All-25: The top 5 NFL players from the last 25 years

The latest edition of theScore's Eras project, which celebrates greatness in every major sport, ranks and discusses the best 25 NFL players of the past 25 seasons.

Stats and achievements compiled before the 25-year period - 1999-2023 - don't count for this exercise. For example, Ray Lewis was evaluated as an eight-time (not a 10-time) All-Pro.

Monday: Introductory essay and players 21-25
Tuesday: Players 16-20
Wednesday: Players 11-15
Thursday: Players 6-10

Era teams: Baltimore Ravens 1999-2012

Signature performance: Lewis' greatest feat might be making himself synonymous with one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. When the 2000 Ravens are mentioned, he's the first player who comes to mind.

The linebacker set the tone for a defense that allowed just 165 points, an NFL record for a 16-game season. Lewis earned his first Defensive Player of the Year award after posting 137 tackles (14 for loss), three sacks, and two interceptions.

He elevated his play in the postseason to carry the Trent Dilfer-led Ravens to a championship. Despite facing four teams that had won 11 or more games, Baltimore only allowed one offensive touchdown. Lewis recorded 31 tackles, nine pass breakups, two interceptions, and a pick-6, and the 2000 season culminated with him holding the Lombardi Trophy and being named Super Bowl MVP.

Why he's here: Lewis wasn't just the face of dominant Ravens teams, but the face of an era, representing the stout, hard-hitting defenses that controlled the NFL during the 2000s.

Whether it was his legendary pregame entrance, motivational speeches, or downright incredible play in the trenches, Lewis was everything people admired about football. From 1999 through 2010, seven of his eight All-Pro nods were first-team honors. He arguably perfected linebacker play in this period.

Lewis recorded more than 100 tackles in 10 of 12 seasons in that span, and only injuries prevented him from making it a clean sweep. He paired incredible instincts with the physicality to make ball carriers wince. No player in NFL history racked up more tackles than Lewis (2,059).

It's impossible to tell the history of NFL defenses without mentioning him. The captain both on and off the field for the Ravens, Lewis spearheaded the 2000 Super Bowl run and, in his swan song, returned from a torn triceps to win a second championship in 2012. - Daniel Valente

Era teams: St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams 2014-23

Signature performance: Collapsing pockets by himself, Donald needed little help in 2018 to post 20.5 sacks, 25 tackles for loss, and 41 QB hits. Each number is a single-season record for a defensive tackle.

Donald's five sacks in two blowouts of the rival 49ers were more than any Rams teammate managed all year. He stripped Patrick Mahomes twice in the 54-51 slugfest that Los Angeles narrowly and famously won. His body of work netted him 90% of DPOY votes and a record 95.3 PFF defensive grade.

Without the destructive Donald, the Rams wouldn't have come close to reaching Super Bowl LIII, which they lost to the Patriots. He entered the next season as the No. 1 player in the NFL's annual Top 100.

Why he's here: Some pictures speak a thousand words:

The double- and triple-teams that Donald attracted in the trenches often couldn't slow him. His 111 sacks in 154 career games - an unreal ratio for an interior lineman - were simultaneously thrilling and anticlimactic. Opponents schemed intricate pass plays and Donald wrecked them by barging through the middle of the offensive line.

Light for his role, he won battles by leveraging his extreme strength, awesome burst, and complete body control. After exploding out of his stance, Donald could pull up for a fraction of a second to freeze his blockers or squat low to knock them backward like bowling pins.

Donald crafted singular achievements, becoming a three-time DPOY who received votes for the prestigious honor in seven of his 10 seasons. Except for running back Barry Sanders, he's the only player to be named to every Pro Bowl for the entirety of a decade-long career. Donald's unusually gaudy stats for a defensive tackle (24 career forced fumbles, 176 tackles for loss, 260 QB hits) reflect his rare imprint on the game.

He helped revive the Rams after a long spell of mediocrity, leading the franchise to five postseasons and two championship appearances. Three years after the Patriots defeat, Donald's two sacks and wrap-up of Joe Burrow on the decisive snap spurred L.A. to victory in Super Bowl LVI. - Nick Faris

Era teams: Kansas City Chiefs 2017-present

Signature performance: Thirteen seconds. That's all Mahomes needed to orchestrate an iconic game-tying drive with 13 seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter of a divisional-round matchup against a red-hot Bills team.

