The Football 100

by The Athletic

From The Athletic, powerhouse of sports reporting, comes the definitive story of the greatest football players of all time.

It is a question that has bedeviled football fans for Who’s the best? Of the more than 25,000 men who have suited up during the NFL’s century of existence, which ones stood head and shoulders above all others?

At The Athletic, home to the best newsroom in sports, this question would become a labor of love for dozens of the best football writers on the planet, including Mike Sando and Dan Pompei. Over the course of 100 riveting profiles—each drawing upon unparalleled access and superlative storytelling to offer intimate perspective on what made the greatest players tick—these writers reveal their findings. In the process, they also uncover the history of football.

In the early days of the NFL, the game bore little resemblance to the product we see today. Points were scarce, the forward pass was an exotic strategic curiosity, and most players played all 60 minutes—both sides of the ball. It was on the shoulders of the many greats who starred in the League over the last century that the game of football blossomed. Each profile in The Football 100 uses the vivid narrative storytelling for which The Athletic is known to bring to life extraordinary athletic talents, tactical geniuses who changed the way the game is played, and legendary, outsized personalities. Based on many hundreds of interviews with players, coaches, broadcasters, and others, this is a penetrating look at the greatest players to ever don cleats and pads, as well as a view from the trenches of the harsh realities of a brutal game.

Deeply reported, beautifully written, and sure to spark heated debate among football fans of all stripes, The Football 100 sets a new standard for writing about the game.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Genres: Sports, Football, Nonfiction, Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published October 24, 2023

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

The key authors for this book are Mike Sando and Dan Pompei. They write in the introduction:
"Perhaps the most challenging part was comparing players from different eras. The typical metrics to judge a wide receiver like Don Hutson, who played in the 1930s and ’40s, can’t be compared to the typical metrics to evaluate a receiver like Julio Jones, from the current era. Rules have changed to promote passing. Seasons are longer. Strategies have evolved. Sando solved some of this with wide receivers and running backs by evaluating where they ranked among their peers during their best years. For wide receivers, that meant calculating where they ranked in yardage within a season over each player’s eight best seasons. For running backs, whose careers are generally shorter, Sando focused on scrimmage yards during each player’s six most productive seasons. We then used the findings as a general guide before making some tweaks we felt were warranted."

The book is sure to provide plenty of conversation starters. Because they reach back to the early days of the NFL, there will be some surprises. Here’s one that opened my eyes, about the legendary Bronko Nagurski.

"There can be no mention of Nagurski without the story that would make today’s concussion spotters cringe. In a 1930 game against the Packers in front of a crowd at Wrigley Field that included nearly every Chicagoan of status, including the notorious Al Capone, Nagurski was given a handoff in the final minutes on the 2-yard line. He rammed through two Packers with his head down. His momentum carried him through the end zone and his leather helmet crashed into the outfield wall, which was about one step past the end line. When Bears trainer Andy Lotshow asked if he was OK, Nagurski replied, “Who the heck was that last guy?”"

I believe that this book is almost an essential for the true NFL fan. The authors know how to present their material and there are so many great stories and comments by players contemporaries that you will want to know about.
Each profile is unique and there are multiple authors credited. Many focus on the man beyond the game. Here’s one about Allen Page:

"There were moments in the careers of players like Warren Sapp and Aaron Donald, two of the most dominant defensive tackles in history, where we let out a collective gasp and realized they were doing things we’ve perhaps never seen. Except, we have. Because Alan Page exists. The things that the likes of Sapp and Donald have done, the feats that moved us to marvel at their pass-rush prowess, those are plays Page made with regularity. For 15 seasons with the Vikings and Bears, Page was an unblockable, gap-destroying, game-wrecking force who did nothing less than redefine his position."

"…Page had such a humble view of himself while playing that he rarely signed autographs—not because he was arrogant but because he thought the idea of someone admiring him on the basis of his athletic talents was silly. He is, however, exceedingly proud of his post-football pursuits. Page, who famously attended law school while playing in the NFL, went on to a law career and served 22 years on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He also has been an unwavering champion of education; the Page Educational Foundation, created in 1988, has awarded more than $16 million in grants to more than 7,700 Page Scholars."

"“I don’t know when children stop dreaming,” he said. “But I do know when hope starts leaking away, because I’ve seen it happen. Over the past 10 years, I’ve spent a lot of time speaking with school kids of all ages. And I’ve seen the cloud of resignation move across their eyes as they travel through school, without making progress. They know they are slipping through the net into the huge underclass that our society seems willing to tolerate.”"

A brilliant effort. 5*

[John Schorg · Rating 2 out of 5]

About as blah a collection of writing about some of the greatest football players in history that you will ever encounter. Practically every entry follows the same pattern: a story about how good a player was, followed by a bunch of statistics to prove the point, then wrapping with quotes emphasizing the player's toughness, many along the lines of, "Boy, we'll never see HIS likes again." It registers with the enthusiasm of homework assignments, all research and no heart. If you want to read profiles that have a little passion behind them, I would suggest picking up Joe Posnanski's "The Baseball 100."

[Barnabas Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Baseball 100 was written entirely by Joe Posnanski, so it stands above this volume (written by various beat writers/columnists). However, this was a very enjoyable read for football fans.

[Geoff Russell · Rating 1 out of 5]

A few years ago Joe Posnanski published “The Baseball 100.” It was terrific. This book is clearly an attempt to emulate that effort. Same jacket design, same format (a ranking of pro football’s greatest 100 players, from 100 to 1), told in 4-6 page profiles of each player. That’s where “The Football 100” fails. Posnanski is one of the best sportswriters of this era, an exhaustive reporter and magical storyteller. The writers of this book, and their editors at The Athletic, can’t match him. They don’t have the anecdotes on the players, and their storytelling skills can’t make up for it (for instance, they manage to make the Patrick Mahomes story seem bland). To assess the book as politely as possible, I think it was rushed, in an effort to follow up Posnanski while it was fresh. They should have taken more time. If “The Basketball 100” is next, I hope the writers and editors are more patient.

[Greg Kerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

One Hundred Fascinating Paths to Football Greatness

This is a prerelease book review.

I was born in 1950 in Denver when baseball and football were the primary sports played in the streets. My first team was the Packers and my first heroes were Johnny Unitas and Roman Gabriel. Reading these stories reminded me what made football special for us kids, especially when it was being played in snow or mud. That’s why we left the street when it snowed or rained and walked to a nearby park to play. Received my head concussed playing tackle, with no protection, on a snowy grass ‘field’.

These 100 stories are only a small glimpse into the complex lives of 100 men who were/are (including the recently retired numbers 1, 35, 43 & 47, and the still active numbers 21, 26, 54, 56 & 98) dedicated to being the best of the best despite any limitations they faced at the time they grew up and/or played. As one author splendidly put it regarding Darrell Green: “… raised with six siblings in a rough part of Houston and drugs, alcohol, lack of opportunity, and other potential kryptonite lurking everywhere.” Each persevered and earned their legacy making football truly America’s game.

I appreciate this quote by Bud Grant; that says a lot about the football careers of most of these men: “You might be good, you might be great for five years, but if you don’t have durability, you never achieve greatness.” Of course, Gale Sayers, and to some extent Jim Brown, were the exceptions.

I’ll have to admit I especially enjoyed the articles on players #33, 44 & 45. It’s interesting that in my 70+ years I have watched or heard about many of these great athletes, many of whom were in their prime when they lined up for the opposing team. I never really appreciated their talent (Walter Payton and Johnny Unitas being the exception). For instance, consider Neal Smith (KC) and Bill Romanowski (SF) before they went to Denver and helped the Broncos win their first SB. Fickled fan? Yep! Its amazing how free agency provides redemption for all their previous football “sins”.

Just being honest, but I came away seeing Bobby Layne as an exception. Similar too many present-day athletes, he seemed to look out the window and never sew his own reflection. Maybe this book can reset the priorities of young athletes who long for the social accolades and financial rewards of playing professional sports. It takes far more than raw talent to become part of the legacy of greatness set down by these 100 men, and many others (e.g., Larry Fitzgerald, Warren Moon, Tony Dorsett, Jack Youngblood, Kurt Warner, Shannon Sharp, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher, Jerry Kramer, John Randall, Troy Polamalu, Terrell Davis and even Jim Thorpe or Red Grange to name but a few). Most, if not all of these men understood that they had to continually learn more about the game and their positions, to work harder than their opponents, and to remain flexible to ‘reinvent themselves’ as the game evolved around them.

Ah, but then there is OJ’s … and maybe Bret Favre’s … post gridiron fall from grace. It’s appreciated that no punches were pulled regarding any of these athletes’ personal flaws (except, perhaps, for number 17?).

Thank you for including stories that highlight the consequences of the repeated physical punishment that these athletes endured across their careers (e.g., 18, 57, 58, 63, & 67).

