ESPN Picks GOATs: Was Aaron Rodgers or Tony Gonzalez Selected?

Former Cal stars should be candidates at their respective positions, but is either the best ever?

You could make a case that former Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers and ex-Golden Bear tight end Tony Gonzalez are the best players at their positions in NFL history.

But what do the experts say?

ESPN asked 50 experts, reporters and analysts to name the NFL's greatest player of all time at every position, and it released the results for offensive players on Monday.

Well, not surprisingly Rodgers was not named the best quarterback of all time. In fact, he did not receive a single vote, which might be reason for complaint.

Tom Brady, who won seven Super Bowls, was the clear choice, receiving 44 of 50 votes.  Joe Montana was second with four votes, and Peyton Manning got the remaining two votes.

Rodgers? Zero votes.

The problem with Rodgers' resume, of course, is the postseason. He won a Super Bowl in 2011 (2010 season), but has not reached the Super Bowl since, and his mediocre performance in Green Bay's playoff loss to the 49ers last season is still fresh in voters' minds.

However, you could make a pretty good argument that Rodgers is the best regular-season quarterback of all time.

His career passer rating of 104.5 is the best in history among quarterbacks who have played at least five seasons. It's considerably better than Brady (97.6), Manning (96.5) and Montana (92.3) as well as Steve Young (96.8), Dan Marino (86.4) and Brett Favre (86.0).

Rodgers has won four MVP awards, more than Brady or Montana.

But the MVP is a regular-season award, and the success Brady and Montana had in the postseason overshadows Rodgers' regular-season work. And that's probably as it should be.

When he retires, Rodgers would probably not like to be remembered with this label: "Greatest Regular-Season Quarterback of Alltime."

So let's go to tight end and whether Gonzalez is the best ever at that position.

Alas, Gonzalez was a victim of the "Recency Factor." The Recency Factor suggests that a player who is active or retired recently typically gets ranked higher than players of comparable ability because voters tend to recall their exploits more favorably.

And Gonzalez barely lost out to Rob Gronkowski in the voting for best NFL tight end ever. Gonkowski received 23 votes, and Gonzalez got 21 votes, a margin that could easily be accounted for by the Recency Factor. Gronkowski played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, and Gonzalez's last NFL season was 2013.

Gonzalez was selected to the Pro Bowl 14 times and was named first-team All-Pro six times. Gronkowski was picked for the Pro Bowl five times, and was a first-team All-Pro choice four times.

Hmmm.

Gronkowski had the advantage of playing with Tom Brady, helping him appear in five Super Bowls, winning four of them. Gonzalez had a postseason record of 1-6, although tight ends have considerably less impact than quarterbacks on postseason success.

Gronkowski was also given credit by ESPN voters for being a better blocker than Gonzalez.

Earlier this summer, CBS Sports ranked Gonzalez as the greatest tight end in history, with Gronkowski second.

Here is what ESPN said about Gonzalez:

Tony Gonzalez (21 votes): NFL reporter Dan Graziano says, "Gonzalez ranks third all time in receptions, sixth in receiving yards and eighth in receiving touchdowns among all players. If the modern tight end is a supercharged wide receiver, Gonzalez deserves credit as the guy who's already inhabiting a wide receiver neighborhood on these all-time lists." What really makes him stand apart from the rest? Bills reporter Alaina Getzenberg points to "the sustained success over his 17-year career, surpassing 900 receiving yards in nine seasons."

By the way, Kellen Winslow ranked third in ESPN's tight end voting with two votes, while Mike Ditka, Shannan Sharpe, Ozzie Newsome and Antonio Gates received one vote apiece.

Are any former Cal players in contention for the best of all time at any defensive positions?

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Cover photo of Tony Gonzalez by Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports

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