Useful Notes / NFL Defensive and Special Teams Players

There have been many, many great, terrible, inspiring, despicable, and interesting players, coaches, and staff in the century-long history of the National Football League. There are 378 people enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame alone, and those are only the ones who have broken records or changed how the game of football is played. This page collects some of the most notable Sportspeople to professionally play non-offensive roles in American Football history. All of these players were well-known stars in their day; many spun that stardom off into roles in other works, and even those that were more camera-shy are still likely to be referenced in works released during and after their playing careers, so it's worth knowing why they were famous to begin with.

For those on the other side of the ball, see National Football League Quarterbacks, NFL Running Backs, and NFL Offensive Players for those at other positions. For coaches, commissioners, broadcasters, owners, and other key figures whose greatest contributions to the NFL came while not wearing pads, see National Football League Non-Player Figures. For players better known for controversy or for on-field disappointment, as well as coaches and executives better known for the same in their respective roles, see National Football League Notorious Figures. The names of players and coaches who were part of the NFL but are better known for their college accomplishments can be found at Collegiate American Football Names To Know.

Individuals in folders are listed alphabetically, by last name.

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Defensive Players

Defensive Linemen (A-L)

• Jared Allen was a five-time Pro Bowl DE who played for four teams during his 12-year career, currently holds the NFL record for most career safeties with four, and had the most official career sacks of any eligible player not enshrined in Canton. He began his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, who drafted him in the 4th round in 2004 out of FCS Idaho State. Known for his fun-loving personality and sweet mullet, he went to his first Pro Bowl in '07 after leading the league in sacks. In '08, he was traded to the Minnesota Vikings. During his tenure there, he went to four Pro Bowls and again led the league in sacks in 2011 with 22, ending up half a sack short of tying Michael Strahan's (see below) season record. He finished his career with disappointing stops with the Bears and the Panthers, losing Super Bowl 50. He signed a ceremonial contract to retire as a Viking and is enshrined in their Ring of Honor.
• Lyle Alzado was a DE who played for three teams during his 15-year career but, in many respects, was the epitome of a Raider despite only playing with the team for his last four seasons. He played the majority of his career with the Denver Broncos, who drafted him in the fourth round in 1971 out of the NAIA school Yankton (which closed in 1984), and spent a short stint with the Cleveland Browns before heading to Los Angeles. Alzado channeled an intense anger borne from a difficult childhood into his intimidating and violent play. This made him very effective on the field—he earned three All-Pro honors and two Pro Bowl selections and was a key component of the Raiders' Super Bowl XVIII win before he retired in 1985. Like his predecessor John Matuszak (see below), Alzado's distinctive appearance and attitude (coupled with playing in the Los Angeles market) helped him launch a fairly successful acting career in film, TV, and commercials. Sadly, also like Matuszak, Alzado died young; not long after a failed comeback attempt with the Raiders in 1990, he was diagnosed with brain cancer, one of many health issues that he attributed to his long-time use of anabolic steroids. He passed away in 1992.
• George Andrie was a DE who played for the Dallas Cowboys, who drafted him in the sixth round in 1962 out of Marquette after he spent two years out of football due to Marquette shuttering the program. He became a major contributor to the success of the Doomsday Defense, earning five consecutive Pro Bowl nods from 1965-68 and unofficially leading the league in sacks in 1966. He won a ring in Super Bowl VI, retired after 1972, and died in 2018 from complications due to dementia.
• Doug Atkins was a DE who played most of his career with the Chicago Bears. Drafted by the dominant Cleveland Browns #11 overall in 1953 out of Tennessee, the 6'8" giant was traded to the Chicago Bears two years later, where he developed speed to match his size, became an eight-time Pro Bowler, and contributed to the team's 1963 championship. Atkins was one of the first great defensive specialists, with his size (big for even the modern NFL but downright enormous at the time) making him perfectly suited for batting down throws or practically stepping over offensive linemen. Atkins played a few more seasons with the Saints in the late '60s before retiring in 1969; bizarrely, they retired his #81 despite him doing very little with the team. He passed away in 2015.
• Al "Bubba" Baker was a DE drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 2nd round in 1978 out of Colorado State. In his extraordinary Defensive Rookie of the Year season, he set the unofficial single season sack record with 23.^note Some sources list Harvey Martin (see below) as also having 23 in a single season, but Pro Football Reference (which the NFL recognizes for pre-1982 sack numbers) credits Baker as the sole record holder. He made three Pro Bowls and led the league in sacks again in 1980 as part of the Lions famed "Silver Rush" defense of that era. He moved on to play for the Cardinals, Browns, and Vikings while finishing with an unofficial 131 career sacks, fifth most at the time of his retirement (currently just outside the top 20).
• Elvin Bethea was a Hall of Fame DE who played his entire career with the Houston Oilers after they drafted him in the third round in 1968 out of HBCU North Carolina A&T. Despite the team ranking among the worst in the league early and late in his career, Bethea was one of the best defenders in football in his era, earning eight Pro Bowl nods and setting several standing franchise records over his 16-year career. He retired after 1983, and the now-Tennessee Titans retired his #65.
• Joey and Nick Bosa are sibling DEs who play for the Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers, respectively. Both brothers were Top 5 draft picks^note Joey #3 in 2016, Nick #2 in 2019 after star turns at Ohio State and both won Defensive Rookie of the Year. Joey was signed to the then-highest ever contract for a defensive player in 2020, while Nick helped bring his team to a Super Bowl appearance in his rookie year and won Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in sacks in 2022. The Bosa Brothers are part of an extensive football family—their father John was a first round pick in 1987, though his career turned out to be a bust, and their family tree includes multiple other NFL players.
• Gene Brito was a 17th-round pick by Washington in 1951 out of the Los Angeles school Loyola (which dropped football a year later, and since a 1973 merger has been known as Loyola Marymount). A paratrooper in the U.S. Army who fought in the Pacific theater of WWII, his military service caused him to enter the NFL as a 25-year-old rookie, playing as an end on offense for two seasons before he was moved to DE and earned his first Pro Bowl. A contract dispute led to him spending 1954 in the CFL, but he returned to Washington a year later and became their most prominent star in an era where the team struggled. He never missed a game in Washington and notched four more Pro Bowls, becoming one of the team's most popular players before he was traded to the Rams in '59. Sadly, Brito's career ended two years later when he was diagnosed with ALS, which he succumbed to in 1965 at 39 years old. He was posthumously added to Washington's Ring of Fame.
• Jerome Brown was a DT drafted #9 overall out of Miami (FL) by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1987. Brown was a dominant presence on the field and earned two Pro Bowl nods, but his career was tragically cut short when he and his 12-year-old nephew were killed in a car accident in 1992. The Eagles retired his #99, and fans made "Bring it home for Jerome" an unofficial slogan for the team.^note Their victory in Super Bowl LII coincided with Brown's birthday.
• Buck Buchanan was a DT for the Kansas City Chiefs, who drafted him #1 overall in the 1963 AFL Draft out of the HBCU Grambling State.^note The New York Giants picked him in the 19th round in the corresponding NFL Draft two days later. Buchanan towered over many of his contemporaries at 6'7". His dominating play brought him to six straight All-Star games before the merger and two Pro Bowls after it, and he helped lead the Chiefs to their Super Bowl IV victory. Buchanan retired in 1975, had his #86 retired by the Chiefs, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990; tragically, he was diagnosed with lung cancer only a week before his induction and died in 1992. The award for best defensive player in FCS college football is named after him.
• Dave Butz was a DT initially drafted #5 overall out of Purdue by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1973. A towering presence during his playing days, Butz stood at 6'8" and weighing over 300 lbs. After two seasons, he was signed by Washington after mistakes were found in his rookie contract, though the NFL later forced the team to trade St. Louis two first-round and one second-round pick. He turned out to worth the price, helping lead Washington to two Super Bowl wins in three appearances and making a single Pro Bowl in 1983. He missed only four games; he famously checked himself out of a hospital in 1987 to play while dealing with an intestinal virus, came up with the game-saving sack, and checked back into the hospital after the game. He retired in 1988, being the oldest starting player in the league at the time, and finished his career with 64 sacks. He is a member of the Washington Ring of Fame and passed away in 2022.
• Dennis Byrd was a DE picked by the New York Jets in the second round in 1989 out of Tulsa. His football career was tragically cut short during his fourth season when he suffered a severe neck injury while playing the Chiefs that left him paralyzed. After a year of intensive physical therapy, he recovered his mobility; Byrd recounted his inspirational story in an autobiography, Rise and Walk, which received a TV movie adaptation of the same title (where he was portrayed by Peter Berg, who would later become highly involved with the NFL as a director). The Jets retired his #90. Byrd died in a car accident in 2016.
• Calais Campbell was a second round pick in 2008 out of Miami (FL) and one of the oldest active NFL players. Campbell was mainly a backup in his rookie season with the Arizona Cardinals when they visited the Super Bowl, but 6'8" player soon emerged as a regular Pro Bowler and the franchise leader in TFLs. In 2017, he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars and had by most metrics the greatest season of his career, serving as the face of the "Sacksonville" defense that took the team to an AFC Championship Game. Campbell was named Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2019 shortly before being traded to the Ravens and is currently with the Falcons as one of the league's most respected veterans.
• Ray Childress was drafted #3 overall in 1985, staying in his home state by going from Texas A&M to the Houston Oilers. The five-time Pro Bowl DT was the star of the Oilers' defense during their next decade of success and remains the franchise leader in tackles. A shoulder injury cut his career relatively short, as he retired after spending 1996 on the Cowboys bench.
• Terry Crews started out his career in Hollywood as a DE/LB for the L.A. Rams, who drafted him in the eleventh round in 1991 out of Western Michigan. Crews saw relatively little actual game-time during his fairly unremarkable journeyman career and supplemented his income by commissioning portraits for his teammates. He retired from football in 1997 and entered the film industry not long afterwards.
• Maxx Crosby is a DE for the Las Vegas Raiders, who drafted in him in the 4th round out of Eastern Michigan in 2019. He quickly became one of the team's few bright spots to emerge from the notorious Jon Gruden/Mike Mayock era, becoming a Pro Bowler and master of "tackles for loss" (TFLs), leading the league in 2022 and '23 and trailing only J.J. Watt for the most in a player's first five years^note since the NFL began tracking the stat in 1999 while playing nearly every Raiders defensive snap. Off the field, he's notable for his heavy tattoos and his advocacy for addiction recovery, having himself sought help for alcoholism early in his career. Yes, his given name really is Maxx with two "X's".
• Curley Culp was a Hall of Fame DT initially drafted by the Broncos before being quickly traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1968 out of Arizona State. Renowned for his strength, Culp earned six Pro Bowl nods and was a key part of the dominant defense that brought KC victory in Super Bowl IV. However, after he threatened to leave the Chiefs for a better contract with the WFL in 1974, he was involved in a blockbuster trade with the Houston Oilers for fellow hold-out John Matuszak (see below) and a first round pick. That turned out to be one of the most lopsided trades ever; Matuszak turned out to be a bust for the Chiefs, Culp excelled as a nose tackle, and the Oilers got another Hall of Famer, LB Robert Brazile, with the pick, reversing the fortunes of both teams. Culp spent a final two seasons with the Lions before retiring after 1981. He died from pancreatic cancer in 2021.
• Willie Davis was a Hall of Fame DE for the Green Bay Packers during their '60s dynasty. Davis was a 15th round draft pick in 1958 out of HBCU Grambling State, initially going to Cleveland before being traded to Green Bay in 1960. Davis soon became the captain of the team's fearsome five-time championship defense, and while sacks and tackles were not counted in his era, most agree that he was one of the most productive and dangerous defensive players ever (using unofficial numbers, he would still be the Packers' all-time sack leader). Perhaps even more important to the Packers' success, however, was his widely-recognized leadership role in facilitating the team's racial integration. Davis earned five Pro Bowl selections before his retirement in 1969 while simultaneously earning a master's in business; he went on to be an extremely successful businessman before he passed away in 2020. His grandson, Wyatt Davis, is an offensive lineman in the league.
• Fred Dean was a Hall of Fame DE initially drafted in the second round out of Louisiana Tech by the San Diego Chargers in 1975. Undersized (even for the era) at 225lbs, Dean still broke out as a dominant pass-rusher, but a prolonged contract dispute led the Chargers to trade away their most dominant defensive weapon to the San Francisco 49ers in 1981. Many blamed this trade for the Air Coryell Chargers subsequently becoming a Glass Cannon that could never make a Super Bowl, especially after Dean won one in his first year with the Niners. He helped the Niners win another Super Bowl before retiring after 1985. He died from COVID-19 in 2020.
• Richard Dent was a DE who most famously played for the '80s Chicago Bears, who drafted him in the eighth round in 1983 out of HBCU Tennessee State. Dent proved to be a major draft steal, as he formed a core component of the stifling defense that brought Chicago a Super Bowl in 1985; he led the league in sacks that year, becoming the franchise leader in the category, and won Super Bowl MVP for his dominating performance. Despite frequently clashing with the Bears' coaching staff, Dent spent twelve nonconsecutive seasons in Chicago.^note After eleven, he signed with the 49ers, where he picked up a second Super Bowl ring despite sitting out nearly the entire season from injury, then returned to the Windy City for another year before they let him go again. He spent his last two years in Indianapolis and Philadelphia. He retired in 1997 as the #3 official all-time sack leader and still sits in the top ten of that metric. He was inducted into Canton in 2011.
• Chris Doleman was a DT most famous for his time with the Minnesota Vikings, who drafted him #4 overall in 1985 out of Pitt. Doleman earned eight Pro Bowl nods, led the league in sacks in 1989, and posted 150.5 sacks (currently #5 all-time) over a 15-year career. Doleman retired with the Vikings after 1999 following stints with the Falcons and 49ers and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. He died from brain cancer in 2020 at 57 years old.
• Aaron Donald was a DT for the Los Angeles Rams. Significantly undersized for the position (listed "officially" at 6'1", 282 lb), he received little NFL attention in college at Pitt despite a dominant career. That all changed when he put up one of the greatest Senior Bowl performances ever, destroying opposing o-linemen from every level of the sport. He followed it up with a monster Combine performance that propelled him into high 1st round consideration. After the Rams drafted him #13 overall in 2014, he rewarded them by being arguably the most dominant defender in the league, putting up Pro Bowl performances every season of his career. His strength, skill, and size allowing him to both slip around and power through o-lines even when double- or triple-teamed. Donald won Defensive Rookie of the Year, then Defensive Player of the Year thrice in 2017, 2018, and 2020. He was a critical part of the team's Super Bowl LVI victory, and while the Rams made him the highest paid non-QB in the NFL to keep the guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer from an early retirement, he still hung up his helmet after 2023, still very much at the height of his game. Despite his abbreviated career, Donald ranks second in career sacks by a DT behind only John Randle.
• Art Donovan was a Hall of Fame DT who most famously played for the '50s Baltimore Colts. Nicknamed "the Bulldog", Donovan served four years with the U.S. Marines in the Pacific during WWII before he returned home, finished school at Boston College, and was drafted in the twenty-second round of the 1947 Draft by the first iteration of the Colts. In his first three seasons, Donovan played for three different teams that folded the year they hired him: the Colts, the New York Yanks, and the Dallas Texans. Donovan was eventually picked up by the second iteration of the Colts, where he was selected to five Pro Bowls, won two championships, and had his #70 retired after he finished his playing career in 1971. Beyond his dominant presence on the gridiron, Donovan was most well known for being an extremely jovial and humorous person. He was a frequent and popular guest on David Letterman's shows, where Dave frequently let him tell long and hilarious stories about his time playing football. Donovan passed away in 2013.
• Fred Dryer was a DE who most notably played for the Los Angeles Rams. Originally drafted by the New York Giants #13 overall in 1969 out of San Diego State, he was traded to the Patriots in 1972 but was quickly dealt to the Los Angeles Rams. In 1973, he was moved to the right side, becoming a key part of the second iteration of their "Fearsome Foursome" defense. That same season, he became the only player to ever score two safeties in the same game. He made a Pro Bowl in 1975 and helped the Rams make Super Bowl XIV before retiring in 1981 with 104 sacks (though he is not officially credited with them due to playing before sacks became an official stat). After retiring, he became a prolific actor best known for playing the titular role on the Buddy Cop Show Hunter.
• Carlos Dunlap is the Cincinnati Bengals all-time sack leader (along with many other defensive statistics). A second round pick in 2010 after being the defensive star of Florida's BCS Championship win, the two-time Pro Bowl DE was a consistent performer for the Bengals before forcing a trade to Seattle mid-season in 2020. He signed with the Chiefs and won a Super Bowl ring in 2022.
• Carl Eller was a DE who most famously played for the Minnesota Vikings throughout the '60s and '70s as a member of their elite "Purple People Eater" defensive line (along with Jim Marshall and Alan Page, see below). A local product, he was selected #6 overall in 1964 out of Minnesota. Tall and lanky even by today's standards at 6'6", he dwarfed most other players of the era and put this advantage to dominant use on the field. A six-time Pro Bowler, seven-time All-Pro, league leader in sacks in 1969, and 1971 Defensive Player of the Year, Eller played for all four of the Vikings Super Bowl-losing teams in that era, became the team's all-time sack leader with (an unofficial) 130.5, and played in all but three of of a possible 225 career games. He also was one of the six active NFL players to star in the Blaxploitation biker film The Black Six. Eller was traded to the fledgling Seahawks for a final season in 1979 before retiring and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.
• Len Ford was a Hall of Fame DE (and sometimes receiver) who most famously played for the Cleveland Browns dynasty in the 1950s. After a brief stint in the Navy in World War II, Ford helped Michigan win a national title but went undrafted in 1948 due to the NFL's general discrimination against Black players. After two years with the Los Angeles Dons of the AAFC, Ford joined the Browns when they jumped to the NFL, earning four Pro Bowl nods and three championships while helping pave the way for other Black players. Ford retired after spending '58 with the Packers and sadly struggled with alcoholism before dying of a heart attack in 1972 at just 46 years old.
• Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis were a pair of DEs for the Indianapolis Colts during their run of success in the '00s and early '10s, including the team's Super Bowl XLI victory. Freeney was selected #11 overall in 2002 out of Syracuse, and Mathis was picked in the fifth round in '03 out of HBCU Alabama A&M. Fitting the Colts' defensive mold of the era, both were undersized but extremely athletic, excelling as pass rushers. While the powerful offense led by Peyton Manning racked up points, opposing teams naturally called more passes in an attempt to keep up, allowing Freeney and Mathis to tee off. Each was exceptional at forcing strip-sacks, with Mathis having the most forced fumbles in NFL history while Freeney is tied for third on that list thanks to his excellent use of the spin move. Freeney left the Colts in 2013, playing for five more teams ^note Arizona, San Diego, Atlanta (where he was a member of the team that reached Super Bowl LI), Detroit, and Seattle before retiring in 2017 with 125.5 sacks and seven Pro Bowl nods. Mathis spent his entire career with the Colts, led the NFL in sacks in '13, and retired in 2016 with the Colts franchise record in sacks and five Pro Bowl nods. Both are enshrined in the Colts Ring of Honor, and Freeney has a spot in Canton.
• Myles Garrett is a DE for the Cleveland Browns and the #1 overall pick in the 2017 Draft coming out of Texas A&M. Injuries kept Garrett sidelined for much of his rookie season, in which the Browns went winless, but he came back strong in his second year and broke out as one of the league's best defensive players, though he was suspended in the middle of the 2019 season when he got into an altercation with Steelers QB Mason Rudolph at the end of the game, ripping off Rudolph's helmet and bashing his unprotected head with it in a display of aggression that flew in the face of his persona as one of football's more introverted and thoughtful stars.^note Garrett later claimed in his appeal of the suspension that Rudolph had called him a racial slur, but no evidence was ever found of this despite modern NFL fields being among the most heavily recorded sites on Earth. Garrett was reinstated only during the subsequent offseason, making his suspension the second-longest in NFL history for an on-field incident and the longest to be issued without any priors. He has mostly rebounded from this incident, returning to his prior defensive dominance, becoming the franchise's (official) career sack leader, winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, and even being put forward as the team nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for his humanitarian work.
• Akbar Gbajabiamila is best known as one of the hosts of American Ninja Warrior and will cover the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Prior to this, he was a DE who entered the league undrafted in 2003 out of San Diego State, spending four seasons with the Raiders, Chargers, and Dolphins.
• Bill Goldberg, prior to becoming a multi-time heavyweight champion professional wrestler, was an NFL DT. Drafted in the 11th round in 1990 by the LA Rams out of Georgia, he spent two seasons in LA without playing in a game. He moved onto the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football (a precursor to NFL Europe), winning a World Bowl title. He then joined the Atlanta Falcons for three seasons as a backup and special teams player. While rehabbing an abdominal injury that ended his football career, Goldberg got into powerlifting and mixed martial arts, where he was spotted by WCW legends Sting and Lex Luger, who encouraged him to try wrestling.
• Brandon Graham is a DE for the Philadelphia Eagles and the franchise leader in total games played. Drafted #13 overall in 2010 out of Michigan, Graham at first became a key rotational player for the Eagles before truly emerging as a star of the game in 2016. His most famous play came in Super Bowl LII, when he forced a fumble against Tom Brady late in the fourth quarter. He's also known for his epic trash talk and his generally big personality, even getting himself "ordained" as a minister through the Universal Life Church to perform a wedding for a Philadelphia couple as part of a radio contest.
• Jacob Green is the Seattle Seahawks' all-time sack leader. Drafted #10 overall in 1980 out of Texas A&M, he earned two Pro Bowl nods and played for the team for 11 seasons, retiring in 1992 as third in all-time (official) career sacks after a year with the Niners. He is enshrined in the Seattle Ring of Honor.
• Joe Greene was a legendary DT for the '70s Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him #4 overall in 1969 out of North Texas, the team's first draft pick of the Chuck Noll era.^note Since he was a freshman when the school changed its mascot to "Mean Green", the belief the school named its program after him is probably an Urban Legend. Probably. Greene made an immediate impact as the most acclaimed defensive talent of the '70s, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year before moving on to become a ten-time Pro Bowler, the first player to win Defensive Player of the Year twice (1972, 1974), and the cornerstone of the "Steel Curtain" defense that brought Pittsburgh four Super Bowl wins. The fact that he was called "Mean" Joe Greene tells you all you need to know about his on-the-field ruthlessness, though he was known as a much more personable Gentle Giant off of it. Greene's personality was best exhibited in what he is probably best known for: the "Hey Kid, Catch!" Coca-Cola commercial, one of the most iconic advertisements ever. This was not Greene's only acting credit; he made acted in a number of Blaxploitation films (most notably in The Black Six) and cameoed As Himself in several other movies (most notably Smokey and the Bandit II). Greene retired in 1981 and won a first-ballot entry into the Hall of Fame; after an unsuccessful stint in the broadcast booth, he worked for several more years as an assistant coach, then took a front office position with the Steelers, becoming the only Steeler player to be a part of all six of their championship teams before fully retiring in 2013. His #75 is one of only three numbers to be retired by the organization.
• L.C. Greenwood was a DE drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers ten rounds after the more famous Joe Greene in 1969 out of the obscure HBCU Arkansas AM&N (now Arkansas-Pine Bluff). Despite even Pittsburgh announcers frequently confusing him with the similarly named legend he shared a line with, Greenwood was an immensely accomplished player in his own right and a central part of the legendary Steel Curtain defense. He earned six Pro Bowl selections and was the team's sack leader through the '70s, including posting a Super Bowl-record with four against Roger Staubach in Super Bowl X (though sacks were not officially counted stats during his career). He is also known for his distinctive golden high-top shoes, which he wore in part so the announcers could identify him out of a pile. Greenwood retired after 1981. Despite being a regular finalist for Hall of Fame induction, Greenwood never made it in before his death from kidney failure in 2013.^note Besides sacks not being counted in his era, this was speculated to be because the '70s Steelers were already the highest represented team in Canton.
• Rosey Grier had one of more interesting and varied lives of any NFL player. A DT drafted in the third round in 1955 out of Penn State by the New York Giants, he had two Pro Bowl seasons and won a Championship in 1956 before he was traded to the L.A. Rams in 1963, becoming one of the original members of the Fearsome Foursome. Even before retiring in 1966, like many Rams of his era, Grier started a successful career as an actor, mostly on TV. He also dabbled in music, heavily promoted needlework as a hobby for men, became an ordained minister, explored running for political office, and briefly served as a bodyguard for Ethel Kennedy, the wife of Robert F. Kennedy; in fact, Grier personally disarmed Sirhan Sirhan after Bobby's assassination.
• Dan Hampton was a Hall of Fame component of the Chicago Bears' dominant '80s defense. Drafted #4 overall out of Arkansas in 1979, Hampton was immensely versatile, playing both tackle and guard exceptionally well while often attracting double teams that allowed other teammates to thrive; the Bears always performed markedly worse whenever injuries knocked him out. The four-time Pro Bowler (who likely would have earned more if he wasn't splitting position votes) retired after 1990.
• Cedrick Hardman is the San Francisco 49ers all-time sack leader. Drafted #9 overall in 1970 out of North Texas (where he had shared the line with Mean Joe Green), he led the league in sacks in his second season and played very well for a decade. Unfortunately, the Niners as a whole weren't very good at all after that season, and Hardman's play was overshadowed by the rest of the league's '70s defensive superstars. He got a ring across the Bay with the Raiders before retiring after 1981 and passed away in 2019.
• Ed Healey was a two-way tackle during the ‘20s. After playing as an end at Dartmouth, he signed with the Rock Island Independents in 1920, the first year of the NFL, where he moved to tackle and emerged as one of the premier linemen of the young league. During a game against the Chicago Bears in 1922, he played so dominantly against them that Bears owner George Halas bought out Healey’s contract for $100. The investment paid off immensely, as Healey spent the rest of his career with the Bears, being regarded as one of the roughest tacklers and most versatile linemen in the league, earning four straight All-Pros before retiring in 1927. After his playing career, he was known for his dislike of players who didn’t play two ways, calling them “sissies”. He was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1964 and died in 1978.
• Bill Hewitt was one of those "60 Minute Men" who played both ends of the ball (even leading the league in receptions in 1934) for the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles in the '30s after a college career at Michigan. Hewitt stubbornly refused to wear a helmet until it became a requirement in his final season of the game, believing it slowed his famed reaction time that earned him six First-Team All Pro selections. After he retired in 1939, Hewitt became one of a few older football vets to return to the NFL during the player shortage of WWII; he played 1943 with the "Steagles", the fusion of the Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. Hewitt was tragically killed in a car crash a few years after that season; he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971 and had his #56 retired by the Bears.
• Cam Heyward is a DT/DE for his birthtown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him #31 overall out of Ohio State in 2011. After a slow start to his career, Heyward has emerged as one of the league's best d-linemen, leading a defense that led the NFL in sacks five years in a row while also earning five Pro Bowls and three All-Pros. His father, Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, was a FB during the '90s best known for his years with the Saints and Falcons whose career was cut short by cancer that eventually took his life in 2006.
• Ernie Holmes was a DT whose contributions to the famed Steel Curtain are often overshadowed by his persona and off-field actions. He was drafted in the eighth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1971 out of HBCU Texas Southern. He was viewed as the scariest member of the Steel Curtain and was actually diagnosed with acute paranoid psychosis following a 1973 arrest, during which he shot a police helicopter. In 1976, he charged into a Raiders team meeting before the AFC Championship game, intimidating Gene Upshaw before helping led the Steelers to a victory. He would shave his hair into an arrowhead, something that he said helped him to find where the QB was, which seemed to work; he was credited with an unofficial 40 sacks during his career. He is the only member of the Steel Curtain defensive line to never make a Pro Bowl, though he still won two Super Bowls. He retired in 1978 after spending the season with the Patriots. After retiring, he participated in Wrestlemania 2, was an occasional actor (memorably playing a vampire-slain bouncer in Fright Night) and later served as a Badass Preacher. He died in a car accident in 2008.
• Claude Humphrey was a DE drafted #3 overall by the Atlanta Falcons out of HBCU Tennessee State in 1968 and played for them through 1978, most famously serving as the star of their "Grits Blitz" '77 defense that set several standing statistical records. He was selected for the Pro Bowl six times, going consecutively from 1970-74 and again in 1977. He finished out his career with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1979-81, and played in Super Bowl XV, where he infamously lost his temper and picked up and threw back a penalty flag at the referee after being called for roughing the passer. Because he played before sacks were recorded as an official stat, he unofficially had 130 sacks (99.5 with the Falcons, making him the franchise leader) and helped pave the way for pass rushing linemen like Bruce Smith, Michael Strahan, and Reggie White. He was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014 on the senior ballot and passed away in 2021.
• Chris Jones has been the primary defensive star for the Kansas City Chiefs since they drafted him in the second round in 2016 out of Mississippi State. While often overshadowed by the flashy talents on the other side of the team, the DT has been a major contributor to the Chiefs' late 2010s/early 2020s dynasty, setting a record for most consecutive games with a sack (11) in 2018 and becoming a regular Pro Bowler while picking up three Super Bowl rings.
• Deacon Jones, nicknamed the "Secretary of Defense", was a DE who most famously played for the Los Angeles Rams as part of their "Fearsome Foursome" defensive line. A major draft steal, Jones was picked in the fourteenth round in 1961 out of the HBCU Mississippi Valley State (the school that produced Jerry Rice a generation later). Considered one of the greatest pass rushers ever, he coined the term 'sack' in its current usage (as in "tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage").^note Jones said he always pictured tackling the QB "hard enough to put him in a burlap sack". His Signature Move, the "Head Slap", involved whacking the opposing lineman in the head with his forearm and running around him while he was dazed; it was so effective that the NFL eventually outlawed it. Jones retired in 1974 after a few seasons in San Diego and Washington. He is believed by many NFL historians to have put up more sacks than any prior player (173.5) and the third-most ever, to have led the league in sacks five times (the only player to do so more than twice, even unofficially), and is the only player in league history to record 20+ in three separate seasons. However, all these sacks are unofficial, as they all occurred before the NFL made it an official stat in 1982. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and had his #75 retired by the Rams. A month after his death in 2013, the NFL announced the creation of an official yearly award for the league leader in sacks—named, of course, after Jones.
• Ed "Too Tall" Jones was a DE and the #1 overall pick by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1974 Draft. Notably, he's the last #1 overall pick to have come from an HBCU (Tennessee State in his case) as well as the last to have come from a school outside of the current Division I FBS.^note The NCAA didn't split Division I football into Divisions I-A and I-AA (now respectively known as FBS and FCS) until 1978. TSU was originally in I-A, but was dropped by the NCAA to I-AA/FCS in 1981. A franchise cornerstone during their 1970s dynasty, Jones received his nickname because, at 6'9", he was considered to be "too tall" to play football and started college on a basketball scholarship before focusing on football full time. Jones famously took a two-year break in the middle of his football career to pursue boxing, which resulted in improved play when he returned. He retired in 1989 after 15 (non-consecutive) seasons with the 'Boys.
• Cam Jordan is a DE who has played for the New Orleans Saints since they drafted him #24 overall in 2011 out of Cal. The son of Vikings' great TE Steve Jordan, Cam quickly asserted himself as one of the greatest defensive players of his era, earning seven Pro Bowl selections and a spot on the 2010s All-Decade Team while becoming the Saints (official) all-time sack leader. He is equally well known for being one of the NFL's biggest hams, delivering scathing trash talk, and sometimes boasting an impressive mustache.
• Henry Jordan was a Hall of Fame DT with the '60s Green Bay Packers dynasty. Originally drafted in the fifth round in 1957 by the Browns, the Virginia product, he was traded to Green Bay after just two years, where he would win five NFL titles (including the first two Super Bowls) and earn seven All-Pro nods. He retired in 1969 and died of a heart attack just seven years later at just 42 years old.
• Alex Karras was a DT who played for the Detroit Lions, who drafted him #10 overall in 1958 following a college career at Iowa that saw him finish as runner-up for the Heisman. While he was selected to four Pro Bowls during his football career and is the Lions (unofficial) all-time sack leader, he is likely best known for his acting career; Karras' oddball sense of humor was memorably captured in Paper Lion, George Plimpton's non-fiction book about trying out for the Lions, and he played himself in the film adaptation while he still played for the team. Karras spun that off into appearances on late night talk shows and, after his retirement in 1970, memorable film and TV roles like the dad on Webster, in which his real-life wife Susan Clark played his TV wife as well, and Mongo in Blazing Saddles. His aggressive play and a gambling scandal that led to a one-year suspension in 1963 kept Karras out of Hall of Fame consideration until after he passed away in 2012; he was posthumously inducted into the Hall's Centennial Class in 2020.
• Jevon Kearse was a DE selected by the Tennessee Titans #16 overall in 1999 out of Florida. Nicknamed "The Freak" due to his combination of size (6'5", 265 lbs) and athleticism (4.43 speed and a 48" vert), he burst onto the scene, setting the NFL rookie single-season sack record with 14.5 on his way to winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and making his first of three Pro Bowls with the Titans. A foot injury cost him most of his fourth season and, while he didn't match his pre-injury production in his fifth, he rebounded enough to land a record-setting free agent deal with the Eagles. Injuries continued to plague Kearse and he never again reached double-digit sacks, being released by the Eagles in 2007 and returning to the Titans for two final seasons.
• Cortez Kennedy was a DT who played for the Seattle Seahawks for eleven seasons after being drafted #3 overall out of Miami in 1990. He is best known for being selected as the 1992 Defensive Player of the Year in a season where Seattle went 2-14, by far the worst performance by any team whose player has been so honored. The three-time All-Pro was named to the 1990s All-Decade Team. The Seahawks retired his #96 and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Kennedy died of heart failure in 2017.
• Joe Klecko was a Jack of All Trades lineman drafted by the New York Jets in the sixth Round in 1977 out of Temple. He was a central component of the New York Sack Exchange defensive line that dominated the early '80s. He played with the Jets until 1987 and played one more season in Indianapolis before chronic knee problems forced him to prematurely retire. He was named to four Pro Bowls in his career and was the second player to go there in three different positions after Frank Gifford. The Jets retired his #73 in 2004, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023. His son Dan played professionally from 2003-08, winning two Super Bowls with New England and one with Indianapolis. He also had an acting career, appearing in four films with Burt Reynolds in the late '70s and early '80s.
• Bob Lilly, aka "Mr. Cowboy", was the first NFL draft pick for the Dallas Cowboys in 1961.^note The Cowboys were not approved in time for the 1960 Draft, a key reason for their winless inaugural season. A cornerstone of the "Doomsday Defense" as a DT, the TCU product missed only one game over the course of his 14-year career. He famously threw his helmet half the length of the field when Dallas lost Super Bowl V on the last play, although they won Super Bowl VI the next year. Lilly was selected 1st team All-Pro seven times and the Pro Bowl eleven times, and he became the first Cowboy inducted into the Hall of Fame, being selected in his first year of eligibility.
• Gene Lipscomb, also known as "Big Daddy", was a massive d-lineman in the '50s and early '60s. Lipscomb enlisted in the Marines out of high school instead of going to college and played for the football team at his base. His tremendous size (estimated 6'9'' and nearly 300 pounds) regardless attracted the attention of local scouts. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the L.A. Rams in 1953, then traded to the Baltimore Colts in 1956, where he helped lead the team to two consecutive championships. He was traded again to the Steelers towards the end of his career, which was tragically cut short by a heroin overdose during the 1963 off-season. This, combined with a lack of dependable stats for defensive players from his era, has kept him out of the Hall of Fame, though many argue that he is one of the most deserving players of the pre-Super Bowl era for that honor; he was the only finalist for the NFL's 100th Anniversary team from his era to not be enshrined in Canton.
• Howie Long was a Hall of Fame DE for the Los Angeles Raiders. Drafted in the second round out of Villanova in 1981, the year before the Raiders left Oakland, Long made eight Pro Bowl selections and one Super Bowl win as the leader of the Raiders' strong defense. He retired after 1993 and spun his success in the L.A. market into a brief career in action films, including a notable supporting role in Broken Arrow (1996) (where his death scene became the Trope Namer for the "Howie Scream", a popular Stock Scream) and the starring role in Firestorm (a Box Office Bomb that ended the idea of him as a leading man). He saw much more lasting success as an analyst for Fox, joining the network's foray into sports in the early '90s as the Straight Man to Terry Bradshaw's wilder antics, a role he's kept to this day. Howie is also notable for having two sons who had great NFL success: Chris Long was picked #2 overall in the 2008 Draft out of Virginia by the St. Louis Rams and had a solid 11-year career of his own as a DE, winning two Super Bowls with the Patriots and Eagles and winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2018 for his charitable work. Kyle Long was taken #20 overall in 2013 out of Oregon and was a Pro Bowl guard for the Chicago Bears for several years before an early retirement in 2020.
• William Roy "Link" Lyman was a two-way tackle during the '20s. He didn't play football until he attended college at Nebraska, after which he was recruited by fellow alumni Guy Chamberlin to play for the Canton Bulldogs in 1922. He won three championships with the Bulldogs before signing with the Chicago Bears in 1926, where he earned praise as one of the league's top linemen and won another championship in 1933. While he played on both sides of the ball, he excelled the most on defense, where he was credited as one of the first defensive lineman to shift his position before the snap. He retired in 1934, was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1964, and died in an auto accident in 1972.

