Reflections on NFL's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team

The NFL Completed its 100^th anniversary with another memorable season full of excitement that did not disappoint. I have been fortunate to be a fan of the NFL for the last 30 years since following the league back in 1990 as a kid. As they did in 1995 when the league celebrated its 75^th anniversary, the NFL released their greatest 100 roster in NFL history, with the main difference being head coaches were part of the 100. I was glad to see a couple of my favorite players from the Buccaneers make the selection, but the list also seemed incomplete and too loyal to the old guard.

Since I was living in the Tampa Bay area, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became my team. Sadly, they were a poorly run and awfully coached team back then, and unfortunately, that is still the case based on these past few seasons. Thus, I developed a soft spot for the San Francisco 49ers when the likes of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, and Ronnie Lott played for them since the Buccaneers’ season would be over after 6-7 games. Watching that 49’ers team play the West Coast offense with their tough defense helped me fall in love with the game.

During those 30 years, I have followed the league in different continents and can’t imagine my Sundays without it. For 100 years, the NFL has entertained its fans and the future looks bright for this league. The NFL celebrated its 100^th anniversary with the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team through a series presented on the NFL network. The players and head coaches were voted on by a panel consisting of media members, former players and league personnel. The series was enjoyable and I agreed with most of the selections, disagreed with a couple, and didn’t care for some of the players from the old guard.

Have no fear, I won’t be going over all 100 men selected. I first want to celebrate the fact that my Bucs, the punchline of the league for most of the last 40 years in NFL history, had two full-time Bucs on this list and one short-term Bucs player. I was elated when Lee Roy Selmon, the first ever Bucs legend, and Derrick Brooks, my all-time favorite Bucs player, made it on the list. The other player was former Vikings legend, Randall McDaniel who played for the Bucs for one season before he retired.

Selmon and Brooks were greats of the game during their eras and will now be part of NFL history as part of this team and future anniversary teams. They are now immortal and it would have been great if Brooks’ teammates of Warren Sapp, John Lynch and Ronde Barber could have been a part of this group. Nonetheless, a good argument can be made for all three making it on the NFL’s 125th Anniversary All-Time Team, if the NFL does one in 2045, when the team expands from 100 to 125.

I thought Warren Sapp was an obvious choice to make it to the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team based on the fact that he was a member of both the NFL's All-Decade team of the 90s and 2000s. Yet, John Randle, who was a phenomenal player, got the nod over Sapp. Perhaps Sapp lost some votes because of his personality during and after his playing concluded. Nevertheless, he should be on the next All-Time Team.

Another surprise omission had to be not seeing Terry Bradshaw as one of the quarterbacks on the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. Without a doubt, many wanted to see which quarterbacks were going to make the list. On the 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, only four were selected while ten quarterbacks were going to be selected for this team. Bradshaw was the first quarterback to win four Super Bowls in the Super Bowl era, yet he was not deemed good enough to make it on the list. However, Roger Staubach made it on the list, even though he lost in two Super Bowls against Bradshaw. This was an odd choice seeing as they played in the league at the same time and Bradshaw’s stats were slightly better than Staubach’s. Hopefully Bradshaw won’t be overlooked in the next team.

Overall, I agreed with most of the selections made for the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. NFL kept the players they chose for the 75thAnniversary All-Time Team and just added 25 more players and head coaches. My only complaint about the team was the inclusion of players from the early years of the league such as Sammy Baugh, Elroy Hirsch, Dan Fortmann, Cal Hubbard, and Bill Hewitt. I understand the league wants to show respect to those who were pioneers in their positions in the old days of the NFL, but were they better than those who played their position in the last twenty years? Perhaps the NFL should have had an honorable mention to those who impacted the game such as Bo Jackson and those beforementioned players.

100 years of the NFL are now in the books. The 100th Anniversary All-Time Team was certainly interesting and we will have twenty-five more years of entertaining football before we debate who will be on the 125th Anniversary All-Time Team. Until then, we should enjoy the NFL one play at a time.