Who's good...and who's GREAT?

Jim Kelly was a very good quarterback and is a deserving member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

     Every year you have players that play on a high level in the NFL, only to be forgotten a couple of year later by fans and their peers. Most of the players I am mentioning have made Pro Bowls(which aren't that hard to make now-a-days) and end up reaping the benefits of big time contracts from teams who fail to scout the player properly. Scouting is an art that deserves to be respected but it is more common sense than one thinks. If a football player is effective on a consistent basis, then you have to pull the trigger...but what's consistent? 2 years? 5 years, when the player's body has taken a lot of hits? The answer is this: Consistency means on a week-to-week basis in the NFL. These players make a lot of money and every game counts in this multi-billion dollar industry. Does Tom Brady have to throw 4 TDs a week to be effective? Absolutely not. But he does have to have a high completion percentage and lead his team to victory in the 4th quarter. To break it down even further, you have two different groups of players who are consistent. You have good players, who are hyped beyond their status, and GREAT players who transcend the game and present problems for every opposing player that is looking for victory.

Peyton Manning is Great

     One player that is easy to talk about is Jim Kelly. He is a perfect example of a player who made the Pro Bowl 4 times, was a 1st team All Pro once, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and went to 4 Super Bowls. So what is Jim Kelly? Good or great? I'd say Jim Kelly was a VERY good football player. He has enough acclimates to warrant him being in the Hall of Fame, but he went to the Super Bowl four times and came away with zero victories. For a QB to be GREAT, he has to lead his team to a Super Bowl on top of having top-notch stats...even in the Wins and Losses department. Does that mean every QB who has won a Super Bowl is GREAT? Absolutely not...but it does mean that QBs like Troy Aikman, John Elway, Steve Young, Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning are GREAT players. Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Brett Favre, Steve McNair, Eli Manning and Phil Sims were are very GOOD QBs in their own right. But they were not GREAT.

Terrell Davis was good, but he was no LT

     Because a QB is the leader of a team and gets paid the most, you expect him to win a Super Bowl. On the flipside there isn't a RB that you would expect to lead a team to the Super Bowl. Adrian Peterson is a GREAT running back but even after rushing for 2,000 yards the Minnesota Vikings barely made the playoffs. They were quickly ousted by the Packers and posed absolutely no threat for any other team in the post-season. Barry Sanders, another GREAT back who didn't have a chance in the world to make a Super Bowl was also the best RB of his time. Marshall Faulk was a great back who was the 2nd most valuable player on the Rams behind Kurt Warner during their Super Bowl run in 2000. But if he wouldn't have won a title that season, he still would have gone down as a great player based on the amazing statistics he put up on a consistent basis in the NFL. LaDanian Tomlinson was a great back but Terrell Davis was very good. What? Terrell Davis, a 2-time Super Bowl Champion was only a very good RB? He made 3 Pro Bowls and even more impressive is his 3-time All Pro acknowledgement. BUT LaDanian Tomlinson made the Pro Bowl 5 times, was a 1st team All Pro 4 times, a 2nd team All Pro twice, has the 2nd most touchdowns of all time, is a part of the 10,000 yard club, and scored the most rushing touchdowns in a single season by any player in the NFL. Terrell Davis is on the NFL 1990's All decade team but LT will be a 1st ballot shoe-in for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

JaDaveon Clowney is a future GREAT player on the NFL level

     Too often you hear people throw the word "great" around like it is normal for people to display greatness.  I have been living for 27 years and there aren't many GREAT players I've seen. Don't let people talk up "very good" players such as Donovan McNabb and Chad Johnson, who were effective every year. Make others mention the dominance of Reggie White, Randy Moss and Bruce Smith. You know, players who made people all over the world glue their eyes to the television. Every single snap people would watch Lawrence Taylor or Derrick Thomas to see how fast they could get to the QB or RB. It was as if there weren't even 21 other players on the field. It's the same with the up-and-coming superstar JaDaveon Clowney. Every play, you are watching this mammoth of a kid come off the edge to see how he is going to interrupt the play with his athleticism and power. Don't let people throw the word GREAT out there because we don't see that type of football player on every team. This is a discussion that I could argue about with people all day. And as a result I will be bringing up this topic on my 2nd podcast, being released next week.