Defensive Linemen (M-Z)

• Dexter Manley was a DE best known for his time with Washington, where he was a defensive leader for their two '80s Super Bowl wins. Drafted in the 5th round in 1981 out of Oklahoma State, he quickly broke out as one of the NFL's better pass rushers and set the franchise single-season sack record with 18.5 in '86, making his sole career Pro Bowl that same year. However, he struggled with drug suspensions and, after his third violation, was suspended for a year in 1989, ending his Washington tenure despite holding the then-franchise record for career sacks (later surpassed by Ryan Kerrigan, see below). He moved on to play for the Cardinals and Bucs, but a fourth drug suspension ended his NFL career. He moved on to play in the CFL, but was arrested and spent two years in prison for drug-related offenses. He was famously at the center of a controversy when he revealed that he was functionally illiterate, begging the question of how he managed to graduate from college and causing him to be used as evidence in a U.S. Senate hearing on colleges relaxing academic standards for student athletes. Manley is enshrined in the Washington Ring of Honor.
• Charles Mann was a DE best known for his time with Washington, playing for much of his career opposite Dexter Manley above. Mann was drafted in the 3rd round in 1983 and won a starting job the following year, with Mann and Manley providing a strong pass-rushing tandem for Washington from 1984-89, including contributing to Washington's victory in Super Bowl XXII. After Manley's 1989 drug suspension and subsequent departure, Mann continued to play well and contributed to Washington's most recent Super Bowl victory in XXVI before leaving after 1993 as the team career leader in forced fumbles with 17 and second in career sacks with the team at 82, just behind Manley. Mann finished his career with the 49ers in 1994, playing little for them but managing to close his career with a third ring. After retirement, Mann briefly went into broadcasting during the late 1990s with CBS before focusing more on a business career, charitable endeavors, and a project called Brain Sentry seeking to find ways to improve player safety without compromising the intensity of football.
• Gino Marchetti was a DE (and OT) for the Baltimore Colts during their dominant run in the '50s and was possibly the greatest defensive player of that decade. A gritty working-class guy, Gino was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and basically defined the image of the mid-century American football player. The New York Yanks drafted Marchetti #14 overall in 1952 out of San Francisco^note the year after their undefeated team folded with the first pick of the second round, but the team folded soon after. He landed with the Dallas Texans, who likewise collapsed; their assets wound up with the new Colts, who won two championships with Marchetti on the line. Marchetti was selected to eleven straight Pro Bowls in Baltimore and was a recipient of the AP's "Most Outstanding Player" award in 1958^note though that award was also given to Jim Brown the same year and is not counted as an "official" MVP award, though some consider it a predecessor to the Defensive Player of the Year title. After retiring in 1966, he started a successful fast food chain called "Gino's" that had hundreds of locations in the mid-Atlantic before being bought out by Roy Rogers. Marchetti was inducted to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, had his #89 retired by the Colts, and died in 2019.
• Jim Marshall was a DE who most famously played for the Minnesota Vikings throughout the '60s and '70s as a member of their elite "Purple People Eater" defensive line (along with Carl Eller, see above, and Alan Page, see below). Marshall's path to the NFL was relatively unique. He dropped out of Ohio State before his senior year in 1959, a common practice today for promising young stars seeking to go pro and start making a living. At that time, however, that decision left him ineligible to join the NFL for another year. He signed with the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders instead, was traded to the Cleveland Browns the next season (a rare CFL-NFL trade), and joined the expansion Vikings the next year. A two-time Pro Bowler, Marshall played for all four of the Vikings Super Bowl-losing teams during that era. He retired with the career record for recovered fumbles with 30 (since passed by Rod Woodson), 130.5 unofficial sacks (third most at the time of his retirement, currently just outside the top 20), played a record 20 seasons as a defensive player (since tied by Darrell Green and Junior Seau), and holds the longest defensive start streak in league history at 270 games^note and second longest overall, behind only Brett Favre, and was the final member of the original 1961 expansion Vikings to retire, after which the Vikings retired his #70 (he remains the longest-tenured player in franchise history). On a more infamous note, Marshall is responsible for one of the all-time NFL bloopers, known as the "Wrong Way Run", where he returned a recovered fumble to his own end zone, resulting in a safety.^note Marshall's Vikings still won the game thanks to a late Marshall strip-sack that was returned for a TD by another Vikings defender. Despite all of of his records, he remains left out of the Hall of Fame, likely because some voters can't look past that blunder.
• Harvey Martin was a DE for the Dallas Cowboys, drafted in the 3rd round in 1973 out of the small East Texas State^note now Texas A&M–Commerce. "Too Mean" Martin soon broke out as one of the stars of Dallas' "Doomsday II" defense, being named to four Pro Bowls. In 1977, he had one of the greatest seasons of any defensive player in NFL history: he won Defensive Player of the Year after posting an unofficial 23 sacks.^note Pro Football Reference (which the NFL recognizes for pre-1982 sack numbers) credits Martin with 20 sacks that season and instead recognizes Bubba Baker (see above) as the sole record holder. Unfortunately, Martin's performance began to decline in his last few years due in part to his cocaine abuse, which led to conflicts with team management and a somewhat early retirement in 1983. He faced numerous legal troubles in retirement, including jail time in the '90s for drug abuse and domestic violence. Martin died in 2001 from pancreatic cancer.
• John Matuszak was a DE who most famously played for the Raiders in the late '70s and early '80s. Matuszak was drafted #1 overall in 1973 by the Houston Oilers out of Tampa, his third college,^*He played his freshman season at an Iowa junior college before transferring to Missouri, where he played tight end as a sophomore before losing his scholarship after a head coaching change. He then moved to Tampa, which had enjoyed success in the NAIA, but made an ill-advised move to the NCAA University Division (the predecessor to Division I) in 1971, and dropped football in 1974 due to financial distress. but was traded away after only one season when he attempted to also play for the WFL's Houston Texans. Matuszak bounced around a number of teams due to his hard-partying ways making him an at-times unreliable player whose performance didn't reflect his draft position. He was on his way to becoming one of the greatest draft busts of all time until he landed with the Raiders, a team that fit his personality to a tee, and he contributed to two of the team's Super Bowl victories. Matuszak retired in 1982 after ten seasons and transitioned into a fairly prolific acting career, most famously playing Sloth in The Goonies. Tragically, he died of a drug overdose in 1989.
• Steve "Mongo" McMichael was perhaps the most successful pro football player to move into a career in pro wrestling. A DT drafted in the third round in 1980 by the New England Patriots out of Texas, he was released after one season and joined the Chicago Bears for the next 13 years. He was a starter on their legendary 1985 Super Bowl winning team, made the Pro Bowl twice, was named All-Pro five times, and retired with 95 sacks—second most in Bears history^note behind Richard Dent and the then-most by a full-time DT in NFL history (since surpassed)^note now fourth behind John Randle, Aaron Donald, and Warren Sapp. McMichael quickly moved into professional wrestling with both WWF and WCW in the late '90s, briefly winning a championship title, and later served as a color announcer and referee. Proving to be a Renaissance Man, he formed a band with fellow former Bears players Dan Hampton and Otis Wilson called the Chicago 6, served seven years as the head coach of Chicago Slaughter of the CIFL, and even ran for mayor of his adopted Illinois hometown. In 2021, he revealed that he is suffering from ALS, becoming one of the most prominent NFL players to have the disease; he was inducted to the Hall of Fame on the senior ballot in 2024.
• Frank McRae was drafted in the 6th round by the Chicago Bears in 1966 out of Tennessee State. He played just 6 games for the team but became better known for his post football career, as he became a prolific character actor in the '70s and '80s with roles as Da Chief in 48 Hrs., the history teacher who gets gunned down in Red Dawn (1984), pairings with John Candy in 1941 (1979) and National Lampoon's Vacation, and supporting parts in other films like Rocky II, Used Cars, Licence to Kill, *batteries not included, and The Wizard. He died in 2021.
• Keith Millard was drafted #13 overall by the Minnesota Vikings in 1984, though the Washington State DT played a year in the USFL before joining the team. He quickly emerged as a force on the Vikings D, posting 18 sacks in 1989 (a record for the position that stood nearly three decades) and winning Defensive Player of the Year. His career is sadly best known for What Could Have Been; the year after his monster season, he suffered a Game-Breaking Injury to his knee that knocked him out for the next two years and effectively killed his career. He entered coaching after a few failed comeback attempts.
• Joe Nash holds the Seattle Seahawks franchise record for most games played, an impressive feat considering the nose tackle-turned-DE started his NFL career going undrafted out of Boston College in 1982 before playing the next 15 years in the Pacific Northwest.
• Carl Nassib is a DE notable off the field for becoming the first NFL player on an active 53-man roster to come out as gay.^note Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted into the league, never made it past the practice squad (see his entry below). Several other players came out only after their careers had ended. A third round pick by the Browns in 2016 out of Penn State (where he started as a walk-on before earning a scholarship and being named a unanimous All-American), he later put up solid if unspectacular stints with the Raiders and Buccaneers. He retired in 2023 to focus on charitable efforts.
• Leo Nomellini was a Hall of Fame tackle and one of the most durable players in NFL history. Born in Lucca, Italy, he immigrated to the U.S. as an infant and didn’t pick up football until he enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II, where his play earned him a scholarship at Minnesota after the war ended. He excelled as a two-way linemen before the San Francisco 49ers drafted him #11 overall in 1950, their first draft pick in the NFL. He became the only lineman to be named All-Pro on both offense and defense, but settled primarily into a defensive role throughout the decade, earning 10 Pro Bowls and never missing a game during his 14-year career. Throughout his NFL career, he also participated in wrestling, winning several tag-team titles and earning the nickname “the Lion” for how powerful and ferocious he was. His #73 was retired by the 49ers, and he died in 2000.
• Merlin Olsen was a Hall of Fame DT who played his entire 15-year career with the Los Angeles Rams. Olsen made an immediate impact after being drafted #3 overall from Utah State in 1962, making the first of his 14 Pro Bowls (a record for a defensive player and tied for second behind only Tom Brady) as a rookie. The next season, he became part of the Rams' original "Fearsome Foursome". For a few years, Merlin was joined on the Rams d-line by his younger brother Phil Olsen, who was the #4 pick in 1970 but had his career derailed by knee injuries; they made the only Sibling Team of DTs in NFL history. Merlin made the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team and the league's All-Decade Teams for both the '60s and '70s, and his number (#74) was retired by the Rams. Following his retirement after 1976, he became a successful NFL broadcaster, serving as NBC's lead NFL color commentator through the late '80s and covering five Super Bowls. The bearded broadcaster became known as a warm and intelligent Gentle Giant in the booth. He also enjoyed notable success as an actor, playing a major supporting role in Little House on the Prairie and the lead in Father Murphy, and also spent many years as the commercial spokesman for FTD Flowers. Olsen died of cancer in 2010.
• Leslie O'Neal is the Chargers' all-time sack leader. Drafted #8 overall in 1986 out of Oklahoma State, the DE/LB won Defensive Rookie of the Year with a breakout rookie campaign, only to suffer a devastating knee injury late in the season that sidelined him for nearly two years. Luckily for the Chargers, he managed to return to full form, putting up six Pro Bowl years as part of the defense that took the Bolts to a Super Bowl appearance. He played his final four seasons with the Rams and Chiefs before retiring after 1999; he is part of the Chargers Hall of Fame.
• Alan Page was a fearsome DT who most famously played for the Minnesota Vikings as part of their "Purple People Eater" defensive line (along with Carl Eller and Jim Marshall, see above). Drafted at #15 overall in 1967 out of Notre Dame, Page was selected to nine Pro Bowls, became both the first recipient of the AP's Defensive Player of the Year award and the first defensive player to be named league MVP in 1971, and, in his 15 years as a lineman, blocked an impressive 15 field goal attempts and recorded 148.5 sacks, an unofficial record for a defensive tackle. After a stint with the Bears, Page retired from football in 1981 and earned an induction into his hometown of Canton and the retirement of his #88 by the Vikings. He then became a prominent attorney and sat on the Minnesota Supreme Court for more than 20 years (1993–2015), leaving only because he had reached the state's mandatory retirement age of 70 for judges. For this service, he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, the same year the NFLPA renamed their annual community service award after him.
• Julius Peppers was a first ballot Hall of Fame DE selected #2 overall in 2002 by his home state Carolina Panthers out of North Carolina. A freakish athlete at 6'7" and 290 lbs, Peppers not only played football in college but also walked on to the powerhouse UNC basketball team and even put up a double-double performance in the NCAA Tournament in 2001. He was Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002 and made the Pro Bowl five times with the Panthers, becoming the franchise leader in career sacks. Entering a rebuilding phase, the Panthers opted to let Peppers walk during free agency in 2010, where he signed a six-year deal with the Chicago Bears. He earned three more Pro Bowl trips with Chicago but was released after his fourth season saw declining returns. Peppers moved to division rival Green Bay for three years, where he rebounded to earn another Pro Bowl nod. In 2017, he returned to Carolina and entered a multi-way tie as the oldest player to register a double-digit sack season at age 37. He retired after one more season with the Panthers, ending his 17-year career with 159.5 sacks, fourth most in NFL history, as well as the only player to record over 100 sacks and intercept 10 passes.
• William Perry was a DT for the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears. The Big Guy in a league full of big guys, Perry weighed in at well over 300 pounds throughout his time in the league. His size made him an instant celebrity after he was drafted #22 overall out of Clemson in 1985 and earned him the popular nickname "The Refrigerator" (often shortened to "Fridge"), though he was more commonly called "The Biscuit" by his teammates (as in "one biscuit shy of 350 pounds"). Perry's size was also creatively used by coach Mike Ditka in other ways—he was sometimes run at fullback, where he would pound through the offensive line like a wrecking ball to grab some extra yards, something he famously accomplished for a touchdown in Super Bowl XX. Perry retired in 1996 after brief stints with the Eagles and the WLAF, and found some success in professional wrestling, even being inducted into the "celebrity" wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Perry has spent the last decade struggling with debt, alcoholism, and major health issues.
  • William's younger brother and fellow DL Michael Dean Perry, though overshadowed in pop culture by Fridge's larger-than-life persona, was far more successful than him on the field. Picked by Cleveland in the second round out of Clemson in 1988, Michael Dean would be a six-time All-Pro with the Browns (first team from 1989–93, second team in 1994) and finished out his career with the Broncos and briefly the Chiefs, retiring in 1997. In 2001, he was in the first class of Cleveland Browns Legends, a "ring of honor" established by the franchise a few years after its return to play.
• Dontari Poe was a massive DT selected #11 overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012 out of Memphis. A two-time Pro Bowler, he also lined up at fullback in goal line situations. It was in this role that he set two notable NFL offensive records. Listed at 346 lbs, he is the heaviest player in NFL history to throw a TD pass as well as the heaviest to rush for a TD.^note Fellow DT Vita Vea, listed at 347 lbs, caught a TD pass in 2019 to become the heaviest player to score any type of TD. Poe spent four less successful seasons with three other teams to end his career.
• Robert Porcher was a DE who played his entire career with the Detroit Lions, who drafted him #26 overall in 1992 out of HBCU South Carolina State. After seeing limited playing time in his rookie season, he became one of the most feared players at his position. From 1996-99, he made the Pro Bowl three times, became the first Lion to record double-digit sacks in four consecutive seasons, and retired in 2003 as the franchise's official leader in the category (most still count Alex Karras ahead of him). He has yet to be enshrined in Canton, largely due to playing for a small-market team.
• Jethro Pugh was a DT who played his entire career with the Dallas Cowboys, who drafted him in the 11th Round in 1965 out of D-II HBCU Elizabeth City State. The two-time All-Pro's contributions to the Doomsday Defenses were often overshadowed by his teammates. In 1971, he played through appendicitis to help the team win its first Super Bowl win and won another Super Bowl in 1977. He retired after 1978 with an unofficial 96.5 sacks, having led Dallas in sacks from 1968-72 and played in a then-league record 23 playoff games. Following his NFL career, he hosted an annual golf tournament to raise funds for the United Negro College Fund before passing away in 2015. He is probably perhaps best known to younger people via references from King of the Hill.
• John Randle was a DT for the Minnesota Vikings in the '90s. Undrafted out of college in 1990 due to his smaller stature and Division II school (Texas A&M–Kingsville), Randle quickly asserted himself as a talented and vocal defensive opponent, recording double-digit sacks in five seasons and leading the league in sacks in 1997. Randle was instantly recognizable by his distinctive eye black, which he applied all around his eyes like Tribal Face Paint. Randle had a fierce rivalry with division rival Brett Favre, who he sacked more than any other quarterback; this was notably joked about in a Nike commercial where Randle chased down and barbecued a chicken wearing a Favre jersey, which got the company and Randle in some hot water with PETA. After a brief stint with the Seahawks, he retired in 2004 having recorded more official sacks than any other defensive tackle.^note Unofficially, fellow Viking Alan Page holds the record. Randle was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.
• Busari "B.J." Raji was a DT drafted #9 overall out of Boston College by the Green Bay Packers in 2009. After being hampered by injury in his rookie season, he became the anchor of the Green Bay defensive line in 2010. In the 2010 NFC Championship game, Raji intercepted a pass from Bears backup Caleb Hanie, becoming the heaviest player in NFL history to score a post-season touchdown (his touchdown dance remains a popular meme to this day). Though his primary role was on defense, he proved to be a versatile player and was occasionally put in at fullback on offensive schemes to assist with run blocking due to his size and mobility and once scored a rushing TD. Raji departed the league in 2016 due to family obligations and concerns about repeated head injuries.
• Andy Robustelli was a DE drafted in the nineteenth round out of defunct Arnold College^note which shut down in 1953 by the Los Angeles Rams in 1951. He made an immediate impact, helping the Rams win a championship in his rookie season. He was traded to the New York Giants in 1956 and enjoyed even greater success, winning a championship in his first season with the team and leading them to five more championship game berths. He retired in 1964, having missed only one game in his long career, was named to seven Pro Bowls, held the then-record for fumble recoveries with 22, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971. He served as a GM with the Giants until retiring following the infamous Miracle at the Meadowlands play in 1978. He died from complications related to gallbladder surgery in 2011.
• Michael Sam was a DE who never actually played in a regular NFL game but is notable for being the first openly gay player drafted into the league. A unanimous All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year at Missouri originally projected to be a third- or fourth-round pick, Sam came out publicly after his college career. He then wasn't selected until the 7th round (with the sixth-to-last pick of the draft) in the 2014 Draft by the St. Louis Rams; though he had an underwhelming Combine workout, due in part to being asked to switch from defensive end to linebacker, fans suspected that his fall was related to his sexuality. This view was not helped by rampant rumors that the NFL had pressured the Rams, who were in the midst of their locally unpopular move from St. Louis to Los Angeles, to take the hometown hero and lock in this important cultural milestone. Sam was immediately a fan favorite, with his jersey being the sixth biggest seller following the draft, something unheard of for such a late round pick. In four preseason games, he registered three sacks and drew praise from the coaching staff, but he was released during final cuts, again fueling rumors that he was being met with resistance due to his sexuality. He signed with the Cowboys practice squad but was released mid-season. After a year in the CFL (becoming that league's first openly gay player), Sam announced his retirement from football for mental health reasons and moved into a career as an author and motivational speaker. Sadly, until Carl Nassib (see above) came out seven years later, it was speculated that the obstacles Sam faced may have actually prevented more players from coming out in the years between.
• Warren Sapp was a DT for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who selected him #12 overall in 1995 out of Miami.^note Incidentally, Sapp's emergence at Miami had a significant impact on the future of professional wrestling and American cinema. The Canes had another d-lineman who saw his playing time dwindle, leading him to follow in his father's footsteps, parlaying it first into WWE mega-stardom and then Hollywood A-list status. His name: Dwayne Johnson. He, along with fellow 1995 first round pick Derrick Brooks (see below), helped turn Tampa from a league bottom-feeder into a Super Bowl champion. Sapp worked as one of the most disruptive—and noisiest—defensive linemen of the '90s, winning Defensive Player of the Year in 1999 and being featured on the cover of ESPN NFL Football. He later developed a reputation for being brash and unsportsmanlike, picking fights with other players, coaches, and referees on a regular basis (fittingly, he spent his last few years with the Raiders), and he has struggled with legal trouble and bankruptcy since retiring from play after 2007. Still, the seven-time Pro Bowler retired with the third most sacks by a defensive tackle in league history, had his #99 retired by Tampa Bay, and was a first ballot Hall of Famer.
• Lee Roy Selmon was a DE drafted #1 overall out of Oklahoma in 1976 as the first ever pick of the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Through his nine-year career, Selmon was practically the only bright spot on the historically terrible team—it was no coincidence that he was awarded Defensive Player of the Year after their first winning season in 1979, nor that the team had two consecutive 2-14 seasons after he retired early in 1984 due to a back injury. His nickname was literally "The Gentle Giant". Selmon went to six consecutive Pro Bowls and, despite his relatively short career, still holds the Buccaneers all-time sack record, had his #63 retired by the team, and was inducted into Canton in 1995 before passing away in 2011 from a stroke.
• Tom Sestak played TE at McNeese State before the AFL's Bills drafted him in the 17th round in 1962.^note The NFL's Lions took him in the 16th round Standing at a massive 6'5" and 270 lbs, Buffalo moved Sestak to DT where he became one of the most dominant lineman in the game, opening his career with four straight All-Pros, leading the AFL in sacks in '64, and anchoring a powerful defense that guided the Bills to consecutive AFL titles before knee injuries led to his early retirement in '68. He died in 1987, receiving a posthumous induction to the Bills Wall of Honor, but his brief career and playing entirely in the AFL has kept him out of consideration for Canton despite being a finalist for the 100th Anniversary Team.
• Richard Seymour, the #6 overall selection in the 2001 NFL Draft out of Georgia, anchored the New England Patriots’ defense as a tackle and end as the team reached four Super Bowls in his first eight seasons, winning three. A seven-time Pro Bowler, Seymour was traded to the Raiders in 2009 and retired after 2012 with 57.5 sacks. He was named to the 2000s All-Decade Team and inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022.
• Bruce Smith is the all-time leading sack specialist of the NFL—he holds the career sack record with 200 quarterback sacks, a truly tremendous number when considering that only 42 players have even recorded half that, even unofficially, and only Reggie White's 198 count is even within twenty sacks of the record.^note White would hold the record if his sacks from the USFL were counted. He was drafted #1 overall in 1985 by the Buffalo Bills after a stellar showing as a DE at Virginia Tech, where he earned the nickname "The Sack Man". Over his 19-year career, he was a major contributor for the '90s Bills during their run as 4-in-a-row Super Bowl runner-ups, won Defensive Player of the Year twice ('90, '96), and was voted to eleven Pro Bowls. Smith retired in 2003 after a brief stint in Washington, had his #78 retired by the Bills, and was voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Not to be confused with the pre-WWII College Hall of Fame RB for Minnesota.
• Bubba Smith was a successful DE and the #1 overall pick in the 1967 NFL Draft out of Michigan State, going to the Baltimore Colts. While he wasn't quite as individually successful in the pros as he was in college, he helped the Colts win a Championship in 1968 and a Super Bowl in 1970. After brief stints with the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Oilers, Smith retired after 1976 and became an actor best known for appearing in the Police Academy series of movies. Smith died in 2011 at age 66; autopsies revealed he had numerous health issues, including advanced CTE. Smith's younger brother Tody also enjoyed a brief journeyman NFL career, getting a ring in Super Bowl VI with the Dallas Cowboys in 1971.
• Ed Sprinkle was one of the most feared (and, by many, hated) defensive players of the '40s and '50s. After signing with the Chicago Bears as an UDFA from Navy, Sprinkle gained the nickname "The Claw" for his Signature Move, a clothesline tackle that knocked many players out of a game from injury (including, notably, the opposing QB in the Bears' 1946 Championship victory). Even for the time, Sprinkle's play was seen as so aggressive and potentially dangerous that several NFL coaches called for the league to discipline him. Despite that, he was named to four Pro Bowls before retiring after 1955. He briefly served as a DC for the Jets in the '60s and passed away in 2014, earning a posthumous Hall of Fame entry in 2020.
• Ernie Stautner was a German-born DT (and sometimes o-lineman) for the Pittsburgh Steelers throughout the '50s and early '60s. Pittsburgh picked him in the 2nd round of the 1950 Draft out of Boston College, even though he was considered too undersized to be a successful lineman at 6'1" and 230 pounds. What Stautner lacked in size, however, he made up for with his aggressiveness, tenacity, and a drive to win that the Steelers had severely lacked throughout their early history. He became one of the best defensive tackles of his era, earning nine Pro Bowls and five All-Pros throughout his 14-year career with the Steelers, during which time he only missed six games while playing through a plethora of injuries, including cracked ribs and even a couple of broken shoulders.^note His teammate Andy Russell recalled a story in 1963, where Stautner suffered a compound fracture in his thumb during a game but played the rest of the drive before he went to the sidelines and taped his hand into a club to finish out the rest of the game. Although the Steelers never made the playoffs during his career, they built a reputation as a team that played bruising defensive football in large part due to Stautner's leadership. He retired after 1963, with his #70 being the first (and, for decades, only) to be officially retired by the Steelers shortly afterwards. He went on to spend the next three decades as a defensive coach for several teams, most notably as a DC for the Dallas Cowboys and their “Doomsday” defenses from the late '60s to the early '80s. In the '90s, he saw success as a head coach in the Arena Football League and World League of American Football, leading the Frankfurt Galaxy to a championship in the latter league. Stautner was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and died in 2006 from complications with Alzheimer's.
• Michael Strahan was a d-lineman for the New York Giants, who drafted him in the second round in 1993 out of the HBCU Texas Southern. A Military Brat who spent most of his adolescence in Germany, Strahan's most famous football accomplishment was setting the current single-season sack record, putting up 22.5 in 2001 on the way to winning Defensive Player of the Year.^note "Official" because Bubba Baker (see above) posted 23 in 1978 before the sack stat became official. There's also a notable controversy surrounding Strahan's record, as many have accused the victim of his last sack, Brett Favre, of deliberately taking a fall in order to either help Strahan out and/or give New Yorkers something to celebrate in the months after the 9/11 attacks. The 22.5 mark has also since been tied by T.J. Watt in 2021. Despite being a seven-time Pro Bowler, a Hall of Famer, and having his #92 retired by the Giants after setting the franchise records for tackles and games played (before being surpassed by late-career teammate Eli Manning), he may be more well known for being "the TV host with the enormous gap in his front teeth" than he is for his stellar football career. After retiring in 2007 following the Giants' first upset Super Bowl victory over the Patriots, Strahan spun off his on-field success in one of America's premier media markets into one of the most prolific TV host careers of the 21st century. He joined the analyst team for FOX's NFL coverage, though he has been frequently moved around in part to accommodate his growing list of non-football live TV shows. First, he co-hosted the morning television talk show Live! alongside Kelly Ripa, replacing long-time co-host Regis Philbin from 2012 to 2016. He left (amid rumors of friction on the set) to become co-anchor of ABC's Good Morning America. Also in 2016, he became host of the current version of the Pyramid game show.
• Marcus Stroud and John Henderson were a pair of DTs selected in the first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2001 and 2002 out of Georgia and Tennessee, respectively. The pair gave the Jaguars one of the most dominant and largest (Stroud standing at 6'6", Henderson at 6'7", and combining to weigh over 750 lb in their heyday) DT combos of the era, combining for five Pro Bowl appearances and two All-Pro nods. Their height proved especially challenging to opposing QBs as they batted down passes, with opposing teams giving their scout team DTs tennis rackets to hold up in practice while rushing the passer to simulate their reach. Both were extremely durable as well, playing in all 16 games in each of their first six seasons. Like so many other franchise mainstays of the era, they were unceremoniously dumped by notorious GM Gene Smith by the end of the decade. Stroud played three final seasons in Buffalo while Henderson played two in Oakland before retiring.
• Ndamukong Suh is a DE drafted #2 overall in 2010 by the Detroit Lions after a highly decorated college career at Nebraska. He immediately played an integral role at helping revive the long-struggling franchise, earning Defensive Rookie of the Year. While Suh's aggressive playstyle also resulted in numerous penalties and suspensions, he briefly became the highest-paid defensive player in league history when he was picked up by the Dolphins in 2015 after his rookie contract expired. He later hopped from Miami to the Rams (where he played in his first Super Bowl), Buccaneers (where he won his first ring as a core part of a powerhouse defense), and Eagles. Suh has earned five Pro Bowl selections and a place on the 2010s All-Decade Team.
• Eric Swann was a DT best known for his unusual route to the NFL. An impressive high school athlete, Swann was considered a shoo-in for a college scholarship but was ruled academically ineligible due to terrible standardized test scores caused by his ADD. He instead joined a small semi-pro team, playing for $5 an hour and utterly dominating his mostly amateur opponents. The Phoenix Cardinals caught wind of him and, in a shocking move, drafted him #6 overall in 1991, the highest selection for any player who had never attended college since World War II. His selection was widely mocked as another terrible decision by the long-struggling organization, but Swann turned out to be one of the few good choices the Gridbirds made in their early years in the desert; after a few seasons of adjusting to the pros, he earned two Pro Bowl selections and helped the Cards break their half-century playoff win drought. He retired after spending 2000 with the Panthers.
• Jason Taylor was a prominent DE and weakside LB. A third round pick out of Akron by the Miami Dolphins in 1997, Taylor played eleven seasons in Miami and won Defensive Player of the Year in 2006. He was then traded to Washington, returned to Miami after a season, signed with the Jets the next year, and again bounced back to Miami to retire. During that span, Taylor set the NFL career record for fumble return touchdowns and the Dolphins franchise record for sacks. The six-time Pro Bowler was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
• Justin Tuck was a DE drafted in the third round by the New York Giants in 2005. The Notre Dame product was a key defensive leader to the G-Men's two Super Bowl victories, setting the franchise record for QB hits. He retired after spending 2014-15 with the Raiders and was enshrined in the Giants Ring of Honor.
• Cameron Wake had an unusual entrance to his solid NFL career, especially for the 21st century. The Penn State DE/OLB went undrafted in 2005 and failed to make an NFL final roster. After two years not seeing the field, Wake went to the CFL and saw great success, winning the league's Most Outstanding Defensive Player award in both his seasons with the BC Lions. Wake subsequently signed with the Miami Dolphins and earned five Pro Bowl nods over the next decade with the team; his sacks with the franchise rank just behind Jason Taylor, and his career sacks sit behind only John Randle among undrafted players. Wake retired after spending 2019 with the Titans.
• Ted Washington was a journeyman DT known for his longevity at a physically punishing position. Nicknamed "the Washington Monument" for his massive size (at one point weighing over 400 lbs), Washington was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers #25 overall out of Louisville in 1991. He helped take the Niners to two NFC Championship games, but they traded him to the Broncos after just three seasons after several reported incidents of Washington making homophobic remarks and gestures towards the team's head trainer. After one season in Denver, he put up stints with the Bills (1995-2000, earning three Pro Bowl selections), Bears (2001-02, making a final Pro Bowl before a leg injury ended his 119 consecutive game streak), Patriots (2003, winning a ring in Super Bowl XXXVIII), Raiders (2004-05), and Browns (2006-07). His father, Ted Washington Sr., also played professionally for the Houston Oilers from 1972-82.
• The Watt Brothers are a Badass Family of two of the best defenders to ever play in the NFL (and their middle brother Derek, who played fullback). All three brothers attended Wisconsin in college, and the three co-hosted an Ultimate Tag game show for FOX.
  • J.J. Watt, the oldest brother, is one of the most feared and respected d-linemen in NFL history. Drafted #11 overall in 2011 by the Houston Texans, Watt won Defensive Player of the Year three times in his first five seasons (2012, '14, '15), and his presence helped to finally elevate the young team to playoff contention. A rare dual threat at his position, his ability to both sack the quarterback and bat down passes at the line of scrimmage earned him the nickname "J.J. Swat". In 2012, he notched a 15 sack/15 passes defended season, an astonishing feat for a d-lineman. In 2014, he started lining up on offense and caught three touchdown passes^note Something the Texans' d-line coach, Mike Vrabel, was known for doing as a linebacker with the early '00s Patriots; Watt had also played tight end at Central Michigan before transferring to Wisconsin as a walk-on d-lineman. while also becoming the only NFL player to put up multiple 20+ sack seasons since the stat became official. However, he then became something of a Glass Cannon, missing all but three games in 2016 after offseason back surgery and then suffered a season-ending broken leg in 2017. Watt nonetheless stayed busy in 2017—following the Hurricane Harvey disaster in Houston, Watt started a relief drive that raised $37 million. Those charitable efforts earned him the league's Walter Payton Man of the Year award, as well as a share of Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year honors alongside Houston Astros superstar José Altuve. Upon reaching the end of his contract in 2021, Watt asked to be released by the floundering Texans, signing with the Cardinals as a free agent. After struggling with injuries and a heart condition, he retired after 2022, becoming the third member of the Texans Ring of Honor with a bust in Canton all but assured. He and his wife Kealia, herself a soccer player with a handful of USWNT appearances, are minority investors in Burnley FC, set for promotion to the English Premier League in the 2023–24 season.
  • T.J. Watt, the youngest brother, is a LB drafted #30 overall in 2017 by the Pittsburgh Steelers. T.J. quickly took his brother's place as one of the NFL's most dominant defenders. While perhaps not quite as versatile as his brother, he has potentially already surpassed him with his talent for getting to the quarterback. He is the only player to lead the NFL in sacks three times since the stat became official, doing so in 2020, '21 (winning Defensive Player of the Year after tying the NFL's single-season sack record), and '23. He became the Steelers franchise sack leader in just seven seasons.
• Arnie Weinmester was a Canadian-born DT drafted by the New York Giants in the 17th round in 1945 out of Washington, but his college career was interrupted by his Army service during World War II. Once he graduated in 1948, he signed with the New York Yankees of the AAFC, where he played two seasons as a two-way tackle. After the Yankees folded in 1950, he was picked up by the Giants and moved strictly to DT, where he used his intimidating size and instincts to dominate his opponents and excel as a pass rusher. He was named to four straight All-Pros before abruptly leaving the NFL and returning to Canada, where he was on the inaugural roster of the BC Lions in the CFL, playing two seasons there before retiring in 1955. Despite his very brief career in the NFL, his absurd level of dominance eventually landed him in the Hall of Fame in 1984. He died from heart failure in 2000.
• Dwight White, aka "Mad Dog", was a DE who spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him in the fourth round in 1971 out of East Texas State (now Texas A&M–Commerce). He went to two Pro Bowls and helped the team win four Super Bowls. He scored the first points for the Steelers in Super Bowl IX off a safety while suffering from pneumonia that had put him in the hospital the day prior. He retired in 1980, and although he is a member of the team's Hall of Honor, he has never been a finalist for the Hall of Fame.
• Randy White, aka "The Manster", was a Hall of Fame DT who was drafted #2 overall out of Maryland in 1975, the first of many great picks for the Dallas Cowboys that year. White was probably the best player on the "Doomsday II" defense that won Super Bowl XII (where White was co-MVP) and carried the Cowboys for years afterward. He was selected to nine Pro Bowls before he retired in 1988.
• Reggie White, the feared "Minister of Defense", is widely regarded as one of the best defensive ends to ever play the game. White started playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, who picked him #4 overall in the 1984 Supplemental Draft, in 1985. He helped elevate the long-struggling franchise into more consistent winners and became the franchise's all-time sack leader as a part of the Buddy Ryan's aggressive defense. His high-profile move from the Eagles to the Green Bay Packers in 1993 after the NFLPA successfully bargained for unrestricted free agency sent shockwaves through the league and marked a turning point in player mobility; he was a key member of the Pack's 1996 Super Bowl-winning team. He won Defensive Player of the Year twice (1987, 1998^note At age 37, the oldest player to ever win the award) and went to 13 consecutive Pro Bowls. He also briefly held the NFL career sack record with 198 sacks, but Bruce Smith passed him two years after his retirement. He likely would still hold that record had he not begun his pro career playing for the Memphis Showboats of the USFL so he could stay in his native Tennessee (having also played college ball at UT); he recorded 23.5 sacks there before that league folded. Don't feel too bad for him; the next most sacks recorded by a single player is 160, with no active player really even close to moving him further down the list. An ordained minister, he was an actual Bad Ass Preacher. White retired after playing one season in Carolina in 2000 but died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest only four years later; he was posthumously voted first ballot into the Hall of Fame and had his #92 retired by both the Eagles and Packers, the only player to have his number retired by multiple teams.^note Peyton Manning unretired the #18 while with the Broncos, and his name is now attached to it as an honorable mention.
• Vince Wilfork was a massive DT most famous for his time with the New England Patriots who selected him #21 overall out of Miami (where he won a BCS national championship) in 2004. Listed at 325 lbs but believed to have played at a much heavier weight^note He weighed in at 340 lbs at the Combine and looked even larger than that later in his career., Wilfork was perhaps the best true "nose tackle" of the 21st century. His individual stats look rather pedestrian for a player with his accolades (including just 16 sacks in his 13 year career) but only because his role was to tie up multiple blockers at once with his massive size to help other defenders to exploit mismatches. In 11 seasons with the Patriots, Wilfork won two Super Bowls, was named to five Pro Bowls, and earned four All-Pro nods. He retired after two final years with the Texans. Notably, he is the only other player besides Tom Brady to bridge both halves of the Patriots Dynasty and play in both Super Bowl XXXIX and XLIX.
• Kevin Williams was a DT drafted #9 overall by the Minnesota Vikings in 2003. An anchor for the team's feared defense (forming the "Williams Wall" alongside the unrelated Pat Williams), the Oklahoma State product racked up six Pro Bowl nods over 11 years with the Vikings and was enshrined in their Ring of Honor following brief stints with the Seahawks and Saints. Despite sitting on the 2000s All-Decade Team and ranking above the average metric on Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame monitor, he has been routinely overlooked for Hall of Fame consideration.
• Kyle Williams was a DT who played 13 years with the Buffalo Bills and one of the few bright spots for the team during their long stretch of mediocrity in the early 21st century. The 2006 fifth round pick out of LSU earned six Pro Bowl nods, set many franchise records, and finally got to play in the postseason in his penultimate season.
• Mario Williams was the #1 overall pick in 2006. The Houston Texans were initially derided for picking the DE from NC State over the more hyped Reggie Bush, but the Boring, but Practical decision was likely the better one for the young franchise. Williams earned four Pro Bowl nods split evenly between stints with the Texans and Bills and retired after spending 2016 with the Dolphins.
• Bill Willis was a DE who, along with RB Marion Motley, helped to break the color barrier in professional football when he was recruited to play for the Cleveland Browns by his former coach at Ohio State, Paul Brown. In his eight years with the team, Willis helped win five consecutive championships (four in the AAFC, one in the NFL) and was selected to three Pro Bowls. Willis retired early to accept a better paying job working as Cleveland's municipal assistant recreation commissioner and was later inducted into the Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2007.
• Bryant Young was a Hall of Fame DT for the San Francisco 49ers. Drafted #7 overall in 1994 out of Notre Dame, he quickly emerged as a dominant defender and won a Super Bowl ring his rookie year. In 1998, Young's season was ended early by a devastating leg fracture that required extensive reconstruction around a metal rod. Despite early concerns that he might never play again (and even that he might lose his leg), he returned the next season without missing a beat, remaining a Pro Bowl defender and earning Comeback Player of the Year. He retired after 2007.
• Jack Youngblood was a DE for the Los Angeles Rams through the '70s and early '80s. Drafted #20 overall out of Florida in 1971, he quickly asserted himself as one of the league's toughest players, earning seven Pro Bowl selections. Youngblood established himself as a true NFL legend in the 1979 playoffs when he broke his fibula in the divisional round... and returned to the field, played in the NFC Championship and Super Bowl on a broken leg without missing practice for three weeks, and topped it off by playing in the pointless Pro Bowl the week after losing the Super Bowl. Most of his career came before the NFL started recognizing sacks as a statistic, but most experts agree that he had delivered more than any player other than prior Rams great Deacon Jones when he retired in 1984 and would sit in the top ten today were they counted.^note Pro Football Reference (which the NFL recognizes for pre-1982 sack numbers) lists his total at 151.5, good for sixth all time. Youngblood continued to demonstrate his love for the game for many years: he went straight into the Rams front office, served as the NFL's liaison to the Arena Football League, ventured into broadcasting, had his #85 retired by the Rams, and eventually landed a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Linebackers (A-L)

