There are arguments throughout the sporting world about the greatest players of all-time. Those who saw Michael Jordan play will laugh when they hear younger people arguing on behalf of LeBron James. The baseball argument largely centers on Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and now Shohei Ohtani. The greatest player in hockey history may have been Gordie Howe, but there are many more who give the title to Bobby Orr and still more who side with Wayne Gretzky. But there is one argument that is almost never made. The No. 1 wide receiver in the history or professional football was Jerry Rice. There is simply no debate.

Prior to Rice, there were arguments for ancient Packer receiver Don Hutson and former Charger Charger standout Lance Alworth. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens followed Rice and were brilliant talents, but neither man could match Rice over the long haul.

Rice had brilliant numbers throughout his career, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers and also included stints with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks. Throughout his legendary Hall of Fame career, Rice caught 1,549 passes for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns. While those were impressive numbers, it was his remarkable consistent level of excellence that helped him stand out.

There’s no doubt that Rice was helped by having quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young throwing him the majority of his passes throughout his career. Montana may be the greatest quarterback in NFL history and Young is clearly among the best who has ever played. Rice benefited from their talent, but then again, they took advantage of his remarkable skills to build Hall of Fame careers themselves.

Rice throws his support behind Montana

The great receiver is often asked which quarterback was greater and which one had more impact on his success with the great 49er teams that he played on. Rice said his relationship with Montana was like finding a partner with great chemistry.

“Joe Montana and I, we had such chemistry man that if Joe was a female we would have dated, because the chemistry was just that good. Also you had Steve Young to come along and I was able to put up outstanding numbers with Steve Young. And through all the quarterbacks that I went through I was able to adjust to their strengths.

“I knew Montana wouldn’t hold on to the ball that long and if I ran my routes I knew the ball was halfway in the air. And Steve Young was more of a running quarterback at first but then he wanted to become that pocket passer and we were able to do great things.”

Rice went on to mention other quarterbacks he played with, including Steve Bono and Jeff Garcia, and he was also complimentary towards both of those signal callers. “But if I had to pick one it probably would be Joe Montana because we had great chemistry.”

Jerry Rice played with the 49ers from 1985 through 2000. He played with the Raiders from 2001 through 2003, and he split the 2004 season with the Raiders and Seahawks. Rice was a 13-time Pro Bowl performer and a 10-time first-team All-Pro. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.

Mike Garafolo: 49ers, Brandon Aiyuk “not close” to a deal

The drama continues.

Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images

Brandon Aiyuk watch continues, and will continue for the foreseeable future. We already saw Aiyuk’s appearance on The Nightcap where the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver made it clear he knows his worth for his extension. We have heard the San Francisco 49ers say they value Aiyuk and haven’t discussed trading him.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garofolo, 49ers and Aiyuk are far apart on a deal being imminent.

Speaking on NFL Total Access Friday, Garafolo broke down on where everything is with all the drama. There’s definitely a mutual desire to get something done, but they aren’t exactly nearing the finish line on any of it:

“Uh, where are we? Well, we’re not close. And they have made a recent run at it, from my understanding, Mike Yam. It’s not like they haven’t had any discussions. They have had preliminary discussions. You saw John Lynch say Brandon Aiyuk could play in the fifth-year option and play out his deal—they’re comfortable with that. Then you’ve got Aiyuk doing the little finger thing saying, ‘Hey, I could walk.’

“So, basically, it’s a little bit of a standoff right now. Now look, this is not where the Deebo Samuel thing was, and as bad as that got with Samuel basically requesting a trade, they were still able to salvage that.

“So let’s not panic here. Let’s not freak out. And maybe if it gets to the point where there’s some offseason workouts and OTAs and Brandon Aiyuk does a little finger emoji saying, ‘Yeah, I’m going to be walking the other way instead of going to those voluntary workouts.’

“But he does love the 49ers, from my understanding, and he knows this is a team that is taking care of their guys when it’s their turn, and there’s no reason he feels like he shouldn’t be next. He believes he’s one of the top wide receivers in the league, so he expects to be paid in that realm and 49ers are not quite there at this point. So I think we’ve got some time before this one gets settled either way, but I know that the 49ers would like to eventually get Brandon Aiyuk under an extended contract and I know that he would love to be there under the right price. So let’s see if they can both get to the point where they agree on something.”

Well, at least he likes the 49ers. That’s good because slotting in another wide receiver into that offense, especially a rookie, would just not be the same. Kyle put it pretty well in his post Friday that Aiyuk has done everything the right way. We aren’t getting trade requests like the Deebo situation. Given everything that’s said, a deal should be done, it’s just going to take time.