Nevertheless, what dropped the rating to 3 Stars was an overall imbalance in telling the various 100 stories. An example is the level of information provided for number 10 and 22 compared to the snippet provided for number 15. My personal interest in this individual is that I followed his career from high school to the Hall of Fame.
• All though number 15 had a 27-year career as a player and executive with the same team, his article seemed to focus on a single, though important and legendary game.
• Even at that, there was no mention that the opponent was the defending SB champions; that the AFC SB representative was a Wild Card team; and that the AFC had lost the previous 13 SB’s by ever widening margins.
• And there was no mention how the presence of four future HOF members (i.e., running back, offensive lineman, tight-end, and safety) were key ingrediencies in number 15’s redemption for his previous three SB loses.
• And if my memory serves me correctly the winning team had no negative yardage plays until number 15 took the knee to end the game.
• But outside that one game, there was no mention of “The Drive”, or that he was the starting QB with the most victories (148) when he retired.
This type of overall imbalance needs to be addressed before the book is released because each player should have an honest retrospective of their greatness.

Two final thoughts: (1) this is not a book that is meant to be read like a novel but enjoyed leisurely over a period of days or weeks. (2) Brady is not only the GOAT but the NFL’s “unicorn”; i.e., that mythical measure of true greatness.

[Larry (LPosse1) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of The Football 100 by Mike Sando and Dan Pompei – ★★★★☆

The Football 100 is an ambitious and fascinating project, bringing together decades of NFL history into one big ranking of the 100 greatest players of all time. Sando and Pompei, both seasoned writers with The Athletic, have done an admirable job of blending statistics, stories, and context in a way that feels both authoritative and enjoyable to read. Each profile is more than just a summary—it’s a little time capsule, capturing what made these players special in their eras and why their legacies still matter today.

I appreciated how the authors didn’t just rely on numbers but also brought in voices from coaches, teammates, and rivals to give texture to the rankings. The mix of quarterbacks, defensive legends, and even linemen shows that they took a serious and balanced approach, not just sticking to the flashiest names.

That said, no list like this is ever without controversy. I found myself nodding in agreement with some selections and scratching my head at others. That’s part of the fun, though—debating greatness is baked into football culture. A few of the rankings felt more like a journalist’s angle than an objective measure, but perhaps that’s what makes the book engaging rather than a dry list.

On a personal note, I really enjoyed reading this book. These kinds of rankings are designed to spark good barroom arguments, and The Football 100 delivers on that front. As a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, though, I felt we were short-changed. Walter Payton at #8? No Richard Dent? No Mike Singletary? Give me a break! Most of the mini-bios were well written, but in a few cases it felt like the authors mailed it in by rehashing material from ESPN’s A Football Life. On the other hand, I loved learning about players I wasn’t familiar with, and Adam Johns’ write-up on Clyde “Bulldog” Turner was top-notch.

Overall, The Football 100 is not perfect—no ranking book ever could be—but it’s a deeply enjoyable, well-researched, and thoughtfully presented tribute to the sport and its greatest players. Even when I disagreed, I found myself smiling and eager to debate, which might be the book’s greatest success.

[Josh Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago, I read "The Baseball 100" and it is one of the best baseball books ever written. I was hoping for similar results on this one and although good, was not as compelling as the baseball one. Football, just like the other major sports, is extremely difficult to compare the eras. Otto Graham and Tom Brady both won 7 rings, both in the top ten of this book, but, how do you say which one was better or if Brady would have been as good in Graham's era or vice versa?

Another question that was addressed by the authors, was the actual impact of these players to the game overall. How could they say that Gale Sayers, who only played 68 career games due to injury, would not have been one of the best ever. Or because sacks were not an official stat until 1982, how could you judge players like Deacon Jones' impact because his sack numbers were never officially verified?

The biggest difference between this and "The Baseball 100" is that one was written by an actual author, who was able to tie the players' stories with nice anecdotes. This one was written by beat writers who stayed away from the character stuff and focused more on the stats, except of course, for OJ Simpson, who, although a horrible human being, it has been forgotten just how great of a football player he was.

A list like this is extremely subjective, and for the most part, I have no arguments about whom they included, the only major head scratcher was Julio Jones was in this book over guys like Tim Brown, Marvin Harrison or Lynn Swann, all deserved their flowers over Julio IMO.

One thing they did that I enjoyed was list guys who were on their way to being on this list, but, due to injury like Bo Jackson, or tragic deaths, like Sean Taylor, did not have enough stats to merit the inclusion.

It's a "B" overall, and recommended for anyone who is interested in this kind of list regarding football history.

One great fact in this book that I was not previously aware of, was that Willie Davis of the Packers, was the father of Duane Davis, who played Alvin Mack in "The Program".