• Brian Banks never played in a regular season game but overcame tremendous adversity to appear in the NFL. He was a star athlete in high school and verbally committed to USC, but he was expelled from school and imprisoned after a classmate falsely accused him of rape in 2002. After spending nearly six years behind bars and an additional five years on probation, his conviction was overturned. After his record was expunged in 2012, he signed with the Las Vegas Locomotives in the UFL, playing in two games, and later signed with the Atlanta Falcons in 2013 at the age of 28. He appeared in all four preseason games before being cut. His story of overcoming the adversity of false accusations and the American legal system was turned into a Biopic, Brian Banks, where he was played by Aldis Hodge.
• Carl Banks was an outside LB most famous for his time with the New York Giants, who drafted him #3 overall in 1984 out of Michigan State. He helped lead the team to two Super Bowl titles (XXI and XXV), had a standout performance in Super Bowl XXI, and earned a Pro Bowl nom in 1987. He left the Giants in 1993, playing a season with Washington and two in Cleveland before retiring after 1995. He was inducted into the Giants Ring of Honor and has seen success as an analyst and businessman, being the face of GIII's For Her and Sports clothing lines.
• Chuck Bednarik was a starter at both offensive center and LB drafted #1 overall by the Philadelphia Eagles out of Penn in 1949, for whom he played for his entire career, choosing to do so during a time when the one-platoon system had long been phased out of football at all organized levels. As a result, he became known as the last of the "60-Minute Men"; not only was he on the field for all 60 minutes of every game, but #60 proceeded to earn numerous Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors for his dominant play at both positions^note mainly at linebacker, since it's more of a playmaking position compared to offensive lineman, and that's why he's listed in this folder throughout his career. He won two NFL Championships with the Eagles, one in 1949 during his rookie season, and again in 1960 against the rising force of Vince Lombardi's Packers; in fact, his tackle of Jim Taylor as time ran out sealed the game for the Birds, handing Lombardi his only-ever playoff loss as a head coach. After his retirement following 1962, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, had his number retired by the Eagles, and was named to both the 1950s All-Decade and the 75th Anniversary All-Time Two-Way teams. He spent the next several decades loudly criticizing modern players who couldn't stay on the field for more than a few minutes at a time. His numbers^note if you can find reliable comprehensive statistical records from his era might not pop out compared to other Hall of Fame-caliber players, but his impact on the gridiron was very much felt in more ways than one. A blue-collar Pennsylvanian to the bone, his nickname was "Concrete Charlie", which came from his business of selling concrete during the offseason and not actually from his reputation of being one of the most devastating tacklers of all time, though Bednarik was certainly, as sportswriter Hugh Brown famously remarked, "as hard as the concrete he sells." He passed away in 2015. The Maxwell Football Club presents an award bearing his name to the top defensive player in college football.
• Bobby Bell was a LB and DE drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round in 1963 out of Minnesota. In his 12-year pro career, he was named an AFL All-Star six times, then was chosen for three Pro Bowls after the AFL-NFL merger of 1970. At 6'4" and 230 lbs., he was considered one of the greatest tacklers and finest all-around talents at his position, credited with 40 (unofficial) sacks and nine touchdowns, six on interception returns. A member of the Chiefs team that won Super Bowl IV in 1970 (the last Big Game before the merger), he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1983.
• Robert Brazile played for the Houston Oilers for his whole career. Drafted #6 overall in 1975 out of HBCU Jackson State, he made an immediate impact on the franchise, bringing about a change in the defensive alignment from a 4-3 to a 3-4 to adjust for his speed and 6'4" size. He is frequently listed as one of the prototypical pass-rushing linebackers (along with Lawrence Taylor, see below). His hard-hitting style earned him the nickname "Doctor Doom". He was named to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1976-82. He retired in 1984 after his wife was tragically killed in a car crash, finishing his career with 48 sacks (11 of which are considered official). His abbreviated career kept him out of the Hall of Fame until 2018.
• Lance Briggs was an OLB for the Chicago Bears, who selected him in the third round out of Arizona in 2003. Excellent in both coverage and as a tackler, he was a perfect fit next to future Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher (see below) in Chicago's Tampa 2 defensive scheme. He was elected to seven straight Pro Bowls from '05-'11, and retired in the top 15 of career tackles. While he ultimately played his entire career for the Bears, he might have moved on to play in San Francisco if not for one of the most high-profile "tampering" cases in the league history. Going into 2007, Briggs was an impending free agent, and the 49ers made illicit early contact with his agent to discuss contract terms. The Bears filed a grievance with the league, and the league opted to swap the Bears and 49ers first round picks (#12 and #7, respectively) and strip the 49ers of a fifth round pick as punishment. (Briggs re-signed with the Bears soon after.) He now serves as an analyst for NBC Sports.
• Derrick Brooks was a LB for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who selected him #28 overall in 1995 out of Florida State. He, along with fellow 1995 first round pick Warren Sapp (see above), helped to turn Tampa from a league bottom-feeder into a Super Bowl champion. Brooks is heralded as one of the greatest coverage linebackers in league history making him a perfect fit in the Bucs "Tampa 2" defense. He was also a sure-fire tackler, retiring as the league's all-time leader in tackles (since surpassed by Ray Lewis, see below). He was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2000 and Defensive Player of the Year in 2002, the same year he led the Bucs to the franchise's first Super Bowl victory. Brooks, an 11-time Pro Bowler, was induced into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, had his #55 retired by the Bucs, and became president and part-owner of Tampa's winning arena football team during its final years. Since 2014, he has served the NFL office as an appeals officer.
• Tedy Bruschi was drafted in the third round by the New England Patriots in 1996 out of Arizona and settled in as a leader for the team's defense during the first half of the team's dynasty era. Just three days after playing in his only Pro Bowl in 2005, Bruschi suffered a stroke and learned he had a congenital heart condition. After many months of rehab, he rejoined the Pats in the middle of the 2005 season, winning Comeback Player of the Year. He retired after 2008, was enshrined in the Pats' Ring of Honor, and transitioned into a career as a TV analyst.
• Peter Boulware was drafted #4 overall in 1997 by the young Baltimore Ravens after a successful tenure at Florida State. The Defensive Rookie of the Year and four-time Pro Bowler was a key contributor to establishing the team's defensive identity, and while his career was relatively short (he retired after 2005) and most of his team records have been surpassed, he is still enshrined in the team's Ring of Honor. His younger brother Michael was a journeyman safety in the later 2000s.
• Nick Buoniconti, drafted in 1962 by the Boston Patriots of the AFL in the thirteenth round out of Notre Dame, was chosen for six AFL All-Star Games, and two Pro Bowls. Traded to the Miami Dolphins in 1969, he became an anchor of the teams that won three straight AFC Championships and back-to-back Super Bowls, the first capping off the perfect 17-0 1972 season. A player agent after retiring from football in 1976, he later founded the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis research center after his son Marc, who played college football for The Citadel, suffered an on-field injury in 1985 that left him a quadriplegic. Despite being elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001, his son's injury and his own memory loss and declining health in his final years (which doctors linked to football-related head trauma) made Buoniconti one of the game's most outspoken critics among former players. He died in 2019.
• Dick Butkus was a middle LB for the Chicago Bears who set the gold standard for the position. Drafted #3 overall out of Illinois in 1965, Butkus was by far the greatest linebacker of the era and is in the running for the best ever. He won back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1969-70 and once made a Sports Illustrated cover as "The Most Feared Man in the Game". He had incredible speed, strength, and instinct, and was greatly feared for always "playing angry"; fellow defensive legend Deacon Jones once noted that "every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital." He retired somewhat early in 1973 due to injury problems from his aggressive playing style, but he held the (now-passed) record for fumble recoveries and likely would be a leader in many more stats had the NFL recorded them during his era. Despite never playing for a playoff team, Butkus was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and had his #51 retired by the Bears. After his playing days, Butkus became an actor. An award bearing his name has been given out annually to the top linebacker at the collegiate level since 1985 and at both the high school and pro levels since 2008. He died in 2023.
• Harry Carson was a legendary inside LB for the New York Giants, who drafted him in the fourth round in 1976 out of HBCU South Carolina State. While often overshadowed by Lawrence Taylor (see below), Carson was an integral part of the Big Blue Wrecking Crew that won two Super Bowls, and he earned nine Pro Bowl nods before he retired after 1988. He was not inducted into the Hall of Fame until 2006, in part because of his outspoken criticism of the voting system, and his later-life struggles with post-concussion symptoms have made him one of the biggest critics of the sport itself amongst former star players.
• Monte Coleman was drafted in the eleventh round in 1979 out of NAIA Central Arkansas but managed to play for 16 seasons in the NFL, all for Washington. He was part of the team's three-Super Bowl dynasty, held the franchise record for games played before being surpassed by Darrell Green. Despite his longevity, Coleman was never awarded with a single Pro Bowl nod, though he is enshrined in the team's Ring of Fame.
• George Connor was one of the first modern LBs in the NFL. He spent two years as a two-way lineman at Holy Cross before leaving to serve in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Once he returned home in '46, Connor was drafted #5 overall by the Giants but chose to finish out his college eligibility at Notre Dame, afterwards signing with his hometown Chicago Bears in '48. He played as a two-way lineman initially, but his coaches started playing him at LB on defense once they realized how effective he was against the run. His quick mobility, powerful hitting, and excellent intellect helped him redefine the LB position while simultaneously excelling as an OT on offense, being named first team All-Pro four straight years from '50-'53. His career was limited to just eight seasons due to a nagging knee injury, but his peak was enough to earn a Hall of Fame induction in '75. He died in 2003.
• Lavonte David was drafted in the second round in 2012 out of Nebraska by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and soon settled in as a mainstay of their defense, earning three All-Pro nods, winning a Super Bowl, and leading all active players in career tackles.
• Thomas Davis was most famous for his time with the Carolina Panthers, who drafted him #14 overall out of Georgia (where he primarily played safety) in 2005. After a promising start to his career, he tore his ACL three times in three straight seasons (2009-11), playing in just nine games over that span. Stunningly, he not only became the first player in any major North American pro sport to return to action after suffering three ACL tears but had the best seasons of his career. He was named Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2014, made three straight Pro Bowls (2015-17), and was Carolina's defensive leader for their Super Bowl 50 appearance. He left Carolina following 2018 as the longest tenured non-specialist in team history and played two final seasons for the Chargers and Washington before retiring. He currently serves as an analyst for NFL Network.
• London Fletcher was a LB known best for his consistent durability, having played a position-record 215 consecutive starts over his 16-year career in St. Louis, Buffalo, and Washington and putting up the second most (official) career tackles in league history despite going undrafted when entering the league in 1998 out of the D-III John Carroll University.
• Bill George was a Hall of Famer often identified as the first middle linebacker (or at least first to be a star at the position). A second round draft pick by the Chicago Bears in 1951 out of Wake Forest, George was initially a middle guard who simply decided to step back immediately rather than bounce off the o-line on passing plays; he became so successful at interceptions that the coaches just started positioning him back from the line to start, in the process inventing the 4-3 defense. George was renowned for his toughness and skill, which earned him eight Pro Bowl nods, and the Bears retired his #61 after he spent 1966 with the Rams, ending his 15-year pro career. He died in a car crash in 1982 at the age of 52.
• Randy Gradishar was drafted by the Broncos #14 overall in 1974 out of Ohio State, where he was a Heisman finalist during his senior year. A surefire tackler with natural instincts, Gradishar became a full-time starter for Denver by his second season, earning the first of seven Pro Bowls and anchoring the Broncos "Orange Crush" defense that guided them to a Super Bowl XII appearance. The 1978 Defensive Player of the Year retired in 1983 having never missed a game in his career and was inducted to Broncos Ring of Fame later that decade, but he had to wait until 2024 for induction in Canton.
• Larry Grantham was a 15th round pick from Ole Miss by the Baltimore Colts in 1960, but he opted to instead join the New York Titans (now Jets) of the newly founded AFL. Initially written off as undersized at 6’0” and 210 lbs., Grantham emerged as one of the nascent league's best defenders, starting his career with five straight All-Pros and earning high regard as one of toughest players in the sport. He anchored the Jets defense that won Super Bowl III, with his leadership playing a key role in shutting down the Colts offense, and only missed six games in his thirteen year career entirely with the Jets before retiring in ‘72.^note He later played a season with the Florida Blazers of the WFL His post-playing career was plagued with alcoholism that led to a divorce and a DUI arrest in ‘86, after which Grantham checked into rehab and remained sober the rest of his life, making significant contributions to the Freedom House, an organization in New Jersey that helps recovering alcoholics. He was inducted to the Jets Ring of Honor in 2011, six years before he died, but has received little consideration for Canton.
• Kevin Greene was a Hall of Fame LB/DE and the #3 all-time sack leader at 160. The Auburn product was picked in only the fifth round of the 1985 Draft by the L.A. Rams. After eight seasons in L.A., Greene later played for the Pittsburgh Steelers^note the team he received his Hall of Fame ring from due to going to a Super Bowl with them, despite only being there three seasons, Carolina Panthers^note where he led the league in sacks and won Defensive Player of the Year but still left after only one season due to a dispute, and San Francisco 49ers^note where he stayed only one year before returning to the Panthers for his final two seasons. He was well known for his flowing blond hair, big personality, and passing resemblance to Hulk Hogan; he indeed pursued a professional wrestling career for a time until the NFL began prohibiting active players from doing so. Greene retired in 1999 after 15 seasons in the NFL. He later served as a linebackers coach for the Packers and Jets, finally winning a Super Bowl ring with the former (ironically against the Steelers); his most crucial moment in said Super Bowl was a Rousing Speech he famously gave to Clay Matthews, after which Matthews went on to make a game-changing play (see his entry). He passed away in 2020.
• Shaquem Griffin^*first name pronounced sha-KEEM has one of the more inspiring personal stories in NFL history despite an overall short career. He was born with constriction ring syndrome that affected his left hand, preventing his fingers from fully developing. By the time he was 4, he was in so much pain that that he once attempted to cut it off with a butcher knife, and the hand was subsequently surgically amputated to spare him from living his life in constant pain. The lack of a hand didn't prevent him from playing multiple sports, including football, throughout high school. From there, he and his twin brother Shaquill^*first name as in Shaquille O'Neal; two minutes older than Shaquem, a cornerback, went to UCF; Shaquill saw playing time immediately while Shaquem had to redshirt due to his handicap. However, Shaquem eventually saw not just playing time but great success, being named the 2016 AAC Defensive Player of the Year and earning second-team All-America honors the following year for the unbeaten Knights. He got a late invitation to the 2018 NFL Combine and recorded a 4.38 40, the fastest in history at that time for a LB, and performed 20 reps on the bench press with a prosthetic hand. Shaquem ended up going to the Seahawks in the fifth round, reuniting him with Shaquill, whom the team had picked in the third round a year earlier. Shaquem was mainly a substitute, while Shaquill emerged as a solid starter, even making the 2019 Pro Bowl as an alternate. After 2020, the twins were separated, with Shaquill signing a three-year deal with the Jaguars and Shaquem playing one more year with the Dolphins before calling it a career. Following his retirement, he partnered with the NFL Legends Community, becoming a motivational speaker and a mentor for younger players.
• Charles Haley was a Hall of Fame LB/DE who played for the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys in the late '80s/early '90s. Initially a fourth round pick out of then-FCS James Madison in 1986, he became the first player in league history with five Super Bowl rings^note two with San Francisco and three with Dallas (a feat only since surpassed by Tom Brady) and is tied for the Super Bowl record for sacks with Von Miller at 4.5. Known as a disruptive player in both senses of the word, he wreaked havoc against opponents on the field and would go on destructive tirades against his own team in the locker room (after his retirement in 1999, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder).
• Tamba Hali was a Liberian-born LB drafted #20 overall in 2006 by the Kansas City Chiefs out of Penn State. The six-time Pro Bowler played his whole twelve-year career in K.C., setting the franchise record for tackles for loss and QB hits.
• Jack Ham and Jack Lambert were the outside and middle LBs for the '70s Pittsburgh Steelers. Working behind the famed Steel Curtain defensive line, both Jacks won four Super Bowls and were selected to multiple Pro Bowls (eight and nine apiece). Ham, a second round pick out of Penn State in 1971, was known as one of the most intelligent players at the position and had one of the best birth names imaginable for a football player, though his most popular nickname was not "Jack Hammer", as you might expect, but "Dobre Shunka", a Polish phrase meaning "good ham". Lambert, a second round pick out of Kent State in 1974, won Defensive Rookie of the Year and followed it with Defensive Player of the Year in 1976, becoming the first linebacker to win the award. He was one of the scariest-looking players ever, largely due to his toothless snarl—he lost his front four teeth in a high school basketball injury and didn't wear his dentures while playing. His ugly mug was one of the last things many players saw before they were buried in turf. Both players were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
• Chris Hanburger was drafted in the 18th round in 1965 out of North Carolina by Washington. "The Hangman" proved to be one of the biggest draft steals ever, earning nine Pro Bowl selections and starting 135 straight games (a streak only broken by appendicitis) as the leader of Washington's defense and taking them to an appearance in Super Bowl VII. Following his retirement after 1978, he waited for decades to be inducted into the Hall of Fame before making the senior ballot in 2011.
• James Harrison was a hard-hitting outside LB who made his name during a long career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. An undrafted prospect out of Kent State in 2002, he worked his way up to become one of the most dominating defenders in the league, even winning the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year. He spent most of his career playing for the Steelers, contributing to two Super Bowl victories. He played a massive role in their victory in Super Bowl XLIII when he picked off a pass from Kurt Warner on his own goal line and ran it back 100 yards to score a touchdown. After signing with division rival the Bengals in 2013^note Fanon Discontinuity applies to this season among most Pittsburgh fans, he was released, retired, and came back to the Steelers after one of their linebackers was lost for the season to injury. His continued high level of play in a position known for high wear and tear earned him the nickname "The Ageless One", though he became better known for his frequent instances of "Foot-In-Mouth Disease"; among other things, he's called out Ben Roethlisberger over the Super Bowl XLV loss and called league commissioner Roger Goodell a homophobic slur in response to getting fined for hits that were against new NFL safety rules against helmet-to-helmet contact. Shortly before the end of the 2017 season, the Steelers released him again, with the Pats picking him up for their postseason run four days later, after which Harrison retired for good.
• A.J. Hawk was drafted #5 overall by the Green Bay Packers in 2006 after a star turn with Ohio State. While he never quite lived up to his college hype, he was a solid contributor to the team for several seasons, including their Super Bowl XLV win, and holds the team's (official) record for career tackles. He retired in 2016 after brief stints with the Bengals and Falcons, and has arguably gained more fame after his career as the co-host of Pat McAfee's popular radio show (see below under "Kickers and Punters").
• Ted Hendricks was a Hall of Fame LB/DE who played for the Baltimore Colts (1969-74) and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (1975-83), plus a year with the Packers in between. Picked in the second round (#15 overall) out of Miami, Hendricks' tall and gangly 6'7'' frame, fairly unique for a player at his position, and his even more unique personality earned him the nickname "The Mad Stork". His unique proportions and savant knowledge of football combined to make him an extremely effective player at niche aspects of the game: he set a record for career safeties (4) that has only been tied and set an even more impressive one for blocked kicks (25) that is likely to never be beaten. He won four Super Bowls, one with the Colts and three with the Raiders, and was selected to eight Pro Bowls before he retired in 1983 after 15 seasons. Fun fact: Hendricks was the first Guatemalan-born player in the NFL.
• Mike Henry was a drafted in the ninth round in 1958 out of USC by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he played until 1961. He finished out his career with the Rams and retired in 1964 with average stats. He ventured into acting, where he found success playing Tarzan during the 1960s and continued that run of success with roles in Rio Lobo, Soylent Green, the 1974 version of The Longest Yard, and Junior Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy. He retired from acting in 1988 and died in 2021 from complications of Parkinson's Disease (which ended his acting career) and CTE.
• Chuck Howley was six-time Pro Bowler who played for the Dallas Cowboys for 13 seasons. Howley was drafted #7 overall out of West Virginia by the Bears in 1958, but his career seemed finished when he sustained a devastating knee injury the summer after his rookie season. After spending a year away from the NFL, Howley decided to give football another shot with the new Cowboys team and became one of the franchise's first great players. He is most famous, however, for being the MVP of Super Bowl V, where he put up two interceptions and forced a fumble. This is notable for two reasons: not only was he the first ever defensive player to receive the honor, the Cowboys lost the game, making him the only MVP to play for the Big Game's losing team. Thankfully, he managed to win a ring the next year and retired two seasons afterwards. After nearly a half-century wait, he was enshrined in Canton in 2023.
• Sam Huff was a working-class son of a West Virginian coal miner drafted in the third round out of WVU by the New York Giants in 1956. Originally a defensive lineman, Huff struggled in training camp and nearly flew back home before Giants offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi caught him in the airport. DC Tom Landry likewise saw greatness in Huff and repositioned him as a middle linebacker, retooling the defensive scheme to fit his skill set and creating the 4-3 defense in the process. Huff excelled and became the first rookie at his position to start in a Championship game, which the Giants won. The Giants' success propelled Huff to celebrity status; he became the first NFL player featured on the cover of Time and one of the first athletes to be mic'd during play for a documentary film. Huff visited five more Championship games with the Giants, who lost all five; tellingly, immediately after the team traded him away to Washington in 1964, they put up their first losing season in over a decade and entered a playoff drought that lasted even longer. He retired in '68 but was lured back the next year by Lombardi after he became Washington's head coach. He helped to bring the long-struggling franchise a winning season as a player-coach before retiring for good. Huff was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982 and died in 2021.
• Bruce Irvin is a linebacker currently playing for the Miami Dolphins. Drafted in the first round by the Seattle Seahawks out of West Virginia in 2012, he was part of the team that won Seattle its first Super Bowl in only his second season. More embarrassingly, he became the very first player to be ejected from a Super Bowl the following year for instigating a brawl by rushing some Patriots players right before their victory. After leaving Seattle in 2016, he spent three seasons with the Oakland Raiders before bouncing around various other teams, including two brief returns to Seattle, before joining the Dolphins in 2024.
• Rickey Jackson was drafted in the second round in 1981 out of Pittsburgh by the New Orleans Saints, where he captained the "Dome Patrol" linebacker corps that finally took the long-struggling team to its first winning records, including playing the 1989 season with a broken jaw that required him to wear a special helmet. Jackson spent his last two seasons with the 49ers, picking up a Super Bowl ring in the process, before retiring after 1995 after 15 seasons in the pros; he became the first long-term member of the Saints to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and remains the team's unofficial career sack leader (and official leader in tackles, by a much wider margin).
• Chandler Jones is an edge-rushing LB, multi-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro, and 2010s All-Decade Team member. Drafted out of Syracuse #21 overall in 2012 by the New England Patriots, he blossomed into a star defender and was part of their Super Bowl XLIX winning team. Entering the final year of his rookie contract, he was surprisingly traded to the Arizona Cardinals,^note Likely related to a bizarre incident where he was hospitalized before a playoff game after having a bad reaction to synthetic marijuana. where he broke out as one of the league's top pass rushers and became the franchise leader in career sacks. He led the NFL in sacks in 2017, then came half a sack short of doing so again in 2019, finishing as runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. He moved to Vegas in 2022 but only lasted a year with the Raiders before concerning off-field behavior led to his release. Jones is the youngest of three brothers in a Badass Family; his oldest brother Arthur had an eight-year NFL career as a DT where he won a Super Bowl, and his other brother is former UFC champion Jon "Bones" Jones.
• Lee Roy Jordan was a major defensive star for the early Dallas Cowboys, who drafted him #6 overall in 1963 out of Alabama. Jordan played 14 seasons for the Boys, earning five Pro Bowl nods, and the organization recognizes him as second in all-time franchise tackles. He is one of only four members of the Cowboys Ring of Honor to not be enshrined in Canton.
• Ryan Kerrigan was drafted #16 overall in 2011 by Washington after a dominant college career at Purdue and served as a steady force on their defense, becoming the franchise's all-time leader in sacks and forced fumbles. He retired after spending 2021 with the Eagles and now serves as an assistant coach back in Washington.
• Luke Kuechly^note rhymes with "meekly" was a middle LB for the Carolina Panthers. Drafted #9 overall out of Boston College in 2011, Kuechly immediately established himself as one of the league's preeminent defensive players, leading the league in tackles in his first year and winning Defensive Rookie of the Year. He became the youngest Defensive Player of the Year ever in his second season and visited the Pro Bowl every following year. Kuechly retired after 2019 at age 28, citing difficulties with injury and pain.
• Willie Lanier was a Hall of Fame LB for the Kansas City Chiefs. A second-round pick out of HBCU Morgan State in the 1967 Draft, Lanier was given the exceptionally badass nickname "Contact" for his aggressive playing style. He dealt out so many head-first tackles that he was made to wear a specially modified helmet with extra padding on the outside to protect other players from injury, though his violent playstyle clashed noticeably with his soft and erudite speech off the field. Lanier was one of several active NFL players to star in the Blaxploitation biker movie The Black Six. He retired in 1977 and had his #68 retired by the Chiefs.
• Mo Lewis, a third-round pick by the New York Jets out of Georgia in 1991, was a three-time Pro Bowler and one of the better LBs in team history before his retirement in 2003. His fame (and notoriety) comes from a single play: a monster hit in the early 2001 season against Patriots starting QB Drew Bledsoe. The hit caused Bledsoe internal bleeding, forcing the Patriots to turn to Bledsoe's backup, an untested second-year player they had drafted in the 6th round. His name: Tom Brady.
• Ray Lewis was the face of the Baltimore Ravens from the team's inception in 1996 (when they drafted him #26 overall out of Miami with their second ever pick) until his retirement in 2012. Widely considered one of the best defensive players of all time, he was known as a complete and cerebral defender and holds the current record for total career tackles (1,568). Infamously, Lewis was caught in the center of a murder trial in 2000 after a fight broke out between a group of Lewis' friends and another group of people at a Super Bowl party. Two people from the other group were stabbed to death. Lewis was arrested and indicted on murder and aggravated assault charges and gave a misleading statement to police on the morning after the killings, initially claiming he was not at the scene. Additionally, pieces of evidence, including the allegedly blood-stained suit that Lewis was wearing the night of the murders, went missing. Lewis' attorneys eventually negotiated a plea agreement with the District Attorney where his charges were dismissed in exchange for his testimony against his friends; he was ultimately charged only with obstruction of justice and sentenced to 12 months probation.^note His associates were later acquitted of the murder charge, and Lewis settled out of court with the victims' families. No other suspects have ever been arrested for the incident. Lewis' involvement in the case was elevated by the fact that it played out while he was having one of the best seasons of his career—he won his first of two Defensive Player of the Year awards and Super Bowls in the following months and wasn't allowed to say "I'm Going to Disney World!" despite being named Super Bowl MVP so as to not upset the Moral Guardians.^note That honor was, ironically, given to QB Trent Dilfer, generally considered one of the least impressive quarterbacks to win the Big Game. Lewis' reputation largely survived this incident; he remained extremely popular for his on-field play, was on the cover of Madden NFL just a few years later, and became known almost as much for his Shatner-esque style of answering interview questions as his prior legal troubles and on-field play. Lewis was voted to 13 Pro Bowls (the most ever for a linebacker), retired in 2013 after winning his second Super Bowl with the Ravens, and entered Canton at his first chance in 2018.
• Greg Lloyd most famously played with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him in the sixth round in 1987 out of the HBCU Fort Valley State. "Avoid Lloyd" was a five-time Pro Bowler from 1991-95 and retired in 1998 after a year with the Panthers. Though his post-football life has been plagued with legal issues, he was still named a member of the Steelers Hall of Honor. He also played his entire career with a missing ACL in one knee.

