NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 21st of December 2019, the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team named its first quarterback: Joe Montana. Tom Brady followed the next day. Behind both selections lay a process that had concluded more than a year earlier, driven by a panel of voters tasked with compressing a full century of professional football into one roster. They had to weigh careers stretching from the 1920s to the present day. Three of the honorees were still active players when the list was announced. One of them kept playing for three more seasons after that.

• 2. Architects of the List

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  Joe Horrigan brought 42 years of experience at the Pro Football Hall of Fame to the selection process. He joined league historians and other insiders on a panel that worked from April through June 2018. The first milestone was a vote in mid-May to reduce the candidate pool to 160 players. Final votes were due on the 15th of June.

  Bill Belichick and John Madden were assigned a specific additional responsibility. Both were Pro Football Hall of Famers who had coached Super Bowl-winning teams. They reviewed film and reported to the full committee on players from the NFL's earliest decades. The committee designated those figures the 'Golden Era' players.

  Dave Anderson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, had covered the NFL for more than 50 years. He joined ESPN anchor Chris Berman, who had been with the network since 1979, and sportswriters including Peter King and Charean Williams. Williams was also president of the Pro Football Writers Association.

  Rich Eisen hosted the six-week reveal of the roster on NFL Network, alongside Cris Collinsworth of NBC Sports and Belichick. The offense covered 10 quarterbacks, 12 running backs, 10 wide receivers, 5 tight ends, 7 tackles, 7 guards, and 4 centers. The defense included 7 defensive ends, 7 defensive tackles, 6 outside linebackers, 6 middle and inside linebackers, 7 cornerbacks, and 6 safeties. Special teams added 2 kickers, 2 punters, and 2 return specialists. No long snappers were selected.

  Dick LeBeau, a Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back, also sat on the panel. He had won two Super Bowl championships as a defensive coordinator. Among the players the committee evaluated was Cal Hubbard, who last played in 1936. Hubbard had won four NFL championships between 1927 and 1931.

• 3. Timeless Names

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  Johnny Unitas appeared on each of the NFL's three milestone All-Time Teams: the 50th, 75th, and 100th anniversary rosters. He shared that distinction with five other players: Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Don Hutson, Gino Marchetti, and Dick 'Night Train' Lane.

  Unitas spent the bulk of his career with the Baltimore Colts, from 1956 through 1972. He won AP Most Valuable Player honors in 1959, 1964, and 1967, and was named to the Pro Bowl 10 times.

  Don Hutson played for the Green Bay Packers from 1935 to 1945. He earned First-team All-Pro recognition in every season from 1938 through 1945. The NFL named him Most Valuable Player in 1941 and 1942.

  Jim Brown played all nine of his NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns, from 1957 to 1965. He was named First-team All-Pro in eight of those nine years.

  Chuck Bednarik occupies a separate category. He appears on the 50th and 100th Anniversary teams, and also on the 75th Anniversary Two Way Team. That designation acknowledged his rare ability to play center and linebacker. Bednarik played his final season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1962.

  Marchetti made the Pro Bowl in each of his 11 seasons from 1954 through 1964. That sustained excellence survived three separate anniversary votes over five decades. He anchored the 1958 and 1959 Baltimore Colts championship teams. Two of his teammates from those title rosters, Johnny Unitas and running back Lenny Moore, also made the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

• 4. Still Playing

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  Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald, and Adam Vinatieri were named to the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team while still playing in the 2019 season. Brady was in his final year with the New England Patriots. Fitzgerald was starting for the Arizona Cardinals. Vinatieri was kicking for the Indianapolis Colts.

  Bill Belichick was also still actively coaching the New England Patriots, making him the only sitting head coach honored on the list. Rob Gronkowski had retired just before the announcement. He returned to play alongside Brady with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 and 2021.

  When the team was announced in 2019, Brady had already won six Super Bowl championships. He added a seventh when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV in his first season in Tampa Bay.

  Fitzgerald played through 2020 with the Arizona Cardinals. Over his career he earned 11 Pro Bowl selections and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2026. Vinatieri's career spanned two franchises: the New England Patriots from 1996 through 2005, and the Indianapolis Colts from 2006 through 2019. He won four Super Bowl championships and was inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Fitzgerald in 2026.

  Brady's final retirement after the 2022 season made the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team entirely historical for the first time since the list was announced.

• 5. Pittsburgh's Mark

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  Chuck Noll coached the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl championships, taking Super Bowls IX, X, XIII, and XIV. Five Steelers players from those championship years also made the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. They were defensive tackle Joe Greene, linebackers Jack Ham and Jack Lambert, cornerback Mel Blount, and center Mike Webster.

  Joe Greene won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 1969. He was named the league's top defensive player twice, in 1972 and 1974. Jack Lambert, who joined Pittsburgh in 1974, won Defensive Rookie of the Year in his first season and Defensive Player of the Year in 1976.

  Bill Walsh's San Francisco 49ers sent four figures to the 100th Anniversary roster. Walsh made the coaching list, joined by quarterback Joe Montana, wide receiver Jerry Rice, and safety Ronnie Lott. Montana won four Super Bowls and was named Super Bowl MVP three times. Rice was selected for 13 Pro Bowls and won two NFL Offensive Player of the Year awards, in 1987 and 1993.

  Lott made eight First-team All-Pro selections and won four Super Bowl championships as a 49er. Bill Walsh received four separate coach of the year awards in 1981 alone, the same year the 49ers won their first Super Bowl.

• 6. The Coaches

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  George Halas coached the franchise now known as the Chicago Bears from 1920 through 1967, across four separate stints. He won six NFL championships and was named AP Coach of the Year twice, in 1963 and 1965.

  Curly Lambeau coached the Green Bay Packers from 1919 through 1949, winning six NFL championships. Vince Lombardi arrived in Green Bay in 1959 and won five NFL championships in nine seasons, including the first two Super Bowls.

  Paul Brown coached the Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1962, winning four consecutive All-America Football Conference championships and then three NFL titles. He later coached the Cincinnati Bengals from 1968 through 1975.

  Don Shula's coaching career stretched across 33 seasons, from the Baltimore Colts in 1963 through the Miami Dolphins in 1995. He won four AP Coach of the Year awards, in 1964, 1967, 1968, and 1972.

  Tom Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys for 29 consecutive seasons, from 1960 through 1988, winning Super Bowls VI and XII. Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins: Super Bowls XVII, XXII, and XXVI. Bill Walsh won three Super Bowl championships with the San Francisco 49ers.

  Bill Belichick's New England Patriots tenure produced six Super Bowl championships. He was named AP Coach of the Year three times, in 2003, 2007, and 2010.

  Chuck Noll coached in Pittsburgh from 1969 through 1991. The Maxwell Club named him Coach of the Year in 1989, nine years after his last Super Bowl championship.

  John Madden won Super Bowl XI with the Oakland Raiders and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was among the 20 coaching finalists but did not make the final roster of 10.

  Halas's first NFL championship came in 1921. Belichick's most recent came in Super Bowl LIII. Of the 10 coaches on the 100th Anniversary roster, Belichick is the only one whose accolades do not include a Hall of Fame induction.