Biggest Snubs from B/R's NFL All-Quarter Century Team

On Friday, Bleacher Report released its All-Quarter-Century Team, a collection of the best players from the last 25 years as voted on by a panel of B/R analysts, experts and editors. Naturally, some notable fan-favorites didn't make the cut.

Here, we'll give some recognition to some of the biggest snubs of B/R's all-star squad. The following players certainly deserve it, even if they received no or very few votes from our panel.

We'll examine what these players accomplished over the past 25 years and how they stack up against some players who were voted onto the team—if you think someone belongs on a list, you gotta pick someone to take off.

QB Ben Roethlisberger

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Ben Roethlisberger

It's hard to argue that Pittsburgh Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger had a better career than either Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, who were voted onto B/R's first team and second team, respectively. It's also hard to consider Roethlisberger more successful than our third-team QB, Patrick Mahomes, given the fact that Mahomes has one more Super Bowl ring than Big Ben.

However, the fact that Roethlisberger didn't earn a single vote was stunning—especially since Eli Manning did.

Roethlisberger brought two Lombardi Trophies to Pittsburgh, started 247 games for the franchise and threw for 64,088 yards with 418 touchdowns. Only Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre have thrown for more yards than Roethlisberger.

The six-time Pro Bowler appeared in a third Super Bowl, locked down his team's QB spot for 18 yards and compiled a 165-81-1 regular-season record.

RB Priest Holmes

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Priest Holmes

Our depth chart at running back—LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson and Derrick Henry—is pretty stacked. Backs like Christian McCaffrey and Marshawn Lynch received heavy consideration as well.

Heck, even Matt Forte got a vote.

For some reason, Priest Holmes got no consideration whatsoever. That's probably because he began his career as a role player with the Baltimore Ravens in the 90s and only played for six seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2000s.

Of course, Holmes also had one of the most dominant three-year stretches we've seen from a running back in recent history. Between 2001 and 2003, he amassed 4,590 rushing yards, 56 rushing touchdowns, 206 receptions, 6,566 scrimmage yards, three first-team All-Pro appearances and one Offensive Player of the Year award.

To put that into context, Holmes averaged just under 100 scrimmage yards fewer over that three-year span than Saquon Barkley produced last season—and he averaged five more scrimmage touchdowns.

Oh, and in 2000, Holmes won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs.

WR Julian Edelman

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Julian Edelman

Look, when it comes to regular-season numbers, we're not going to pretend that Julian Edelman stacks up with even our third-team lineup of Steve Smith Sr., Andre Johnson and Tyreek Hill.

When Chad Johnson and Wes Welker receive votes and Edelman doesn't get a single one, though, we have to consider it a snub.

The reality is that Edelman was always a good—not great receiver for the New England Patriots during the fall. In 11 seasons, he recorded just 620 receptions for 6,822 yards and 36 touchdowns. He was a different player in the postseason, however, and it's impossible to write the history of the Super Bowl without him.

Edelman had arguably the most memorable catch in Super Bowl history against the Atlanta Falcons during the infamous 28-3 comeback. He appeared in four total Super Bowls, was the MVP of Super Bowl LIII, and helped deliver three of New England's six championships.

Only Jerry Rice and Travis Kelce have amassed more receiving yards in the playoffs than Edelman's 1,442.

TE Jason Witten

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Jason Witten

Our top-three vote-getters at tight end were unsurprising. Tony Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce are three of the best to ever do it and logical choices for an All-Quarter-Century Team.

What was surprising, though, was the fact that Antonio Gates was the only other tight end to receive votes. There was no love for Dallas Cowboys great Jason Witten, which is kind of wild.

One could argue that Witten was the greatest Cowboy we've seen over the past 25 years, and his regular-season numbers are, as a whole, more impressive than those of Kelce or Gronkowski—though spread across several more years.

Witten played 16 seasons in Dallas, 17 seasons in total and racked up 1,228 catches for 13,046 yards and 74 touchdowns. He was named to 11 Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro twice.

Of course, post-season results matter, and the Cowboys simply haven't had good ones this century.

RG Chris Snee

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Chris Snee

Longtime New York Giants guard Chris Snee was never really considered the most dominant interior lineman in the game—something that could be said of our All-Quarter-Century right guards, Zack Martin, Jahri Evans, and Marshal Yanda.

