Football
Football
From the University of Nevada, Charles Mann became a starter at Defensive End in his second season, where he was a punisher on the pass rush. Playing for the Washington Redskins for his first 11 Seasons (1983-93), he had 82 of his 83 career Sacks with Washington, including three four-season double-digit totals. Mann went to four Pro Bowls with the…
Lawrence McCutcheon was a better running back than you remember, and he spent the best years of his NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams. Drafted in the 3rd Round from Colorado State in 1972, Lawrence McCutcheon saw limited action as a rookie, but he would become a starter the following season and would begin a five-year streak of Pro…
Many football players are large men, but few are freakishly tall. Hence the nickname of “Too Tall” for the 6’ 9” Ed Jones. Recruited at Tennessee State for basketball, Jones later turned his attention to the gridiron and was an All-American Defensive End and made history as the first HBCU player to receive the first overall pick (1974) in an…
Rich Saul did not accomplish that much in the first half of his career, where he bounced around the Rams O-Line for the first five years, but there was definite value in the former Michigan State Spartan. Saul became the starting Center in 1975, and from 1976 to 1981, he made the Pro Bowl and was clearly among the upper…
Drafted in the 3rd Round from Jackson State in 1973, Gray would join a not-so-good New England Patriots team. Gray won a starting job as a rookie and became a fixture at Left Tackle, where he showed steady improvement annually, much like the Pats themselves. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1976 and again in 1978, when he…
Derrick Johnson played all but the last season of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, and the former 1st-round pick from Texas would slowly work his way to the upper echelon of NFL linebackers, and he would be named to four Pro Bowls out of five from 2011 to 2015. Johnson, who was also named a First Team All-Pro in…
Chris Samuels was the Outland Trophy winner at the University of Alabama, and the Washington Redskins chose him 3rd Overall in 2000. It turned out to be an excellent choice, and Washington would be the only team that Samuels played for in his ten-year career.
In an earlier entry, we looked at the candidacy of William Heffelfinger, who predated the NFL by decades and was the first paid Pro Football player. Charles Follis would make similar history as the first African-American Pro Football player. Follis enrolled in Wooster College, but he elected instead to play in the Wooster Athletic Association. There, he earned the nickname…
One of the best Place Kickers of his day, David Akers, had to wait a little to prove his worth in the NFL. Akers went undrafted out of Louisville in 1997, and after trying out for the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, the Washington Redskins signed him, but he played only one game and missed both Field Goals (both 48-plus).…
A First Round Pick from Washington State in 1984, Keith Millard made the team that drafted him (Minnesota) wait a year, as he went into the USFL for one season with the Jacksonville Bulls.
Dennis Smith was one of the best Defensive Backs in the history of the Denver Broncos. A six-time Pro Bowl Selection, Smith recorded 30 Interceptions and well over 1,000 tackles, and as of this writing, is the leading tackler for the franchise as well as the top finisher in Tackles overall in the 1983 Season. While Smith does not have…
Ray Wietecha played his entire 10-year NFL career with the New York Giants, where he was the literal centerpiece (he played Center) of a robust Offensive Line. Helping the G-Men win an NFL Championship in 1956, Wietecha had strong individual seasons, earning four Pro Bowls and a First Team All-Pro nod. In his last season (1962), he was named a…
In terms of Centers, there are few Professional Football players who can say that they are as successful as Bart Oates. After going undrafted out of BYU in 1983, Oates joined the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL and won championships with them in 1984 and 1985. When the USFL folded, he signed with the New York Giants, where he would…
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 signings in franchise history. Schwartz…
A former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year at the University of Texas, Casey Hampton was drafted 19th overall in 2001 by the Pittsburgh Steelers, which would be the only team that he would ever play for professionally. Hampton would become the starting Nose Tackle as a rookie and would hold that role until he retired after 2012. Hampton…
An All-American at Syracuse, Daryl Johnston became the “Moose” in Big D when Dallas chose him with their Second Round Pick in 1989. Johnston was listed as a Fullback/Running Back, but he was mostly a blocker and had far more yardage as a receiver. Paving the way for Emmitt Smith, Johnston was integral in Dallas’s three Super Bowls in the…
Frankie Albert was the 10th overall pick in 1942 by the Chicago Bears, but remember, the year in question was 1942. The Stanford graduate served in the Navy during World War II, and upon his return, he played for his home state's Los Angeles Bulldogs in the Pacific Coast League before joining the San Francisco 49ers in the upstart All-American…
One of the most prolific tacklers in the history of the Atlanta Falcons, Keith Brooking, was drafted from Georgia Tech 12th overall in 1998. While he was not an immediate starter, he found a home in Atlanta’s Nickel Defense and was a part of their run to Super Bowl XXXIII. After becoming a regular starter, Brooking had few equals…
Warrick Dunn was one of the most successful Running Backs at Florida State, where he had over 5,000 Yards From Scrimmage, 49 Touchdowns, a National Championship in 1993, and an All-American in 1996. Dunn was the first RB taken off the board in the 1997 Draft, landing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dunn’s career was not exclusive to Tampa but…
