Far more jersey numbers than a newcomer expects. A group of four men who all wore the same number is the rotation’s signature, and because the number says nothing about era or position it is the hardest kind to see coming. Beyond that: the franchises a player appeared for, the team that drafted him, the college he came out of, position rooms, and the decade he first took a snap.
Yes, and the difference is a deliberate trap. "Drafted by" and "played for" are two different groups built from two different facts, so a quarterback taken by one franchise and remembered at another can sit in either — and only one of them is the group on the board that day. Reading which question is being asked is most of the puzzle.
They are, as their own group: four professionals who came through the same program. It rewards the fan who followed Saturdays as well as Sundays, and it is the group most often solved last by someone who only watches the pro game.
The ones voted at the time and countable afterwards — the league’s Most Valuable Player, and repeat Pro Bowl selection at a stated threshold. An honour group is always a matter of record, never a judgement about who belonged.
No. The rotation reaches back across the decades of the professional record and frequently groups by the decade a player debuted, which is why a board can put a recent star beside someone who retired long before them. A name you do not recognise is usually the clue that you are looking at an era group.
