Originally posted by sacniner:Montana and Young may have not been HoFers without the best organization in sports at the time, and HoF or elite/pro bowl level talent surrounding them on both sides of the ball. Plus an innovative system that was leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the league
WRs production is largely based on the qb obviously, although, Jerry woulda been special no matter what. My point: you are slightly discrediting Jerry by bringing up his qbs. His QBs were also largely dependant on external factors that largely benefited them. Mutually beneficial relationship
I dont think its discrediting at ALL to mention Joe Montana and Steve Young as being factors in Rice becoming the GOAT. Rice himself would laugh at anyone who downplayed their importance in his career and how things turned out. Montana was great before Rice. Its not disrespecting Jerry in any way to say that Montana and Young were a key part of his massive success. Its just common sense.
Jerry would've had varying levels of success on different teams, but it's safe to assume that being on the 49ers got his max value. I dont see any other team getting as much, or more success from his career than SF did. Maybe with Elway or Marino? But even then those teams didn't have anywhere near the supporting cast as the 49ers did.