Who Was The Best Player From The 1997 Heisman Class?

NFL great and football legend Charles Woodson played his last game this Sunday for the Raiders, and after an outstanding 18-year career on and off the field, there’s no doubt he will be remembered as one of the best defensive backs to ever lace them up. He’s probably already telling the tailors at Canton that his jacket is a size 44 long and his right arm’s just a little longer than his left for his induction.

Woodson, in addition to his many accomplishments, also has the unusual distinction of being part of one of the best Heisman classes of all-time, the 1997 class of himself, Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, and Ryan Leaf (fun fact: Ricky Williams didn’t make the cut to be invited to New York but came in fifth). The only Heisman class that could even touch it would be 1982 with Herschel Walker, John Elway, Eric Dickerson, and Anthony Carter.

The 1997 class is now pretty much done in the NFL. Ryan Leaf busted famously and spectacularly, Randy Moss has been out of football for years and is doing FOX studio shows. And while Peyton Manning is active and in the playoffs, unless he pulls off some unexpected postseason heroics (stop laughing), the book has pretty much been written on his legacy. So who is the best one? Which player can we look back on and say was the best of one of the most prolific groups of players the league has ever seen? I broke down the arguments for you here:

Randy Moss

The Case For: The all-time highlight wide receiver. It’s hard to think of a player with more god-given talent than Randy Moss. Listed a 6’4 (but I think taller in actuality), he could pluck balls out of the air several feet from his body, had NBA-like hops and could run like the wind. He was the NFL receiving touchdowns leader 11 years apart and 3 times between, a stunningly long stretch of continued excellence. Along with Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens, he’s the only wide receiver to be in the Top-5 all-time of receiving yards, touchdown catches and 100-yard games. Slightly past his prime and in his first season of his career with an elite (shoutout PFTCommenter) quarterback, he set the single reason touchdown reception record, an unthinkable 23 touchdowns, which he still holds to this day. According to the guys at 538, advanced metrics say in terms of impact on a game, he is the greatest wide receiver of all-time (their words, not mine, 49ers fans). It’s also probably noting that Bobby Bowdon, who has coached for and against as much talent as anybody, said Randy Moss was the only player he’s ever seen with as much athleticism as Deion Sanders. Except he was bigger.

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The Case Against: From high school until his retirement, his career was plagued by arrests and controversy. No one has ever described Randy Moss like “Wow that guy really gives it his 110% out there every single play.” While it’s harder to judge a wide receiver on numbers than any other skill position, for someone of his talent he holds less “holy-shit” records than you would think. His postseason career could be described, by his standards, as disappointing. It can be, and has been, argued that all of these detractions were a result of factors outside of his control. Maybe, but I doubt it.

Peyton Manning

The Case For: The number of passing records Peyton holds is fucking stupid, so I won’t even bother listing them and instead will link to this Wikipedia page. In his prime, he was accurate as a sniper and could read defenses as easily as Dr. Seuss books. Along with Tom Brady, has been the face of the NFL for over a decade and the two of them formed a rivalry that defined the league for years, which vaguely feels like it counts for something. To some, he is the greatest quarterback of all-time.

The Case Against: The asterisk next to Peyton’s career will always be his performance in big moments. Never beat Florida in college. Sub .500 record in the playoffs (so far). Most postseason losses as a Quarterback. His infamous pick-six throw that sealed a Super Bowl for the Saints. His only Super Bowl victory coming against football immortal Rex Grossman. Being the bearer of the biggest backhanded compliment in sports: Greatest Regular Season Quarterback. Some people say his postseason failings are a false and overblown narrative. Some people would call it a clear and identifiable trend. The recent HGH allegations also throw a nice wrinkle into the argument against him, if you care about that sort of thing (I don’t).

Charles Woodson

The Case For: Arguing for Charles Woodson as the best player of the three is the hardest argument to make, but it can be done. In terms of individual accomplishment, Woodson was Mr. Football in Ohio in High School, a Heisman Winner and National Champion in college, and a Super Bowl winner, Defensive Player of the Year and 7 time All-Pro in the NFL. He is the only player with at least 50 interceptions and 20 sacks. He was one of the best defensive backs in the league this year at the age of 39 with a shoulder injury which is a sentence so unbelievable I don’t actually believe it as I type it even though I know it’s true. His white Raiders jersey also earned instant street cred to white people all over America in the early 2000’s. When I stomped around my elementary school in that thing, no one was fucking with me or my Pokemon GameBoy.

The Case Against: There are no real holes in Charles Woodson’s career, although some would say it’s plain old self-evident that he isn’t in the same class as the two aforementioned players. But I don’t know man. I’ve been trying to write a bad thing about him for the past 15 minutes and can’t think of much.

Ultimately, there’s no right answer and it comes down to largely taste on how you define “Best”. If you want to talk about impact on the teams he played for? You probably give it to Peyton because he played the most important position in sports at as high of a level as it can be played. If you judge a player by his natural abilities at his peak? You’re probably going to go with Randy Moss because if you had to create a person in a laboratory to be a wide receiver in the NFL, you’d create Randy Moss. But if you judge a player on career accomplishments? Charles Woodson might have along with Marcus Allen the most diverse and impressive trophy case, from High School to Pro, in the history of football. Whoever of the three you think is the best, it has been a pleasure to have watched them play and the league is worse off without them. Good luck in retirement to all three, and cue the NFL Films music.

Follow me on Twitter and tell me who you think the best of the three is @CharlieWisco .