Championship: Vote for Best Player in Packers History

Starting with a Sweet 16 broken up into position-based brackets, your vote has set up this clash of the titans for the best player in Green Bay Packers history.

Bart Starr drops back to pass during the Packers' victory over the Chiefs in Super Bowl I. | Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have retired only six jersey numbers in franchise history. Two of them are Bart Starr’s No. 15 and Reggie White’s No. 92. They are the finalists in our quest to pick the best player in Packers history.

We started with 16 players, which we broke into four position-based “regional” brackets. Your vote went from the Sweet 16 to the Elite 8 to this weekend’s Final Four, where Starr received about two-thirds of the vote to beat Don Hutson and White earned a whopping 84.8 percent of the vote to clobber Charles Woodson.

Here’s your championship preview. Voting will run until 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Bart Starr

Starr, of course, was the on-field extension of coach Vince Lombardi. The Packers were in a terrible state when Lombardi took the job in 1959. From 1948 through 1958, they won a total of 37 games in 11 seasons.

Drafted by the Packers at No. 200 overall in 1956, Starr started 19 games during his first three seasons. He won just three of them. In Lombardi’s first season, Starr didn’t earn his first start until Week 8. Having thrown 15 passes all season, he almost beat the eventual-champion Baltimore Colts in his first start, then won each of the final four games to help the Packers finish 7-5 for their first winning season since they last won an NFL championship in 1944.

Starr led the Packers to the playoffs in 1960 but lost to the Eagles in the NFL Championship Game. Starr started nine more playoff games the rest of his career. He won them all, including championships in 1961, 1962 and the famous three-peat that included wins in Super Bowl I and II.

Historically, Starr is overlooked as being viewed as a piece in the machine. But he was a terrific passer for the era. When he retired after the 1971 season, he was No. 1 all-time in completion percentage.

His greatest season came in 1966, when he won his one and only MVP by finishing first in the NFL in completion percentage (62.2) and passer rating (105.0). The league averages were 51.6 percent with a 67.4 rating. He was plus-37.6 in passer rating. If he was that much better than the league average in 2024, his rating would have been 129.9. Aaron Rodgers holds the record at 122.5.

Starr dominated the playoffs. The MVP of Super Bowl I and II, his 104.8 postseason passer rating ranking second only to Patrick Mahomes’ 105.4. Again, the success relative to the era is incredible. In NFL history, 73 quarterbacks have thrown 175-plus playoff passes. Of the top 16 on the list, only Starr and Joe Montana (95.6) didn’t play into the 2000s.

Reggie White

Green Bay Packers defensive end Reggie White shows his intensity. | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-USA TODAY NETWORK

White, with the perfect nickname of the Minister of Defense, was a historic player by the time he shockingly signed with the Packers in 1993.

He started his career in the USFL, where he posted 23.5 sacks in two seasons. With the demise of the upstart league, he was the fourth player selected in the USFL Supplemental Draft, behind Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, Pro Bowl running back Mike Rozier and Hall of Fame offensive tackle Gary Zimmerman.

Those were great players. But White was in a league of his own as perhaps the greatest defensive lineman to ever set foot on a football field. In eight seasons with the Eagles, he recorded 124 sacks and was first-team All-Pro in six consecutive seasons.

In today’s NFL, signing a 30-something player to a long-term contract in free agency is almost taboo. White was 32 when he joined the Packers. In six seasons in Green Bay, he tallied 68.5 sacks and was a first- or second-team All-Pro in each.

White had 13 sacks to be second-team All-Pro and runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year in 1993, eight sacks to be second-team All-Pro in 1994, 12 sacks to be first-team All-Pro and the third-place finisher to be Defensive Player of the Year in 1995, 8.5 sacks to be second-team All-Pro in 1996, 11 sacks to be first-team All-Pro in 1997 and 16 sacks to be first-team All-Pro and NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1998.

Before White, no player in his right man would sign with the Packers in free agency. It was considered the NFL’s version of Siberia. With White and quarterback Brett Favre, general manager Ron Wolf built a Super Bowl winner. White had “only” 8.5 sacks in 1996 but had three sacks in the second half of the Super Bowl triumph over the Patriots.

White ranks second in NFL history with 198 sacks. Including his USFL tally, White had 221.5 sacks in the professional ranks, 21.5 more than NFL record-holder Bruce Smith.

Who is the best player in #Packers history? Your vote has taken it from our opening Sweet 16 to the championship showdown between Bart Starr and Reggie White.

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) April 7, 2025