Tom Newberry was a second-round pick out of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1986, a small-school prospect who didn’t exactly look the part of an NFL left guard. He stood about 6-2 and started his career a little light for the position, yet he won the starting job as a rookie and made the All-Rookie team. The Rams had bet on his quick feet and aggressive style, and he repaid them by anchoring the left side almost immediately. He was the kind of guard who preferred to fire out and create holes in the run game rather than sit back and pass-block, and it showed early.

The peak came fast. In 1987, he earned Second-Team All-Pro honors. The next two seasons he was First-Team All-Pro and a Pro Bowl selection both years. Those 1988 and 1989 campaigns marked him as one of the league’s better interior linemen. He helped the Rams reach the playoffs in both of those seasons and again in 1986, and he was a key piece of the line that protected Jim Everett and opened lanes for the run game. The individual awards dried up after that, but the production did not. Newberry kept starting and kept playing at a high level even as the Rams slipped from contention.

He stayed with Los Angeles through the 1994 season. Over those nine years, he played in 131 games and started 128, a stretch of durability that made him a constant on the offensive line. The early years brought the accolades and the playoff runs. The later ones were quieter, the work of a reliable veteran on teams that were no longer among the NFC’s best. He still did the job, even if the spotlight had moved on.

Newberry left after 1994 and spent one final season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, starting at center in their Super Bowl XXX appearance. With the Rams, he finished as a two-time First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl guard who had made the All-Rookie team and started nearly every game he played. The peak was short but clear. The rest of the tenure was the steady, unglamorous work that keeps an offense functioning. It was a solid career built on quickness and toughness from a player most teams had overlooked.