Patriots Shocker: Tom Brady on Jim Irsay ‘5 Greatest List’; Where’s Peyton Manning?

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts too many times for Jim Irsay to leave Tom Brady off the list.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was attempting to pay homage to an all-time NFL great when he took to Twitter Friday night. Instead, he ended up making New England Patriots fans happy, and upsetting some in his own fanbase. 

Following the passing of NFL icon Jim Brown Friday, Irsay created his list of the five greatest players in NFL history. On it, was Tom Brady at No. 2. Notably absent was Peyton Manning, the greatest player in the history of his Indy franchise: 

On my list of Top 5 Greatest NFL Players of All Time,in our 103 year History… I have Top 5 as 1)Jim Brown 2)Tom Brady 3)John Elway 4)Deacon Jones 5)Reggie White.🏈

— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) May 19, 2023

As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk pointed out, not only did Irsay include Manning's biggest rival in Brady, but he added in John Elway. Of course, Elway was drafted No. 1 overall by the then-Baltimore Colts -- owned by Irsay's father, Robert -- in 1983, but refused to play for the team. He was later traded to the Denver Broncos where he had a Hall of Fame career. 

At the very least with Brady, he's universally seen as one of the five greatest players ever. But on most countdowns of the five greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, Elway is a fringe top-five guy. Manning is present in some form on almost all lists. Leaving Manning off this list is something that can be debated, but for the Colts owner to go out of his way to leave off his former star quarterback and fit Elway on is bizarre. 

Irsay would later go on to clarify that Manning is among his top 10 players ever, although the damage had seemingly already been done: 

No doubt…Peyton,Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice in Top 10… it’s just that Elway didn’t have great offensive players around him til the end,when he won 2 in a row and his feet we’re remarkable,from baseball talents…🏈

— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) May 19, 2023

Regardless of how you feel about the Manning vs. Elway debate that Irsay ignited, we can all agree that Brown and Brady should be locks for such a list. 

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