The Chiefs had timeouts to use after Buffalo took a 36-33 lead but began the drive at their own 25-yard line. Mahomes only needed to make two throws to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to set up a 49-yard field goal. In overtime, Mahomes' sixth completion on as many attempts was a touchdown strike to Kelce to walk off Josh Allen and the Bills in an instant classic.

Mahomes finished the epic January 2022 matchup with 378 passing yards - 188 of which came after the two-minute warning or in OT - and three touchdown passes, plus a team-high 69 yards and one TD on the ground.

Why he's here: Only an extraordinary start to a career could springboard a quarterback to No. 3 in our ranking. Despite just six seasons as an NFL starter, Mahomes has proved he'll belong in the GOAT conversation, and the former Texas Tech stud might play another 10 seasons at a high level.

Mahomes has already reached six AFC title games, played in four Super Bowls, and won three. He was the fastest QB to reach 25,000 passing yards, and he posted a rare campaign with 5,000 yards and 50 touchdown throws. Mahomes boasts a regular-season record of 74-22 and a ridiculous postseason mark of 15-3, with two of his losses coming against Tom Brady, including Super Bowl LV.

Watching Mahomes is as impressive as his resume suggests. No QB is better at improvising and making off-script plays. Combined with a strong arm, above-average mobility, and absurd field vision, that results in an unstoppable playmaker who - like the two players ahead of him on this list - changed football.

Mahomes' ability to adjust helped the Chiefs build their dynasty. Defenses tried to limit his big plays early in his career by using two-high safeties, but he still figured out ways to make Kansas City's offense elite. After K.C. traded Hill, a unique target with blazing speed who was his most dangerous weapon, Mahomes promptly produced another Super Bowl triumph. More recently, the Chiefs repeated as champs as the AFC’s No. 3 seed despite having major issues at receiver.

Even after Kelce and head coach Andy Reid retire, nobody will have a better chance than Mahomes to top Brady's seven titles. Next season, he can do something not even Brady did by completing the NFL's first Super Bowl three-peat. - Caio Miari

Era teams: Indianapolis Colts 1999-2011, Denver Broncos 2012-15

Signature performance: Often criticized for some unimpressive playoff outings, Manning's most dominant game was the 2009 AFC title bout. The opposing Jets boasted the NFL's top defense, were led by Hall of Fame cornerback Darrelle Revis, and hadn't allowed more than 15 points in two months prior to the clash with the Colts.

They had no answers for Manning, whose 377 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions on 26-for-39 passing helped Indianapolis return to the Super Bowl with a 30-17 victory. Statistically, Manning had bigger postseason games, but he was never so dominant against a stronger competitor and with so much at stake.

Why he's here: Manning changed the quarterback position over 17 remarkable seasons. The Sheriff's intelligence, hard work, and talent allowed him to control everything at the line of scrimmage by making pre-snap adjustments and often calling his own plays. Preparing to face the Colts or Broncos with Manning under center was a nightmare for defenses.

Manning accomplished everything as an NFL player, and his impact went beyond breaking records and proving doubters wrong.

He changed the city of Indianapolis, which had a lesser sports landscape before the Tennessee product arrived as the No. 1 draft pick in 1998. Manning made the Colts an NFL powerhouse, winning 141 regular-season games, collecting four MVP awards, and claiming one Super Bowl with the franchise. Manning was already an all-time great when he joined the Broncos and posted four decorated seasons at a time few people still believed in him.

Coming off multiple neck surgeries that sidelined him for all of 2011 and almost ended his career, Manning was 45-12 with Denver, won a record fifth MVP at age 37, and lifted the Lombardi Trophy again. His fantastic 2013 season rewrote history: Manning set the records for passing yards (5,477) and touchdowns (55). Between that Broncos team and the 2004 Colts, Manning quarterbacked two of the NFL's 10 most efficient and productive offenses ever.