Linebackers (M-Z)

• Khalil Mack is a pass rusher currently with the Los Angeles Chargers. After primarily playing QB in high school, Mack tore his patellar tendon. He switched to linebacker for his senior year and dominated, but his lack of experience at the position led to him getting only one FBS scholarship—the State University of New York at Buffalo, not exactly a powerhouse school. After a college career setting virtually every school and several NCAA records for a defensive player (including career tackles for loss and forced fumbles), Mack was selected with the #5 overall pick by the Oakland Raiders in 2014. He quickly became one of the league's best defenders, winning Defensive Player of the Year in his third season. During the final year of his rookie contract, Mack staged a lengthy offseason holdout seeking to become one of the highest paid defensive players in football. The Raiders were unwilling to offer him such a contract (and according to some sources, could not). Reluctantly, the team listened to trade offers, and the Chicago Bears offered the most (two 1st round draft picks and an exchange of lower round picks) and immediately gave Mack the contract he was seeking, making him the highest paid defensive player at the time. He rewarded them with three straight Pro Bowl seasons before a season-ending injury in 2021 led to him being traded to the Chargers, again returning to Pro Bowl form while posting new career highs in sacks.
• Clay Matthews Jr., brother of Hall of Fame o-lineman Bruce Matthews, had an impressive Long Runner career as well. Drafted #12 overall out of USC in 1978 by the Cleveland Browns, Matthews played 16 years for the team during their last run of sustained success, earning four Pro Bowls and setting the franchise record for games played. He retired after three seasons with the Falcons and is enshrined in the Browns Ring of Honor. Many of his children went on to play in the NFL, most notably...
  • Clay Matthews III, also known as "The Predator", "The Claymaker", and "Thor", made his name with the Green Bay Packers, who picked him #26 overall in 2009 out of his father's alma mater. Matthews quickly established himself as one of the most dominating defenders in the NFL, earning six Pro Bowl nods and the (official) franchise career sack record. He is perhaps best known for his performance in Super Bowl XLV, where he forced a game-changing fumble at the start of the fourth quarter. After 10 years in Green Bay, he signed with the Rams for 2019, failed to land on another roster, and retired.
• Willie McGinest was drafted #4 overall by the New England Patriots in 1994 out of USC. Though he only notched up two Pro Bowl nods, he was a core part of the Patriots teams that reached four and won three Super Bowls, and he holds the NFL's career record for postseason sacks (16). He played his last three seasons with the Browns before retiring after 2008. He has also served as an analyst for NFL Network, but legal troubles have plagued his retirement life.
• Karl Mecklenburg was a humble 12th-round draft choice out of Minnesota in 1983 who became one of the most versatile linebackers in the NFL during his 12 years with the Denver Broncos. The "Albino Rhino" played every position in the front seven before retiring in 1994. A six-time Pro Bowl selection who played in three Super Bowls, he recorded 79.5 sacks for Denver, made five interceptions, and unofficially recorded more than 1,000 tackles. He was inducted into the Broncos’ Ring of Fame in 2001.
• Von Miller is a pass-rusher who was drafted by the Denver Broncos #2 overall out of Texas A&M in 2011. Miller was immediately productive in Denver, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and setting almost every Broncos franchise record for sacks and tackles over the following decade. While his absence in 2013 due to suspension and an ACL injury contributed to a decline in the Broncos' defense (which came back to hurt them badly in their trip to the Super Bowl), he recovered quickly and later and was named MVP of Super Bowl 50, where he completely smothered the Panthers' explosive offense and strip-sacked Cam Newton twice. During the 2021 season, the Broncos traded Miller to the Los Angeles Rams, where he contributed to their Super Bowl win and tied Charles Haley for the Super Bowl career sack record at 4.5. (Miller reached that number in only two appearances, while Haley played in five.) He signed a long-term contract with the Bills the following season and leads all active players in career sacks.
• Sam Mills had one of the more inspiring underdog stories in NFL lore. After starting his career as an undrafted free agent out of D-III Montclair State in 1981, the undersized prospect (5'9") failed to make the final roster of either the Browns or the CFL's Toronto Argonauts. He finally got a shot with the USFL's Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars in 1983, where the "Field Mouse" became a feared force that led the team to two straight championships before the league folded. Mills followed Stars coach Jim Mora to the New Orleans Saints, where he continued to perform well for many years, serving as part of the "Dome Patrol" defense that brought the long-suffering team its first winning seasons and earning four Pro Bowl selections. In 1995, he signed with the expansion Carolina Panthers, becoming a veteran mentor on the team's young defense, helping them see unexpected early success, and earning a fifth Pro Bowl nod before he retired after 1997 following 17 years in the pros and moved straight into the Panthers coaching staff. Mills was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2003 and was given months to live but continued to coach through the Panthers' run to a Super Bowl XXXVIII appearance; his Rousing Speech telling the team to "Keep pounding" became the official team slogan. Mills passed away in 2005; his #51 is so far the only number to be retired by Carolina, he is enshrined in both the Panthers Hall of Fame and Saints Hall of Honor, and the Panthers continue to pound a drum before every game in his honor. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2022, his final year of eligibility.
• Hardy Nickerson was drafted in the fifth round in 1987 out of Cal by the Steelers, but he really came into his own when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked him up in 1993 as one of the first major free agent aquisitions. Nickerson earned five Pro Bowl nods in his seven years in Tampa, helping to establish the franchise's reputation for tough defense and landing on the 1990s All-Decade Team. He retired in 2002 after short stints in Jacksonville and Green Bay and moved into coaching.
• Ray Nitschke was a hard-hitting Hall of Famer who spent his entire 15-year career with the Green Bay Packers. While arriving in Green Bay in 1958 from Illinois, he didn't become a full-time starter until 1962. Once he secured a starting spot, he became the centerpiece of a Packers defense that won four NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls (the team also won an NFL title when he was still a spot starter). While he played in only one Pro Bowl, he made All-Pro teams seven times in all, made both the All-Decade Team for the 1960s and the 75th Anniversary Team, had his #66 retired by the Packers, and a prominent bridge in Green Bay is named after him. Nitschke also dabbled in acting, appearing in Head during his career and the original version of The Longest Yard after his retirement in 1972. He died from a heart attack in 1998.
• Tommy Nobis was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons #1 overall in 1966 out of Texas.^note He was also taken #5 overall by the Houston Oilers in the AFL Draft. As the first draft pick in the team's history, he was nicknamed "Mr. Falcon" and was one of the few standout players in their early years; he earned five Pro Bowls, was named to the 1960s All-Decade Team, and unofficially recorded an NFL season record 294 tackles in his rookie year. Nobis retired in 1976 and was later placed in the Falcons Ring of Honor but has yet to be inducted to the Hall of Fame, which many have attributed to the Falcons being among the worst teams in the league throughout his career. Nobis passed away in 2017.
• Ken Norton Jr. was drafted in the second round in 1988 by the Dallas Cowboys out of UCLA. The son of former heavyweight boxing champion Ken Norton, famous as one of the few to ever defeat Muhammad Ali, the junior Norton battled injuries early in his career but settled in at middle LB just as the Cowboys embarked on their early '90s dynasty. After making a Pro Bowl and winning Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII with Dallas, he left during the first year of free agency to sign with NFC rival San Francisco. There, he made two more Pro Bowls and became the only player in NFL history to be part of three straight Super Bowl winning teams as the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIX. He retired in 2000 and moved into coaching, serving as a LB coach under Pete Carroll during both his championship tenures at USC and the Seattle Seahawks. He has since had less successful stints as DC of the Raiders and Seahawks, and currently serves as LB coach at his alma mater.
• John Offerdahl was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in 1986's second round following a dominant turn at Western Michigan. He immediately broke out as a star in Miami, earning Defensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl nods in his first five seasons. His career was cut short by injuries, and he retired after 1993. However, he remained a cult hero in Miami, helped by his franchising of a successful chain of bagel restaurants, and he is enshrined in the Dolphins Honor Roll.
• Jason Pierre-Paul is an outside LB drafted #15 overall by the New York Giants in 2010 out of South Florida. JPP immediately produced, helping the Giants win Super Bowl XLVI and earning two Pro Bowl selections, but is likely most famous for sustaining a horrible injury to his right hand during a July 4th fireworks incident that cost him a finger. Despite the injury, he continued to produce and experienced a career rebound after being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018, earning a third Pro Bowl selection in 2020 on the way to another Super Bowl victory. He has bounced around the league since 2022.
• Les Richter was drafted #2 overall in 1952 out of Cal by the New York Yanks. The team wound up folding two days later, and his rights were sent to the upstart Dallas Texans; Richter, a California native, refused to play in Dallas and was traded to the LA Rams in exchange for 11 players, most of which barely saw the field again. He spent two years serving for the Army before returning to football in 1954, where he was an immediate star for LA, appearing in eight straight Pro Bowls and never missing a game in nine seasons with the Rams. In addition to being a star LB, he also played as a kicker and spent his final season at center. After his retirement in 1962, he had a lengthy second career in auto racing, managing Riverside International Raceway for over two decades before moving into an executive position with NASCAR in the ‘80s, where helped to bolster the sports popularity in California, being inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2009. He passed away a year later and was a senior inductee to the Pro Football Hall in 2011.
• Dave Robinson was drafted by the Green Bay Packers #14 overall in 1963 after a stellar college career at Penn State. In his 12 NFL seasons (10 in Green Bay followed by two in Washington), he became known as one of the league's best defenders against both the run and pass, making 27 interceptions in his career. Robinson, who won three NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls as a Packer, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.
• Andy Russell spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him in the sixteenth round in 1963 out of Missouri. After taking three years off for a ROTC commitment, he returned to the Steelers and became a major piece in their run of success as he went to seven Pro Bowls, helped win two Super Bowls, and had a key fumble recovery in the 1975 AFC Divisonal game. He retired in 1976. Despite his accolades and enshrinement in the Steelers' Hall of Honor, he has yet to be enshrined in Canton. He died in 2024.
• DeMeco Ryans was drafted in the second round by the Houston Texans out of Alabama in 2006 and won Defensive Rookie of the Year, becoming one of the young team's first stars and its all-time leader in tackles. He retired in 2015 after a few years with the Eagles and entered into coaching, where he made a rapid ascent up the ranks, eventually returning to be head coach of the Texans in 2023.
• Joe Schmidt was a Hall of Famer for the '50s Detroit Lions. A seventh round pick out of Pitt in 1953, Schmidt was a key part of the Lions' final two Championship wins, was selected to ten consecutive Pro Bowls, and won Defensive Player of the Year in 1960 and 1963. After retiring from play in 1965, Schmidt immediately became an assistant coach and was promoted to head coach the following year; his 1970 season as coach was the last double-digit winning season the Lions would have for the next two decades. He resigned in 1972 after having served the organization for twenty years; his #56 is retired by the Lions.
• Tiaina "Junior" Seau was a twelve-time Pro Bowler who played in the league for twenty years. Drafted #5 overall out of USC by his hometown team, the San Diego Chargers, in 1990, Seau became one of the most respected players in the league, winning the league's Man of the Year award in 1994. He played twelve years in San Diego, then played three injury-riddled seasons with the Dolphins before emotionally announcing his retirement... then signed with the New England Patriots four days later. Seau experienced a Career Resurrection with the team and was an important part of their 16-0 2007 season. He retired in 2010 with several successful business ventures, numerous TV deals, and a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Fame spot. It thus came as a complete shock to the football world when Seau died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest just two years after his retirement from the game. Seau had suffered from intense insomnia for many years, and the unusual nature of his suicide led many, including his family, to believe that he wanted his brain to be inspected for signs of trauma. His brain tissue was inspected by numerous neuropathologists who each determined that he showed clear signs of CTE. Seau's death helped motivate many of the calls for improved player safety and protection through the rest of the decade. His #55 was retired by the Chargers, and he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, becoming the first player of Samoan descent to receive that honor.
• Ryan Shazier played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him #15 overall out of Ohio State in 2014. Highly athletic for a LB, Shazier was a two-time Pro Bowl selection but is unfortunately most notable for the career-ending injury he suffered during his fourth season in the league. While making a head-on tackle, Shazier's back crumpled awkwardly and was unable to move his legs after the hit. He was rushed to a hospital and underwent spinal stabilization surgery, and while he regained his ability to walk, the severity of the injury effectively ended his football career. He announced his retirement in 2020, nearly three years after suffering the injury, and moved into broadcasting.
• Mike Singletary was a Hall of Fame middle LB drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round in 1981 out of Baylor. Known for his intensity (particularly his wild eyes), "Samurai Mike" led the vaunted 1985 Super Bowl winning defense, which is widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest defenses of all time. Singletary was named Defensive Player of the Year twice (1985, 1988), voted to ten Pro Bowls, and was selected to the 1980s All-Decade Team. He later briefly became the equally intense (though much less successful) head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in the late '00s.
• Chris Spielman was drafted in the second round in 1988 out of Ohio State by the Detroit Lions. During his career with the Lions, he became the franchise's leading tackler and was named to four Pro Bowls. In 1996, he signed with the Bills to limited success. After sitting out 1998 to help his wife battle cancer, he attempted a comeback with the Browns, but his career was ultimately ended due to a second neck injury. He has since moved to a successful broadcasting career and, despite playing an abbreviated career, was inducted into the Pride of Lions in 2021.
• Terrell Suggs was drafted #10 overall in 2003 by the Baltimore Ravens after a dominant tenure at Arizona State. Suggs quickly became a star in Baltimore, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year, being named Defensive Player of the Year in 2011 after leading the league in forced fumbles, and helping the Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII the following year. After 16 years with the Ravens, where he set the franchise career sack record, he signed with the Cardinals, was cut midseason, and signed with the Chiefs, where he largely rode the bench to claim a second Super Bowl ring before retiring. He is enshrined in the Ravens Ring of Honor.
• Pat Swilling was drafted in the third round in 1986 out of Georgia Tech by the New Orleans Saints. He immediately became a key part of the Dome Patrol defense that finally brought the long-suffering franchise to the playoffs before being traded to the Lions in 1993. However, visiting the postseason was as far as Swilling ever got. Despite receiving five Pro Bowl nods and being named Defensive Player of the Year in 1991 after leading the league in sacks, Swilling played in six playoff games with the Saints and Lions and never won one, the worst such record for an individual player. He retired in 1998 after a stint with the Raiders, was enshrined in the Saints Hall of Fame, and entered into politics, serving as a Democrat state representative in the Louisiana House from 2001-04.
• Lawrence Taylor played his whole career for the New York Giants, who drafted him #2 overall out of North Carolina in 1981, and was the central star of the "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" that won two Super Bowls. He is frequently considered a candidate for the greatest defensive player of all time; some have argued him to be the NFL's greatest non-QB, and more than a few have claimed him to be the overall greatest football player ever. His talent and charisma elevated the visibility and importance of the outside linebacker position, though few if any other players have matched his sheer dominance at the position; the two-tight end offensive set was invented specifically for him because of how unblockable he was in other formations. He was the first player to win Defensive Player of the Year thrice ('81, '82, '86), winning the first one in his rookie year when he played a key role in breaking the Giants' 17-year playoff drought. L.T. was also selected to ten Pro Bowls, holds the Giants all-time record for career sacks, and was named MVP for his performance in his first Super Bowl campaign in 1986, becoming only the second (and still most recent) defensive player after Alan Page to receive the award. He's also the player who laid out a gigantic hit on Washington QB Joe Theismann that broke his leg and ended his pro career.^note To his credit, it was a legal hit (and still would be even under today's much more stringent rules) and Taylor immediately called for help after he realized what had happened, but expect the highlight reels to omit that (even worse, many fans and even some players mistook his frantic "get over here" gestures to the trainers as a mocking celebration of the hit). Despite (or perhaps because of) his fame and success, Taylor was one of the NFL's most controversial figures. He had a long struggle with cocaine addiction, among other vices, and while he eventually sobered up in the tail-end of his career after a suspension, it was an Open Secret that he committed infractions to team and league policies that likely would have earned lesser players lifetime bans. After his retirement in 1993, the Giants immediately retired his #56, and he was selected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. L.T. then pursued an acting career, appearing in Any Given Sunday, The Sopranos, The Waterboy, Shaft (2000), and Blitz: The League; he also wrestled Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of Wrestlemania in 1995. However, his post-retirement life has sadly been marred with numerous scandals, controversies, and prison sentences due to his struggles with drug abuse and his patronizing of a 16-year-old prostitute.
• Derrick Thomas was a star edge rusher for the Kansas City Chiefs. Drafted #4 overall in 1989 out of Alabama after a record-breaking collegiate career, Thomas found immediate success, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and registering ten sacks. In his second season, he led the league with 20 sacks, including setting the single-game record by sacking Seattle's Dave Krieg seven times.^note Thomas is also tied for #2 on that list, later having a six-sack game as well. Unlike the seven-sack game, the Chiefs actually won that one. Thomas made the Pro Bowl nine times in his 11-year career, which was tragically cut short when he was paralyzed in a car accident while driving recklessly in a snowstorm. Less than a month later, Thomas died from a pulmonary embolism related to his injuries from the crash. He was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame, had his #58 retired by the Chiefs, and still holds the franchise's career records for sacks, forced fumbles, and fumble recoveries.
• Zach Thomas was a Hall of Fame middle LB drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the 5th round in 1996 out of Texas Tech. He was thought by scouts to be too small at 5'11" and 242 lbs, not athletic enough to play in the NFL, and his stock dropped after a lousy Combine performance. He was originally going to be used as a special teams player but quickly worked up the ranks to take the starting job. He made the Pro Bowl seven times in his career and remained the starting middle in Miami until 2007, which was cut short by injuries. He played two seasons in Dallas, and an offseason stint in Kansas City, before signing a ceremonial contract with Miami in 2010 to retire as a Dolphin; he still holds the franchise record for tackles.
• Andre Tippett was a five-time Pro Bowl LB drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round out of Iowa in 1982. Tippett's dominance helped the Pats reach Super Bowl XX, though injuries and the team's subsequent struggles often overshadowed his stellar individual play. He retired after 1993, immediately took up an office job for the Pats' (where he served throughout their dynasty), and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008. His 100 sacks remain the Patriots franchise record.
• Jessie Tuggle was middle LB for the '90s-era Atlanta Falcons. The Georgia native went undrafted out of D-II Valdosta State in 1987 but managed to land a spot on his home-state team, where his reputation as a stellar tackler (leading the NFL in the category four times) earned him the nickname "The Hammer" and five Pro Bowl selections. The Ensemble Dark Horse retired after 2000; he was inducted into the Falcons Ring of Honor, and the team retired his #58. His son Grady Jarrett was later drafted in the fifth round in 2015 out of Clemson (the day after his house burnt down during a draft party) and has himself broken out as a Pro Bowl DE.
• Brian Urlacher was the middle LB for the Chicago Bears during the '00s. He was drafted #9 overall by the Bears in 2000 after a stellar collegiate career at his perennial underperformer homestate school New Mexico, where he starred on multiple positions on offense, defense, and special teams (including as a kick returner). He found immediate NFL success, won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2000 and Defensive Player of the Year in 2005, was featured on the cover of NFL 2K3, and led his Bears team to the Super Bowl in 2006 (which they lost to Peyton Manning and the Colts). Urlacher was named to the Pro Bowl eight times and was named to the 2000s All-Decade team. He continued the strong Chicago tradition of Hall of Fame middle linebackers following in the footsteps of Bill George, Dick Butkus, and Mike Singletary before him, being inducted in his first eligible year.
• Bobby Wagner was a key component of the Seattle Seahawks' Legion of Boom. A second round pick in 2012 out of Utah State, the cerebral player contributed to the team's Super Bowl XLVIII win and served as an important locker room leader. Despite earning a Pro Bowl nod every year since 2014, Wagner was cut after 2021, signed with the Rams, and returned to Seattle a year later, leading the NFL in tackles for a third time before signing with the Commanders.
• DeMarcus Ware was a Hall of Fame pass rusher for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. The Cowboys drafted him #11 overall in 2005 out of Troy State (becoming the school's first ever 1st round pick). He led the league in sacks twice and is one of only a few players to notch a 20-sack season. (He somewhat controversially did not win Defensive Player of the Year that season, finishing a close second to the aforementioned James Harrison.) After setting the Cowboys' career sack record, he moved on to Denver in 2014 as a free agent where he finally won a Super Bowl. He signed a ceremonial contract to retire with the Cowboys after 2016.
• Dave Wilcox began as a two-way lineman in college, playing two seasons at Boise Junior College (now Boise State of blue turf fame) before transferring to Oregon for his final two years. Drafted in the third round in 1964 by the San Francisco 49ers^note The AFL's Houston Oilers drafted him in the sixth round, he was moved to outside LB because of his size and speed, where he evolved into one of the most disruptive defenders of his era. The seven-time Pro Bowler only missed one game in his 11-year career and helped the Niners to consecutive NFC Championship appearances before retiring in 1974. He was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2000 and passed away in 2023.
• Patrick Willis was drafted #11 overall out of Ole Miss in 2007 by the San Francisco 49ers and quickly emerged as a dominant defensive force, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year after leading the league in tackles (his first of two times doing so), earning Pro Bowl nods in each of his first seven seasons, and setting several Niner franchise records. However, following a toe injury in his eighth season, Willis decided to retire at just 30 years old; he made the Hall of Fame anyways, a testament to his dominance.
• Alex Wojciechowicz was a two-way player at C and LB who was drafted #6 overall by the Detroit Lions out of Fordham in 1938, where he had been one of that school's famed "Seven Blocks of Granite" alongside future coaching legend Vince Lombardi. Although he played two ways throughout most of his career, he excelled the most as a linebacker, once intercepting 7 passes in 1944, and was considered one of the toughest players in the league despite playing on some very poor Lions teams. Wojie was cut by Detroit three games into the 1946 season, after which he was picked up by the Eagles and became a fixture on their defense that helped the team win back-to-back titles in 1948-49. He retired in 1950, was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1968, and died in 1992.

