Friend of the program Bryan Frye is back for another guest series. As regular readers know, Bryan operates his own fantastic site, http://www.thegridfe.com. You can view all of Bryan’s guest posts here, and follow him on twitter @LaverneusDingle.

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This is post seven in an eight part series, so you know how this goes by now. I copy and paste some rules about the article to follow, then I write that article. Here are the rules:

1. I write everything before my painkiller prescription runs out,
2. I write it completely off the top of my head and don’t do any research,
3. I don’t have to proofread this when I finish it, and
4. Chase doesn’t edit my nonsense out of the article (so my inane asides and non sequiturs are our shared burden now). ^[1]Roster construction is as follows: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE, 2 T, 2 G, 1 C, 2 DE, 2 DT, 2 OLB, 2 MLB/ILB, 3 CB, 2 S, 1 K, 1 P, 1 HC
5. I maintain modern division designations. If a player played for the Seahawks when the team was in the AFC West, I am counting him in the NFC West. I have neither the time nor the inclination to make this 100% perfect.

Here’s the article about the NFC West.

Offense

Quarterback – Joe Montana

Sure, Steve Young was more efficient. Kurt Warner and Norm Van Brocklin led record setting offenses. But Montana was Montana, and that’s all I really have to say about that.

Running Backs – Marshall Faulk and Eric Dickerson

Perhaps it’s déclassé to compare athletes to animals, but it’s hard to watch Dickerson without thinking of Secretariat. He had unusual height, further emphasized by his unique upright running style, rare speed, and a level of grace typically associated with much small runners. Faulk is the greatest receiving back in history and could have easily become an all pro wide receiver had he decided to focus on being a wideout. His ability to catch has led some to forget how talented he was as a runner, which is a shame. He was as elusive as they come but also possessed power that you wouldn’t expect from a runner his size. Oh, and he could also pick up the blitz with the best of them.

Joe Perry gets overlooked in these conversations, but he was the first player with consecutive thousand yard seasons, played at a high level for a long time, maintained a solid rushing average, and retired as the career rushing king. ^[2]And he didn’t just presage an era. After Jim Brown broke his record, Perry held on to second place for another 16 years. He at least gets an honorable mention. ^[3]I also feel obligated to mention Dr. Z favorite Hugh McElhenny. Watching the King, as he was called, was like watching Barry Sanders if Sanders was white, played against a bunch of rec league … Continue reading

Wide Receivers – Jerry Rice, Steve Largent, and Larry Fitzgerald

Jerry Rice is the best football player ever. You can try to convince me otherwise, but there is a very good chance I have already heard your argument and found it utterly unconvincing. Largent held most of the important career records before Rice came along and redefined what it meant to dominate the position. Fitzgerald possesses arguably the best hands the position has ever seen, and he combines that with precise routes, rare body control, and a freakish catch radius. All three men were dedicated and skilled blockers.

Tight Ends – Jackie Smith and Brent Jones

There’s an argument to be made that Tom Fears effectively played the tight end position, but I’m going to stick with traditional designations. Smith is best (or worst) remembered as being the sickest man in America, but prior to that he was among the finest tight ends to walk the field. He wasn’t huge, but he was strong and fast with surprising body control for a guy of his stature. The second spot was a coin flip between Jones and Vernon Davis, though George Kittle may make that debate irrelevant one day. Davis is among the best athletes ever to play the position. A rare physical marvel who could burn defenses deep but also deliver solid blocks. Jones was close to the opposite, an uninspiring athlete who nonetheless produced on the field. I think of him as Jason Witten Lite.

Tackles – Dan Dierdorf and Walter Jones

I have Dierdorf as the number two RT of all time (behind Forrest Gregg), and I have both him and Jones on pass blocking Rushmore. ^[4]With Anthony Munoz, Mike Kenn, and Joe Thomas, I guess. Yes, this Rushmore has five guys. Deal with it, fools. Jones was as disciplined as they come, and I gave him the GridFe Sweetness Award for offensive player of the year in 2005.

Guards – Tom Mack and Steve Hutchinson

Mack didn’t necessarily stand out as an all-time great blocker for running or passing plays. Perhaps his most notable trait was that he was pretty good at everything and not bad at anything. Hutch only played 68 games for the Seahawks, but he was dominant enough to hold off the likes of Duane Putnam and Riley Matheson.

Center – Rich Saul

I strongly considered Forrest Blue but ultimately went with Saul, who had a lower peak but maintained high quality play for much longer.

Defense

Defensive End – Deacon Jones and Jack Youngblood

Jones coined the term “sack,” and he earned quite a lot of them. Unofficially, he ranks behind only Reggie White and Bruce Smith on the career list. Youngblood ranks fifth on that list. Between the two, you have 325 sacks and the meanest, toughest set of ends on the planet. Seriously, Deacon died six years ago, and he still scares the hell out of me.

