NFL Heroes: The 100 Greatest Players of All Time

by George Johnson, Allan Maki

The NFL's best players, all in one action-packed volume. Over a century after the formation of the American Professional Football Conference, the precursor to the National Football League, pro football continues to excite and captivate millions of fans across the globe. At the core of the NFL is its legendary players -- the incredible athletes who have thrown, caught, run, tackled and kicked their way into the annals of sports history. NFL Heroes presents the best of the best in pro football. From the pioneers, to the current stars, to the all-time legends that occupy the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, they're all here, Featuring 100 riveting stories and over 120 photos of the game's best, this updated, second edition of NFL Heroes is a must-read for any fan of America's favorite sport.

Genres: Sports

256 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2022

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

George Johnson (born January 20, 1952) is an American journalist and science writer. He is the author of a number of books, including The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments (2008) and Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics (1999), and writes for a number of publications, including The New York Times.

He is one of the co-hosts (with science writer John Horgan) of "Science Saturday", a weekly discussion on the website Bloggingheads.tv, related to topics in science. Several prominent scientists, philosophers, and bloggers have been interviewed for the site.

Reviews

[Connor Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a nonfiction piece that lists the top 100 players in NFL history and gives background information about each player, along with their accomplishments, stats, and how their overall career went. In my opinion, I think the author needs to relook at the players he chose as most of the players he chose were within the last 50 years. For example, Jarad Goff who is now the quarterback for the Detroit Lions is considered to be one of the worst starters in the league and for some reason, he is in this book. There are more examples of this happening with a bunch of new NFL players who should not be in this book with the examples of Ezekiel Elliot, Deshaun Watson, Zack Ertz, and a few more names. Other than these things though I do like the player selection that the authors chose using some very well-known hall-of-fame players. I also think it provided very good information about each player and adds a lot to the players themselves as we get to see who they are off the field as people, not athletes. However, there are parts where I would like the authors to relook at some of the players they chose to be in this book. I think that if they dive deeper into the history of the league and take a bigger look at some of the best players of all time, this list of players can be far greater than it is even though it is already good. The descriptions and the way that the author talks about the players are very nice and I did really enjoy the writing style the author had. Overall I think this book is very interesting as I learned many things about all the players featured in this book. If you like you learn about the history of the NFL or even the players from now to when the league started this is a great book to read. The book can get boring at parts, however, so if you are not interested in a slow pace book about the history of the sport, this might not be for you. In conclusion, I think while this book has a few drawbacks from it, it was fun and a good read. I suggest reading this book if you are a sports fan.

[Dominic Vergnetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dominic Vergnetti
Ms. Owens
English Period 8
10 November 2022


NFL Heroes, a book made by George Johnson is a football book involving the greatest players to ever touch the game. Every page is a new player and gives you not only their stats but cool descriptions about them. What makes it so cool is that you can learn more about that player from just reading a page or two. On top of that the stories are all so different so you can easily just flip through the pages having a great time reading about these players. You get to see how these guys got here and what made them so good. It really gives you a perspective on how some of these players got to the top.
Even though the book has a lot of positives there are some things that could be improved. Before anything, this book just has some stats and descriptions on the players. It is not a usual book so before buying, just think about that. Also, they have some players on there that should not even be there. I feel like the author could have done a better job. They did not add some legends that deserve way more to be on the book than a fourth of these guys. There are older guys who shaped the game and were not even added. Meanwhile there are new guys who aren’t even good anymore all over this book. Another thing that the book should have is longer descriptions. It is very nice reading about these guys but after a few paragraphs and 1 minute of reading it is already over. If the author added a page or two more adding some cool facts for these players it would be even better.

Even though there was criticism, the author did more good than bad. The style of writing is amazing and kept me wanting to read. The facts and stories I learned were very interesting and taught me so many new things about these legends. It was definitely worth reading and if you're a big football fan take my word for it. It does take a longer time to read since there are so many players inside of it. If that is not a problem then still buy it. You will learn so many new things about these players.

[Joshua Souza · Rating 3 out of 5]

NFL Heros was an ok book and my honest opinion was that it was kinda of boring and it lacked of exiting reading, it consisted mainly of long reads for just one player, im wanting just brief descriptions of the players. I also thought the book is outdated to now. Their is so many new players that could be added to the book. But if you want to know more about these players then i would for sure buy this book as it is a very descriptive book of players in the NFL. I thought that the style of writing is boring but unique and kept me wanting to read the book. The data and stories I learned were very intriguing and educated me so many new things about these legends. It was surely worth reading and if you are a big football addict take my word for it. It does take a longer time to read since there are so many players inside of it. If that isn't a problem moreover still buy it. You'll learn some numerous new facts about these players. Perssonly i would not read this again or possible even recommend this book to a football fan. I just mainly thought it was boring. I wouldve rather wanted a picture of the player and a brief description of them. Before i forget this book is football and that means this book is not really made to have a story other than the fact its some storys of the players. So if you are looking for a book with story a football book with a story this would not be it. Lastly the book is decently big and could give you a big read. If you dont like long books this would also not be your choice unless you look briefly at the description of the player and maybe just look at the pictures. Speaking of the pictures i think they were pretty high quality pics and some were special pics to the players. Most of these players were put in the book because they accomplished so much in football and made their football career into history so they can call themselves some of the best of the best. This would be my final review and recommendations for the book The 100 greatest football Players of all time.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

NFL Heroes: The 100 Greatest Players of All Time is a nonfiction story by George Johnson and Allan Maki that tells the story of the infamous Nation Football League (NFL). It includes over one hundred and twenty stories and one hundred pictures of the most popular and historical NFL players and monuments.
George Johnson and Allan Maki use statistics constantly throughout the book. This is purely for informational purposes. Authors tend to rank or compare players in a book like this one to determine who is better and/or greater. This bias was not involved and allows the reader to make their own conclusions.
Personally, my favorite part of this book was the sections on Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. They were two of my favorite players growing up, but I never got to see their greatness, only hear about it. This book provided specific information about the two and allowed my fandom of the two players to be revitalized.
The part of the book I disliked the most was the sections on most of the current “superstars”. I feel that players such as Deshaun Watson and Jared Goff were more than undeserving to be mentioned in the book. Are they good football players at the moment? Yes. However, they do not deserve to be in the same conversation that the other legends are in, as it is too early in their young and hopefully successful careers.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about the game of football or anyone who already has extensive knowledge about the NFL’s history. It takes a deeper dive into the game and its history while also covering the players needed for daily conversation. The lack of bias also allows you to be your own NFL critic.

[Anthony]

NFL HEROS The 100 greatest players of all time is a very good book in my opinion. It is very informational and entertaining because of the vast amount of people in the book. These players span from different parts of the world, different parts of America, all different schools, different positions, and backgrounds. Written by George Johnson NFL HEROS has over 200 players in it and over 200 stories to be told about these players. Some of the players consist of Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Tom Brady, and many more. When I was reading this book all that was flowing through my mind was how much these players do on a day-to-day basis from training, getting enough sleep, eating correctly, and being a team player. Being a team player is stated many teams by multiple players in this book because they believe it is the most important part of their careers. This is because you can’t win football games without being a team player because there are 22 players on the field, around 45 on the sideline, 20 or more coaches, all the staff and trainers, so with all these people it goes into playing one game per week, just to win or lose it. Another topic that comes up multiple times within this book is how much players relied on each other, especially in tough times. Tom Brady, a QB for the patriots, said that his whole career has relied on his team mates because he had to learn to trust in his fellow players, as well as have chemistry with them. Without chemistry nothing happens no one will know what is happening, everyone will be on different metaphorical pages mid-game, and lots of different emotions will run wild. So overall i would give this book a 9.5/10 because it is an informational book while also being absurdly entertaining if you are a fan of football.

[Liam Fick]

NFL Heros: The 100 Greatest Players of All Time talks about how each of the 100 players of all time was crowned a top player of all time. NFL Heros breaks the book down into 6 different parts, the introduction, the Top 10 Greatest Players of All Time, Offensive Icons, Defensive Greats, Super Bowl history, and Additional Captions. I think the book was an amazing book especially since I love football and the NFL. In my opinion Tom Brady is the best player and he was ranked ___ in the book. My favorite player in the book is Ben Roethlisberger, because he played for my favorite team, The Pittburgh Steelers. He played 18 seasons and won 2 super bowls. My favorite section in the book was the top ten players of all time because it was fun to read about all the top players and what they accomplished in the book. There would be one thing that I would add to the book and that would be some coaches. My favorite coach is Mike Tomlin, who has coached the Pittsburgh Steelers for 16 years, and still has never had a losing season, which means he was above .500 his whole coaching carrer and could still keep going. I would recommend reading this book if you like the NFL.