The one thing you can always count on with the passage of time is that our perception of how something evolves can change as much as the thing itself. The NFL is no different. We watch the games today and see players that are bigger, faster and stronger than anybody could’ve ever imagined. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the athletes that thrive in this version of the league are undeniably better than the men who came before them.

Consider how expectations around pass-catchers have changed. It would be easy to assume players have only recently begun putting up mind-boggling receiving numbers, goosed by the rising prominence of aerial attacks around the league. But one of the first ceiling-smashing receiving seasons actually came three decades ago, in 1995, when five players — Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Cris Carter, Isaac Bruce and Herman Moore — topped 110 catches, a number that had never been reached before and has only been surpassed once (in 2018) since.

That’s not the only connection between now and 1995. Then, as in 2025, the Chiefs, Bills, Steelers, Packers, Lions, Eagles and 49ers were battling for divisional supremacy. A retread QB (Jim Harbaugh then, Daniel Jones now) was driving the Colts to relevance. And — of course — Jerry Jones’ Cowboys were in the spotlight. Which brings to mind a simple question:

What current players would’ve dominated if they had to play in the league in that season?

Why go through this exercise at this point in the season, as opposed to a sleepier stretch of the NFL calendar? Well, in part because there is no better moment to appreciate the timeless talent of these players, who are demonstrating every week exactly why they could excel at this throwback challenge. It also hopefully helps bring the history of the game to life, with a particularly ’90s-flavored matchup — Lions vs. Eagles on Sunday Night Football — on tap this week. So let’s get into it.

You would think it would be easy to compile a strong list of obvious candidates. It’s a different situation when you’re limiting the list to only 10 players, as we’re doing with this exercise.

It’s also important to remember how much the game has changed over the past 30 years. “There are a few guys who could’ve played in the (’90s), but there are a lot of guys who couldn’t have made it back in our day,” said Lomas Brown, who is a color analyst for the Detroit Lions radio broadcasts and also played with five teams between 1985 and 2002. “I look at a lot of these guys and how they play. The rule changes help a lot of these guys out compared to back when we were playing.”

Brown will have a great seat to watch two of the players who were no-brainers on this list when the Lions play the Eagles: Detroit right tackle Penei Sewell and Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. Brown was an All-Pro left tackle for the Lions in 1995, so that was a special year for him individually. He also remembers how rugged the NFL was in those days. Detroit actually suffered a brutal beating in the playoffs that season to an Eagles team that was noted for its toughness.

As Brown stated, most of today’s rule changes speak to how physical the game was in the 1990s. It was common for defensive backs to deliver crushing hits on defenseless receivers. Chop blocks were legal, and tacklers could hit quarterbacks in the head and the legs. This isn’t a defense of those days; it’s simply a reality of how violent the sport could be in that decade.

Even the players of that day carried different dimensions. A 6-foot-2, 252-pound running back like Baltimore’s Derrick Henry wouldn’t be a unicorn in that world. Philadelphia’s Zack Baun was one of the best linebackers in football last season, and he’s 25 pounds lighter than Bryan Cox, a Pro Bowler with the Dolphins in 1995. And big receivers were all the rage back then. Most of the best in the business measured in the 6-2 to 6-4 range, including the aforementioned Rice, Carter and Irvin.

All those factors make picking players who could thrive 30 years ago much harder. Former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said there are some younger players who’ve caught his eye, like when Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson amassed 238 scrimmage yards in a win over Buffalo in Week 6. Lewis also is also high on San Francisco 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner, who didn’t make the cut here because he is out for the season with a broken and dislocated ankle.

Lewis stressed that a player’s mental approach matters just as much when thinking about how they would play 30 years ago.

“I think about edge rushers and guys like Bruce Smith or Michael Strahan and they had more discipline to them than what I see from these guys today,” Lewis said. “I’m watching Buffalo the other day, and (defensive end) Joey Bosa is killing them because he jumps underneath on a pass rush, and the quarterback jumps outside (the contain). I would say there was 100 percent more discipline in the coaching back then. And you had to answer to your teammates.”

So now you have a sense of the thought process behind this exercise. And here comes the fun part: Deciding who made the list. There’s bound to be plenty of complaints and arguing about who’s not in this club. Just know that current status doesn’t mean everything in an exercise like this. It’s more about the people who fit best in an era that has long since passed.

Here are the 10 who stood out, with era-appropriate comps included: