Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our pre-2021 revision of our top 50 New England Patriots of all-time.

As for all of our top 50 players in football we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NFL. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

There are no additions to our top fifty, but three active Patriots moved up slightly, none of which affecting the top five, which as always, we present the top five.

1. Tom Brady

2. John Hannah

3. Rob Gronkowski

4. Logan Mankins

5. Andre Tippett

You can find the entire list here.

The three changes are:

Special Teams specialist, Matthew Slater, climbed from #30 to #28.

Defensive Back, Devin McCourty went up one spot to #39.

Former Defensive Player of the Year, Stefon Gilmore, went from #45 to #41.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

A member of the Dodgers throughout his entire career, Jim Gilliam is one of the few players who won a World Series ring in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

Red Lucas was not just a very good Pitcher during his career, as he was also used often as a Pinch Hitter.  They don’t make many like that anymore!

If you were to look at some of the all-time marks for Relief Pitchers, you would find John Franco in the upper echelon of those lists.  Unlike many of those hurlers, you would also see that Franco was not a journeyman who bounced from team to team.

Franco first cracked a Major League roster in 1984 with the Cincinnati Reds, where he played for six seasons and was an All-Star for three of them.  Franco led the National League in Games Finished twice and in Saves once as a Red, and the closer established himself as an elite closer during that time. 

In 1995, Franco was traded to the New York Mets, and while he was only an All-Star there once, he was a two-time leader in Saves and was the Mets’ closer for nearly a decade.  

As of this writing, Franco is in the top five in Saves, Games Pitched, and Games Finished.