After news broke Friday that Jim Brown had died, he was remembered by many people as the greatest player in NFL history. Colts owner Jim Irsay was one of those people, but when Irsay tweeted a list of the Top 5 players in NFL history, it was some other names that raised eyebrows.
“On my list of Top 5 Greatest NFL Players of All Time, in our 103 year History, I have Top 5 as 1)Jim Brown 2)Tom Brady 3)John Elway 4)Deacon Jones 5)Reggie White,” Irsay wrote.
So Irsay included John Elway, who refused to play for the Colts when they drafted him in 1983. Elway so badly did not want to play for the Colts, then owned by Jim’s father Bob Irsay, that he threatened not to play pro football at all and instead pursue a baseball career. Eventually the Colts relented and traded him to the Broncos.
And Irsay did not include Peyton Manning, who won four league Most Valuable Player awards with the Colts and led them to the only Super Bowl they’ve won in the half century the Irsays have won the team.
After getting some criticism for that tweet, Irsay followed up.
“No doubt Peyton,Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice in Top 10 it’s just that Elway didn’t have great offensive players around him til the end,when he won 2 in a row and his feet we’re remarkable,from baseball talents,” Irsay wrote.
Irsay did not explain why he left Manning out of his Top 5.