San Francisco 49ers: The best 53-man roster of all time
By Peter Panacy
Niner Noise has done a lot of San Francisco 49ers all-time lists. But what if we could go back through the franchise’s history and create the best 53-man roster ever? Well, we do. You’re welcome.
San Francisco 49ers fans are fortunate to call many of the NFL’s best players their own.
From wide receiver Jerry Rice, perhaps the best player of all time, to quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young, more than a fair share of football greats and Hall of Famers have donned the red and gold since the team’s creation back in 1946.
To date, most of Niner Noise’s all-time rankings have focused on either a category, list or, in some cases, an all-time starting lineup. Such as the one you can find here.
But what if we were to put together a full 53-man roster of the best players in San Francisco history? You know, a roster where both Young and Montana would be present and we wouldn’t be left having to choose between one or the other.
OK, we’d choose Montana. Moving on now.
An all-time starting lineup would leave out plenty of great names. And since we’d want to include those too, why not take a look at what the best-of-the-best 53-man roster would look like?
To set something of a standard, here’s the number of players named at each position:
- Quarterback — 2
- Running back — 4
- Wide receiver — 6
- Tight end — 3
- Offensive line — 9
- Defensive line — 9
- Linebacker — 7
- Cornerback — 6
- Safety — 4
- Special teams — 3
This would be a pretty common alignment for most 53-man rosters. In order to start filling things out, let’s jump into special teams play and find our three guys there.
Note: Backups listed in italics. Stats courtesy of Pro Football Focus.