Defensive Backs (A-L)

• Herb Adderley was a Hall of Fame CB who most famously played for the Green Bay Packers during their '60s dynasty. Drafted #12 overall in 1961 out of Michigan State, Adderley primarily played halfback in college but was switched to defense after his first season, as the Packers already had two future Hall of Famers in Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor in the offensive backfield. His adaptability kept the Packers dominant on both sides of the ball; he was named to five Pro Bowls at the position while the Packers won five championships, including the first two Super Bowls. He requested a trade after the departure of coach Vince Lombardi and received it in 1970, moving to the Dallas Cowboys, where he remained critical to their "Doomsday Defense" that won Super Bowl VI, making him one of four players to win six NFL titles. Adderley retired after 1972 rather than be traded again. He passed away in 2020.
• Eric Allen was a six-time Pro Bowl CB who began his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, who drafted him in the second round in 1988 out of Arizona State, who made an immediate impact as a ballhawk on the "Gang Green" defense before leaving for New Orleans in 1995. After three unimpressive seasons in the Big Easy, he signed with the Raiders in 1998, where he experienced a Career Resurrection before retiring in 2001. He also remains the only player to return three or more interceptions for a TD in two separate seasons, accomplishing the feat in 1993 and 2000. He is tied with Bill Bradley and Brian Dawkins (see below) for the most interceptions as an Eagle with 34.
• Jaire Alexander is a two-time Pro Bowl CB for the Green Bay Packers, who drafted him #18 overall out of the Louisville in 2018. Alexander quickly began making his case as one of the best corners in the league. In the Packers' 2020 Divisional Round game against the Rams, Alexander became the first DB since at least 2006^note the statistic was noted by Pro Football Focus, which only has records going back to 2006 to finish a playoff game with negative yards allowed (-3); the following week, he recorded two interceptions against Tom Brady in the Packers' close NFC Championship loss to Tampa Bay. Despite him losing most of his 2021 season to a shoulder injury, the Packers signed Alexander to a massive extension ahead of 2022, and Alexander went on to have a solid bounce-back season.
• Nnamdi Asomugha was one of the premier shutdown corners of the 2000s, despite playing the peak of his career for the Oakland Raiders during lean years for the franchise. Drafted in the late first round in 2003 out of Cal, he signed with the Eagles in 2011 after collecting his third Pro Bowl nod, but his performance declined soon after. He was waived midseason by the Niners in 2013 and signed a one-day retirement contract with the Raiders before the season was over. That same year, Asomugha married Kerry Washington. He has subsequently followed her into a career in Hollywood, producing Beasts of No Nation and Harriet and starring in Sylvie's Love.
• Steve Atwater was an eight-time Pro Bowl free safety for the Denver Broncos in the late '80s and '90s. Drafted #20 overall in 1989 out of Arkansas, Atwater immediately put up great performances that helped the team reach the Super Bowl his rookie year. Though they lost that game in humiliating fashion, he remained a potent weapon known for dealing out devastating hits well above his weight class (most notably stopping the "Nigerian Nightmare" Christian Okoye cold with a single devastating tackle despite the running back's much larger size). Towards the end of his career, Atwater helped bring the Broncos their first two Super Bowl victories, putting up a pivotal performance in XXXII. After spending 1999 with the Jets, he signed a ceremonial contract to retire in Denver, was placed in the team's Ring of Honor, and waited until 2020 for an induction into Canton.
• Champ Bailey was a dominant CB of the '00s. A dual-threat QB in high school, he primarily played corner during his college career at Georgia but also saw time on offense as a WR, RB, and gadget QB. After being drafted #7 overall by Washington in 1999, he started every game in his five years with the team, making the Pro Bowl four times. After the expiration of his rookie contract, Washington placed the Franchise Tag on Bailey, who refused to practice or play until he received a long-term deal. He was traded to Denver in exchange for RB Clinton Portis (see the "Running Backs" page), one of the rare "elite player for elite player" trades in recent NFL history. Bailey continued his run of dominance with Denver over the next 10 seasons, including a year where he led the league with 10 interceptions. The 12-time Pro Bowler (an NFL record for a defensive back) and member of the 2000s All-Decade team was voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and holds the official NFL record for passes defended (which only began being counted in Bailey's rookie year).
• Jamael "Ronde" Barber was a Hall of Fame DB for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 16 seasons, holding the franchise record for games played. The identical twin brother to the running back Tiki Barber (see the "Offensive Players" page), who played with him at Virginia, Ronde was much more calm and collected than his outspoken sibling and never dominated the headlines the way Tiki could with the New York Giants in America's largest media market. However, Ronde arguably had more on-field success—unlike Tiki, Ronde won a Super Bowl with the Bucs, was selected to five Pro Bowls and the 2000s All-Decade Team, and played for many more years, even setting the record for most consecutive starts by a defensive back before he retired in 2012. A flexible back, Ronde is the only player to record a combined 25+ sacks and 45+ interceptions in his career and holds many of the Buccaneers' DB franchise records.
• Lem Barney was a CB drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round in 1967 out of the HBCU Jackson State. Barney was named the AP's first ever Defensive Rookie of the Year after leading the league in interceptions and earned seven Pro Bowl selections. In addition to being one of the team's biggest stars, the corner had many interests talents outside of football; he was an accomplished singer whose background vocals were featured on Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", and he appeared in several movies, including Paper Lion (As Himself) and the Blaxploitation biker film The Black Six. His football career ended after the 1977 season when he was caught on a wiretap during a drug investigation, but he was still inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992 and his #20 was retired by the Lions after it was also worn by Billy Sims and Barry Sanders. Despite these accolades by the football world, Barney is potentially best known today as one of the most high-profile former football players to be openly critical of the sport, notably predicting that the sport would no longer be played by 2050 due to the long-term effects of CTE.
• Eric Berry was a prolific safety for the Kansas City Chiefs, who drafted him #5 overall out of Tennessee in 2010. Berry's play brought him five Pro Bowl selections and secured him a place on the 2010s All-Decade Team. However, he is perhaps most famous for being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during the 2014 season, successfully beating the cancer over the offseason, and coming back the next year without missing a step and winning Comeback Player of the Year. Berry became the highest-paid safety in the league in 2017, right before an Achilles injury ended his career. His uncle and mentor, Bernard Williams, was a draft bust for the Eagles.
• DaRon Bland was a fifth round pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 2022 out of Fresno State. After a promising rookie season, Bland emerged as a uniquely dominant defensive force in 2023, not only leading the league in picks but becoming the first player in NFL history to return five interceptions for touchdowns in a single season; no other player had even put up four pick-sixes in a season in three decades, and Bland broke the record in just eleven games.
• Mel Blount was a Hall of Fame CB who played 14 seasons for the dominant Steelers teams of the '70s, which drafted him in the third round in 1970 out of the HBCU Southern University. He is considered one of the best defensive backs of all time, holds the Steelers franchise interception record, and led the league in picks in 1975, the year he became the first corner to win Defensive Player of the Year. His ruthless and aggressive style of play was so effective that he inspired the "Mel Blount Rule", which limited how a defender could play on a receiver, making passing much easier and heralding the beginning of the pass-oriented era of the NFL that remains to this day. Many analysts have noted that this actually made the game even easier for Blount's team—the year after it was enacted, Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw saw a massive spike in his passing yards and touchdown passes on the way to the team's fourth Super Bowl. When not wearing a helmet, Blount was well-known for rocking a sweet cowboy hat.
• Bobby Boyd was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the tenth round in 1960. He had also played QB at Oklahoma, but with that spot securely taken by Johnny Unitas, Boyd was positioned at corner and quickly established himself as the very best in franchise history; he remains their all-time leader in interceptions, and if he hadn't elected to move to coaching for a pay raise following the team's loss in Super Bowl III in his ninth season and fifth-straight All-Pro year, he would almost assuredly be in Canton. Boyd died in 2017.
• Bill Bradley (not to be confused with the Hall of Fame basketball player/senator) was a safety most famous for his tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, who drafted him in the third round in 1969 out of Texas. He was a bright spot for the moribund franchise, as he led the league in interceptions twice and went to three Pro Bowls from 1971-73. In 1977, he was traded to the Vikings but chose to retire after being displaced on the depth chart (though he came back for four games with the Cardinals later that season). He went on to a successful assistant coaching career in the CFL (winning two Grey Cups as a DC) and NFL. He currently holds the Eagles franchise records in interceptions in a season and career (tied with Eric Allen and Brian Dawkins) as well as being an inductee in the Eagles Hall of Fame. He was portrayed by Donny Boaz in the movie My All American.
• Tom Brookshier was a CB who played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1953 and from 1956-1961 (missing the 1954-55 while serving in the U.S. Air Force). Taken in the 10th round out of Colorado, Brookshier had a solid career, contributing to the Eagles' 1960 NFL championship team before a compound fracture of his leg ended his career the following year; his #40 is one of only nine Eagle jersey numbers to be officially retired. After his playing career, he entered into broadcasting; CBS hired him to cover Eagles games from 1965-68, when the network ended the practice of dedicated team broadcast crews. In the early 1970s, Brookshier began co-hosting the NFL Films produced series This Week in Pro Football alongside CBS colleague Pat Summerall. CBS took note of how well the two worked together and paired them in the booth in '74. The duo remained CBS' lead NFL crew until 1980, including calling Super Bowls X, XII and XIV and even cameoing in the film version of Black Sunday. Unfortunately, the pair's heavy drinking habits and poorly-received reviews for their work in XIV^note Brookshier would later admit to his lack of preparation, saying that "A few hours before the game, I suddenly realized that I didn't have a single intelligent thing to say about either team." led to CBS promoting recently-retired Raiders head coach John Madden to lead analyst in 1981 while Brookshier was moved to play-by-play on a mid-level crew. Brookshier remained with CBS until 1987 (save for a brief suspension after a controversy during a game late in the 1983 season where he joked that Louisville's starting five basketball team - all of whom were black - "had a collective I.Q. of about 40"). After leaving CBS, Brookshier became the morning host of a Philly sports radio station beginning in 1989 before gradually winding his career down. He died from cancer in 2010 at the age of 78.
• Dave Brown was a CB who played for 15 years, most famously with the Seattle Seahawks as the franchise's first star defender. Selected #26 overall out of Michigan by the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers in 1975, he won a Super Bowl ring as a rookie reserve corner/special teams player. Because the Steel Curtain Steelers had such immense depth, they did not protect Brown during the 1976 Expansion Draft held for the new Seahawks and Buccaneers. Brown was the sixth player selected by Seattle, moving directly into a starting role that he held for 11 seasons with the team. He set franchise records for interceptions, interception return yards, and interception return touchdowns that stand to this day.^note Famously, he returned two picks for touchdowns in a 1984 game against the Chiefs in which Seattle put up a record four INT return touchdowns. He was traded to Green Bay for the final three years of his career before retiring due to an Achilles injury. He moved into a coaching career but died suddenly at the age of 52 in 2006 due a heart attack. With Darren Sharper unlikely to ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame, Brown is the next highest on the career INT list to not get an invite to Canton.
• Willie Brown was a first-ballot Hall of Fame CB who most famously played for the Oakland Raiders. After initially going undrafted out of the HBCU Grambling State, Brown managed to get signed to the Denver Broncos, where he worked his way into a starting position in his 1963 rookie season. Brown played for the Broncos for four seasons and the Raiders for twelve. He is most famous for his iconic interception and touchdown in Super Bowl XI, which was the longest return for a TD in the Big Game's history for nearly three decades. Scored at the twilight of his career, NFL Films captured the perfect heroic angle of "Old Man Willie" sprinting towards the camera—that piece of film likely inspired more kids of the '70s and '80s to play football than any other single shot. Brown passed away in 2019.
• Jack Butler was a CB for the Pittsburgh Steelers during the ‘50s. His career got off to a very unusual start, since Butler didn't play football until he went to college at St. Bonaventure, where he wandered onto their football team out of curiosity, playing as a receiver and not starting any games until his senior year. After going undrafted in 1951, he landed a tryout with the Steelers on the recommendation of one of the school's pastors, who happened to be Steelers owner Art Rooney's brother. He initially made the roster as a backup receiver, but an injury to a starting corner early in the season led to him being moved to that position. Butler held on to the spot for the rest of his career, recording 52 interceptions while earning 4 Pro Bowls and 3 All-Pros before a freak knee injury ended his career midway through the 1959 season. After his playing career ended, Butler served as a scouting director for the BLESTO^note Bears Lions Eagles Steelers Talent Organization scouting combine from 1963 up until his retirement in 2007, helping shape the Combine process that's still used today. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012, a year before his death.
• LeRoy Butler faced a long struggle simply to reach the NFL, let alone become one of its greatest defensive backs. Raised in inner-city Jacksonville, he didn’t walk until age five, struggled to read as a boy and was classified as special-needs in school before becoming a star on the gridiron, in college at Florida State and then with the Green Bay Packers, who drafted him in the second round in 1990. In his 12 years with the Pack, he became a threat in pass coverage and rushing the quarterback (with 38 interceptions and 20.5 sacks, he was the first to record at least 20 of each for a career), keyed Green Bay’s Super Bowl-winning 1996 season (for the franchise’s first championship in 29 years), and even invented the Lambeau Leap into the arms of front-row Packer fans after a touchdown. A member of the 1990s All-Decade Team and the franchise leader in tackles, he had to wait 16 years for his Hall of Fame selection in 2022.
• Butch Byrd remains the Buffalo Bills' all-time leader in interceptions despite playing in the AFL era. A fourth-round pick in 1964, the Boston University product won five All-Star nods and helped the team win two championships. He retired in 1971 after a season with the Broncos and was named to the AFL's All-Time Team.
• Kam Chancellor was a hulking strong safety for the Seattle Seahawks, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2010 out of Virginia Tech. Listed at 6'3", 231 lbs, Chancellor was the largest safety in the league and a perfect fit in Seattle's vaunted "Legion of Boom" secondary (along with Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas, see below) as a hard-hitting enforcer on the back end. He made four Pro Bowls, was named All-Pro twice, and was part of Seattle's Super Bowl XLVIII-winning team. Unfortunately, injuries cut short his time with Seattle, and he retired in 2018.
• Jack Christiansen played safety for the Detroit Lions during the height of the franchise's success in the '50s. A sixth round pick out of Colorado A&M (now Colorado State) in 1951, Christiansen led the league in interceptions for several seasons and was also one of the league's greatest return specialists; he set many league records in both stats and remains a top five all-time punt returner despite playing only a relatively short eight years. He spent the next 25 years as a college and pro coach, including a brief stint as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, before passing away from cancer in 1986.
• Ryan Clark was a Pro Bowl safety most famous for his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, with whom he won Super Bowl XLIII. Undrafted out of LSU in 2002, he spent time with the Giants and Washington before signing with the Steelers in 2006, where he would spend the next eight seasons as a compliment to Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu (see below). After returning to Washington for a final season in 2014, he entered broadcasting with ESPN. In 2023, he was named the host of Inside the NFL as it moved to The CW and won the Sports Emmy for "Outstanding Personality/Studio Analyst". Clark is also one of the most notable sufferers of Sickle Cell disease in the NFL, which prevented him from playing games in Denver due to the high altitude.
• Nick Collins was a three-time Pro Bowl safety and a massive case of What Could Have Been. The Green Bay Packers surprised analysts when they drafted him in the second round in 2005 out of the FCS HBCU Bethune–Cookman, but Collins quickly proved himself worthy of the trust the Packers had placed in him, putting up great numbers in his rookie season. His most famous play came in Super Bowl XLV when he intercepted a pass from Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger and ran it back for a touchdown. Sadly, Collins' career was abruptly cut short in Week 2 of the 2011 season after he sustained a herniated disc in his neck when a routine play went horribly wrong; he underwent surgery and had no long-term impairments, but was forced to retire due to the risk of compounding the damage if he were to be injured again. It's believed that, had he not been injured, he could have been one of the best safeties of his era.^note As it stands, he was a Hall of Fame nominee in 2020 just for the career that he did have.
• Brian Dawkins was a Hall of Fame safety and nine-time Pro Bowler who played in the NFL for 16 years, most prominently with the Philadelphia Eagles, which drafted him in the second round in 1996 out of Clemson. Nicknamed "Weapon X" for his relentless on-field aggression, which contrasted so much from his off-field persona that it appeared like an alter-ego to those who knew him. Dawkins fully embraced the moniker; for some time while with the Eagles, he owned two lockers, one of which was labeled "Weapon X" and was full to the brim with Wolverine merchandise. His #20 was retired by the Eagles after his retirement in 2008.
• Bobby Dillon was a safety drafted in the third round in 1952 out of Texas by the Green Bay Packers. Though the Packers were no good until his eighth and final season in the league when Lombardi took over, Dillon was one of the league's best safeties in the '50s. He retired with 52 interceptions, then tied for the second most in league history and still the most in Packers franchise history. Oh, and he did all of that with a Glass Eye, having lost his left eye after a series of childhood accidents; any impact on his vision and depth perception seemingly had no effect on his ability to spot and track balls. Dillion died in 2019 and was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame's Centennial Class.
• Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield were Pro Bowl DBs for the Cleveland Browns during the 1980s, drafted #22 overall out of Southern Miss in '81 and undrafted out of Louisville in '83, respectively. Besides locking down the Browns' secondary, they were responsible for the creation of the Dawg Pound in Cleveland Stadium, a section of fans that became known for being raucous and their tendency to throw objects at players and officials. Dixon retired in 1989 and became a fixture of Cleveland sports radio; Minnifield stepped down three years later and landed on the 1980s All-Decade Team.
• Kenny Easley had one of the shortest careers of any Hall of Fame member in the modern era, only playing seven seasons with the Seattle Seahawks after they drafted him #4 overall out of UCLA in 1981. The corner made the most of that time, visiting five Pro Bowls and winning Defensive Player of the Year in 1984. Easley was the Seahawks' player rep during the 1987 strike, and his many off-field responsibilities in that position led to a decline in performance and clashes with management that led to him being traded away after the season. Medical tests taken during the trade process revealed that Easley had a severe kidney disease, which ended his football career. Easley blamed this disease on an overuse of Advil distributed by the Seahawks, which, combined with the surrounding drama of the strike and Seattle's lack of support during his transplant surgery, led him to cut all ties with the team for many years until they were bought out by Paul Allen; the Seahawks later retired his #45.
• Gary Fencik was drafted in the tenth round in 1976 by the Dolphins, but the Yale graduate's chance at an NFL career were slight. Viewed as too slow to compete at his college position as a receiver in the pros, he was moved to DB, but his opportunity to compete was snuffed out when he ruptured a lung in a preseason game. Fencik was released and returned home to start a career in banking when he was offered a tryout with his hometown team, the Chicago Bears. Fencik played 12 seasons with the franchise at safety, becoming the Bears' all-time leader in interceptions and being a part of their legendary '85 Super Bowl defense.
• Domonique Foxworth was a CB drafted in the third round out of Maryland by the Denver Broncos in 2005. A US Military Brat born in England, he spent three years in Denver before being traded to the Falcons, then moved to the Ravens as a free agent. An ACL tear in 2010 effectively ended his modest playing career, but he is notable for his much larger impact as an NFLPA executive. First, he became the youngest VP in NFLPA history at just 25 in 2008, was a key figure in the 2011 CBA negotiations, and was unanimously elected president in 2012, serving in that role for two years where he was an outspoken critic of devices like the franchise tag that restrict player movement and, thus, player pay. He earned an MBA at Harvard and moved into a role as COO for the National Basketball Players Association before entering a prolific broadcasting career in various roles at ESPN.
• Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner is a CB for the New York Jets drafted at #4 in the 2022 Draft. Gardner had a stellar college career at Cincinnati where he did not let up a single touchdown reception in his career and allowed the lowest QB rating when targeted in the NCAA in his final season. Despite concerns about the quality of the opponents he faced in college, as Cincinnati was not part of a Power Five conference, Gardner adapted quickly to the NFL and made an immediate impact in his rookie season where he led the league in passes defended while winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and being named first team All-Pro, the first rookie cornerback to achieve the honor since Ronnie Lott in 1981. Gardner's continued his elite play in his sophomore season and was named first team All-Pro again, becoming the first cornerback since the AFL-NFL merger to receive the honor in their first two seasons and cementing himself as one of the league's top players at the position. Gardner's nickname, which was originally A1 Sauce Sweet Feet Gardner, was bestowed upon him by one of his youth football coaches and has stuck with him at all levels.
• Austin "Goose" Gonsoulin was the AFL's all-time leader in interceptions (40) despite only playing eight seasons. The Baylor product made the new league's first ever pick while playing for the Denver Broncos and was a five-time All-Star, earning him a place in the team's Ring of Honor. He retired after spending 1967 with the 49ers and passed away in 2014.
• Cornell Green was a DB for the "America's Team"-era Dallas Cowboys and is notable as one of the most successful players in NFL history who did not play college football. A basketball star at Utah State, his biggest claim to fame at the time was being the younger brother of Pumpsie Green, the first black player in Boston Red Sox^note the last MLB team to integrate history. Selected in the 5th round of the 1962 NBA Draft, the Cowboys offered Green $1,000 to sign based on his size (6'3", 208 lbs) and athleticism. Green accepted what he saw as "bonus" money, assuming he would be cut in time for the NBA season. Not only did he stick with the Cowboys, he ended up starting three games as a rookie and became a full-time starting corner by his second year. He made five Pro Bowls, was named All-Pro four times, won Super Bowl VI with the team after switching to safety, and ultimately started the final 173 games of his career^note the longest streak by a defensive back at the time, since surpassed by Ronde Barber (see above). He retired in 1974 and entered a 35-year scouting career for the Cowboys and Broncos.
• Darrell Green was a CB who spent his entire twenty year career with Washington, who drafted him in the first round in 1983 out of D-II Texas A&I (now Texas A&M–Kingsville). A self-proclaimed "itty-bitty guy", Green was positively tiny for an NFL player at 5'9" but made up for it with blistering speed (he once ran a 4.09 40 in 1986, and a 4.43 at the age of 50), which he jokingly attributed to the Tootsie Roll candy bar that he kept in his sock. Nicknamed "the Ageless Wonder" in the '90s for putting up great seasons year after year, Green set countless records, including the most games played by a defensive player in NFL history, 19 consecutive seasons with an interception (except his final year), the most games and interceptions by any player in Washington franchise history, and... well, basically every "oldest ever" DB record imaginable. He was also a beloved figure for the fanbase and the DC area, winning Walter Payton Man of the Year in 1996. He was selected to seven Pro Bowls, helped his team win two Super Bowls, was voted into the Hall of Fame in his first eligible year, and had his #28 retired by the Commanders.
• Dale Hackbart was a journeyman DB drafted by the Packers in the 5th round in 1960 out of Wisconsin. He is more noteworthy for how his career ended in 1973 while playing for the Broncos, as he was intentionally nailed in the back of the head by Boobie Clark of the Bengals. He sued the Bengals in a landmark case (Hackbart v. the Cincinnati Bengals) that he won on appeal. This caused the NFL to require x-ray machines at all stadiums and also created rules banning head slaps, helmet-to-helmet contact, and spearing with the helmet.
• DeAngelo Hall was a corner drafted #8 overall in 2004 out of Virginia Tech by the Atlanta Falcons. Nicknamed "MeAngelo" for his diva personality, the three-time Pro Bowler was traded to the Raiders in 2008, was quickly released, and then signed with Washington, where he transitioned to safety and spent the next full decade before retiring. Hall racked up a number of records in his career, being the only player to amass four INTs in a single half of a game and being the current career leader in fumble recovery yards.
• Damar Hamlin was drafted in the sixth round by the Buffalo Bills out of Pittsburgh in 2021. The safety was emerging as a solid role player in his second season when he suddenly gained national fame for a much more tragic reason. During a nationally televised Monday night game in Cincinnati late in the season, Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field shortly after getting up from a routine tackle and remained in a medically induced coma for several days. While Hamlin would recover at an astonishing pace — with the quick intervention of medical personnel and the proximity of the local hospital likely being major factors in saving his life and neural functions — his highly visible brush with death deeply shook the football community and led to the Bills-Bengals game being the first NFL game since the last player strike in the 1980s to be fully canceled and the only one ever to be canceled after starting play.
• Cliff Harris was a safety for the '70s Dallas Cowboys and one of the greater undrafted free agent success stories in NFL history. Coming out of the tiny Ouachita Baptist in his native Arkansas, Harris managed to get signed to Dallas and beat out several drafted players in training camp. He went to earn six Pro Bowl selections with the team as one of the league's premier safeties before retiring after 1979, not because his body was done but because he stood to make much more money in the oil industry. His early retirement kept him out of Canton until 2020.
• Rodney Harrison was a hard-hitting safety for the San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots (with whom he won two Super Bowl rings) from 1994-2008. A fifth round pick out of FCS Western Illinois, he became the first player in NFL history to record 30 sacks and 30 interceptions. Fun fact: he was the guy who injured Trent Green, the quarterback whom Kurt Warner was backing up. Second fun fact: He was also the guy holding David Tyree's right arm, forcing him to catch the ball against his helmet in Super Bowl XLII.
• Lester Hayes was a CB who played ten seasons with the Raiders. A fifth-round pick in the 1977 Draft out of Texas A&M, Hayes earned the Embarrassing Nickname "Lester the Molester" for his bump-and-run coverage of receivers and his prominent use of Stickum, an adhesive material players that players used to be allowed to use to improve their grip—Hayes slathered it all over his arms and uniform, becoming a giant sticky mess on the field. In 1980, Hayes led the league in interceptions, won Defensive Player of the Year, and helped lead the Raiders to a Super Bowl win; Stickum was promptly banned the following season, ensuring future players would, at worst, merely attempt to sneak a small amount on their gloves. Hayes remained a Pro Bowl corner, but his interception numbers noticeably dropped after the ban, which is probably the reason he hasn't been inducted into Canton.
• Mike Haynes was a CB drafted #5 overall in 1976 out of Arizona State by the New England Patriots. He made an immediate impact on defense and on returns, scoring the first punt-return touchdowns in the franchise's 17-year history, helping them break a 13-year playoff drought, and winning Defensive Rookie of the Year. After playing out his option with the Patriots, he secured a midseason trade to the L.A. Raiders during the 1983 season, helping the team win a Super Bowl a few months later. Haynes was selected to nine Pro Bowls before his retirement after 1989. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, and his #40 was retired by the Patriots.
• Ken Houston was one of the best safeties of the 1970s. Appropriately drafted by the Houston Oilers in the ninth round out of the HBCU Prairie View A&M, he immediately broke out as a major draft steal, making twelve straight AFL All-Star/Pro Bowl selections after his 1967 rookie year thanks to his athleticism and uncanny interception ability; he became the first player ever to return four INTs for touchdowns in a single season. In 1973, Houston was part of one of the most lopsided trades ever as the Oilers sent him to Washington in exchange for five veteran players, hoping it would help them improve after a one-win season; none of those players amounted to much, and the Oilers repeated their terrible record while Houston continued to play exceptionally well for another team. After his retirement following 1980, Houston was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and is enshrined in both the Oilers/Titans' Ring of Honor and Washington Ring of Fame.
• Jimmy Johnson (not to be confused with the Hall of Fame Cowboys coach) was a bright spot on the struggling San Francisco 49ers teams of the 1960s. A two-way prospect drafted #6 overall in 1961 out of UCLA, Johnson actually ran his second season solely as a wide receiver and acquitted himself well, though his coaches put him back into the secondary for the rest of his 16-year career. Johnson was one of the best man-to-man defenders of his era and likely deserved more than the five Pro Bowl nods he received in the back half of his career when the rest of his team began to match his skill. His #37 was retired by the team and he entered the Hall of Fame in 1994. His older brother, Rafer, was also an accomplished athlete as well, winning the Gold Medal for decathlon in the 1960 Olympics before embarkening on an acting career; Rafer was also involved in taking down Sirhan Sirhan, along with Rosey Grier (see above).
• Paul Krause holds the record for most career interceptions (81). The safety was drafted out of Iowa in the second round in 1964 by Washington and led the league in picks in his rookie year, but he was traded away to the Minnesota Vikings after just four seasons. Krause played in Minnesota the next 12 years, eventually breaking Emlen Tunnell's interception record shortly before retiring in 1979. Due to the evolution of passing offenses and increased restrictions on defensive pass interference since then, Krause's record is generally considered safely out of reach, with only one player in the 21st century (Rod Woodson) even collecting 70 picks. Krause was selected to eight Pro Bowls during his career and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.
• Dick "Night Train" Lane was a legendary CB who played through the '50s and '60s for the Los Angeles Rams (1952-53), Chicago Cardinals (1954-59), and Detroit Lions (1960-65). Lane had one of the more remarkable player entries into the NFL. He had played football at his junior college and in the army but was not scouted or recruited by the league. While working at an airplane factory near the Rams' front office, he simply walked in with a scrapbook of his honors from playing on his army team and asked for a tryout. Despite his obscure origins, he immediately broke out as a star, setting one of the NFL's longest standing records by amassing 14 interceptions during his rookie season; despite the addition of five more games to the regular season since then, no other DB has even tied that mark. Lane picked up the nickname "Night Train" from the then-chart-topping blues song, and while he admitted that there were racial implications to the name that he was initially uncomfortable with, he eventually embraced it because it was simply too cool a nickname to pass on. The locomotive comparison definitely suited him, as he became one of the league's most hard-hitting and feared tacklers. His Signature Move, a grab targeted at the neck and face mask called "the Night Train Necktie", proved so effective—not to mention dangerous—that it was eventually banned by the league. His skills as a ball-hawk were also renowned; he led the league in INTs a second time in his first year in Chicago and remains #4 all-time in career picks. Lane's final years in the NFL were clouded by tragedy; he was the seventh husband of blues legend Dinah Washington and discovered her body after she died of an overdose in their sixth month of marriage. When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974, he publically chastised members of the NFL's elite about their treatment of African-Americans as "stepchildren" who remained barred from positions as coaches, managers, and quarterbacks. Lane died from a heart attack in 2002.
• Yale Lary was a Hall of Fame safety, punter, and returner for the Detroit Lions during their run of success in the 1950s. A third round pick out of Texas A&M in 1952, Lary was a dominant defender who also led the NFL in punting in three different seasons, finishing his career behind only Sammy Baugh in career punting average. Lary was named to nine Pro Bowls and likely would have made even more had he not missed '54 and '55 to serve in the Army during the Korean War and had he not retired after 1964, still at the top of his game, in order to focus on his business and political interests back in his home state of Texas. He passed away in 2017.
• Ty Law was a Hall of Fame CB drafted #23 overall out of Michigan in 1995 by the New England Patriots. Law would become the franchise leader in INTs (leading the NFL in '98) and a major contributor to the first half of their Super Bowl dynasty (winning three). The success of his physical playstyle was a major factor in the 2005 re-emphasis on the "Illegal Contact" penalty which came to be known as the "Ty Law Rule" and ushered in the explosion of passing offenses in the years to follow. He was released from the Pats in 2005 only to have one of the best years of his career across the division with the Jets, again leading the league in picks. The five-time Pro Bowler decline in performance soon afterwards, retiring in 2009 after stints with the Chiefs, Jets (again), and Broncos, but was still named to the 2000s All-Decade Team.
• Rolland Lawrence is the Atlanta Falcons' all-time leader in interceptions, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that he played just eight seasons after being signed as an undrafted free agent in 1973 out of Tabor, a tiny NAIA school in Kansas. He earned his sole Pro Bowl nod in 1977, the year of the legendary "Grits Blitz" defense; according to Pro Football Reference's "Approximate Value" metric, he had one of the greatest statistical seasons ever, far above the best of many Hall of Famers.
• Dick LeBeau had an extremely long and impactful career in the NFL that spanned nearly six decades. LeBeau started out in 1959 as a fifth round pick for the Detroit Lions out of Ohio State. In his 14 seasons with the team, LeBeau became one of the league's all-time great DBs, setting the then-record for consecutive starts at the position (since passed by Ronde Barber) and putting up 62 interceptions (still in the Top 10 all-time and the most in Lions history). After retiring as a player, LeBeau moved straight into coaching. Upon landing with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1980, LeBeau developed the zone blitz defense as a counter to the increasingly popular West Coast offense, a strategy that helped bring them to two Super Bowl appearances and promoted him to his first of many tenures as a defensive coordinator. LeBeau spent most of the '90s as the Pittsburgh Steelers DC, coaching them to a Super Bowl appearance. He returned to the struggling Bengals at the turn of the century, where he was thrust into the HC position after Bruce Coslet's resignation, then came back to Pittsburgh as DC in 2004 to help coach the team to two Super Bowl wins. LeBeau was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010 in recognition of his playing career but remained an active coach until he retired in 2017 after a brief stint with the Titans. Besides being known as one of the best defensive coaches in league history, LeBeau was also an extremely beloved paternal figure in the league—many of his players referred to him as "Coach Dad", and he even had a tradition of reciting "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from memory to his players at Christmas time (a big morale-boost, considering the Christmas season coincides with the end of the regular season and active players rarely get the chance to enjoy it themselves).
• Albert Lewis was dependable Long Runner corner who played 16 seasons in the NFL. Drafted in the third round in 1983 out of Grambling State by the Kansas City Chiefs, Lewis put up four Pro Bowl seasons in his eleven years with the team before signing with their division rival Raiders. In 1998, his final season, Lewis became the oldest defensive player to score a TD in the NFL when the 38-year-old ran back a 74-yard pick-six; it was the only touchdown of his entire career. He is enshrined in the Chiefs Hall of Fame.
• Ronnie Lott was perhaps the greatest all-around defensive back ever. He won four Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers in the '80s, who drafted him #8 overall out of USC in 1981. In his ten seasons in S.F., he played every position in the defensive backfield and was a Pro Bowler at all three, being selected to ten in total. He led the league in interceptions twice, once with the Niners and again five years later in his first year with the L.A. Raiders, and still holds the Niners' franchise record for picks. Well known for his intensity and focus, he famously amputated part of his left pinkie rather than opt for surgery that would have sidelined him for a season, a rather low-stakes Real Life example of a Life-or-Limb Decision. After a brief stint with the Jets and an even briefer one with the Chiefs, Lott signed back with the Niners in order to retire with the team in 1995. He was voted to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, and the Niners retired his #42.
• John Lynch was a Hall of Fame safety who most famously played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Lynch played both baseball and football at Stanford and was drafted by MLB's Florida Marlins in their inaugural season (actually throwing the first pitch in the organization's history). When legendary head coach Bill Walsh took over as head coach at Stanford, he called Lynch and convinced him to return to football. Lynch struggled initially after being drafted in the third round by Tampa in 1993, relegated to mostly backup and special teams roles. However, when Tony Dungy took over as coach, Lynch made for a perfect fit in the "Tampa 2" defense and quickly became a star, being selected to nine Pro Bowls. Lynch went into broadcasting after his playing career ended in 2008 following a stint in Denver. Surprisingly, he was hired as the General Manager of the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 despite having no front office experience; perhaps even more surprisingly, unlike many similar "flashy" hires, Lynch helped to quickly turn the franchise back into Super Bowl contenders, earning him a promotion to President of Football Operations in 2023.