Manning's potential and accomplishments were so impressive that starting in four Super Bowls and winning two feels like an underachievement. That said, he's the only QB to reach the Super Bowl with four head coaches (Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, John Fox, and Gary Kubiak). A fifth coach, Jim Mora, also went to the playoffs with Manning, who beat all 32 NFL teams in his career and was the first passer to lead two franchises to a championship.

We can't rank Manning ahead of the most decorated player in NFL history. But the fact he created a rivalry with Tom Brady and won multiple Super Bowls after beating him in conference title games shows how special Peyton was. - Miari

Era teams: New England Patriots 2000-19, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2020-22

Signature performance: Brady organized the largest comeback in Super Bowl history in the game's 51st and most dramatic edition. Trailing by 25 points as the fourth quarter neared, he led Patriots scoring marches of 75, 72, 25, and 91 yards before driving downfield again in overtime to stun the Falcons.

At halftime, it seemed like Brady's faceplant on the NRG Stadium turf as he failed to stop Robert Alford's pick-6 would symbolize a dismal defeat. Instead, he passed for 466 yards (282 after the break) and immortalized the colossal deficit - 28-3 - that New England overcame.

Why he's here: The ultimate winner, Brady mastered football's most important position after teams severely underrated his potential. The No. 199 overall pick in the 2000 draft grew up to be the GOAT.

Clutch, cutthroat, and durable, Brady powered two separate New England dynasties to a total of six championships. Clinching a seventh with the Buccaneers at age 43 proved his excellence was extricable from the Patriot Way; he didn't need Bill Belichick in his corner to lord over the league.

Brady ransacked defenses, owned the AFC East, and set records during a 10-year fallow period with the Patriots that produced no titles. He achieved widespread celebrity as a polarizing quarterback who was worshipped in Boston, hated and feared by rival fan bases, and blemished by his association with the Spygate and Deflategate scandals.

Brady supplanted an injured Drew Bledsoe in New England and led championship conquests of the Rams, Panthers, and Eagles in a four-year flurry. He threw 50 touchdown passes, an NFL first, in the 2007 Patriots' undefeated regular season. Top QBs of his generation had to scratch and claw to win multiple Lombardi Trophies, but Brady ran up the score in his second decade with the Pats by vanquishing the Seahawks, Falcons, and Rams again.

He bullied division foes, compiling lopsided head-to-head records against the Bills (33-3 in the regular season), Jets (30-7), and Dolphins (24-12). He beat Manning in nine of 12 matchups. As New England's starter, Brady claimed 17 division titles in 19 tries. He earned 251 career wins - 65 more than Manning and Brett Favre in a tie for second place.

Ferocious competitiveness, tireless drive, elite footwork, and high processing speed were among Brady's best attributes. He fed iconic playmakers (Rob Gronkowski, Randy Moss) and connected with short, intelligent, workmanlike receivers who reliably got open (Deion Branch, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman). Showing unprecedented staying power, Brady led the league in every major passing category with the Bucs in his mid-40s.

He holds the career records for passing yards (89,214), completions (7,753), and touchdowns (649). He mounted the most fourth-quarter comebacks (46) but also starred in countless blowouts, like when his six TD strikes in a 15-minute span humiliated the 2009 Titans.

Brady's 35 playoff wins more than doubled the count of the next-closest QB - his childhood idol, Joe Montana. He led the winning drive in the fourth quarter or OT in each of New England's Super Bowl triumphs. He put teammates in position to make famous plays, from Adam Vinatieri's buzzer-beating kicks to Edelman's lunging catch in the 28-3 comeback. He's the only passer who's beaten Mahomes, the challenger to his throne, in the Big Game.

Brady somehow left rings on the table. His spectacular incompletion in the last minute of Super Bowl XLII - a 70-yard Hail Mary to Moss - nearly offset David Tyree's Helmet Catch. It says something that Brady's losses to the 2007 and 2011 Giants are remembered as epic upsets that required breathtaking grabs, first by Tyree and then by Mario Manningham, to cement.

It was that difficult to interrupt his reign. No football player is perfect, but Brady was as close as it gets. - Faris

Nick Faris, Caio Miari, and Daniel Valente cover the NFL at theScore.