Donovan McNabb to Redskins
Early last week, QB Donovan McNabb was traded to the Washington Redskins, a divisional rival, and this question popped up, “Who are the superstar players in the NFL?” If the face and franchise quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles can so easily be traded away to a division rival for a couple of draft picks, then clearly no one player in the NFL is that important. Everyone is expendable.
If there is one thing I learned from the McNabb trade, it’s that unlike any other sport, today’s NFL is clearly not defined by a single player, a single name, a single face. As a matter of fact, I am not sure the NFL has ever been defined by a single player. Players in the NFL wear helmets, and that alone makes it nearly impossible to identify the player by the two eyes peeking out from behind the facemask. If you can’t see the player, how can he represent the NFL?
The NBA had Magic, Bird and Jordan and currently boasts Kobe and LeBron. MLB had The Great Bambino, The Sultan of Swat and The Babe, albeit that was all the same guy. Soccer had Pele and currently everyone knows the name of Beckham and Ronaldo. The NHL had Gretzky, PGA has Tiger and even NASCAR had Earnhardt, Petty and now Jeff Gordon. Who does the NFL have?
More and more, the NFL seems to be a sport that prides itself on not having a single player that defines the game. Sure there are some great players in the past and even present players that appear to be superstars but even they alone do not encompass the NFL. Johnny Unitas, Jim Brown and Bart Starr do not mean much to the younger generation of football fans. Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and Tom Brady appear to be today’s NFL stars, but will their names be synonymous with football after they call it quits?
Look at Mcnabb, after being drafted in the 1st round by the Eagles in the 1999 NFL Draft, he was supposed to be the guy under center in Philadelphia until he walked away from the game. He led the Eagles to 5 NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl. He’s been to 5 Pro Bowls and leaves the Eagles with the most TDs (216), yards (32,873), completions (2,801), attempts (4,746) and games started (148) than any other quarterback in team history. What did that earn him? A one way ticket out of town, on Easter Sunday no less.
One would think that with stats like that, a player would be around for a long time. But not in the National Football League. Especially if you are an older player in the game. Teams look at your age as a hindrance and discard older players rather easily. You can be the greatest player to ever play at your position in the NFL, and even that is not enough to give you job security.
Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s career rushing leader, and Jerry Rice, the NFL’s touchdown and receiving leader were not allowed to finish their careers with their original teams. Emmitt spent two seasons in Arizona before calling it quits, and Rice had to endure a few seasons in Oakland before hanging up his cleats in Seattle. Why is it so hard for NFL teams to allow great players to finish their careers with the teams they helped make great?
The NFL has lost great players in the past and yet it still continues to grow in popularity every year. The individual team might struggle without their star player, but the league doesn’t miss a beat. Two years ago, when QB Tom Brady went down in the first game of the season, the Patriots barley missed the playoffs, yet the league had one of its highest rated post seasons ever.
The NFL continues to dominate the sports headlines throughout the year even during the off-season and this week, the National Football League will dominate prime-time television during a Thursday night and Friday night broadcast of the 2010 NFL Draft. It will be the most watched program on TV Thursday night and not a single football play will have been run. Why will people tune in? To watch, as the NFL introduces us to its next crop of superstar players that it will use until their time, too, is up.
QB Peyton Manning Barks Out Signals
That is why football is king and the NFL stands alone. It is the game we tune into watch and we will continue to tune in regardless of who is throwing, running or catching the ball.
A great piece. I completely agree Steven, and as a Rams fan, I gotta say that I can’t wait for the change!
I’d like to think my comment on the last show helped with this article in same form, but I’m not gonna be that conceited :P There are very few players throughout league’s history that warrant themselves as faces of the league after their retirement; I think Joe Montana and John Elway are up there, and Brett Favre will join those ranks as well.
A great piece. I agree that the league will always be as big without a particular face to hang on it. That is why the NFL is so popular, its not a ONE TRICK PONY. Its not one of those sports that if the star of the league goes down injured people stop watching because the entertainment is now gone.
It takes more than one man to run the team, sure you can get buy if you have 1 skill player who is a superman at that position but you will be found out in the end. Thats why there is such a debate when the statement that “Defence” wins you championships. A team in the NFL can’t rely on one unit to do the lot for them. It takes more than that and more than one man.
Great piece Steven.
Completle agree, but as a Redskins fan, this is some good news for a change! Now who wants a big butt D lineman out there.
Excellent piece Steven, especially in regards to the effect of the helmet. I think there is a certain ruthlessness amongst NFL owners, which may partially come down to the fact that so many of them are highly successful businessmen, and you don’t get there by being a soft touch. When they think a resource is no longer effective of efficient they look to replace it.
I would add a caveat to your penultimate paragraph though. I think many fans of a sport would say something similar about their own game. I know soccer fans who would say the same about golf but will happily sit down to watch Bristol Rovers vs Leyton Orient despite not knowing any of the players because it’s the game itself they love. Likewise cricket fans who’ll watch Sri Lanka vs West Indies but will not watch soccer unless it’s Man Utd, Arsenal or Barcelona. Most of my friends couldn;t give two hoots about the NFL but I had 9 of them at my house until 3:30am for the Superbowl purely because it’s an event in and of itself.
In my experience most sports fans have one main sport which they follow for the love of the game itself, and maybe one or two others they follow closely, but beyond that they tune in for the Big Names and Big Events, be it Tiger, Ronaldo, the Lakers, The Indy 500 or The Superbowl.
Interesting article Steven. Not the only reason but I think the salary cap and “creative” contracts plays a large role in what can be seen as using players as pure commodities. Throughout all sports you are only as good as your last game to some degree, but in English football for example due to not having a salary cap there isn’t quite the pressure to release players.
I also think your comment about players helmets disgusing their recognisability is an interesting argument and very true. Outside of the “skilled” positions there is only probably 1 or 2 players that are recognisable to most people. With that in mind it can be difficult to “brand” individuals to the NFL logo.
That Makes me cry!!!!!!
T’was a beautiful glop of text,
a classic!!!!!
Can you guys introduce a new HWMNBN (humunba)?
Maybe T.O.?
Great article Steven but I’m sure these real super superstars only come around every so often.I know soccer has ronaldo and beckham as you mention but these two are not real true greats.True greats ( Best,Pele and Maradona) are just as rare as (Montana,Rice and Smith).Since Maradona there has been no one who will go down in legend with these 3. Maybe Messi given time. Soccer like the NFL, is still huge despite this fact.Thats why there the two greatest games on earth.
Wow! Great piece, Steven. Sorry it took me so long to get to. I think Ian is on to something about most people being passionate about their particular sport and watching regardless of who is playing. That being said, why is it that it is less important in the NFL to have a “face of the league.” Given the leagues recent disastrous attempts to market around faces (Mike Vick, Ben Roethlisburger, and Matt Hassselbeck), maybe it is best to put the Shield out there as “the thing.”
Actually,
the NFL does have a name and face.
Its Roger Goddell.
For making our perfect league ugly and bad!
A great piece. I completely agree Steven, and as a Rams fan, I gotta say that I can’t wait for the change!
Completely agree Rchurch!
Great piece Steven. Keep them coming.
Spot on, Steven, and an obvious that I don’t think anyone else has made.