Defensive Backs (M-Z)

• Tyrann Mathieu was a Heisman finalist in college at LSU who gained the nickname "The Honey Badger" for his scrappy playstyle at the cornerback position. His stock dropped after he was dismissed from the team due to breaking the school's drug policy, resulting in him being drafted in the third round by the Arizona Cardinals in 2013 after over a year out of football. Mathieu played well but signed with the Texans in 2018 after refusing to take a pay cut. He then signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, becoming a key part of their Super Bowl roster, then returned to Louisiana with the Saints in 2021. He was named to the 2010s All-Decade Team.
• Devin and Jason McCourty are identical twin DBs who played together at Rutgers. Jason came out a year earlier^note Devin was redshirted at Rutgers and he wasn't so Devin had an extra year despite them being in the same class, drafted in the 6th round by the Titans in 2009, while Devin was the #27 overall pick in 2010 to the New England Patriots. Devin started his career at corner and quickly became the defensive leader of the Patriots before moving to free safety in 2013. He made a Pro Bowl at each position while being named All-Pro three times, won three Super Bowls with the team, and set the record for most post-season starts by a defensive player with 24. Jason was a solid-if-unspectacular starting corner throughout his career, never making a Pro Bowl as he moved between the Titans and Browns before joining Devin on the Patriots in 2018. That year, they became the first pair of twins to start and win a Super Bowl (LIII) together. Jason played two more seasons with the Patriots before a final season in Miami as a free safety, then retired and became a host on Good Morning Football in 2022; Devin retired the following year and likewise went into media as an analyst for NBC.
• Mark McMillian, nicknamed "Mighty Mouse", was a CB in the '90s and notable as one of the smallest players in modern NFL history, listed at 5'7" and officially 154 lbs, but he claimed his playing weight was in the 140s. Selected in the 10th round in 1992 out of Alabama by the Philadelphia Eagles, he was a capable tackler and interceptor despite his size and didn't miss a game until his final season. In 1997, having signed with the Chiefs as a free agent, he led the league in interception return yards and pick sixes with three. After splitting his final season in San Francisco and Washington, he retired in 2000.
• Ed Meador was one of the great DBs of the 1960s, spending his whole 12-year career with the Los Angeles Rams. The seventh round pick out of Arkansas State became a six-time Pro Bowler and All-Decade Team member and is still the Rams' all-time leader in interceptions, but the Rams were pretty bad for most of his early tenure, so he remains left out of the Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2023.
• Jim Norton was an original Houston Oiler, drafted in the second round in 1960 out of Idaho, and the AFL's all-time leader in interceptions. A key contributor to the Oilers' two championships prior to his retirement after 1968, his #43 was the first jersey retired by the franchise, and he still holds the now-Titans franchise INT record. He passed away in 2007.
• Burgess Owens was a safety drafted #13 overall by the New York Jets in 1973 out of Miami (FL). He joined the Oakland Raiders in 1980, winning a Super Bowl that year. He retired in 1982, after losing a heartbreaking game to his former team in the playoffs. In recent years, he was often seen as a contributor on Fox News, riding his media apperances to become the representative of Utah's 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House.
• Lemar Parrish was a CB drafted in the 7th round in 1970 out of the small Missouri HBCU Lincoln^*not to be confused with the small Pennsylvania HBCU Lincoln by the Cincinnati Bengals. He had a tremendous impact with the Bengals in his rookie season as both a corner and returner. He and Ken Riley (below) soon formed one of the top CB tandems in the league, with Parrish dominating on both defense and special teams, appearing in six Pro Bowls with the Bengals before a contract dispute led to him being traded to Washington in 1978. After the trade, Parrish strictly played as a DB, earning two more Pro Bowls and an All-Pro in Washington before finishing his career with the Bills in 1982. Despite all of his success and accolades, Parrish, much like Riley for decades before him, has been perpetually snubbed by the Hall of Fame due to spending most of his career in Cincinnati.
• Patrick Peterson was drafted #5 overall in 2011 out of LSU by the Arizona Cardinals and quickly established himself as one of the best corners (and punt returners) in the league, being named to the Pro Bowl in his first eight seasons. He signed with the Vikings in 2021 and the Steelers in '23; he leads active players in career INTs.
• Doug Plank was a safety for the Chicago Bears, who selected him in the 12th round in 1975 out of Ohio State. Despite his low draft position, he immediately entered the starting lineup and became the first rookie to lead the Bears in tackles in their storied history. He became a favorite of legendary DC Buddy Ryan and his jersey number, 46, became the name of Ryan's hyper-aggressive defensive scheme as Plank was the extra safety who moved into the box to give the scheme its unique look. He remained a starter through 1982, but his physical playstyle began to take its toll. He infamously commented that he became so disoriented on the field from concussions that teammates often had to guide him to correct sideline. He played one final season in the USFL and later moved into coaching in the Arena League, winning two of that league's Coach of the Year awards.
• Troy Polamalu was a hard-hitting safety who spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him #16 overall out of USC in 2003. He won Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, was selected to eight Pro Bowls, was featured on the cover of Madden NFL 10, and was well-known as a game-changer—the seasons he missed due to injury were often ones where the Steelers stayed home during the postseason. He's also well-known for his very long hair (out of respect for his Samoan ancestry), which led to a very prolific endorsement deal with Head and Shoulders shampoo and got him in trouble with officials every once in a while.^note Their official stance was that it was fine as long as the hair didn't cover the name on the back of his jersey. He's also well-liked among Orthodox Christians for being one of very few Eastern Orthodox high-profile figures to display and discuss his faith publicly; he made the Sign of the Cross up-down-right-left before plays, as opposed to the western style of up-down-left-right. Polamalu retired in 2014, was briefly the head of player relations for the short-lived Alliance of American Football, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
• Jalen Ramsey is a CB who was drafted #5 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016 out of Florida State. Following his rookie season, he firmly placed himself among the elite corners in the NFL, being a crucial element of "Sacksonville" and their run to the AFC Championship in 2017. Two years later, amidst a sharp decline in the team's performance, Ramsey forced the Jags to trade him to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for two first-round picks (and a fourth rounder) and negotiated a record contract. He lived up to that price tag, helping them win Super Bowl LVI before being traded again to the Dolphins in 2023.
• Ed Reed was a free safety who played primarily with the Baltimore Ravens, who drafted him in the first round out of Miami in 2002. Reed was best known for his ability to read most quarterbacks like a book due to spending countless hours studying film (a common saying associated with him was that "70 percent of the earth is covered by water, the other 30 is covered by Ed Reed"). This helped him lead the league in interceptions in three seasons (one of only two players to do so), win Defensive Player of the Year in 2004, and secure the league's record for career INT return yards. He notably made a NFL record 107 yard interception return for a touchdown versus the Eagles in 2008. This is especially notable since the previous record, 106 yards, was also held by Ed Reed. After being cut by the Ravens following their 2012 Super Bowl victory, Reed split 2013 playing for the Texans and Jets before retiring. Reed was selected to nine Pro Bowls during his career and was inducted to the Hall of Fame at his first chance in 2019. He attempted to enter the world of coaching as HC for the HBCU Bethune–Cookman, but was let go after 25 days as his contract was never ratified.
• Mel Renfro was a standout running back and track star at Oregon when Tom Landry picked him in the second round of the 1964 Draft... to play safety. Renfro's athleticism and speed made him a key component in the Dallas Cowboys' Doomsday Defense; he made the Pro Bowl in each of his first ten seasons and led the league in interceptions in 1969. He retired after 1977, having won two Super Bowl rings in Dallas, and moved into a coaching career. He was inducted into Canton in 1996.
• Darrelle Revis was a CB who was drafted #14 overall in 2007 out of Pitt by the New York Jets. Known as "Revis Island" because of his ability to singlehandedly lock down even the best wide receivers (a play on infamous New York prison Rikers Island), Revis was the crown jewel of Rex Ryan's Jets defense. During his peak years, teams often didn't bother throwing the ball towards his side of the field because they knew the receiver would be too well covered. In 2009, he managed to hold seven different Pro Bowl receivers^note Andre Johnson, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne, Steve Smith, and Chad Johnson. He actually did it to Owens and Moss twice. to under 35 receiving yards. He missed 2012 due to injuries; he was subsequently traded to the Buccaneers before signing with the New England Patriots the following year. He won Super Bowl XLIX with the Patriots, then signed back with the Jets in 2015 after New England chose not to pick up his option. Revis was released from the Jets in 2017 due to his declining play as a result of his injuries and age, retired in 2018 after signing a ceremonial contract with the Jets, and earned a first-ballot trip to Canton.
• Ken Riley had a very successful career as a quarterback at the HBCU Florida A&M, but wasn't selected until the sixth round of the 1969 Draft. Upon joining his new team, Riley was switched off of QB to CB, a common experience for black QBs at the time. He made the most of it by becoming dominant at the position, setting many franchise records over his 15 seasons with the team before retiring fourth overall in all-time career interceptions. Bizarrely, despite still being tied for fifth most interceptions in NFL history, he was not selected to a single Pro Bowl during his career, nor inducted into the Hall of Fame for decades until three years after his death in 2020; he was an inaugural member of the Bengals Ring of Honor, but that also wasn't founded until after his death.
• Johnny Robinson was a Hall of Fame safety who played his whole career with the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs. A star multi-sport athlete at LSU (where his father was head tennis coach), Robinson played as a halfback for their 1958 championship football team while also winning conference championships in singles and doubles tennis. These accolades led to him being drafted #3 overall in 1960 by the Lions, but Robinson made waves by instead signing with the upstart AFL. After two middling seasons on offense, Hank Stram moved him to safety in '62, and he immediately broke out as one of the young league's dominant defenders, leading the then-Texans to a championship in which he made two interceptions by the end of that season. Robinson was named an All-Star the next six seasons, led the AFL in picks in 1966, contributed to the dominant defense that won Super Bowl IV, and made the Pro Bowl in the first season after the merger after likewise leading the NFL in INTs. He retired after suffering a Career-Ending Injury in 1971.
• Bob Sanders was a safety selected in the second round by the Indianapolis Colts out of Iowa in 2004. A Pint-Sized Powerhouse at just 5'8", he was nonetheless one of the most physical safeties in the league, with two All-Pro seasons in 2005 and 2007, helping the Colts to win Super Bowl XLI and winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2007. Unfortunately, Sanders was plagued with injuries, playing just 50 games across eight seasons. Infamously, in a Madden 11 demo featuring the Colts with two minute quarters, Sanders rarely finished the game. He retired after spending the 2011 season on the Chargers, playing in just two games that season. Amusingly, he was also one of the last prominent North American professional athletes to go by "Bob", as noted by Jon Bois.
• Deion Sanders was a very skilled CB and one of the more popular players ever (as he would proudly tell you). Picked at #5 out of Florida State by the Atlanta Falcons in the historically strong 1989 Draft, Sanders garnered the nickname "Prime Time", becoming known for craving the spotlight and for frequently taunting opponents by high-stepping into the end zone. In 1994, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers; the team won the Super Bowl that year, and Sanders won Defensive Player of the Year. He traded on his high stock after that season for a lucrative deal with the Dallas Cowboys, where he won another Super Bowl. Sanders was so fast that he could usually make up for getting burned by catching up to receivers during the time the ball took to get there, and he was widely recognized as "shutting down" his side of the field—that is, he was so skilled that opposing teams just wouldn't bother throwing to the guy he was covering. He was also a dangerous punt returner and set the record for defensive and return touchdowns^note since broken by his mentee Devin Hester, see under "Special Teams". He occasionally played wide receiver for the Cowboys, mostly due to Michael Irvin's drug habits, and over his career scored touchdowns in six different ways (kickoff return, punt return, interception return, fumble recovery, receiving, and rushing), making him one of only two men to do so along with Bill Dudley (see NFL Offensive Players). In addition to his versatility on the gridiron, Sanders, like Bo Jackson, also played in the MLB and had a decent career as a journeyman outfielder. So far, he is the only person to play in both the Super Bowl and World Series due to playing for the Atlanta Braves in the 1992 World Series. He also released a critically-panned Vanity Project rap album Prime Time on MC Hammer's record label at the height of his career. After less successful runs in Washington and Baltimore, the latter coming after a three-year retirement from playing, Sanders fully retired in 2005 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was named head coach at the HBCU Jackson State shortly after the 2020 season, and after two conference titles moved to the Power Five ranks as the new HC at Colorado in 2023; despite a 4–8 record in his first season, Coach Prime's impact on Colorado and beyond was enough for Sports Illustrated to name him its 2023 Sportsperson of the Year.
• Jake Scott set standing program records at Georgia in the late 1960s before leaving college a year early to play in the CFL (and, potentially, avoid another draft). He returned to the States when eligible for the NFL, with the Miami Dolphins taking him in the seventh round in 1970. Once there, he quickly emerged as a star, earning five Pro Bowl nods and two rings and being named Super Bowl VII MVP to cap off the Dolphins' perfect season. Tensions with Don Shula led him to leave for Washington in 1976, and he retired three years later. Scott died in 2020 and still holds the Dolphins' franchise record for INTs.
• Donnie Shell was a strong safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 1974 out of the HBCU South Carolina State. Shell was a linchpin for the Steelers "Steel Curtain" defense, anchoring the defensive backfield and helping the Steelers win four Super Bowls. He was known for his hands, as his 51 interceptions are the most amongst strong safeties. He retired in 1987 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame's Centennial Class in 2020.
• Richard Sherman was a five-time Pro Bowl CB who originally made his name with the Seattle Seahawks, as part of their Super Bowl winning "Legion of Boom" secondary (along with Kam Chancellor, see above, and Earl Thomas, see below). A Stanford-educated Genius Bruiser, Sherman is known to be one of the most outspoken players in the league, especially in terms of vocally dissing rival players and media with serious trash talk. After the Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the 2013 NFC Championship Game thanks to Sherman tipping the ball into an interception in the end zone, his fiery postgame interview in which he dissed Niners wide receiver Michael Crabtree (the intended target of the aforementioned intercepted pass) and boasted of being "the best corner in the game!" gained him even more attention. His efforts landed him on the cover of Madden 15, the last defensive player to receive the honor. Due to a combination of injuries and declining play, he was let go by Seattle and signed with former hated rival San Francisco in 2017. Sherman made clear that his animosity toward the 49ers wasn't toward the actual organization but to its former head coach Jim Harbaugh, who had coached him in college at Stanford.^note Harbaugh told Sherman that he "quit on the team" when he opted to have season ending surgery for an injury, then reduced his playing time the following season, which he blames for his slide to the 5th round on draft day in 2011. Sherman recovered from the injuries and briefly returned to form during his stint with the 49ers before injuries and personal/legal issues left him unsigned at the end of his contract in 2021. He briefly signed with the Buccaneers before retiring and going into television, serving as an analyst on Prime Video and succeeding fellow trash-talker Shannon Sharpe on Undisputed with Skip Bayless.
• Darius Slay was a second round pick by the Detroit Lions in 2013 out of Mississippi State and served as one of the few consistent stars on the team for the rest of the decade, leading the NFL in interceptions in 2017 and becoming a regular Pro Bowler. Slay was traded to the Eagles in 2020 and remained a significant contributor, helping the team to a Super Bowl appearance. As of 2023, he leads all active players in passes defended.
• Harrison Smith was drafted #29 overall in 2012 by the Minnesota Vikings. The Notre Dame safety has been one of the most consistent performers at the position throughout his career. Among active players, he has the second-most interceptions, behind his former teammate Patrick Peterson.
• Sean Taylor was a safety for Washington known for his freakish athleticism and for being one of the most vicious tacklers in the league, frequently separating footballs and helmets from offensive players by way of sheer force. Drafted #5 overall in 2004 out of Miami, his early career, as is the case for a lot of players of his temperament, was fraught with personal foul penalties, a legal issue here and there, and several bits of odd behavior (he notably used to run all the way to and from practice and received numerous fines for covering his face mask with decorative tape). By 2007, however, it seemed he had gotten his head on straight. Known as a soft-spoken family man off the field and an intimidating enforcer on it, he was on his way to an All-Pro performance when an injury cut his season short. After returning home to Miami to recover, he was the victim of an attempted burglary and shot in the leg while trying to protect his girlfriend and 18-month-old daughter. He later died from his injuries, aged 24, without having achieved the peak of his potential, becoming perhaps one of the greatest and saddest examples of What Could Have Been in NFL history. Taylor was voted posthumously to the Pro Bowl (the first player ever to receive that honor)—partly out of respect, but equally because the season he'd been having up until he was murdered was just that good. The NFC Team—which also featured three other Washington players who all wore the #21 jersey in his honor—lined up on their first defensive snap with 10 players, leaving his free safety spot empty. To this day, many DBs will wear #21 (or #26/#36, his collegiate and NFL rookie numbers) or wear tape on their face masks out of respect for Taylor. Washington officially retired the #21 jersey in 2021.
• Earl Thomas was a seven-time Pro Bowl free safety drafted #14 overall out of Texas by the Seattle Seahawks in 2010. Thomas became a key component of the Seahawks' dominant, Super Bowl-winning secondary, "the Legion of Boom", along with Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman (see above). However, he was also known as an often volatile locker room presence who clashed with coaches and teammates. In 2018, Thomas memorably flipped the bird toward coach Pete Carroll as he was carted off the field after a season-ending leg injury and was subsequently cut from the team. He signed with the Ravens but was cut after just one season as he exhibited a number of behavior issues during training camp^note including not only physical fights with teammates but also involvement a truly bizarre sex scandal that ended with his wife being arrested for holding him at gunpoint.
• Emmitt Thomas was a CB who played for the Kansas City Chiefs his entire career. Thomas was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Bishop College in 1966. He was named an AFL All-Star in 1968 and led the league in INTs in '69 as the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. After the merger, he made the Pro Bowl four times and again led the league in picks in 1974 before retiring in 1978 as the Chiefs' all-time INT leader; the franchise retired his #18. After a two-year stint as HC of Central Missouri State, he embarked on a lengthy assistant coaching career, winning two more Super Bowls during his stint with Washington and serving as interim HC for the Falcons for three games in 2007 after Bobby Petrino's departure. He was inducted into the HOF as a player in 2008 and retired from coaching in 2018.
• Charles Tillman, nicknamed "Peanut", was a CB who played nearly his entire 13-year career with the Chicago Bears after they selected him in the 2nd round of the 2003 Draft out of Louisiana^*then known as Louisiana–Lafayette. A two-time Pro Bowler and 2013 Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner, Tillman is best known as one of the greatest ever at forcing fumbles. Utilizing what has become known as the "Peanut Punch", he ranks 6th all time with 44 career forced fumbles and is the only non-pass rusher in the top 10 of that category. Following his NFL career, Tillman became an FBI agent, qualifying just one day before his 37th birthday, which is the FBI age cut-off for new agents.
• Pat Tillman was a safety for the Arizona Cardinals. A seventh-round pick in the 1998 Draft, Tillman played well for the team for four years, developing a reputation as a scrappy hometown hero due to having played in college for Arizona State, who leased their stadium to the Cardinals. Then 9/11 happened. Tillman made national headlines when he turned down $3 million from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army with his brother Kevin, a gesture that was widely seen as an admirable and selfless example of Patriotic Fervor. Tillman was killed in action in 2004 while deployed in Afghanistan and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Silver Star, and Meritorious Service Medal after his death was initially reported as a Heroic Sacrifice in a fight against enemy combatants. However, it was determined after his burial that Tillman was actually killed by friendly fire.^note Tillman's death and the circumstances surrounding its reporting added further fuel to the fire of the debate over American military presence in the Middle East; his family became vocal critics of the Bush administration, claiming that the government had tried to cover up how he had died in order to use his image as a recruiting tool. Pat himself did not speak much publicly about his political beliefs, though his journals and testimonies from those who knew him show that he was critical of the administration too, particularly the war in Iraq, and unlikely to appreciate his name being used by those who didn't know him personally. The Cardinals, Arizona State, and the NFL as a whole all took steps to honor and commemorate Tillman's death; the Cardinals inducted Tillman into their Ring of Honor, retired his #40, and erected a memorial statue of him outside of their new stadium.
• Emlen Tunnell was a legendary DB of the 1950s. His college career, which started at Toledo, was interrupted when he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard during WWII, where he received a medal after he saved the lives of two of his shipmates. After he returned from the war, he transferred to Iowa, finishing college there, and became the first African-American player to be signed to the New York Giants in 1948. "The Gremlin" became one of the team's stars and a critical part of their championship-winning "umbrella defense" for eleven years, setting franchise records that persist today, being selected to eight Pro Bowls, and setting a then-NFL record for career interceptions that has only been passed by one other player, Paul Krause. In the twilight of his career, Tunnell was recruited by the Giants' former offensive coordinator, Vince Lombardi, to join him in Green Bay in order to mentor younger defensive players. He won his second championship and visited his ninth Pro Bowl with the Packers before retiring from play and returning to the Giants, where he became one of the league's first African-American assistant coaches. Tunnell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1967, once again a trailblazer: he was both the first black player and first defensive back to be enshrined in Canton. He continued to work with the Giants until he died of a heart attack in 1975 during a team practice.
• Eric Turner was the highest drafted safety of the modern era, having been taken #2 overall in 1991 out of UCLA by the Cleveland Browns. Turner had a solid career in Cleveland, co-leading the NFL in picks in 1994, and signed with the Raiders a year after the Browns became the Ravens. Sadly, Turner is most notable for the tragic end of his career, as he died suddenly of stomach cancer during the 2000 offseason.
• Troy Vincent was drafted #7 overall in 1992 out of Wisconsin by the Miami Dolphins, though he experienced the most success after signing with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1996, earning five Pro Bowl nods in the City of Brotherly Love. He departed the team in 2004, playing the final seasons of his 16-year career in Buffalo and Washington while also serving as the President of the NFLPA. The Walter Payton Man of the Year-winner was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame and moved into the NFL's executive offices after his retirement; he has been the league's Executive VP of Football Operations since 2014.
• Everson Walls was one of the most dominant ballhawks of the 1980s. After going undrafted out of HBCU Grambling State, Walls landed with the Dallas Cowboys in 1981 and immediately broke out as a star, leading the NFL in interceptions in his first two seasons. He repeated the feat in 1985, becoming the first player ever to lead the league in picks thrice (a feat that has only since been tied by the legendary Ed Reed). He was waived by the Cowboys in 1990 and subsequently joined the New York Giants, becoming a leader on their Super Bowl XXV-winning defense. Walls ended his career in 1993 after two years with the Browns. Despite the many impressive accomplishments of his career outpacing many DBs enshrined in Canton, the four-time Pro Bowler has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame, likely because the Cowboys as a team declined drastically during his time there.
• Andre Waters was a safety who went undrafted out of D-II HBCU Cheyney in 1984, but his ferocious tackling landed him a spot on the Philadelphia Eagles. Waters became a key part of Buddy Ryan's devastating defensive unit, becoming the Eagles' all-time leading tackler, though his aggression earned him the nickname "Dirty Waters" and directly contributed to the NFL changing their rules to protect QBs. He retired in 1995 after reuniting with Ryan in Arizona. In 2006, Waters died by suicide; the subsequent study of his brain was one of the key events leading to the discovery of CTE.
• Dave Waymer was a second round pick in 1980, going to the New Orleans Saints out of Notre Dame. The safety played for the team for a full decade, becoming the franchise's all-time leader in interceptions before bouncing around to the Niners and Raiders for the next three seasons. Tragically, his career was cut short by his death from a cocaine overdose in 1994.
• Roger Wehrli originated the term "shutdown corner" during his Hall of Fame tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals, which drafted him #19 overall out of Missouri in 1969. While he rarely shined on the stat sheet, this was largely due to the respect QBs showed him by avoiding throwing in his direction at all costs. He earned seven Pro Bowl selections playing for his homestate team before his retirement after 1982.
• Aeneas Williams was a Hall of Famer drafted in the third round in 1991 out of the HBCU Southern by the Phoenix Cardinals. The versatile back was one of the bright spots on the long-struggling team, starting at corner and later moving to free safety and infamously ending Steve Young's pro career with a devastating helmet-to-helmet hit. The eight-time Pro Bowler moved to the St. Louis Rams in 2001, getting to play on a more competitive team in his twilight years before retiring after 2004.
• Roy Williams was a safety for the Dallas Cowboys from 2002-08. Drafted #8 overall in 2002 out of Oklahoma, he made an immediate impact, as he became known as a vicious hitter and violent tackler. Despite his successes, he has become better known for his excessive use of the "horse collar tackle" and is seen as the namesake for the rule banning the use of the tackle across football, becoming the first player suspended for breaking it in 2007. Other "player safety" rule changes, particularly those protecting defenseless receivers and banning defenders from leading with the crown of the helmet when tackling, effectively neutered Williams's playstyle soon after. Following his time with the Cowboys, he played two unimpressive seasons in Cincinnati. Unfortunately for Williams, he was one of the last "headhunter" safeties in football and, despite his six straight Pro Bowl seasons, is rarely talked about among his era's great players as that playstyle has been Condemned by History.
• Fred Williamson initially went undrafted out of Northwestern in 1960. After an unspectacular rookie year with the Steelers, Williamson made the jump to the AFL's Oakland Raiders and quickly gained notoriety as one of the hardest hitters in the young league, gaining the nickname "The Hammer" for his (now-illegal) Signature Move of essentially punching opponents in the head. Williamson gained three All-Star selections in Oakland and played three seasons with the Chiefs before retiring after 1967 to pursue a much more successful career as a prolific actor, most notably in Blaxploitation films like Black Caesar.
• Larry Wilson was a free safety for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1960s. Picked in the seventh round of the 1960 Draft out of Utah, where he had played running back, Wilson was shifted to safety because of his smaller stature. He turned out to be one of the few bright spots for the Cardinals during their time in Missouri, as he excelled at his new position, made eight Pro Bowls, and set the franchise career record for INTs. Renowned for his toughness, Wilson once caught an interception with casts on both hands due to having broken wrists and helped to pioneer the safety blitz as an effective defensive play. After a 13-year career, he had his #8 retired by the Cardinals and was inducted into Canton in his first year of eligibility as one of only a handful of Hall of Famers to never visit the playoffs. He spent the next thirty years working for the Cardinals office, including serving a three-game stint as the team's interim head coach in 1979 and acting as their GM from 1988-93 after their move to Phoenix. Wilson passed away in 2020.
• Willie Wood was a trailblazing player most famous for his time as a safety for the '60s Green Bay Packers. In college, Wood was the first African-American quarterback to play in what is now the Pac-12 during his time at USC. Despite his talents, Wood went undrafted in 1960, though Vince Lombardi signed him as a free agent. With the QB position locked down by Bart Starr, Wood switched to safety/punt returner and saw incredible success, making 154 consecutive starts (still the record for the position) and tallying 48 interceptions. During his twelve seasons, Wood made eight Pro Bowls and won five championships (most notably making a momentum-shifting INT in the first Super Bowl). Wood retired after 1971 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He later moved into coaching, becoming the first African-American HC in pro football since Fritz Pollard thanks to short and unsuccessful stints in the WFL and CFL. Wood passed away in 2020.
• Charles Woodson was a CB (and eventual safety) with a penchant for returning turnovers for touchdowns, being tied for the most all-time (13). He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders #4 overall out of Michigan in 1998 after being the only defensive player to ever win the Heisman Trophy^note Although he was not solely a defensive player; he was a dominant cornerback but was also occasionally inserted into the offense as a wide receiver or running back and was also the team's primary kick/punt returner, winning the honor over Peyton Manning. Woodson won Defensive Rookie of the Year and was selected to the Pro Bowl in his first four seasons. He was famously involved in the so-called "Tuck Rule Game", the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoffs in which his strip-sack of college teammate Tom Brady was overturned by the then-unknown "tuck rule"^note NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2: When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble. He suffered a series of injuries that led the Raiders to choose not to re-sign him following 2005, and he signed with the Green Bay Packers in 2006 for what was supposed to be the twilight of his career. Instead, he returned to being one of the NFL's most dominating corners, intercepting 28 passes in his first four seasons as a Packer (he had 17 in eight years as a Raider), leading the league in the category twice. He won Defensive Player of the Year in 2009 and in 2010 was the team captain and defensive play caller for the Packers' Super Bowl XLV-winning season.^note Woodson actually had to sit out the second half of the Super Bowl after breaking his collarbone, but remained on the sideline to cheer on his teammates; the photo of him raising the Lombardi Trophy with one hand while his other arm was in a sling has become an iconic image of the veteran defender. After 2012, he signed back with the Raiders for what was actually the twilight of his career, through he remained a dominant safety. The nine-time Pro Bowler retired after 2015 and earned a first-ballot induction into the Hall of Fame.
• Darren Woodson was the star safety of the '90s Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl dynasty, winning his first of three rings in his rookie 1993 season after being taken in the second round out of Arizona State. The five-time Pro Bowler was the last of the '90s Boys to leave the team when he retired in 2004, holding the franchise record for tackles; he is enshrined in the team's Ring of Honor.
• Rod Woodson (yes, it seems "Woodson" is a good surname for a DB) was an eleven-time Pro Bowl CB and safety for 17 seasons and holds the NFL career records for fumble recoveries (32), pick-sixes (12), and defensive TDs (13). Drafted #10 overall out of Purdue by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1987, Woodson played his first ten years in the Steel City, picking up Defensive Player of the Year in 1993. That was the same year Woodson and eight other players successful sued the NFL into implementing unrestricted free agency, something that helped him negotiate a contract that made him the highest paid defensive back in the league at the time and that also ensured he moved to plenty of other teams in the second half of his career. In 1995, Woodson became the only player to return to active play the same season they tore their ACL, going down from injury in the season opener and making it back in time to play in their Super Bowl XXX loss. Woodson was also a special teams weapon and holds many Steelers franchise return records. After spending 1997 with the 49ers, he joined the Baltimore Ravens and helped lead them to their first Super Bowl victory. After moving to Free Safety, he retired in 2003 after another brief stint in the Bay Area, this time with the Raiders, as only the third player in league history to record more than 70 interceptions. The first-ballot Hall of Famer entered into broadcasting and coaching after retirement, including a year as HC for the XFL's Vegas Vipers.

