Yesterday was Father’s Day, and the NFL wanted to remind us all about the great father-son duos in the NFL.
While it’s a rare occurrence for even one family member to make the NFL, there actually have been many father-son duos to play well in the league. NFL.com put together a solid list of the top-10 father-son(s) to not only play in the league, but perform at a high level, too. And, there were two, formerly prestigious players from the Denver Broncos on the list.
Coming in at No. 9 were the Grieses, Bob in the 1970s and Brian — who took over for John Elway in the early 2000s. Bob, of course, was the quarterback for the undefeated Miami Dolphins, who went a perfect 13-0 in their way to the Super Bowl VII win over the Washington Redskins. Griese started six games that year, on what many old-timers argue is the best team in the history of the NFL.
His son, Brian, was drafted by the Broncos in 1998, winning Super Bowl XXXIII from the bench while watching John Elway ride off into the sunset a back-to-back champion. Griese took over in 1999, when Terrell Davis injured his knee and the team basically fell apart, going 6-10 that year. They did bounce back, with an 11-5 season in 2000 and a potent offense, but lost in the wild card round to the Baltimore Ravens (21-3).
Griese ended up playing 11 total years in the NFL, and after five years with the Broncos, he bounced around Miami, Tampa Bay and Chicago.
All the way at the top of the father-son list are the Mannings.
Of course, it’s hard to put another group atop the list when they had not only Archie and Peyton, but Eli, too.
Archie played for 14 years, in the 70s and 80s, and enjoyed a solid career for the New Orleans Saints, Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings.
Peyton, of course, is the cream of the crop not only for their Manning family, but he’s maybe the best quarterback in the history of the NFL. A five-time NFL MVP, a Super Bowl MVP, two-time Super Bowl champion and he possesses more passing records than we have time to list here.
Maybe the most interesting thing about Peyton was that he could have retired after 2011, when he sat out due to three neck fusion surges, but instead decided to keep playing as he signed with the Broncos as the biggest free agent signing in the history of the league.
He ended up playing four more years with the Broncos, including orchestrating the greatest display of offense anyone’s ever seen in the NFL in 2013, and then winning Super Bowl 50 with the team, even through a rash of injuries.
And, we can’t forget about Eli, who’s won two Super Bowls, too; knocking off Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in one of them.
Hopefully, everyone enjoyed Father’s Day, even without any football being played on TV.
Note: Chris Simms made the list (No. 5) and played three games with the Broncos in 2009.