Who are the top-5 all time great Packer WRs?

Greg C.

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johnny_blood said:
Don Hutson is #1. Definitely Sharpe and Lofton are top 5. Then I would suppose Dowler and McGee, but I never saw them play, except highlight reels.

I love Brooks and Freeman and Driver, but I don't think they are top 5. The case for Freeman is probably the best here: the 61 TDs, the crazy and memorable catches, being so valuable during the Super Bowl run while playing with a cast. I think Sharpe is the only truly great receiver of the Favre era.

Driver is one of my all-time favorite players, but he simply does not have the physical gifts Sharpe and Lofton did. Freeman is better as well.

As a person, I'd take Driver over just about anyone. He's a class act with a heart of gold. But as a player, I'd probably rank them Hutson, Lofton, Sharpe, Freeman, Brooks, Driver.

Note that I didn't mention anyone from the 60s. It is not a slight - I wasn't there. But I did throw in Hutson because pretty much everyone who knows football will tell you he was the best PLAYER of his time and his talents changed the way the game was played.

Nobody is saying, or even implying, that Driver had the physical gifts of Sharpe or Lofton. But he is right there in the mix with Freeman and Brooks in terms of physical gifts, and I would put him ahead of Brooks already because Brooks only had a couple of good years before injuries ruined his career. Driver has already given us six years as one of the better WR's in the game.
 

Obi1

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Obil posted" Bobby Dillon-May be the ONLY Packer Star of the 50's"

Bobby Dan Dillion was great defensive back for the Packers . Billy Howton was a great pass receiver from 1952-1958. Howton rookie year (1952) still stands as the most pass receiving yards of rookie Packer pass receiver . And in 1952 the NFL regular season was 12 games unlike today in the NFL is 16 regular game season.

End Billy Howton-(1952-1958)-6'2"- 185 lbs- Rice U-2nd round 1952 draft choice-
No. pass receptions 53- Yards 1,251-Average 23.2-Long t90-TD 13

Unfortunately Billy Howton played on "lousy" losing teams from 1952-1958. In 1952 & 1955 were best seasons (6-6) the Green bay Packers would have during's Howton's career at Green bay..

In 1959, new Packer head Coach Vince Lombardi traded Billy Howton to the Clevelend Browns, and so Howton missed the Green Bay Packer great years of 1960's. Vince did not like Billy Howton's attitude in Lombardi's tough training camp training camp . Lombardi delivered a message to his 1959 Packer squad. If you didn't go along with his program, no matter who you were, you would be gone from Green Bay. Even if you were the great Packer receiver Billy Howton.


The 1950's Packers had many future great players on their roster. players like HOF Center Jim Ringo drafted in 1953. WR End Max McGee drafted in 1954,.DT Forrest Gregg & OT Bob Skoronski , QB Bart Starr drafted in 1956. RB Paul Hornung and End Ron Kramer drafted in 1957. And in the great draft of 1958, Lb Dan Currie, LB Ray Nitschke, Fb Jim Taylor and G Jerry Kramer were drafted.


And other good players just waiting for Packer head Coach and General Manager Vince Lombardi to take over this team in 1959. He motivated this team, made great trades with other NFL teams for G "Fuzzy " Thurston, DE Willie Davis and LB Henry Jordan. Signed S Willie Wood as a key FA. Lombardi whipped this team into a great football team. And the Packers became the team of the 1960's.

The man who disconvered and acquired all these future great players in the 1950's was Packer Chief Talent scout and Business Manager Jack Vanisi (1950-1960). Jack Vanisi
died of Rheumatic Fever in 1960 at the age of 33. Jack Vanisi would die before all the players he drafted in the 1950s, would become the great Packer star players of the 1960's. The Packer would win 5 NFL Championships including Super Bowl I and Super Bowl
II in 8 years.

However the Packers could not find replacements for these great players drafted in the 1950's when they all retired one by one. And mostly losing Packer teams occurred in the '70's and 80's. Until 1992 when that losing trend was reversed by the new Packer GM Ron Wolf, new packer head Coach Mike Holmgren ,Quarterback Brett Favre and excellent Packer player that followed.. . The Packers now have had the best winning percentage of any team in NFL since 1993.



I will say only about all the great Packer receivers named in this topic. They all all excellent wide receivers. but I will not rank them. it is impossible to rank players from other eras. Because of all the changes in NFL football since 1935, when Don Hutson began his career with the packers... You do an injustice to each one of them, when you attempt to do it. They were all great in their eras.

But Don Hutson dominated his era. Don Hutson was the first Packer's franchise player. He was savior of the Green Bay Packers.. Huitson played in era , when the tickets sold, was the only income that NFL teams had. And the Packers were always a poor franchise and the team needed the income from the fans that came to see Packer's end Don Hutson work "his magic" on the NFL playing fields through out the league in those years.

End of Packer history 101 by Pf.com historian PWT36. Are you still awake? Hope I didn't bore you too much. But I wanted younger Packer fans to understand what really went on in '50's, 60's, 70's and 80's through the eyes of a Green Bay born and raised Packer fan of over 60 years who witnessed all the great Green Bay Packer wide receivers with exception of End Don Hutson. I was 10 years old when Don Hutson retired in 1945. I only have seen small clips of film of Don Hutson in action...

RIGHT.

I meant Howton. He was a premier receiver in the NFL in the 50s. Thanks for the clarification. Also I know all those players were with the Packers then but they didn't come to be stars until Lombardi showed up.
 

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