Special Teams

Kickers

• David Akers is most famous for his tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles (where he played 12 seasons, becoming the team's all-time leader in points scored). He went undrafted out of Louisville in 1997 but played a single game for Washington in 1998. He joined the Eagles in 1999, went to five Pro Bowls, and set the NFL record for points in a decade with 1,169. He signed with the San Francisco 49ers in 2011, set NFL season records for most field goals made (44) and attempted (52), and was named to his sixth and final Pro Bowl. His 2012 season in San Francisco wasn't as impressive, but he did land a 63-yard field goal off the crossbar against Green Bay to tie the then-NFL record for longest field goal. Following one more season in Detroit, he retired after 16 years in the NFL. He played in two Super Bowls during his career and lost both (XXXIX and XLVII).
• Morten Andersen was a kicker for five teams during his career and is the NFL's all-time leader in games played (382), retiring at the age of 47. He is best known for his tenures with the New Orleans Saints (where he played his first 13 seasons after being drafted in the fourth round in 1982) and Atlanta Falcons (two stints for eight seasons in all); more than a decade after his last game in 2007, he's still the all-time scoring leader for both teams.^note He also played brief stints for the Giants, Chiefs, and Vikings. The "Great Dane" first came to the US as an exchange student; he joined the high school team on a whim, kicked for one year, got a scholarship to Michigan State, and the rest was history. In New Orleans, Andersen garnered an unlikely cult following, with 16,000 of his posters being sold in the city in 1983 alone and a novelty song he recorded with Saints punter Brian Hansen became a local radio hit in 1985. He played in Super Bowl XXXIII with the Falcons (see Gary Anderson's entry below for how he got there), who rehired him in 2006 after a year out of the NFL, allowing him to secure the longevity record and briefly become the league's all-time leading scorer. His seven Pro Bowl selections are the most by any kicker (since tied by Justin Tucker), and he became the second full-time placekicker to make it to Canton in 2017.
• Gary Anderson was, in many ways, the reflection of Morten Andersen, even beyond their similar last names. Like Morten, the South African Gary came to the United States as a teenager. They both joined the league the same year, with Anderson signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers out of Syracuse. They both played their first 13 seasons with their first teams, during which they became their respective franchises' all-time leading scorers, though by the late '90s, Gary led Morten in most stats. Anderson played brief stints for the Eagles and 49ers before landing with the Minnesota Vikings in 1998, where he recorded the league's first ever perfect regular season for a kicker, scoring on every field goal and PAT attempt^note 35 and 59 respectively, still the record for most total kicks in a perfect season and helping the Vikings to a 15-1 season, all at age 39. When the Vikings made the NFC Championship that year against Andersen's Falcons, they were the clear Super Bowl favorites and were leading by 7 when Anderson missed his only kick of the year: a 39-yard field goal in an domed stadium with no wind interference. Morten later landed a similar kick in overtime, bringing the Falcons to the Super Bowl and crushing the dreams of thousands of Minnesotans. Anderson still beat George Blanda's all-time scoring record in 2000, but the missed kick shook him and he was out of the league in 2004 after a brief stint with the Titans; Andersen endured and eventually beat his record a few years later. Anderson's missed kick remains one of the great What Could Have Been moments in NFL history—had he made it, the team would have almost certainly made the Super Bowl and secured Gary the place in the Hall of Fame currently held by Morten.
• Jim Bakken was a kicker/punter drafted in the seventh round in 1962 out of Wisconsin by the Rams, but he spent the entirety of his 17-year NFL career with the St. Louis Cardinals, being named to four Pro Bowls, making two All-Decade Teams, and leading the league in scoring in '67; he remains the franchise's all-time leading scorer.
• Rob Bironas went undrafted out of Georgia Southern in 2001 and played in the Arena ranks for several years before making the Tennessee Titans roster in 2005. Bironas is most famous for being the only kicker to score eight field goals in a single game (doing so in '07, his sole Pro Bowl year). He was released by the Titans after 2013. During that offseason, he married one of Terry Bradshaw's daughters and was considering retirement when he unexpectedly died in a car accident while driving under the influence.
• Jim Breech is the Cincinnati Bengals all-time leading scorer, an eighth round pick out of Cal in 1978 who landed in Cincy in 1980 after failed stints with the Lions and Raiders. He kicked for the team for 13 seasons, including their first two Super Bowl visits, before retiring.
• Matt Bryant went undrafted out of Baylor in 1999, took three whole years to make it to the NFL, and bounced around five different teams before finding a real home with the Atlanta Falcons in 2009. "Money Matt" stayed in Atlanta for 11 seasons, becoming the franchise's all-time scoring leader and leading the NFL in points during the Falcons' trip to the Super Bowl in '16.
• Harrison Butker is the current kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs and, as of the 2023 season, ranks behind only Justin Tucker in career field goal percentage. The "Butt Kicker" was originally drafted out of Georgia Tech by the Panthers in 2017 but didn't make the final roster; the Chiefs picked him up off the practice squad, and proceeded to set the current record for most field goals by a rookie. He later led the NFL in scoring 2019, the first of three seasons he has won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs; in the third, he set the records for longest field goal (57 yards) and most career field goals in the Big Game (9).
• Gino Cappelletti was a former QB at Minnesota who went undrafted in 1955 and was scooped up by the new AFL's Boston Patriots in 1960 after several years in amateur leagues in Canada to have him play kicker (as well as defensive back, flanker, returner, trick play passer, and anything else the team needed him to play). Cappelletti proceeded to have one of the most productive decades of any player in NFL/AFL history in terms of pure points, as he led both leagues in field goals and overall scoring five times, became the AFL's all-time leading scorer, and even won the league's MVP in 1964. His incredible versatility earned him the nickname "Mr. Patriot"; following his retirement after the 1970 merger season, the Patriots retired his #20 and placed him in their Hall of Fame, though he has never been considered for induction into Canton.
• Daniel Carlson is the current kicker for the Las Vegas Raiders. Drafted in the fifth round in 2018 by the Vikings after setting program records at Auburn, he was cut by the team in the middle of his rookie year after missing three field goals in a single game, two in overtime, resulting in a tie. The Vikings may have been too hasty; Carlson was picked up by the Raiders and has since emerged as one of the NFL's more consistent kickers, leading the league in scoring in 2020 and '21 and kicking the most 50+ yard FGs ever in a single season (11) in '22. His younger brother Anders^*pronounced ON-ders was drafted by the Packers^note pairing him with the same special teams coach, Rich Bissacia, who helped the elder Carlson find his form with the Raiders in 2023, also out of Auburn.
• John Carney was a journeyman renowned for his exceptional longevity—in a 24-year NFL career that started with him going undrafted out of Notre Dame, Carney played for seven teams, most prominently the San Diego Chargers (1990-2000, becoming the franchise's leading scorer) and New Orleans Saints (2001-06, 2009-10, becoming their #2 behind Morten Andersen)^note with shorter stints in Tampa, L.A., Jacksonville, Kansas City, and New York. The fifth highest scorer in league history, Carney still holds multiple kicking records (including most games with 4+ and 5+ field goals), led the NFL in scoring in '94, and had a 14-year gap between his first All-Pro season in '94 and his second in '08. Carney was behind one of the most heartbreaking missed kicks in NFL history while with the Saints: a PAT after the River City Relay, an incredibly improbable last-second touchdown that involved three lateral passes and that would have tied the game if Carney hadn't sailed the ball wide right. Despite that completely anomalous flub, Carney gained a lot of cred in New Orleans, especially after he landed a game-winning kick soon after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. A few years after he left the Big Easy, the 45-year-old kicker was brought back to replace Saints' kicker Garrett Hartley after he was suspended due to Adderall use; Carney filled in admirably, was kept on as a "kicking consultant" for the team after Hartley's return, and stayed with them as they won their first Super Bowl. Before he retired in 2010, Carney was the last active player from the '80s and the only player other than George Blanda to play in four separate decades.
• Steve Christie is the Buffalo Bills' all-time leading scorer. The UDFA out of William and Mary started his career with the Bucs before replacing the unfortunate Scott Norwood (see below) in 1992, right in the middle of the Bills' streak of Super Bowl losses. He attained cult hero status in Buffalo for retrieving his own onside kick during the Bills' legendary 32-point playoff comeback. Christie played with the Bills until 2001, rounding out his career with the Chargers and Giants before retiring in 2004.
• Don Cockroft was one of the last dual kicker/punters in the NFL. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round in 1967 out of NAIA (now D-II) Adams State, Cockroft played for the Browns until he retired after 1980; he still is the franchise leader in punting yards and is third in scoring behind Lou Groza and Phil Dawson
• Fred Cox was drafted in the eighth round out of Pitt by the Browns in 1961, though he never played for the team. He eventually wound up with the Minnesota Vikings in 1963, where he played 15 seasons and became the franchise's all-time leading scorer, earning his sole Pro Bowl nod in 1969 when he led the league in scoring and helped take the Vikings to their first Super Bowl appearance. In 1972, Cox became a licensed chiropractor (which paid better than kicking) and invented a soft football that he sold to Parker Brothers (which became the Nerf football and made him more money than either profession). When he retired in 1977, Cox held the NFL career field goal record and was second to only George Blanda in points scored. He passed away in 2019.
• Mason Crosby is the Green Bay Packers' all-time leading scorer by a sizable margin. A sixth round pick out of Colorado in 2007, he led the league in scoring his rookie year and remained the Pack's (mostly^*Crosby did have a notoriously bad season in 2012 but bounced back a year later) dependable kicker for 16 seasons, even with his hair having turned a noticable gray around the time he passed Brett Favre for the most games played in a Packers uniform. The Packers chose not to retain Crosby after the 2022 season, and he spent a little time on the Rams' practice squad in 2023 before ultimately landing with the Giants.
• Phil Dawson most famously played for the Cleveland Browns, succeeding Lou Groza as the franchise's all-time leader in field goals^note but not points; unlike the dominant teams of Groza's era, Dawson's Browns gave him far fewer chances to score PATs. After going undrafted out of Texas in 1998, he spent the season on practice squads for the Raiders and Patriots before signing with the revived Browns, playing in Cleveland until 2012. He is best known for two games in 2007 in which his kicks hit the stanchion (the curved bar connecting the uprights to the ground) on a field goal attempt. The first, a game-tying field goal against Baltimore, was almost ruled a miss, forcing the refs to recall the teams out of the locker rooms to finish the game (the Browns won) and leading to the NFL creating the "Phil Dawson rule" allowing any field goal or PAT attempt that hits the uprights or crossbar to be reviewed.^note The second was a less pivotal but no less impressive field goal against Buffalo in blizzard-like conditions. He played three more seasons for the 49ers and two more with the Cardinals before retiring on a ceremonial contract with the Browns.
• Al Del Greco went undrafted out of Auburn in 1984 and bounced around the NFL for a few seasons before landing with the Houston Oilers in 1991; he would stay with the team for the next decade through their transformation into the Tennessee Titans, becoming the franchise all-time leading scorer.
• Tom Dempsey was a journeyman who played for five teams^note Saints, Eagles, Rams, Oilers, and Bills after going undrafted in 1968 out of Palomar, a California community college. In 1970, Dempsey set the record for the longest field goal in NFL history when he sunk a 63-yard game-winning kick for the Saints, a tremendous feat that broke the previous record by over seven yards. Dempsey's kick was the only successful 60+ yard field goal for over a decade and one of only four in the 20th century. His record stood for over four decades, only being tied by three others during that time span before it was finally edged out by Matt Prater in 2013 (see below). What makes Dempsey's kicking career truly exceptional, however, was the fact that he made them all with no toes—Dempsey was born without toes or fingers on his right limbs and wore a modified shoe with a flat square toe on his kicking foot. Sports scientists have debated for decades whether this gave Dempsey an advantage, and the NFL added a rule in 1977 requiring that kickers not wear shoes with modified surfaces because of him. Dempsey died from COVID-19 in 2020.
• Paul Edinger was a kicker most notable for his tenure with the Chicago Bears, who drafted him out of Michigan State in the 6th round in 2000. He was best known for unusual "corkscrew" kicking motion, in which he would face backwards before the kick and and turn in a circular motion as the ball was snapped. While this appeared to add power to his kicks, it also likely hindered his accuracy. He put up average numbers in Chicago before being released and was out of the NFL after one season in Minnesota in 2005.
• Jason Elam was most notable for his 15-season tenure with the Denver Broncos, who drafted him out of Hawaii in the 3rd round in 1993. He broke the record for consecutive extra points made at 371^note Stephen Gostkowski is the current record holder at 479 and became the second kicker to successfully kick a 63-yard field goal in a game. Elam won two Super Bowls in Denver and went to three Pro Bowls. He was let go after 2007, played two more years with the Falcons, and retired in 2010 after signing a ceremonial contract with the Broncos.
• Pete Gogolak was a Hungarian-born kicker who immigrated to the U.S. when his family fled the 1956 Revolution. After he was selected out of Cornell in the twelfth round of the 1964 AFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, Gogolak became a lead figure in the adaptation of European soccer-style placekicking in American football. He also accidentally became one of the most important people in NFL history when the NFL's New York Giants lured him away from the Bills, breaking an unwritten rule that neither league would steal the other league's players. The Gogolak trade triggered a bidding war between NFL and AFL teams, as each rushed to grab players they previously thought were unattainable. Both leagues soon realized the fight would be costly and counterproductive for both leagues, so they instead began discussing a merger. Gogolak became the Giants' all-time leading scorer before he retired in 1974, though that still-standing total (646 points) is more an indicator of how short most Giants' kickers' careers have been.
  • The same year one NFL team acquired one Gogolak through a trade, another acquired his younger brother Charlie Gogolak, also an Ivy League product (out of Princeton), through the draft. The Washington team may have been too hasty in this effort—they drafted Charlie #6 overall, the highest any kicker has ever been picked. Charlie wasn't a bad kicker, but he also didn't match his brother's football success or the expectations of his draft placement; he was cut by Washington after just three seasons and only played three more with the Patriots. Charlie did come out the victor in a memorable 1966 face-off between Washington and New York that saw both brothers take the field quite often—the final score was 72-41, the highest scoring game in league history that also set the record for most PATs in a single game.
• Stephen Gostkowski played for the New England Patriots for 14 seasons. A fourth round pick out of Memphis in the 2006 Draft—fairly high for a kicker—to replace the great Adam Vinatieri, Gostkowski more than made up for the investment by setting records for fastest player to reach the milestones of 500 and 1,000 points, becoming the franchise's highest scorer by 2014, and assisting them in winning their last three Super Bowls. He holds the current record for most consecutive extra points (523) and led the league in scoring five times (tied with Don Hutson and Gino Capelletti for most ever). The Pats let him go after 2019, and he retired after a fairly diastrous 2020 with the Titans.
• Robbie Gould played for 18 seasons, with an excellent FG percentage that might have been even higher if not for spending most of his career in windy Chicago.^note Soldier Field is right on the shore of the great Lake Michigan, where the wind is very strong and unpredictable. He started his career as a walk-on (not offered a scholarship) for Penn State and went undrafted in 2005. He first signed with the Patriots (who already had Adam Vinatieri), was released during the preseason, signed with the Vikings, then was again released less than a month later. He worked for a construction company back home in Pennsylvania before being signed by the Bears in 2005. He made 26 field goals in a row in 2006, earning a trip to the Pro Bowl, and later became the highest-paid kicker in the NFL. After 11 seasons in Chicago, which saw him become the team's all-time leading scorer, he was controversially released just prior to the start of the 2016 regular season. He caught on mid-season with the Giants (who were coming out of the Josh Brown debacle) and made every field goal he attempted, then signed with the 49ers in 2017 and had the most accurate two-season run of any kicker in NFL history, making 72 of 75 field goals attempted during the 2017-18 seasons.^note If you count his 10 games in 2016 with the Giants, this was the most accurate three-season run of any kicker in history. The Bears, meanwhile, cycled through numerous kickers and had the least accurate FG percentage of any team in the league in that span. Throughout his career, he was perfect on postseason kick attempts (29/29 on FGs, 39/39 on XPs). His last name rhymes with "gold", leading to the phrase "Good as Gould" being used by some broadcasters.
• Martín Gramática was an Argentine-born kicker drafted in the third round in 1999 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after an excellent career at Kansas State (where he made a still-FBS record 65-yard FG). Gramática was a key contributor to the Bucs during their run of success around the turn of the century, serving as one of their most potent scoring weapons for a team that famously focused on defense over offense and becoming the franchise's all-time leading scorer. After winning a Super Bowl in 2002, injuries began to steadily take their toll on his accuracy. He was released during the 2004 season and bounced around the NFL until retiring after 2008. Fun fact: Martín's younger brother Bill Gramática was also an NFL kicker who had great success in college at South Florida, though he is most famous for tearing his ACL in his rookie season during a scoring celebration.
• Lou Groza, nicknamed The Toe, was a kicker and offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns during their run of dominance in the '50s and '60s. He left Ohio State to serve in the US Army in World War II and was offered a contract while still enlisted by legendary Browns coach Paul Brown. He played both positions at a high level throughout the '50s, but his ability to consistently score field goals from over 40 yards made the Browns an offensive threat that other teams struggled to catch up with. While his range and accuracy was not all that impressive by today's standards, they were both leagues ahead of anyone else kicking at the time; he led the league in FGs in five seasons, more than any kicker before or since. Groza won "NFL Player of the Year" (a precursor award to league MVP) in 1954, a unique achievement for either a offensive lineman or a kicker. After a 10-Minute Retirement in 1960 due to back problems, he was begged to return as a pure kicker by new Browns owner Art Modell in 1961. Groza played seven more seasons, won another NFL Championship (bringing his career total to four), and retired at the ripe (even by modern standards) old age of 44 having played for 20 nonconsecutive seasons. He remains the Browns' all-time leading scorer, and his #76 is officially retired by the organization. He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame; when it's stressed that Jan Stenerud (see below) was the first (and for a long while only) pure specialist inducted into the Hall of Fame, Groza (along with George Blanda in the "Quarterbacks" page) is the reason why. The NCAA annual award for the nation's best kicker bears his name. Groza died of a heart attack in 2000.^*Fun fact: Lou's younger brother Alex was a star basketball player drafted #2 overall in the NBA in 1949. He is famous as the only NBA player to average over 21 points a game in every season of his career... which is because he was kicked out after just two years due to his involvement in point-shaving in college.
• Jason Hanson was a kicker drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round out of Washington State in 1992. While this is fairly high for a kicker, the Lions got a great return for that investment: Hanson played for the Lions for 21 years, the longest any player has played for a single team, and scored over 2,000 points for the franchise, also the only player to pass that mark for one team. Hanson also holds the league records for most 40+ field goals and is #4 in all-time scoring.
• Sebastian Janikowski, aka "Seabass", played most of his career with the Oakland Raiders. The son of a Polish soccer player who emigrated to the United States when Sebastian was a teenager, Janikowski showed great kicking talent at Florida State. The Raiders picked him in the first round of the 2000 Draft^note #17 overall, just like they had for punter Ray Guy in the 1970s. He remains the last kicker or punter to be drafted that high, though not because he was a bust by any stretch—he played for the team for 18 years, becoming its all-time leader in games and points and setting a few NFL kicking records, including the longest FG attempt at 76 yards.^note It fell about 15 yards short.
• Nate Kaeding spent 8 years playing for the San Diego Chargers, who drafted him fairly high for a kicker in the third round in 2004 out of Iowa. After missing a game winning field goal in a playoff game in his rookie season, Kaeding became known for having an unfortunate habit of missing important kicks in the playoffs despite having one of the better FG percentages in league history in the regular season. Whether he's solely to blame for the Chargers' playoff woes is up for debate, but he did miss potential game-winners in '06 and '09; when he left the team in 2011, he was the most accurate kicker in the league at the time (87%) but was 8-for-15 (53.3%) in the playoffs. He retired after one terrible year as a backup with the Dolphins where he missed two out of three kicks.
• John Kasay is the all-time leading scorer for the Carolina Panthers and a top-ten all-time scorer in the NFL. Initially drafted by the Seahawks in the fourth round in 1991, Kasay signed with the expansion franchise in 1995 and played there until 2010 (though he missed all of 2000 with a broken kneecap and most of 2002). He played with the Saints in 2011 and signed a ceremonial contract with the Panthers to retire in 2013.
• Christian "Mose" Kelsch is often regarded as the first pure kicking specialist to play in the NFL. The Pittsburgh native grew up an orphan and never attended college, often answering that he instead went to "the school of hard knocks".^note Media guides have incorrectly listed Christian as his college, when its actually his first name. He starred as a runner, blocker, and kicker on numerous semi-pro squads in the Pittsburgh area throughout the '20s, becoming a local legend within the city and forming a close bond with Art Rooney, who managed a few of those teams. When Rooney was granted an NFL franchise in 1933, Kelsch was one of the first players to join the then-Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite being the oldest player in the NFL at 36 years old (four years older than Rooney) and weighing close to 235 lbs, he was kept on the roster due to his strong kicking and would often be called off the bench to pinch-kick in critical situations, with multiple game-winning or tying kicks. Age caught up to Kelsch the following season when he began missing critical kicks and found himself splitting duties with rookie Armand Niccolai. Tragically, his life was cut short during the following offseason when he died in a car accident, with the city mourning his loss.
• Younghoe Koo is the kicker for the Atlanta Falcons since 2019. He currently holds the fourth best career field goal percentage in NFL history, but he is perhaps most notable as one of the only Korean players in the NFL. Born in Seoul, Koo moved to the United States as child and played for Georgia Southern in college. After going undrafted and struggling mightily with the Chargers in 2017, Koo spent a full year out of the NFL playing for the AAF before working his way back to the league and emerging as one of its most dependable kickers, leading the NFL in scoring in 2020.
• Pat Leahy is the New York Jets' all-time leading scorer and longest tenured player and one of the most successful NFL players to never play football in college. An extremely successful soccer player at Saint Louis (a school that hasn't had an American football team since the 1940s), Leahy helped lead the Billikens to three NCAA national titles and earned a tryout with the local Cardinals in 1973 mostly as a promotional stunt. He did well enough in training camp that he made the team, and the Jets picked him up the next year. He played 18 seasons for the Jets, retiring as the third highest scorer in NFL history at the time.
• Nick Lowery, nicknamed "Nick the Kick", was signed out of Dartmouth as an undrafted free agent by the Patriots in 1978 before landing with the Kansas City Chiefs two years later. Lowery became the Chiefs all-time leading scorer before he was cut after 1993; he played three more seasons with the Jets before ending his 18-season career as the league's all-time leading scorer (later passed by Gary Anderson) and was later inducted into the Chiefs' Hall of Fame.
• Jack Manders was one of the first kicking specialists in the NFL, though the Minnesota grad also played HB during his eight seasons with the Chicago Bears during the '30s, leading the NFL in scoring twice and winning two championships. "Automatic Jack" retired in 1940 and died in 1977; his younger brother "Pug" Manders had a successful NFL career as well.
• Chester Marcol (birth name Czesław Marcol) was a Polish-born kicker for the Green Bay Packers, who drafted him in the second round in 1972 out of the small Hillsdale College (then NAIA, now NCAA D-II). Marcol, who arrived in the US with his mother at age 14 after his father committed suicide, led the league in scoring in his rookie season and was selected to two Pro Bowls. He is most known for a play he made in overtime of the Packers' 1980 season opener against the Bears in which he recovered a blocked field goal and successfully turned it into a game-winning touchdown (the only one scored by either team in that game). Unfortunately, his promising career was derailed by a cocaine addiction (he was actually high while making said famous play), which ultimately resulted in him being cut from the Packers just one month later. He was subsequently signed by the Oilers as a last-minute emergency replacement, but he played only a single game for them and then never played in the NFL again. After a difficult post-football life, culminating in a suicide attempt in 1986, he eventually got sober and became an addiction counselor.
• Olindo Mare is the Miami Dolphins' all-time leading scorer, signing with the team after going undrafted out of Syracuse in 1996 and not even making the Giants' final roster in what would have been his rookie season. He got a second shot in Miami the following year and played there for a decade, then bounced around the league before retiring after 2012
• Mark Moseley was most famously the sole kicking specialist to be named league MVP (as noted above, Lou Groza received the award in 1954, but he also played offensive tackle). Moseley's NFL career had a rocky start; he was drafted in the fourteenth round by the Eagles in 1970 out of Stephen F. Austin (then NAIA, now FCS), played for a single season before being released, played another two years with the Oilers, and then spent two years out of the league before being signed to Washington's team. This was a pretty good investment—he remains the leading scorer for that organization. After enduring the murder of his younger sister in 1979, Moseley won MVP in Washington during their 1982 Super Bowl-winning season, which was shortened to just nine games due to a player's strike. Moseley made 20 of his 21 field goal attempts, a single-season record at the time that now isn't even close to a kicker's best season but at the time amounted to the most points scored by a kicker in a year. Moseley was the last "straight-on" kicker to play in the NFL, since soccer-style instep kicking was already being popularized when he first entered the league; this may have had something to do with him winning the MVP. Moseley retired in 1986 after a brief stint with the Browns and went into the fast food industry, playing a major role in the expansion of the Five Guys burger franchise.
• Eddie Murray was another Long Runner who played 20 (nonconsecutive) seasons in the NFL and set a number of records for his era. Drafted in the seventh round in 1980 out of Tulane by the Detroit Lions, the Canadian-born kicker earned four All-Pro selections over 12 years in the Motor City, leading the league in scoring in '81 and becoming the first to make over 95% of his field goals twice in 1988-89. He left Detroit after 1991 as the franchise's all-time leading scorer (later surpassed by his successor Jason Hanson, above) and spent the rest of the '90s on a different team each season, experiencing a career revival in 1993 after winning a Super Bowl with the Cowboys. He retired after 2000.
• Scott Norwood is most infamously known among the general public for missing a 47-yard field goal that sailed wide right in the closing seconds of Super Bowl XXV, giving the Bills the first of their four Super Bowl losses; had the kick made it, Buffalo would have won. However, at the time, only half of 40+ yard field goals on grass were successfully made, and Norwood, a turf kicker, just wasn't good at kicking them (he was one for five throughout his career); in fact, the kick in question would have been a personal record had he made it. Despite this, Norwood, who joined the Bills in 1985 after having been undrafted out of FCS James Madison in 1982 and spending a couple of years in the USFL, surpassed O.J. Simpson as the team's all-time leading scorer^note though he has since been surpassed by his successor, Steve Christie. Norwood played with the Bills for one more season before his release. He was the basis for two characters: disgraced Dolphins kicker Ray Finkle (AKA Lois Einhorn) in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Scott Wood in the 1998 film Buffalo '66.
• Cody Parkey was a journeyman who played for five different teams^note Eagles, Browns, Dolphins, Bears, and Titans, plus stints on the Saints and Colts reserves after joining the league out of Auburn in 2014. Parkey earned a Pro Bowl nom after setting a then-record for points by a rookie but will always be known as the kicker behind the "Double Doink", a potential game-winning kick for the Chicago Bears in the 2018 season's NFC Wild Card playoff game that missed and bounced off of both the left upright and crossbar. The miss wasn't even Parkey's fault (the ball had been tipped by a defensive player), but it still cost him his job with the Bears after he gave several interviews about it without the team's permission. He retired after 2021.
• Matt Prater is a kicker for the Arizona Cardinals who most famously played for the Denver Broncos and the Detroit Lions. Undrafted out of UCF in 2006, Prater has developed a reputation as a long-range specialist, having kicked more field goals from over 50 yards than any kicker in NFL history and once holding the record for the longest in NFL history, a 64-yard smash made in the high elevation of Denver. After Prater was cut by the Broncos in 2014 following a suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy, he was picked up by Detroit, where he proved he could continue to make such long kicks in a denser atmosphere. With the Lions, he made 14 consecutive kicks from over 50 yards, another league record.
• Josh Scobee is the Jacksonville Jaguars' all-time leading scorer. Drafted in the fifth round in 2004 out of Louisiana Tech, he played for the franchise for the next 11 seasons and signed a ceremonial contract to the retire with the team after a disappointing stint with the Steelers.
• Jan Stenerud was a true trailblazer in the kicking world. If Pete Gogolak is the Ur-Example of soccer-style placekicking, Stenerud may be its Trope Maker and is certainly its Trope Codifier. The Norwegian, who came to the U.S. on a ski jumping scholarship to Montana State, first played football as a junior and made an immediate impact, being named a small-college All-American as a senior. Stenerud joined the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs in 1967, where he played for the first 13 of his 19 pro seasons and demonstrated once and for all the effectiveness of soccer-style kicking, connecting on 70% of his field goals in his first three seasons in an era when average FG accuracy was just a little north of 50% and setting the record for career field goals (since broken). A three-time All-AFL performer and six-time All-Pro after the merger, his #3 was retired by the Chiefs, and he became the first "pure" kicking specialist to enter the Hall of Fame in 1991.
• Matt Stover was a 12th round pick out of Louisiana Tech by the Giants in 1990 (winning a Super Bowl ring in his rookie year while sitting on injured reserve the whole season), but he made his name after signing with the Cleveland Browns the following year. Stover played the next two decades with the organization, following the team when they became the Baltimore Ravens in 1996. He earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2000 as the most important scoring weapon for the Super Bowl-winning squad (he was responsible for all of the Stone Wall team's points in five straight games where they couldn't get in the end zone). After spending 2009 with the Colts, coming just short of winning a third ring as the oldest kicker to score in a Super Bowl at 43, Stover ceremonially retired with the Ravens in 2011 and was immediately placed in their Ring of Honor.
• Ryan Succop is easily the longest tenured "Mr. Irrelevant" in league history. Succop made an immediate impact after the Kansas City Chiefs took him out of South Carolina with the final (#256th overall) pick of the 2009 Draft, tying the league "true" rookie record for field goal accuracy (86.2%, since surpassed)^note Several other players had previously posted better numbers in their first year of regular season play, but only after a few years kicking in other leagues or on practice squads. After regressing in subsequent seasons, he moved on as a free agent to the Titans in 2014, where he set another record for consecutive made FGs under 50 yards (56). After an injury-plagued 2019 saw him make just 16.1% of his FG attempts in six games, he was released and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, where he had a tremendous bounce-back year, becoming a key part in their sucessful Super Bowl LV run and, in the process, becoming the first final draft pick to play in, score in, and win a Super Bowl. He was released two years later and has yet to return to the NFL.
• Justin Tucker is one of the most accurate kickers ever, holding the best field goal percentage in NFL history through an active decade-long career as well as the most All-Pro selections of any kicker in league history. He went undrafted out of Texas in 2012 but joined the Baltimore Ravens and won the kicking job out of training camp, immediately establishing himself as one of the league's most talented kickers on the way to winning Super Bowl XLVII. During his years with the defensive-oriented Ravens, Tucker has become an offensive weapon in a way few other kickers are. He can reliably make field goals out to 60 yards^note Tucker hovers around 70% accuracy on kicks of 50+ yards while most other kickers are considered "good" at that range if they hit more than 50% of the time. and holds the NFL record for the longest ever field goal, a 66-yard game-winner in 2021. Off the field, he's also known for being a pretty talented opera-style singer.
• Jim Turner was a former college QB at Utah State who signed by the New York Jets as a free agent in 1964.^note He was drafted in the 19th round by Washington the year prior but didn't make the team. "Tank" Turner became known as one of the most productive kickers in the league in his time with the Jets (1964-70) and Denver Broncos (1971-79) and retired holding the league's field goal record (though he was passed soon after by Jan Stenerud). Turner is enshrined in the Broncos Ring of Honor. He passed away in 2023. He, along with Mike Clark, also hold the record for the shortest FG in NFL history at 9 yards^note This was back when the goal posts were at the front instead of behind the endzone. with Turner achieving his mark in Super Bowl III and Clark in Super Bowl VI.
• Mike Vanderjagt once held the record for most accurate placekicker in NFL history (he's since been surpassed) and secured the first ever truly perfect season when he made every field goal and PAT attempt in both the 2003 regular season and playoffs. The Toronto-area native and West Virginia product got his start in the CFL in 1993, played in the Arena Football League for a few years, then joined the Indianapolis Colts in 1998. He became the rare kicker to gain media attention, though less for his stellar play than his infamous feud with Peyton Manning, who once referred to him as "our idiot kicker who got liquored up and ran his mouth off" after Vanderjagt criticized him and Tony Dungy on a radio interview for not fostering a winning culture. After Adam Vinatieri replaced him in Indianapolis in 2005, he ended his NFL career with a rather dismal season in Dallas.
• Adam Vinatieri is known as one of, if not the, best kickers in league history, holding the record for most points scored (2,673), most postseason points scored (238), and most field goals made (599). Undrafted in 1996 out of D-II (now FCS) South Dakota State, he played 24 seasons in the NFL for the New England Patriots (1996-2005) and the Indianapolis Colts (2006-19). While he is not the most accurate placekicker, Vinatieri does hold the NFL record for longest FG streak (44 no-misses from 2015-16) and is well known for his longevity and for having it when it counts—not only does he hold the record for overtime field goals (12), he helped the Patriots win their first two Super Bowls with game-winning do-or-die kicks, provided a game-winner (though not at the last second) in a third, and won a fourth ring with the Colts. In 2015, Vinatieri became the first player ever to score 1,000 points with two different teams; he is still the Colts' all-time leading scorer but was surpassed on the Pats by Stephen Gostkowski (above). Vinatieri sat out 2020 before becoming the last '90s-era player to retire.
• Jeff Wilkins, better known by his nickname "Money", is the all-time leading scorer for the St. Louis (and now Los Angeles) Rams. An undrafted kicker out of small Youngstown State in 1994, Wilkins joined bounced around a few team before landing with the Rams in 1997, contributing in his own way to the "Greatest Show on Turf" (including a then-record 317 straight made PATs, still good for second all-time) and led the league in scoring in 2003. He did all this while also being one of the last barefoot kickers in the NFL, though he did so with his foot so heavily wrapped that he might as well have been wearing shoes anyways. Wilkins retired in 2007.
• Garo Yepremian was the highest-scoring player of the 1970s and the last pro player not to wear a face mask, though he was better known both then and now as the NFL's resident Funny Foreigner. He had one of the most unique paths to the NFL ever. Born in Cyprus to Armenian parents, he lived in London in his youth before moving to the U.S. with his brother Krikor, who earned a soccer scholarship at Indiana. Unlike his brother, Garo was ineligible for the NCAA due to having briefly played in a soccer league in England, but he was interested in American football after catching a game and got a successful tryout with the Detroit Lions with Krikor acting as his agent. Yepremian's lack of cultural context led to numerous funny misunderstandings^note After being told the team "lost the coin toss", he once took to the field to find the coin. and Malaproper speech^note Johnny Carson got a lot of laughs at his expense after Yepremian celebrated a meaningless PAT by yelling "I keek a touchdown!" which, paired with his physical appearance as a short (5'7") and Prematurely Bald man, made him a media favorite. After two seasons in Detroit, Yepremian served a year in The Vietnam War; when he returned, he was not resigned by the Lions and played in the Continental Football League for a year before being picked up by the Miami Dolphins. He was a key player in the Dolphins' early '70s run of dominance, including their perfect '72 season (though his role in the season is mostly remembered for a flubbed response to a blocked field goal attempt in the final minutes of Super Bowl VII, known as "Garo's Gaffe", which briefly put the game in jeapordy). Yepremian kicked for the Dolphins through most of the decade before spending his last few seasons in New Orleans and Tampa Bay. He retired after 1981 with the longest career of any NFL player who did not play football in college (a distinction now held by Antonio Gates, in the "Tight Ends" folder of the "Offensive Players" page)^note While Yepremian's and Gates' careers both spanned the same length of time, Gates played in more NFL seasons. and passed away in 2015.

