Who do you think is the best American football player ever?

Too tough a question. But nobody mentioned Ditka, nobody mentioned Charles Woodson, nobody mentioned Warren Sapp, nobody mentioned Bart Starr, nobody mentioned Thurman Thomas or Emmitt Smith, Charles Haley, Leon Lett, Dave Krieg, Steve Largent, Joe Namath, or even Deion Sanders or Jim Zorn--

Those guys are all at least worth mentioning, I think--but there are more, of course. Football's tough--I've been watching since the 70's--spanning 4 decades (God, I'm old)--and there are too many memorable games, too many great drives, too many great bowl games to say that there is one man out there (past or present) who stands head and shoulders above the rest.

either waltor payton or barry sanders....unfortunatly i have to give the edge to payton because he won a superbowl and his career was longer

It's so tough to say...

Individual talent, making his team sooooo much better would HAVE to be, HAVE to be Marino. He had NO BODY on his teams...Marino MADE the Dolphins...

If you say rings and such, ehh....Montana maybe. But, he had a GREAT supporting cast. Hell, when "the best qb ever" went to KC, they STILL won the Superbowl, that's a great team. Young was also a great quarterback...But, no where near the best.

Wide Receivers...No one mentions Lynn Swan? He made Bradshaw. Maybe the most underrated Wide Receiver ever. Heck, maybe the most underrated player ever.

It's way too early in Manning's career to be saying "Best ever" in the same breath, let alone sentence. Plus, what has he honestly proven? I'm one of the biggest Manning fans out there(not a fan of Indy, though) but, no way can you say such a thing.

I noticed at the beginning of the thread that someone said that the Pats are the best team in the NFL. I'm confused...Who has homefield advantage in the AFC? Who went 15-1? Oh...That's right...My hometown team...And I don't live in Boston.

thats right man the steelers surely have flocked their wings in the championship direction. I totally agree, you can't really tag one player as "an" the most spectacular player of america football.. If anyone get's it it should be jhonny unitas or john elway, maybe sanders. However, my norhtern friend above is correct it isnt just one man that makes a tso it's hard to say. Either way though Lynn swan was and is the most underatted and overlooked player

I think Emmitt Smith is underrated and overlooked player. Whenever somebody mentions a runner backs, its either Sanders or Payton. But Emmitt has rushing att, yards and td's records. This shows he is the best RB(maybe not flashy).

Barry Sanders carried a team for many years and was the complete running back package. He retired early, but did more in the years he played statswise than most could hope for. Imagine if he actually had an offensive line that ever blocked. Imagine if he ever had a quarterback that could control the tempo of a game, imagine if he had of played with a few competitent recievers that could have taken the heat off him just once. He was the best that ever was, and will never get the recognition cause he played on an ass team.

Mike singletary controlled entire games. Ronnie Lott dictated to an offence where they could go. Those two guys are definitely in my alltime top 10, but not many other people's.

landon donovan or maybe tim howard who plays for manchester united

LOL @ 👆

Anyways....I can't believe the Patriot Nation bandwagons haven't come into this thread and proclaimed Tom Brady as the greatest immortal QB of all time.

freddy adu is a good prospect

Favre has always been my fav.

man, id say best football player ever when it comes to taking over a game would have to be Ronnie Lott. Started his carreer off as a CB then converted to the best safety ever to play the game. Won 5 Super Bowls and had a bit of his pinky cut off just to play in the next game.

when it comes to the best football player i would ever pay to watch play, no doubt it would be Brett Favre. The guy has made so many plays out of simple chaos at the line of scrimmage. If his line wouldnt block, he would find a way to make time and throw some insane pass with his eyes closed and the reciever would be wide open for a TD. Most exciting player ever to play to game.

i think like most team sports that really it needs to be broken down into eras. seriously its hard to compare what jim thorpe's worth is to a team in todays football, but in his era he was the man. unlike any other sport you have defense and offense split apart. there is really no way to compare their stats so break it down further and say best defensive player and best offensive player.

with that said i'd say from superbowl era'68 on) that no qb has meant more to a team than joe montana. there may be others that are stronger and faster but noone can win like that man. he did whatever it took.
defensive from superbowl era: i have to agree and say ray lewis.

jim brown was a force in his era. many defenders speak even today of how intimidating he was. the man refused to ever go out of bounds, and never let his teammates see him getting medical attention. when he retired he had almost every rushing record, many nfl titles, and a body that was physically starting to give out on him, yet everyone was confused as to why he was retiring and still thought he was in prime physical shape. just a testament to the physcological edge he created for himself around the league. a true champion.
as for defense in pre superbowl era my money would be on dick butkus. the man was a machine.

jim thorpe would be my pick from the era when players played both ways. he may have been the greatest athlete from his time period. to this day he is one of only a few players in the hall of fame b/c of his kicking abilities, and he held the league together in the earliest days when it surely should have crumbled.

Lavar Arrington

and Darell Green.

Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton

This question is so easy. Walter Payton. Hands down.

The greatest football player ever is Jerry Rice! Think about it. Every other player at every other position is questioned whether or not he's the best ever at there position, except Rice. He's got all the records and 3 super bowls.