Ed White was a consensus All-American at the University of California and split his 17-year professional career in the NFL between the Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers.

White was part of several successful Vikings teams that made multiple Super Bowl runs, and he played a major role in protecting Fran Tarkenton and other offensive weapons.  The Guard was traded to San Diego, helped protect another Hall of Fame quarterback, Dan Fouts, and earned four Pro Bowl selections.

White played in 241 Games, and is one of the most tenured Offensive Lineman in NFL history.

A two-time Morris Trophy winner at California, Alex Mack was a First Round Pick in 2009 (21^st Overall) by the Cleveland Browns, and he stepped in immediately under Quarterback and under the tutelage of future Hall of Fame lineman Joe Thomas, and made the Pro Bowl in his sophomore season.  A Pro Bowler again in 2013 and 2015, Mack joined the Atlanta Falcons, where he earned three more Pro Bowl Selections, before finishing his career in 2021 as a San Francisco 49er, where he earned Pro Bowl number seven.

Drafted in the Second Round from California in 2012 by the Cleveland Browns, Schwartz won the starting Right Tackle job as a rookie, and started every game for Cleveland for his four years as an NFL player.  Schwartz signed with Kansas City in 2016 as a Free Agent, and it quietly became one of the best signing in franchise history.

Schwartz took his play to the next level with the Chiefs, earning four consecutive All-Pros (three Second Team and one First Team), and was instrumental in the protection of Quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, who led Kansas City to a Super Bowl win in LIV.  Kansas City’s running game was also stellar with Schwartz anchoring the line.

A back injury in 2020, put him on the shelf after six Games, and he was released after the season.  After sitting out 2021, Schwartz elected to call it a career.  Schwartz may never have made it to the Pro Bowl but four All-Pros certainly show that he should have.  This could be one of the best players in recent memory to have never earned a “PB” beside his name.

In the early 2010’s, Marshawn Lynch could make the claim that he was the best Running Back in the NFL, and if you didn’t believe that, you would have to agree that he was one of the best-known.  Lynch had over 1,000 Rushing Yards in his first two seasons in football, where he was the offensive cog of the Buffalo Bills.  He struggled in 2009 and was traded to the Seattle Seahawks early in 2010 in a transaction that Orchard Park would like to forget.

From 2011 to 2014, Lynch would rush for over 1,200 Yards and was in the top seven in that metric each year.  A First Team All-Pro in 2012 (with a career high of 1,590 Yards), he would also have at least 11 rushing TDs those years, with him leading the league in both 2013 and 2014.  Lynch was the focus of the Seahawks’ offensive attack, and it would get them to two straight Super Bowls, where he rushed for a Touchdown in Seattle’s Super Bowl XLVIII dismantling of the Denver Broncos.  He led them to the next Super Bowl, where he rushed for 102 Yards and a TD, but on the last play of the game, when everyone thought he would get the ball on the New England 1 Yard Line, he didn’t, and Seahawks Quarterback, Russell Wilson threw a pick that ended the game.

Lynch retired after 2015 but would make a comeback for his hometown Oakland Raiders, where he played for two more seasons.  He retired again, but made a brief comeback with the Seahawks late in the 2019 season for their playoff run.  This allowed Lynch to retire with over 10,000 Rushing Yards (10,413), and he would gain another 2,214 from the air.  Overall, he would punch the ball in the endzone 94 times.

                             

Anyone who plays 225 Games defensively in the National Football League is without question a double-tough competitor, and that is what we have in the run-stuffing Linebacker, Hardy Nickerson.

Nickerson was named to five Pro Bowls, all as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his second team after spending six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  With Tampa, he was also named a First Team and Second Team All-Pro twice and led the league in Tackles in 1993.  Nickerson would retire with over 1,500 Combined Tackles and would also be named a 1990’s Second Team All-Decade Selection.

Drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2003, Nnamdi Asoumgha broke out in 2007 with an eight-Interception year, and in the three years after, he was one of the best shutdown Cornerbacks in the National Football League, earning First Team All-Pros in 2008 and 2010.  Following 2010, Asomugha was a highly recruited Free Agent and he joined the Phiadelphia Eagles, who thought he was the signing to get them to the promised land.  He wasn't, as his play dramatically fell off, and he was out of the game three years later, but when your play at Cornerback was compared to Darrelle Revis you were something special.