Punters

• Darren Bennett is the Trope Codifier for the increasing number of Australian punters in American football, several of whom have made it all the way to the NFL. Although he wasn't the first Aussie, or even the first Aussie punter, to play in the league, he was the first to have an extended NFL career. Bennett started out playing Australian Rules Football, making it to the sport's top tier, the Australian Football League, before trying out with the San Diego Chargers while on his honeymoon in 1993. The Chargers signed him to their practice squad and kept him there for a year before sending him to NFL Europe for the summer of 1995. Upon his return, he became the Chargers' regular punter and earned the first of two All-Pro selections. He is most notable for introducing the so-called "drop punt" to American football. He was also known for being considerably larger than most specialist kickers (6-5, 235, or 1.96 m, 107 kg) and not shying away from contact on special teams (not surprising when you consider his Aussie rules background)—during his rookie season, he knocked an opposing punt returner cold. Bennett was named to the 1990s All-Decade Team and remained one of the league's top punters until retiring in 2005, ending his career with the Vikings.
  • Bennett's success inspired Nathan Chapman to attempt to convert from Aussie rules to the NFL near the end of Bennett's career. Chapman couldn't crack the league, but established his NFL legacy by founding Prokick Australia, an academy to convert Aussie rules players to gridiron punters. Five Prokick alumni were NFL punters in 2019. On top of that, about a fourth of NCAA Division I schools (both FBS and FCS) had Prokick alums on their rosters in that same season. (Since 2013, Prokick alums have won the Ray Guy Award for the top college punter eight times, most recently in 2023; one of those award winners had even been an AFL player.)
• Dustin Colquitt is the greatest punter in Kansas City Chiefs history, playing 15 seasons (2005-19) for the team while securing most of their punting records. The third round pick out of Tennessee earned a ring in his last year with the franchise having played in more games than any other Chiefs player. He bounced around five other rosters (and the Chiefs practice squad) for the next two years and has been out of the NFL since. Colquitt is part of a Badass Family of punters, all of which also went to school at Tennessee; his father Craig Colquitt won two Super Bowls with the late '70s Pittsburgh Steelers, and his younger brother Britton Colquitt led the NFL in punting yards in 2011 and won his own ring with the Denver Broncos in 2015.
• Jeff Feagles was a punter for 22 seasons after entering the league undrafted out of Miami in 1988, during which he never missed a single game despite playing for five different teams^note Patriots, Eagles, Cardinals, Seahawks, and Giants—he won a Super Bowl with the last one at age 41. Besides giving him the record for all-time career punts and punting yards, Feagles' consistency and longevity gave him the longest streak of consecutive games played in NFL history (40 games longer than Brett Favre, though as a punter Feagles can't claim Favre's record for most games as a starter) and the fourth-most games from any player.
• Chris Gardocki was a journeyman who began his 16-year NFL career with the Bears, who drafted him in the 3rd round out of Clemson in 1991. He bounced around to the Colts (where he went to his only Pro Bowl in '96), Browns (where he achieved some notoriety for flipping off Steelers HC Bill Cowher twice after an unneccessary roughness penalty), and Steelers, winning a ring in Super Bowl XL and retiring the following year. He is the current record holder for the most punts without having one blocked (1,177).
• Horace Gillom was a trailblazing punter in many respects. A capable player at multiple positions, Gillom's punting caught the eye of his high school head coach, Paul Brown, due to his unique and effective style; while he needed more time and space to step into his kicks, the distance and accuracy he was able to achieve was almost unparalleled. Brown modified his team's punting schemes to have Gillom stand 15 yards back from the center rather than the then-traditional 10 yards. This set the standard that persists today, as Gillom continued to follow his high school coach to success at the college and pro level, joining the Cleveland Browns in 1947.^note Gillom's school story is interesting: he played his freshman year for Brown at Ohio State before poor grades and WWII caused him to drop out; after serving in combat in Europe for three years, Brown arranged for Gillom to continue schooling at Nevada for one year (in place of Marion Motley, who the Browns had recruited) before he again dropped out to go to Cleveland. Gillom became one of pro football's first Black players, and his punting skills were so far ahead of almost every other player at the time that it gave the Browns yet another advantage over their competition in the AAFC and NFL. Gillom retired after 1956 (though he briefly attempted a comeback in the AFL a few years later) and passed away in 1985.
• Ray Guy is considered the best punter in NFL history. He played his entire 13-year career with the Raiders, who famously picked him in the first round of the 1973 Draft (#23 overall) out of Southern Miss, an obscenely high position for a specialist.^note Only four other punter/kickers have been drafted so high. He proved worth the investment—he became known as a punter who could win games for his team, which won three Super Bowls with him on the roster. Part of the reason he was such a good punter was his control over the ball—he could make it hang in the air to ensure the opposing team couldn't return it or cause it to land precisely near the sidelines where it was hard for the other team to retrieve. His punts were so good that there were rumors his balls were full of helium^note which, incidentally, MythBusters found to be worse for punting distance. His skill as a punter didn't actually translate into great numerical statistics, however^note The NFL moved the goalposts back the season after his rookie year, meaning more punts past midfield and thus a hard limit on the maximum distance (and the Raiders were an excellent offensive team too so more drives ended around midfield), and he also played long before the mandated kicking balls were introduced. Few other punters in his '70s cohort are anywhere near his numbers., and for literal decades he was denied entry into the Hall of Fame before he finally got elected to it in 2014. The annual award for the best punter in college football is named for him. Guy passed away in 2022.
• Johnny Hekker is the greatest punter in St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams history and a candidate for one of the best ever. He went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2012 and quickly established a reputation for his powerful leg, breaking a few records for net punting yards and earning four Pro Bowl nods plus a spot on the 2010s All-Decade Team. He holds the record for the longest punt in a Super Bowl (65 yards in LIII) and won a ring in LVI before being cut by the Rams; he now plays for the Panthers.
• Kevin Huber is the greatest punter in Cincinnati Bengals history. A hometown hero who was born, raised, and went to college in Cincinnati, he was drafted in the fifth round in 2009 and played for the team until his release and retirement in 2022, setting the franchise record for games played.
• John James went undrafted out of Florida in 1972 before signing with the Atlanta Falcons. He would set most of their standing franchise punt records over the next decade, playing for a team that lacked an offensive identity; he notably became the first player ever to lead the NFL in punting yards four times, a feat since only matched by the great Shane Lechler. He retired in 1984 after stints with the Lions and Oilers.
• Dave Jennings never played football in high school and went undrafted out of D-III St. Lawrence in 1974. After being cut from Oilers training camp, he managed to sign with the New York Giants and established himself as one of the best punters in the NFL for the next decade-plus, earning four Pro Bowl nods, leading the NFL in punting yards twice, and claiming many Giants franchise punting records that stand to this day. He retired in '87 after a few years with the Jets and went into radio broadcasting for the next two decades. He was enshrined in the Giants Ring of Honor in 2011, two years before his death from Parkinson's at 61 years old.
• Brett Kern holds most of the Tennessee Titans career punting records. Initially undrafted out of Toledo in 2008, he played one-and-a-half seasons with the Broncos before getting waived and landing in Nashville, where he punted over a decade until his release after 2021. He was subsequently signed by the Eagles and retired after the season.
• Chris Kluwe, who mainly played for the Minnesota Vikings (succeeding the aforementioned Darren Bennett as that team's punter), is known as much for his off-field actions as he is his on-field performance. Known as One of Us, the UCLA product was a long time fan of tabletop games, comic books, and World of Warcraft (even going by the Twitter handle ChrisWarcaft). He gained some notoriety in 2012 when he authored an open letter to a Maryland politician who had urged the Baltimore Ravens owner to silence Ravens' linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, an outspoken supporter of the legalization of gay marriage in the United States. Kluwe's letter, laced with profanity, supported Brendon's free speech while memorably pointing out that the legalization of gay marriage would not turn him into a "lustful cockmonster" (the full letter is here). His outspoken activism on what the league considered political issues probably ended his NFL career: he was a good punter, but not so good that teams were likely to accept all the baggage that he brought with him. He was cut by the Vikings in 2013, then by the Raiders shortly before the regular season that same year. Since then, he has become a prominent speaker on many issues, including gay marriage and legalization of marijuana, and once wrote a humor column for the sports website Deadspin.
• Sam Koch was a Long Runner punter for the Baltimore Ravens, playing with the team for a franchise-record 16 seasons after they drafted him in the sixth round in 2006 out of Nebraska. Along with teammate Justin Tucker (see below), Koch helped lead a special teams revolution in Baltimore by helping to refine and codify many different punt variations that help to prevent returns. He was also responsible for the game-sealing safety in Super Bowl XLVII. He retired as a player in 2022, but remained with the Ravens as part of the special teams coaching staff.
• Sean Landeta was a Long Runner journeyman most notable for his time with the New York Giants. After going undrafted out of Towson in 1983, he signed with the USFL's Philadelphia Stars before signing with the G-Men after the league's folding. He earned Pro Bowl nods in both of the team's Super Bowl seasons, left after 1993, and bounced around four other teams over the next decade-plus before retiring in New York in 2006. He was part of both the '80s and '90s All-Decade Teams, and was the last active former USFL player.
• Shane Lechler is considered by many the modern era's answer to Ray Guy. Lechler was a member of two teams in his 18 seasons in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders (which drafted him in the fifth round in 2000 out of Texas A&M) and the Houston Texans (which signed him in 2013). In that time, he made more punts than any player save Jeff Feagles (1,444), broke the NFL record for career punting average (47.6 yards), led the league in punting yards and yards per punt four times (the former a record tied with John James and the latter behind only Sammy Baugh), and came very close to beating Sammy Baugh's single-season record in 2009 (51.1; he surpassed 50 again two years later, the only player to do so twice). Lechler made two All-Decade and six first-team All-Pro Teams and appeared in seven Pro Bowls (tying with Guy for most by a punter in the latter two) before the Texans cut him after 2017; he retired a year later.
• Andy Lee was drafted in the sixth round in 2004 out of Pitt by the San Francisco 49ers, set most of the franchise's punting records in his eleven seasons in the Bay, and has thrice led the NFL in punting yards, though the last one came after he settled in with the Arizona Cardinals in 2017. Though cut after 2022 and in his early 40s, he remains a free agent.
• Pat McAfee was a punter for the Indianapolis Colts, who drafted him out of West Virginia in the seventh round in 2009. He put up a good performance in Indy from 2009-16 before retiring early to launch a immensely successful career as an analyst and radio host. His off-field contributions to the position have been more significant than his on-field success; his boisterous Yinzer persona and various antics^note He was once arrested for public intoxication after falling into a canal, and he later accidentally posted a locker room picture with a mostly-naked Andrew Luck in the background drew media attention to the position while he played, and his energetic and comedic analysis lends more credit to special teams than most of his less exuberant peers. His show quickly became a sought-after platform for players seeking a friendly environment; notably, the normally private Aaron Rodgers has called in for weekly long-form interviews since his 2020 MVP season. McAfee has also dabbled in wrestling^note making his first in-ring appearance at an indy show in West Virginia in 2009, a few weeks before the NFL Draft and has been signed to at least a part-time WWE contract since 2019. He put up an impressive performance in a 2020 loss to Adam Cole at NXT TakeOver XXX, went on to main-event TakeOver: WarGames as an ally of the heel Kings of NXT faction, and was named wrestling's Rookie of the Year by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In 2021, he became a color commentator for WWE SmackDown and in 2022 had his debut match against Austin Theory at WrestleMania 38 before signing a multi-year contract with an agreement that allowed him to join ESPN's College GameDay pregame show during football season. In 2023, he further expanded his partnership with ESPN by moving his show to their channel and platforms.
• Brian Moorman was a punter most famous for his tenure with the Buffalo Bills from 2001-12. In addition to football, he was a star track-and-field athlete at tiny Pittsburg State in Kansas where he was a four-time D-II All-American. After going undrafted in 1999, he spent time on the Seahawks offseason roster while also playing in NFL Europe, winning World Bowl IX as a member of the Berlin Thunder. The Bills signed him the following season and he made two Pro Bowls in Buffalo while also being named to the 2000s All-Decade Team.^note Notably, due to Buffalo's team struggles in that era, he is the only member of that team to have never played in a post-season game. After a season in Dallas, he returned to Buffalo for a final year before retiring. Despite his success, he is probably best known for two memorable Pro Bowl highlights from 2006. First, thanks to his background in track, he was invited to participate in the NFL Skills 40-yard dash competition with receivers and defensive backs and actually held his own by beating several of them. In the Pro Bowl game itself, he was on the receiving end of a vicious hit from Washington safety Sean Taylor that would stand out in a normal game but especially so in the normally relaxed all-star event.
• Thomas Morstead holds most of the career punting records for the New Orleans Saints, which drafted him in the fifth round in 2009 out of SMU. After winning a Super Bowl in his first season, he played eleven more years for the Saints before being released. He has since bounced around to several teams but has remained very capable, leading the NFL in punt yards in 2023 with the Jets.
• Tom Rouen initially went undrafted after winning a national championship at Colorado but made it back to the state in 1993 and played a decade with the Denver Broncos, winning two Super Bowls and setting several franchise punting records before being cut, bouncing around the league, and retiring after 2006. He is married to Olympic gold medal swimmer Amy Van Dyken.
• Mike Scifres holds most career punting records for the San Diego Chargers. Drafted in the fifth round in 2003 out of FCS Western Illinois, he played for the team until after 2015, retiring when he couldn't make the Panthers' final roster.
• Rohn Stark was most famous for his tenure with the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts, who drafted him in the second round in 1982 out of Florida State. He proved himself a dependable weapon for the otherwise moribound franchise, making four Pro Bowls. After spending his first 13 seasons with the Colts, he finished his career with one-season stints with the Steelers, Panthers, and Seahawks. At the time of his retirement, he was the last remaining player from the Baltimore Colts and the only player to play against the city's replacement franchise, the Ravens. He was also known for being a rare left-footed punter.
• Ryan Stonehouse set NCAA career punt average records at Colorado State but went undrafted in 2022, possibly due to suspicions that high altitude helped with that performance. He shrugged off those doubts in his rookie season with the Tennessee Titans, where he shattered one of the NFL's oldest records by averaging 53 yards per punt (1.6 more than Sammy Baugh managed in 1940).
• Tom Tupa spent 16 seasons in the NFL with seven different teams, was named to a Pro Bowl, and won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Buccaneers in 2002. However, he is most notable for being one of the last two-position players in NFL history and for being part of a draft record which is unlikely to broken any time soon. A three-sport star athlete in high school, Tupa was recruited as a quarterback and punter to Ohio State, serving mainly in the latter role but being named the starting QB for his senior season. He was selected by the (then) Phoenix Cardinals in the third round (#68 overall) of the 1988 Draft as a QB, the first selected in that draft and the latest that the first QB has gone off the board in the draft since the merger.^note With the emphasis on passing offense in the years that followed, it is unlikely that record will be broken anytime soon. In fact, there has only been one other draft since (1996) where there were no first round quarterbacks. After spending most of his first three seasons on the bench playing only in spot duty, Tupa was named starting quarterback in 1991 but struggled mightily. After another season as a backup QB in Indianapolis, he signed with Cleveland and moved back into a full-time punting role in addition to holding for kicks. It was in this role where he put his former QB skills to work as one of the league's best fake punt/kick/extra point specialists, throwing for multiple first downs and two-point conversions after the team lined up in the punt/kick formation (earning him the nickname "Two-Point Tupa"). Tupa retired after 2004.
• Bobby Walden started his pro career in the CFL in 1961 after going undrafted out of Georgia but soon made his way back to the States, first with the CFL-friendly Vikings and then landing with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1968. Walden remains the Steelers' franchise leader in career punting, playing for the team until his retirement after 1977 and being part of the dawn of their Steel Curtain dynasty. He passed away in 2018.
• Dave Zastudil was a fourth round pick in 2002 out of Ohio. He had a solid but fairly unspectacular 12-year career with the Ravens, Browns, and Cardinals, notable only because he is the only player to punt for over 5,000 yards in a single season, doing so with the Cards in 2012 (while he had the second most attempts any punter has ever gotten on their terrible offense, no one else has come close to his 5,209 total yards).

Return Specialists, Gunners, and Long Snappers

• Michael Bates started his sports career as an Olympic sprinter, winning bronze in the 200 m in 1992. The Arizona product's speed helped him get drafted in the sixth round that same year by the Seahawks, though he didn't settle in with a specific team until landing with the young Carolina Panthers a few years later. While returning kicks for the team from 1996-2000, Bates made the Pro Bowl each year, set standing franchise records, and made the 1990s All-Decade Team. Bates bounced around the league in the early 2000s (including returning to the Panthers another two seasons) before retiring in 2003.
• David Binn was a long snapper who played the most games in San Diego Chargers history, playing 18 seasons with the team after they signed him as an UDFA out of Cal in 1994. He retired a year later after attempting a comeback with the Broncos.
• Josh Cribbs played quarterback in college at Kent State, but after going undrafted in 2005, he shifted to a return specialist when he signed with the Cleveland Browns. Cribbs made the best of that situation by becoming one of the best ever at the position; he ranks third in career return attempts and yards and second in kick return touchdowns. After eight years with the Browns (during which he also lined up as a receiver and wildcat running back), Cribbs spent a season apiece with the Jets and Colts before retiring in 2014.
• Steve Gleason was a special teams ace who spent seven seasons with the New Orleans Saints in the early-mid 2000s. He went undrafted out of Washington State in 2000, was cut by the Colts in the preseason, and caught on with the Saints. Gleason's most famous moment came during the 2006 home opener, the Saints' first home game in the Superdome in almost two full years following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He blocked a punt which was recovered for a touchdown, launching the Saints' most successful season in franchise history up to that point, culminating with their first NFC Championship Game appearance. Sadly, Gleason was diagnosed with ALS after his playing career ended. He became a major advocate for those afflicted with the disease, earning a Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts. He was immortalized with a statue outside of the Superdome depicting his famous punt block and presented with a Super Bowl ring following the Saints' first ever championship in 2010 for his contributions to the organization.
• Mel Gray was the first NFL player to surpass 10,000 kick return yards and is thus often viewed as one of the greatest specialists ever. Initially going to the USFL, the Purdue product initially landed with the Saints before settling with the Detroit Lions in 1989, where he truly emerged as a star. One of the more fascinating aspects of Gray's play is how he seemed to get better with age; he still holds the record for the oldest player to score a return TD (and the runner ups are... himself). He retired in 1997 after a few years with the Oilers and Eagles.
• Dante Hall, nicknamed "the Human Joystick" and "X-Factor", was an electrifying return specialist in the early 2000s most notable for his time with the Kansas City Chiefs, who picked him in the fifth round out of Texas A&M in 2000. Whereas most other elite return specialists utilize straight line speed to shoot through gaps in coverage, Hall used his elite agility and lateral quickness to dodge would-be tacklers, often moving well backwards from where he fielded the ball until finally breaking away from the coverage. From '02-'04, Hall scored nine kickoff/punt return touchdowns, made the Pro Bowl twice, and was selected to the 2000s All-Decade team as both a punt and kick returner. He retired in 2008 after an unremarkable stint with the Rams
• Devin Hester is one of the most decorated return specialists of all time and the only one to enter the Hall of Fame predominantly as a returner. He holds the all-time record for return touchdowns at 20, passing Deion Sanders (see above under "Defensive Backs") in 2014, who had mentored him since his college years.^note It must be noted that the term "return" is used for kickoffs, punts, and interceptions, making Sanders' record the apple to Hester's orange. Sanders, in addition to being a kick/punt returner, played cornerback, giving him more opportunities for returns than Hester, who played wide receiver. He began his career with the Chicago Bears, who drafted him out of Miami as a second round cornerback in 2006. Besides serving as a returner, Hester also played wide receiver, earning him the nickname "Anytime" in reference to Sanders' nickname "Prime Time". He is also the only player to return the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl for a touchdown, doing so in his rookie season in Super Bowl XLI; the Bears unfortunately lost that matchup, and Hester never returned to the Big Game. After setting multiple franchise records in Chicago, Hester signed with the Falcons in 2014, with whom he broke the all-time record. He played one last season with the Ravens in 2016; after he was cut by the team when they failed to make the postseason, he joined the Seahawks for their playoff run before retiring. He's also famous for being the sole recipient of a 100 speed rating (on a usual 1-99 scale) in Madden NFL 08.
• Desmond Howard is the only special teams player to win Super Bowl MVP. After an electric Heisman-winning career at Michigan, Howard was drafted #4 overall by Washington in 1992 as a wide receiver and return specialist. After three years in Washington and one in Jacksonville, he moved to the Green Bay Packers in 1996, where he was moved almost entirely off of receiver, where he had been generally unremarkable, to focus on returns. That season was potentially the best ever seen at the return position—Howard set a dominant single-season record for punt return yards (875, which remains nearly 200 yards ahead of the runner-up) and capped it off with a 99-yard kick return TD in the Super Bowl that sealed the win for the Packers and won him the aforementioned MVP. Howard signed with Oakland the next season, returned to Green Bay in '99 before being cut midseason for declining performance, and spent the rest of his career in Detroit before retiring in 2002. He currently serves as a co-host of ESPN's College GameDay.
• J.J. Jansen is the longest-tenured player in Carolina Panthers history. The long snapper out of Notre Dame signed with the team in 2009 after a year with the Packers and has remained an active part of their roster ever since, surpassing kicker John Kasay (above) for franchise longevity in 2022.
• Billy "White Shoes" Johnson was a kick return specialist and receiver who played 14 non-consecutive seasons in the NFL, most famously with the '70s Houston Oilers, who selected him in the fifteenth round of the 1974 Draft out of Division III Widener. Johnson is widely credited with popularizing the touchdown celebration (most famously with his "Funky Chicken" dance). He is the only member of the 75th Anniversary team who is not enshrined in Canton—such is the way of the return specialist—but does at least have a spot in the Titans Ring of Honor.
• Jacoby Jones was a return specialist and wide receiver who most famously played for the Baltimore Ravens, which drafted him in the third round in 2007 out of the HBCU Lane. Jones had two stand-out moments in the Ravens' 2012 season, first catching a crucial game-tying 70-yard touchdown in the double-overtime "Mile High Miracle" division playoff, then returning the second half kickoff in Super Bowl XLVII for a 108-yard touchdown, the longest play in Super Bowl history, sealing a place in NFL lore despite otherwise being a serviceable One Season Wonder. Side note: He was also the player Steelers' coach Mike Tomlin "accidentally" blocked during a likely touchdown run, earning him one of the biggest fines for a coach in league history.
• L.P. Ladouceur was a long snapper who holds the record for the most NFL games played by a Canadian, playing all 253 games with the Dallas Cowboys, who employed the undrafted Cal grad from 2005-20; he fell just two games behind Jason Witten for the longest-tenured player in franchise history.
• Michael Lewis had one of the most unique paths to the NFL in the modern era. A New Orleans area native,^note also not to be confused with another New Orleans native, the author Michael Lewis of Moneyball and The Blind Side fame Lewis quite playing football in his freshman year of high school in order to work to support his family and child. He did not go to college, instead working as a Budweiser truck driver out of high school. However, he returned to football as a hobby in his early 20s, first playing rec-league flag football before eventually getting opportunities in semi-pro and arena leagues. "The Beer Man's" breakout performances eventually earned him NFL attention, and he eventually landed a spot on the roster for his hometown New Orleans Saints, becoming an NFL rookie in 2000 at 30 years old. Lewis quickly became an Ensemble Dark Horse and proved he was more than just a fun story when he led the NFL in kickoff and punt return yards in '02, earning All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors, and set the standing career franchise records for punt and kick return yards. He retired after spending '07 with the Niners and took a position as the Saints' team ambassador, a role he still holds; he was given an honorary ring after the team's Super Bowl victory.
• Patrick Mannelly is a regularly cited candidate for the title of greatest long snapper in NFL history. A very rare example of a player in football's least notable yet crucial position who was actually drafted, Mannelly was taken in the sixth round out of Duke in 1996 by the Chicago Bears. He played for the team for the next 16 years before retiring, becoming the longest tenured Bear ever and even earning a spot on the team's centennial list of the 100 greatest players in team history (at #100). He is also the namesake for FBS college football's annual award for best long snapper.
• Eric Metcalf was a return specialist (and RB/WR) who played for numerous teams in the '90s and early '00s. Drafted #13 overall in 1989 out of Texas by the Cleveland Browns, Metcalf was productive on both offense and returns, racking up over 7,000 yards at both in his six seasons with the Browns and six seasons with five other teams^note Atlanta, Arizona, San Diego, Carolina, Washington, and Green Bay. He sits behind only his contemporary Brian Mitchell in career punt returns and held the record for punt return touchdowns until he was passed by Devin Hester. His father, Terry Metcalf, likewise had a successful career as a returner for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1970s.
• Glyn Milburn was an RB drafted in the second round by the Denver Broncos out of Stanford in 1993. While never an extremely potent offensive weapon, he was much more successful on special teams, earning two Pro Bowl nods as a kick returner and setting a few (mostly surpassed) franchise records with the Broncos and Bears. He lands a spot on this list for holding the NFL record for most all-purpose yards ever in a game, with a 404 yard performance^note 131 rushing, 45 receiving, 133 kick return, 95 punt return with the Broncos in 1995; this shattered the prior record set by Billy Cannon over three decades prior, and no one else has really come close since. Milburn bounced around the league after that year and retired after 2001.
• Brian Mitchell was a return specialist in the '90s and early '00s and the holder of virtually every non-touchdown return record in league history, including career kickoff return attempts and yards, punt return attempts and yards, and most games with 100+ and 200+ all-purpose yardage totals. Mitchell is second all-time in special teams touchdowns behind Devin Hester and is second all-time behind only Jerry Rice in total all-purpose yards. Mitchell spent the first ten seasons of his career in Washington, who drafted him in the fifth round in 1990 out of Southwestern Louisiana (now known as just Louisiana), before finishing with shorter stints with the Eagles and Giants and retiring in 2003 to enter a career in radio. He played in the infamous "Body Bag Game" between Washington and the Buddy Ryan-coached Eagles in 1990, taking over at quarterback after Washington lost both the starter and backup to injuries (two of nine Washington injuries in the game).
• Don Muhlbach was a long snapper who played with the Detroit Lions from 2004-20, behind only fellow special-teams ace Jason Hanson. The greatest to play to position in franchise history, the Texas A&M grad transitioned straight into a front office role after retirement.
• Vince Papale was primarily a special teamer for the Philadelphia Eagles in the late '70s, best known for his unusual route to the NFL. A scholarship track athlete at Philadelphia's Saint Joseph's University (which last fielded a football team in 1939), he moved into a career as a teacher and bartender while playing for a semi-pro flag football league. His standout performance earned him a position with the Philadelphia Bell of the upstart World Football League from '74-'75. After the WFL folded, his performance earned him a meeting and private workout with Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil, who offered Papale a spot on the team. He made his NFL debut at age 30, the oldest rookie in NFL history who did not play collegiately.^note He is the oldest rookie position player regardless of college status, only passed by a few kickers. Nominally a wide receiver, he only caught one pass but contributed on special teams for all four seasons in which he played. He was voted a special teams captain in '78-'79 and was named as the Eagles' "Man of the Year" (a precursor to the nominees for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award) for his charitable work. Papale unfortunately suffered a career-ending shoulder injury in 1979, a year before the team made their first Super Bowl appearance, and moved into a broadcasting career. He was named to the Eagles 75th anniversary team as a special teamer. The movie Invincible was made about his life, in which he is portrayed by Mark Wahlberg^note though that film suggests that Papale just walked on to the team off the streets rather than play several years of semi-pro first.
• Cordarrelle Patterson is a return specialist, wide receiver, running back, and occasional wildcat quarterback who made a record nine career kickoff return touchdowns. Drafted #29 overall in 2013 out of Tennessee by the Minnesota Vikings, Patterson never played to first-round level as a receiver but was named to the Pro Bowl three times as a return specialist. After joining the Patriots in 2018, he started to line up at RB more frequently and continued that trend when he joined the Bears the following year. In 2021, he signed with Atlanta and went on to have a surprising late career development as a hybrid RB/WR, posting career highs in several offensive categories. After a steep decline in usage in 2023, he signed with the Steelers.
• Allen Rossum was a return specialist in the '00s who ranks behind only Brian Mitchell in career kickoff returns and yards. A third rounder out of Notre Dame in 1998 who played for six teams^note Eagles, Packers, Falcons, Steelers, 49ers, Cowboys, Rossum is also the only player to score a kickoff return touchdown for five different teams. He played the longest with the Atlanta Falcons from 2002-06, where he notched his sole Pro Bowl nod, led the NFL in punt return yards in '03, and became the franchise leader in both punt and kick return yards. He retired after 2009.
• Vai Sikahema was a return specialist drafted in the 10th round in 1986 out of BYU, where he won a national championship and set the (since surpassed) NCAA record for career punt return attempts, becoming the first player of Tongan descent in NFL history. He made two Pro Bowls as a return man while playing for the Cardinals, Packers, and Eagles (where he famously was once pelted with garbage by Giants fans after a punt return TD). He moved into a broadcast career, first in sports, then as the main news anchor for a major Philadelphia station until his retirement in 2020, after which he became a general authority in the LDS church. He also famously faced Jose Canseco in a charity boxing match, winning via knockout despite a massive size disadvantage (5'9" vs. 6'4"). He is the uncle of actor Jon Heder via marriage.
• Matthew Slater was a special teams ace for the New England Patriots for 16 seasons (2008-23), having been part of their three Super Bowl wins during the 2010s. Slater typically played in all four phases of special teams (kickoff coverage, kickoff return blocking, punt coverage, and punt return blocking) and earned ten Pro Bowl nods (a record for a pure special teams player). Matthew, a UCLA product, is the son of Hall of Fame Rams OT Jackie Slater (see the "NFL Offensive Players" page).
• Darren Sproles was a return specialist and running back who collected more all-purpose yards than any other player in the 21st century despite (or due to) being one of the shortest modern NFL players at just 5'6". Beginning his career with the San Diego Chargers, who drafted him out of Kansas State in the fifth round in 2005 as a third-string backup behind LaDainian Tomlinson, Sproles originally saw game time only on special teams, establishing his skill as a returner even as he began to get playing time on the offense. Sproles signed with the New Orleans Saints in 2011, where he set the current record for most all-purpose yards in a single season (2,696)^note For a break down, those yards were comprised of 710 receiving, 603 rushing, 294 punt returning, and 1,089 kick returning. Sproles finished off his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, signing with them in 2014 and winning a Super Bowl ring before retiring after 2019 with the fifth most all-purpose yards in league history. He now works in the Eagles' front office.
• Steve Tasker essentially defined the modern position of "gunner" (see the "Special Teams" folder of the main American football page for a description of the position). While he began his career with the Houston Oilers, who drafted him in the ninth round out of Northwestern in 1985, he played his final 12 seasons with the Buffalo Bills during their dominance of the AFC in the early '90s. While technically listed as a wide receiver, Tasker stood out for his tackling ability on special teams—standing at only 5'9", his ferocity often took opponents by surprise and resulted in costly fumbles. His skills as a gunner led to a change in NFL rules, requiring the punting team's gunners to stay in bounds or incur a 15-yard penalty^note While the gunner is not penalized for being forced out of bounds, he is required to return in bounds as soon as possible.. At times, punt return teams put three blockers on him to try to slow him down (normally, one or two blockers are used in that role). He made the Pro Bowl as a special teams player seven times, blocked a punt in a Super Bowl, and was named the Pro Bowl MVP in 1993; in that game, he made four special teams tackles, recovered a fumble, and blocked a field goal that was returned for a touchdown. Tasker retired in 1997 and entered broadcasting; despite the advocacy of his teammates and many football historians, he has yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• Rick Upchurch was a return specialist for the Denver Broncos in the '70s and '80s after they selected him in the fourth round in 1975 out of Minnesota. Over his eight-year career, he earned five All-Pro nods, four Pro Bowl nominations, and became one of the handful of players to be named to multiple All-Decade teams. He retired as the NFL's career leader in punt return yards and tied for punt return touchdowns (both since surpassed) while his 12.1 yards per return remains in the top five. He still holds every significant return record in Broncos team history and is a member of their Ring of Fame. Off the field, he famously dated future US Secretary of State and current Broncos minority owner Condoleezza Rice before her political career.
• Jon Weeks is a long snapper with the Houston Texans and the longest-tenured player in franchise history, having signed with the team in 2010 two years after graduating from Baylor and continuing to play for the team to this day.
• Abe Woodson was a second round pick in 1959 out of Illinois, landing with the San Francisco 49ers. A successful cornerback, Woodson was more famous for his return ability, earning five Pro Bowl nods in S.F., setting many franchise records that still stand, and retiring as the NFL's career leader in kick return yards. He passed away in 2014.