Greatest Football Player of All-Time

Brett Favre certainly has a bio over the years to argue his point for the top spot in terms of greatest NFL player of all-time. Jerry Rice is head and shoulders above all his peers when it comes to receivers. Jim Brown was a stud in his era when it came to running backs as he was physically dominant and put up career numbers that no running back to date has been able to sustain over the course of a career but Barry Sanders comes close. Sanders was a stat guy as he never did have much of a team. Joe Montana was a 4th quarter surgeon, especially on the big stage as he did vs. the Bengals in January of 1989 to keep Cincinnati from winning their only Super Bowl. Joe also has 4 Super Bowl rings.

The greatest football player of all time is Walter Payton. Payton might not have been the greatest runner of all time as guys like Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith, and Barry Sanders could certainly be considered better. Much like Sanders Payton never had much of a supporting cast for most of his career.


What sets Payton apart from the rest is his all around game. If you wanted a sure handed receiver out of the backfield Payton was there to make the grab and he was always tough to bring down in the open field. Payton had over 4,500 career receiving yards and just under 500 catches and he played in an era where the pass was not as prevalent as it is today with all the protection receivers and quarterbacks get from officials. Payton also did what none of his other Hall of Fame peers ever did and that was have a 2nd 1,000 yard rusher in the same backfield. Payton's running mate in the mid-70's Roland Harper gained over a 1,000 yards the same year as Payton hung 1,450 in a 14 game schedule. This exemplified Payton's team attitude and ability to block and share the ball.

Walter just like Jim Brown was one of the most physical players to ever play football. You never saw Payton run out of bounds as his stiff arms were legendary. Payton pounded on defenders as much as they pounded on him for 13 NFL seasons. Payton was not oppossed to getting in the grill of defensive lineman and linebackers with vicious blocks to protect his quarterback something Barry Sanders was not known for our just didn't have the size. If you needed a tough yard give the ball to Payton as he was money around the goal line and if he did not go through you Walter had great leaping ability and could launch himself over any pile of humanity.

In 1984 when the Bears were racking up injuries to Quarterbacks with no one else to take snaps under center there was Walter Payton ready to play QB. Payton would eventually set a record for most career touchdown passes by a running back with 8. When the punter came down with an injury who was there to punt? Walter Payton.

When Payton retired he held numerous records including career records of most yards rushing, most yards from scrimmage, most total yards, most rushing touchdowns, most total touchdowns, most carries from scrimmage, and the single game record for most yards in a game. The most yards in a single game of 275 yards was done in old Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota on a cold, snowy day against one fo the fiercest defenses led by the front four of the Minnesota Vikings Purple People Easters featuring Hall of Famers, Alan Page, Jim Marshall and Carl Eller. So Payton performed at the highest level against the best. Records were meant to be broken and guys like Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice and Corey Dillon would come along and take those records but when Walter hung them up those were his records.

None of those records were as important to Walter though than the Super Bowl XX victory and the season where Roland Harper gained over a 1,000 yards as Walter was just as professional about blocking as he was about running. So there you have it there is only one football and Walter whether he was carrying, throwing or spiking the football after a touchdown could also block with the best of them and shared the football like no other superstar before or after Sweetness graced NFL fields across the country.