Still, it feels like Snee deserved more than the pair of votes he ultimately received. Why? He helped deliver two championships to New York and two of the most stunning Super Bowl wins of the century.

Snee was quite good during the regular season, too, having started 141 games over 10 years. He made four Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro once. He also started 11 playoff games and helped the Giants stun the Patriots in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI.

As previously noted, postseason performances do matter. Snee has as many Super Bowl wins as Martin, Evans, and Yanda combined.

Edge Michael Strahan

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Michael Strahan

We had nine total edge-defenders on our squad, with Terrell Suggs, T.J. Watt and Dwight Freeney making up our third team. Full disclosure: Khalil Mack and Jason Taylor were next up in the voting and had strong cases for making the active roster.

Mack is still adding to his resume, and Taylor has more career sacks than Freeney.

Giants standout Michael Strahan only received a few votes, though, and earns a spot on our snubs list because of it. His relatively low level of consideration likely stems from the fact that his career began back in 1993.

In fact, only eight of Strahan's 15 seasons were played this century, which obviously works against him, given the eligibility criteria. Still, he had a heck of a run in the 2000s.

Since the turn of the century, Strahan tallied 89 sacks, 15 forced fumbles, 117 tackles for loss, four Pro Bowls, two first-team All-Pro nods and one Defensive Player of the Year award. He led the league in sacks twice during that span, led the NFL in tackles for a loss three times and won a Super Bowl in 2007.

Edge James Harrison

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

James Harrison

James Harrison is another edge-defender who earned few enough votes to be considered a snub. While his regular-season sack numbers (84.5 career) pale in comparison to those of Watt (108), Freeney (125.5) and Suggs (139), he had a terrific overall career—especially for an undrafted free agent.

Over his 15 NFL seasons, Harrison recorded 128 tackles for loss, 34 forced fumbles, 811 total tackles, five Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro nods. He was also the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year.

What was truly impressive about Harrison's career, though, was his postseason success. He won two Super Bowls with the Steelers and had arguably the greatest defensive play in championship history—a play that, essentially, won Super Bowl XLIII for the Steelers.

Harrison added 11 sacks, 93 tackles and 14 tackles for loss to his resume in the postseason alone. Like Edelman, Harrison has a permanent place in NFL playoff lore.

S Devin McCourty

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Devin McCourty

Longtime Patriots safety Devin McCourty doesn't really stack up to our top two safety tandems statistically, and he never had the individual accolades of third-team safeties Eric Weddle and Tyrann Mathieu—who have nine Pro Bowls and five first-team All-Pro nods between them.

However, it was still surprising to only see McCourty receive a couple of votes. He made just two Pro Bowls during his 13-year career, but he was a highly productive defender who finished with more interceptions (35) than Weddle (29) and more tackles (971) than Mathieu (838). He had more forced fumbles (11) than either counterpart.

Of course, the real reason why McCourty is a snub candidate is his postseason career. Granted, he got to play in as many postseason games (24) as Weddle and Mathieu combined, but he produced some pretty incredible playoff numbers.

McCourty racked up two interceptions, 10 passes defended, 119 tackles and 92 solo stops in the playoffs. He also owns three Super Bowl rings courtesy of New England's second dynasty.

RS Darren Sproles

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Darren Sproles

Running back and return specialist Darren Sproles earns a place on our snubs list for two reasons. For one, it felt odd for a player with 11,313 return yards and nine return touchdowns to only receive a handful of votes.

Sproles had fewer return touchdowns than Josh Cribbs (11), Dante Hall (12) and Devin Hester (19), plus fewer return yards than Cribbs and Hall. However he did have more total return yards than Hester (11,028)—albeit over a longer career—and some impressive individual seasons.

The three-time Pro Bowler led the NFL in punt return yards twice and led the league in all-purpose yards once.

The other reason we want to mention Sproles is his prowess as an all-around player. We didn't have a category for all-purpose player, but Sproles would have been at or near the top of the list.

Over his 14 seasons, Sproles recorded 232 carries, 553 receptions, 8,392 scrimmage yards, 55 scrimmage touchdowns, 19,696 all-purpose yards and 1,715 postseason all-purpose yards. He ranks sixth on the all-time all-purpose yards list behind Jerry Rice, Brian Mitchell, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and Frank Gore.

One could easily argue that Sproles was the NFL's best utility player of the past quarter-century.