[David Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Football 100: The Story of the Greatest Players in NFL History by Mike Sando, Dan Pompei, and the Athletic NFL Staff (William Morrow 2023) (796.332) (3994).

This book’s promoter/owner, which is apparently named “The Athletic,” chose to commence its Goodreads review of this book as follows: “From The Athletic, powerhouse of sports reporting, comes the definitive story of the greatest football players of all time.” Well aren’t we impressed with ourselves? I’ve been a sports nut and a voracious reader for over sixty years, and I’ve never heard of “The Athletic.” Just sayin’. (Sometimes it’s just smarter to let others do your boasting for you.)

I liked the premise of this book but not the execution. The named authors appear to have published a series of often short and entirely shallow paeans about their personal favorite NFL players. Each of these bios contains the same depth of insight and detail as a Wikipedia entry. In fact, the book entries from The Football 100 that I compared with the Wikipedia website appeared to have been “researched” entirely from that site. (Or maybe Wikipedia stole all of the book’s information.)

It’s not a bad book. It just adds nothing - zero - to the football writing canon.

My rating: 5/10, finished 10/19/24 (3994).

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I mentioned in my review of "The Basketball 100" (a VERY similar book in style and approach), this is not typically a book you sit down and read straight through, cover to cover, as if it was a novel. In fact, there were a number of players profiles that I barely glanced at, just not being familiar at all with their careers, their teams, or their eras. It seems to me that football, with its super-specialization, is a VERY difficult sport in which to compare different players at different positions. Really, how can you compare, say, offensive lineman John Hannah to quarterback Peyton Manning and rank one above the other? Other than pitchers versus position players, it's a lot easier (and there are much better metrics, like WAR) to compare and rank baseball players, and I suppose to a large extent, basketball players as well. Still, the point of books like these is really to spark discussion and debate. I, just like anyone else I suppose, disagree (in some cases pretty strongly) with some of the rankings, and there are certainly a few players I'd include in the top 100 that aren't here (Mike Singletary, anyone?). Still, the authors and editors approached their task fairly and intelligently, making this a fun book to check out!

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made my first trip to the Beaumont Public Library to check out The Football 100, a series of essays composed by a series of writers from The Athletic on the 100 greatest players in the history of the NFL. I learned a great deal from the stories accompanying each profile. For instance, the book is a great way to learn about how the game evolved over time to place a greater emphasis on passing and the efforts of various wide receivers and tight ends to pioneer this shift. The authors make a strong effort to prioritize the stories of receivers like Don Hutson as well as Julio Jones, so that the book is not biased toward the most recent players and readers can learn about the entire expanse of NFL talent. On the other hand, I do think the book lacks the kind of authoritative quality that makes Joe Posnanski's work on football and baseball history so gripping. Because the work is comprised of multiple authors and because the research is shallower than Posnanski's, I have to recommend Posnanski's work first.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not like the writing in this book as much as Joe Posnanski's Baseball 100, but it was still decent. This book is about 100 5-to-8 page stories on each of the Athletic's take on the 100 greatest football players of all time. Some stories are really good like the ones on Gale Sayers, Emmitt Smith, Marcus Allen, Art Shell, Jack Ham, Deacon Jones, Dick Butkus, Jerry Rice, John Elway, Barry Sanders, etc. But some of the stories seemed to all gell into each other, basically the same story told over and over but about a different career. This book is a very good first book for kids learning about the NFL. I especially liked all the stories on the older players pre 1970's, as I feel their stories aren't told enough. I did not agree with the choice as top player ever and I don't think he's actually in the Top 3 (My Top 3 is Brown, Rice and Taylor).

[Russ Bertetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart. Even if you are huge football fan, 636 pages is a big chunk of reading. But it was fun even though it stretched out over several months.
The fact that there were several different writers involved in this epic made it much better to read because the writers took different ways to tell the stories of the 100. Not being formulaic was a major factor in my enjoyment. The other thing that I'm sure everyone who reads this has guys who he thinks should not be included (Julio Jones) or others that should be rated higher or lower. That's part of the fun for a book like this.
One little note I found interesting was that the chapter on #22 (should have been 21 for his number) Deion Sanders was 11 pages almost twice as long as #1 Tom Brady! So even in print, Deion gets more pub than everyone else!

[Kifflie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have too many issues with the choices that were made for this book (although I'm not crazy about the placement of the player at #4). The quality of the articles was somewhat inconsistent. John Elway's chapter seemed focused on one particular play and mostly ignored the rest of his career. Other entries also had what seemed to be to be trivial anecdotes and not enough about why these players are ranked as high as they are. Be aware that any off-field problems that any of these men have had do not figure into their rankings.

