With his career done, is Peyton Manning the greatest NFL player?

The NFL is the only of the four major sports that doesn't have an obvious pick as its greatest player ever.

The NHL has Wayne Gretzky, the NBA has Michael Jordan and Major League Baseball has Babe Ruth (if you have a doubt about Ruth, check his pitching record sometime). If you debate anyone else in those sports, you're being needlessly contrarian. You have, however, more than a few reasonable options in the NFL.

I'd go with Jerry Rice as the greatest NFL player ever. Jim Brown is a fine pick. So is Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White or Walter Payton. Many quarterbacks have a good case: Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre or a few others could apply.

But the greatest ever argument has to also include Peyton Manning.

The debate on Manning's legacy has raged for years, but his second Super Bowl championship changed it a bit. If you're going to rip him for his teams not winning in the playoffs before when he was clearly the best player in the league, he has to get credit for winning a second ring even when he was a shadow of himself, right?

The argument for Manning as the NFL's greatest player is a good one, and it has to begin like this: Quarterback is the most important position in the game, therefore the greatest quarterback ever has to be in the greatest player discussion. And Manning changed the position.

Manning turned pre-snap recognition into a prerequisite for playing quarterback in the modern NFL. His theatrics at the line have been a source of a million jokes, but they were effective. That's why Manning became the oldest MVP ever (by a few months over fellow 37-year-old MVPs Rich Gannon and Y.A. Tittle) and the oldest quarterback to start for a Super Bowl winner. The game has gotten much more complex in the last 20 years, and Manning was ahead of the curve. He had great physical skills and a tremendous football mind to match.

His success, as far as records and awards go, is unparalleled. Three players have won three Associated Press NFL MVP awards: Brown, Unitas and Favre. Nobody has won four. Manning is all alone at the top of the list with five MVP awards. When you have won five MVPs and nobody else has more than three, you have a solid argument as the greatest ever.

Manning has 14 Pro Bowl selections, tied for the most among any player at any position according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. No other quarterback has more than 11 (Favre and Brady are tied for second with 11 each). Manning is a seven-time first-team All-Pro selection. Otto Graham also has seven All-Pro selections, and no other quarterback has more than five. Montana, Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Bart Starr and John Elway have seven first-team All-Pro selections combined, same as Manning. Only nine players, when counting all positions, have more first-team All-Pro selections than Manning.

Manning also has career records with 71,940 passing yards, 539 touchdowns, he's fifth in NFL history with a 96.5 rating, third with 270.5 passing yards per game, fourth with a 65.3 completion percentage and first with 56 game-winning drives. He also set single-season records in 2013 with 5,477 passing yards and 55 passing touchdowns in what is among very few candidates as the greatest single season by a player in NFL history.

And if winning is your thing, Manning became the first quarterback to start for two different franchises in a Super Bowl win. Quarterback wins isn't a legitimate stat because football is a team game, but if you insist, Manning's 186 regular-season victories are tied with Favre for most in NFL history. Manning has been criticized a lot for not winning enough, but he's one of only 12 men with multiple Super Bowl victories as a starting quarterback. Only four starting quarterbacks ever have more rings than Manning's two.

Whatever argument you have for any other player being the greatest ever, Manning's supporters have a pretty good counterargument.

I'd take Rice as the NFL's greatest player ever. Brady is my greatest quarterback ever (I think he took the crown in a close battle with Manning when he led a marvelous comeback win against a great Seattle Seahawks defense in Super Bowl XLIX and has widened his lead since). But Manning also has a tremendous argument as the greatest quarterback and greatest NFL player ever.

Manning holds many important records. I'd take someone who was the absolute best in the game at his peak over someone who was good for a long time (Terrell Davis over Jerome Bettis, for example) and Manning did both. He wasn't a compiler, considering he had seven seasons in which he was considered the best quarterback in the NFL, but he had tremendous longevity to go with absolute excellence. He changed the way the position is played. With all said and done, Manning holds up well as a winner, as well. There's no box he doesn't check when you're having this debate.

Manning won't go on the Ruth-Gretzky-Jordan pedestal as far as NFL history is concerned, but if you wanted to go ahead and say that he's retiring as the greatest player the NFL has ever seen, it's a valid argument.