The Green Bay Packers will kickoff their 2023 season 89 days from now against the Chicago Bears. In celebration of a new era of Packers football and in anticipation for the upcoming season, Wisconsin Sports Heroics will present the top 100 players in franchise history in the 100 days leading up to the start of the regular season. Our rankings are based on Pro Football References Approximate Value stat, which gives a numeric value to each season a player plays in.
Green Bay Packers Greatest Players: #89- Paul Hornung
1961 Press Photo Showing Classic Form On The Cutback Paul Horning Of The Packers
I know, I know, I know. How is Paul Hornung, a Hall of Famer, a four-time NFL Champion, a player whose number is unofficially retired by the Packers, as low as 89th on this all-time greatest player list? Remember, the list is based off of the Approximate Value, as described above. Pro Football Reference’s data goes back to 1960, at which time Hornung was in the NFL for three seasons already, made his first Pro Bowl, and had his career high of 681 rushing yards.
No stat is perfect and this is a perfect example as to why. Indeed, there are dozens of players who will follow on this list with higher AV’s than Hornung that are not going to be considered by most fans to be as great.
That being said, Hornung’s career AV starting in 1960 was 49, with most of the value coming in 1960 and 1961. In 1960, he rushed for 671 yards and a NFL-leading 13 rushing touchdowns. He came in second in MVP voting and was named First Team All Pro and to the Pro Bowl. The next season, he won both AP and UPI MVP Award while rushing for 597 yards and eight touchdowns. He was also a First Team All Pro and Pro Bowler that year.
In those two seasons, Hornung’s AV was 14 and 15 respectively. In three of the next five seasons, he had an AV of four or lower. Of course, he missed the entire 1963 season due to a gambling suspension. In 1964, Hornung had an AV of 2 and in 1966 he had an AV of 4. 1962 and 1965 saw him accomplish AV’s of seven in each season.
Green Bay Packers Greatest Players List
- #100- Daryn Colledge
- #99- Mike Butler
- #98- Bernardo Harris
- #97- Tyrone Williams
- #96- Dick Himes
- #95- Mason Crosby
- #94- Mike McCoy
- #93- Gilbert Brown
- #92- Ryan Pickett
- #91- Ron Kostelnik
- #90- Earl Dotson
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