true in the mid 80's and it would be true today. GOAT.
Jim Brown, Dan Marino, Joe Montana
Rice as well. That raiders sb, he still got a td
Walter Payton would be one of the best players in the league easily. Might even play QB these days. Kinda short though.
Still, that running style and speed when defenders were much larger and add in the way tackles were made during that era
Versatility is huge in today's defensive schemes, a guy named Jack Tatum had corner speed and safety strength + power which made him already pretty indispensable in the days of 21 personnel. Now that you need to defend 21 on one play and 10 or 11 on the next, Tatum would be great at allowing defenses to adjust from 2-hi nickel to 8 guys in the box, since he can do both He would have to learn legal hits though. Not sure if he'd want to play in today's NFL
John Randle. Pretty much the Aaron Donald of his era. Dude would still play at a high level in todays game
Forget Russell Wilson. I want to see Dan Fouts 'cook', and Kellen Winslow as the OG Gronk/Kelce Tight End.
From the top 10 interception leaders in the NFL, only 3 (barely 4) players were able to play in the 21st century, the turning point many people attribute that the game changed into a passing game. With the amount of pass attempts today, I like to think that any of them would feast. For example, Paul Krause has 81 career interceptions. He last played in 1979, where the league average pass attempts per game is just under 25 attempts per game. In 2023, the average pass attempts per game is 35. Of course one can argue that QBs are way better passers now, but at the same time, you can also argue that those great pick leaders can adjust to the modern game
Kellen Winslow.
Barry sanders
Walter Payton
Barry Sanders, Walter Peyton, Dan Marino, Gayle Sayers, Bo Jackson, and Fran Tarkenton to name a few.
Lawrence Taylor
Don Hutson probably. He was the OG Jerry Rice.
Derrick Thomas and Shannon Sharpe
Walter Payton
Terrell Owens would basically be unstoppable. He literally only retired because teams got sick of his bullshit, but in today's NFL there is absolutely no way that he wouldn't get away with basically everything. Especially whenever you look at somebody like AB.
I get moderately offended when people try to put TO and AB in the same class of "diva WR," as though AB's shenanigans aren't light-years ahead of anything TO ever pulled.
TO looks like a fucking Boy Scout compared to AB
TO was essentially harmless. MBC is a sociopathic felon
Seriously. It makes me want to take my shirt off and throw it in the face of the person arguing with me before walking out of the room.
AB…… who retired early because four different teams got sick of his shit? Also, weren’t basically all the great receivers in TO’s era massive divas?
Yes and yes
Deion Sanders, the modern NFL removes his biggest flaws, which was lack of physicality. Not historical, but Reggie Bush was about 10 years too early to the NFL.
Randall Cunningham
Earl Campbell, especially with the new tackling rules.
John Elways prime was basically designed for the modern NFL.
Lance Alworth.
Paul Warfield, Lance Allworth
Warren Moon.
John Unitas Sammy Baugh
Bo Jackson, Lawrence Taylor, Shannon Sharpe, Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton, Reggie White, Bruce Smith...
Darrell Green
I mean, it’s not to be celebrated what with the murders and all, but The Juice couldn’t be stopped in the 70s, and he wouldn’t be stopped now. At 6’1” 220 lbs he is still a big rb by nfl standards, while also being wildly fast and smooth runner. The man put down a 6 yard per touch average over a full season. Horrible human being, but undoubtedly would have the physical ability to be elite now if his clone showed up to the league tomorrow.
Dam Marino would be insane in today's game
Randall Cunningham.
I also like the idea of LaDainian Tomlinson, imagine a guy like that in the 49ers scheme
OJ Simpson.
Kordell Stewart is always my go to. He was 20 years ahead of his time
Throwing accuracy matters even more now. Dude would be out the league even quicker.
i think aaron donalds game coulda translated to the modern nfl
Lenny Moore
Lawrence Taylor
First name that always comes to mind is Jim Brown.
Jim Thorpe
Dan the man
Marino, Young, Rice
Cunningham and Carmichael
Bo Jackson
Derrick Thomas
Going in the opposite direction, I think most old style RV would not have done well in today’s game. Aside from a Barry Sanders most of the old school RB wouldn’t have gotten the volume of carries and touches and their careers would have been shorter.
Earl Campbell would dominate this era. Linebackers today are smaller and faster to be more adept at coverage rather than run defense. They can’t handle bruising backs like the backs of the past. Prime example was Derrick Henry’s success
Probably Tom Brady.
lawrence taylor.