The axiom is a bit tired, but that doesn't make it any less true: Quarterback is the most important position in all of sports. Signal-callers dominate ESPN's top 25 NFL players of the current century. Quarterbacks constitute nearly one-fourth of the list with six, more than any other position.
Moreover, those players are responsible for 14 of the 25 Super Bowl championships this century. The QBs with multiple Lombardi Trophies occupy three of the top four spots on our list. But it's not just about the guys under center.
Nine other offensive players are among our top 25, as well as 10 defensive standouts. Sixteen members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame are represented; the other nine players are either active (three) or not yet eligible for the Hall (minimum five years retired). It would be surprising if they don't all eventually have busts in Canton, Ohio.
Here is our list of top NFL players since 2000. 1. Tom Brady, QB Seven-time Super Bowl champion, five-time Super Bowl MVP, three-time NFL MVP, two-time AP Offensive Player of the Year, 15-time Pro Bowler, three-time first-team All-Pro, NFL record holder for career passing yards/TDs When Brady was asked which of his seven Super Bowl rings was his favorite, he was fond of answering: "The next one.
" That sums up the player whom Bill Belichick referred to as the "ultimate winner" and who often played his best when the stakes were highest. Belichick noted how Brady entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick "with little to no fanfar.