What brought this to mind was seeing a YouTube video of The Buckeye's special teams scores. Ted Ginn's kick returns dominated.

Most just compare season stats. Or just the the players they actually saw in action. (My favorite RB that I saw was Zeke.)

But, how good was a wide receiver if he didn't have a good QB? And vise versa? How good would either have been without a good Offensive Line?

Just wondering if those who "rank" players over the decades look at such things and, if they do, what do they look at? (Are rule changes considered?) 

PS At one time, Jim Thorp was considered the greatest athlete in US history. He played a number of sports, including football.