Defensive Tackle – Merlin Olsen and Aaron Donald

Olsen was a hulking figure who could eat up space or penetrate to cause havoc. For years, my DT Rushmore has included Olsen, Bob Lilly, Alan Page, and Joe Greene, with Randy White anchoring a distant fifth place. No offense to Cortez Kennedy or the oft-underrated Bryant Young, but in his brief career, Donald has already surpassed White and is on his way to joining Rushmore. This is not a designation I bestow upon a player lightly. Honorable mention to Leo Nomellini, who consistently gave centers and guards trouble.

Outside Linebacker – Dave Wilcox and Kevin Greene

Wilcox was a virtually unblockable Sam who neutralized rushing attacks at will. Greene was a pass rush specialist who waited a while to make the Hall of Fame because of the notion that he was incapable of dropping into coverage. My problem with this argument is twofold: first, why would I use my sports car to haul lumber; second, while he didn’t cover as well as a rushbacker like Ware or Miller, it’s not like he was as ineffective as ol’ Widow McNamara trying desperately to overcome her osteoarthritis to knead the dough for her pies and crying into her frail hands as she realizes this will be the first year her family recipe – a staple of years past – fails to impress at the Ruritan Club. I’m saying he was fine.

Middle/Inside Linebacker – Patrick Willis and Bobby Wagner

I know these guys are recent, but I think it’s folly to try to make an all-time list and just ignore the newer generations. I’m on record (somewhere, probably) saying I like to take a wait and see approach with active players. However, some guys are just obviously great. Willis and Wagner are two of those guys. Call me a hyperbole prone huckster, but I don’t think either has an obvious weakness in his game. In an age when coverage is more important than ever, Willis and Wagner possess uncommon range and instinct for limiting receivers.

Cornerback – Night Train Lane, Jimmy Johnson, Aeneas Williams

Night Train could’ve gone to the NFC North, but I liked him here for his combined time with the Rams and Cardinals. He’s the best there ever was – fast, quick, strong, big, crafty, and ferocious. To the modern fan, the concept of fearing a hit from a cornerback seems foreign, but people feared Lane. Johnson was a true shutdown corner, a predecessor to Deion Sanders or Darrelle Revis. In an era that featured a ton of interceptions, Johnson’s stat sheet was a bit sparse for all the right reasons. Williams gets overlooked because he was a contemporary of two of the three or four best CBs of all time. However, he was a complete corner who upped his game in the postseason. And don’t even think about trying to run a sweep to his side of the field. Honorable mentions to current stars Richard Sherman and Patrick Peterson. Sherman is a ballhawk in an era when that has become increasingly rare, while Peterson is a shadow who routinely blankets number one receivers.

Safety – Ronnie Lott and Larry Wilson

Lott was an all pro cornerback before transitioning to safety and had the requisite cover skills to match. He was better known for delivering hits that probably effected people’s quality of life decades later, as well as cutting off a digit in order to avoid missing a game. I don’t care what the Declaration of Independence says, not all men are created equal. Wilson didn’t create the safety blitz, but he did perfect it, picking up somewhere between 22 and 25 sacks if I remember John Turney’s email correctly. Triple shoutout time: Kenny Easley may have been better than Lott at his peak, while Nolan Cromwell and Earl Thomas are two of the best cover safeties ever to play. Don’t be surprised if Thomas knocks Wilson off the team one day once his career is in the rear view mirror.

Special Teams and Head Coach

Kicker – Jim Bakken

Bakken didn’t have the leg of a Sebastian Janikowski, but he was the most accurate kicker of his generation, even after accounting for his relative struggles from distance.

Punter – Johnny Hekker

I really wanted to honor Dr. Z’s favorite punter, Tommy Davis, but it was too hard to overlook Hekker. I tend to shy away from proclaiming active players as the best or greatest, because I believe it’s important to take some time to put their careers into broader perspective. Hekker is an exception. Wouldn’t it be great to have a guy who can boom it like Lechler and nail the placement of Mike Scifres? It would be even better if he could actually run effective play fakes in high leverage situations. Well, that guy already exists, and if Sean McVay calls more games like he did in the Super Bowl, we’ll see quite a bit more of him next year.

Head Coach – Bill Walsh

Walsh literally wrote the book on coaching and running an NFL operation. He revolutionized offense and built a defensive dynasty to accompany it. A tragic figure too tormented with his few failures to fully appreciate his copious successes, his early retirement was the only thing keeping him winning a few more Super Bowls.

Parting Shot

That’s part seven in the books. Next up, last in Super Bowl wins but first in our hearts, the NFC South.