Still, it was fun to review a lot of these players' careers and learn more about greats like Walter Jones and Leo Nomellini.

[Nick Katenkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Football 100 is a good book. I've seen it compared to Joe Posnanski's Baseball 100, and this book doesn't compare to Posnanski's brilliance but it delivers what it sets out to do. There are cool stories here and most people, no matter how big of a football fan, will learn something new. Baseball is a sport where comparison regardless of position and era is far more possible than football. Comparing Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, and Albert Pujols to each other is far easier than comparing Bart Starr, Lawrence Taylor, and Randy Moss. The rankings here are more difficult, but I found myself agreeing with most of the placements, even if QBs may be overrepresented.

[Robert James · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always fun to read a book attempting to list the best of anything. This is a good book to read for those football fans that think the game began with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. I saw many of these players play and it's fantastic to remember such great players as Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Lawrence Taylor, Roger Staubach (my favorite player), Fran Tarkenton, Paul Warfield, Dan Marino, Buck Buchanan and Deacon Jones. There is always room for debate. Like, where is Larry Wilson or Raymond Berry or Charley Taylor?

[Grump · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe because I didn't play football, or collect football cards or really start watching it until I was in college ... but I was surprised how few of these names I recognized compared to the Baseball 100. Still great though. Favorites included Jack Lambert, Deacon Jones, Johnny Unitas and Dick Butkus. Nice to see some Vikes in there as well starting with Fan Tarkenton at 100. The shooting stars section was cool too. Covered a handful of could've beens whose careers were stopped by bad injuries (ie. Bo Jackson). Excited for the Basketball 100 coming next year.

[Caleb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love, love, love the Baseball 100, which is another Athletic book. This one, not so much. Instead of being written by a single author and having a flow, this is 100 disjointed articles, written by numerous authors. There is no flow and the choice of what is covered and not in the articles is perplexing at times. There are far too many quotes from players and coaches about the player, so that it reads like an exercise in research more than a narrative. I thought the rankings were reasonable and I learned some about some players, but it got to the end and I was ready to be done.

[Mrs C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an accessible book listing the top 100 players who made a difference in Football. Was I surprised that Tom Brady was #1? No. Bite-size chapters for each of the selected 100 will appeal to sports fans pressed for time as they are dazzled with trivia, insider info, and stats highlighting the merits of those worthy enough to be included.
Fans and non-fans of football will find plenty of info told in a lively writing style.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

[Daniel Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a football nerd, so I love the history and a lot of anecdotes that I hadn't heard in the other football stuff I've read. I mostly enjoy that the essays are written by different authors and have different styles, but some rely overly on statistics some are too short and some don't tell enough, or at all, of the story of the player as an athlete, which is the primary thing I want to read about in this book

[Bobby Smieszny · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as “The Baseball 100”, it was still a great read. The profiles are short and sweet, and offer some anecdotal and statistical analysis as to why these greats made the list. I enjoyed reliving some of the players I watched as a kid, reading about my dad’s favorite players, and learning about some names I hadn’t of heard before. This felt like the perfect primer for my trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame later this month.

[Ian Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a repackaging, I think, of articles that originally appeared at The Athletic. We're getting 100 features on 100 of the most notable football players in NFL history.

I didn't count up the writers; maybe 20 different guys.

The vast majority of the 100 are players we're all familiar with, but most of these profiles include something interesting that I wasn't aware of.

[Alex B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content was interesting but felt repetitive because some of the same stories or anecdotes were in multiple stories. Maybe that is the case because of the multi-author approach. In addition, there were multiple typos, including simple spelling to mentions of teams the player never played for (that may have happened just once or twice). The Baseball 100 is a far better book.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative if you're looking to learn more of some of the best football players of all time. It takes a look at the life of the player as well as talks with people who knew those player. Each player has 5-6 pages which makes it easier to read considering how long it is.

[Rebecca Handa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes interesting but generally so repetitive. Probably not a book I’d recommend reading all the way through, when you can just pick and choose the essays you actually care about. Fought to finish this one

[Georgette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, will be a great holiday book.

[Rm36]

more mediocre white dudes than a ComiCon. B+.

[Rick Class · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good if you’re a football fan. Top 5 of all time:
1- Brady
2- Brown
3-Rice
4-LT
5-White (I’d have gone with Payton)

[Robert Deaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about some of the players from the early days of the NFL.

[Gene Bernacki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very shallow and uninteresting account of these great players. This book can’t hold a candle to Joe Posnanski’s Baseball 100.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look back across football history with so many before my time. Good read cover to cover.