Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, recently named his top five NFL players of all time, and fans were shocked that one player didn’t make his list.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is extremely active on social media. He frequently hops on Twitter to ask trivia questions, give money and prizes away, and sometimes just to troll. On Friday, after the passing of Jim Brown, Irsay took to Twitter to talk about the late Hall-of-Fame running back.
One of the several tweets honoring Brown was Irsay’s personal ranking of the top five greatest players of all time. Irsay listed Brown at No. 1, Tom Brady second, John Elway third, Deacon Jones fourth, and Reggie White fifth. While all five are undeniably great players, fans were quick to point out one name that wasn’t present: Peyton Manning.
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.🏈
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) May 19, 2023
Jim Irsay leaves Peyton Manning out of his top five players of all time
Peyton Manning was drafted by the Colts and was with the organization for 14 years, establishing himself as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Some will argue that Manning is the best quarterback to ever play the game, though, many people believe Brady owns that title after his over two decade-long career. But, with what Manning did in his career, and his connection to Irsay and the Colts, people were surprised to see that he didn’t make this list.
Jim Irsay certainly can’t be accused of being biased towards his players. Irsay noticed the response from fans and followed up with another tweet where he explained that Peyton Manning, and other players like Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice are no doubt in the top 10, but he couldn’t put them over a talent like John Elway.
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…🏈
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) May 19, 2023
Whenever players this great are being ranked, there will always be someone that is left out. Rankings like these are all subjective, and several players throughout the history of the league have strong cases to be considered in the greatest of all time. Just because one of them played for Irsay’s team doesn’t make them a lock for Irsay’s ranking.