Previously: Running Backs

As you know, the NFL is announcing its top 100 players in league history as part of the league’s 100-year anniversary. The nominating committee selected 17 defensive ends as finalists, and with the exception of three non-eligible players (Peppers, Watt, Ware) every player is in the Hall of Fame. For the final team, 7 defensive ends were chosen. The table below shows the finalists and those selected for the official team:

For years, the defensive end position was a perfect place for a Mount Rushmore designation. While historians rarely agree on everything, many agreed that there were four defensive ends who separated themselves from every other player to play the position.

We begin with Colts great Gino Marchetti, who was a first-team All-Pro selection in 9 straight seasons from 1956 to 1964. He is one of the most decorated defensive players in league history, and had the ultimate respect of opposing coaches and players. Those who saw him had no question that he was the best defensive end of his time.

In 1969, a recently-retired Marchetti was named as the defensive end on the century on the NFL’s 50th anniversary team. In 1994, Marchetti was joined by Reggie White and Deacon Jones as the three defensive ends on the 75th anniversary team. Marchetti was the first true pass rusher in NFL history, coming to age in the 1950s as the passing game was becoming more specialized. He was a sack artist who was great against the run, making him about as perfect as it gets at defensive end. Marchetti was the rare first ballot Hall of Fame choice at the position, one of just five to earn that honor (the others being the other three members of DE Mt. Rushmore, and Jason Taylor, who was ignored by the 100th anniversary committee).

Reggie White and Bruce Smith are no-brainer choices: they combined for 19 first-team All-Pro honors and 23 Pro Bowls. They have the most sacks of any players in NFL history, but both players were also outstanding against the run: Smith played much of his career in the 3-4 scheme, and White spent some time on the inside, playing either as a DT or operating as an interior rusher.

The fourth member of DE Mt. Rushmore is Deacon Jones, arguably the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. Playing in the 14-game season era, Jones had a remarkable 102.5 sacks over a 5-year period, and was just as devastating against the run. Jones was chosen to the NFL’s 50th anniversary team in the middle of his career, and was a unanimous choice to the NFL’s 1994 75th anniversary team. Jones and Marchetti were the two defensive linemen who were the unanimous choices to the NFL’s 100th anniversary team.  Jones is the rare player from his era with the athleticism and strength that makes you think he could play in the 2019 NFL, at least for a play or two until he got ejected.

In recent years, however, there’s been a new man who has threatened to expand DE Mt. Rushmore. J.J. Watt has shined so brightly that even his shorter prime can’t be dismissed. As Bryan Frye notes:

Few defenders can claim that they were ever the very best in the league when they played. From 2012 to 2014, Watt wasn’t just the best defender in the league; he was the most outstanding player at any position. He has been an effective edge rusher as a defensive end, but he is a truly magnificent interior penetrator when he sinks to play defensive tackle in nickel situations. He joins Deacon Jones as the only players with multiple seasons of at least 20 sacks, and his ability to understand when to stop rushing and, instead, focus on batting passes at the line is the stuff of legend. Watt set himself apart as a pass rusher while also making his mark as arguably the best run-stopping defensive end in football, an oft-overlooked aspect of his game.

And as Brad Oremland notes:

J.J. Watt has played six healthy seasons. He has been a consensus All-Pro in all five since his rookie year, including three Defensive Player of the Year awards, tied with Lawrence Taylor for the record. His relative lack of longevity limits his rank here, but this [54th all-time] is a decidedly conservative rating for a player who is probably the most dominant defensive lineman ever to play.

Below are my summaries of Watt’s three DPOY seasons:

2012: “Watt, of course, was an extraordinary pass rusher, despite that he lined up inside as often as outside. He led all defensive linemen in tackles and solo tackles (by more than 1/3), led the NFL in sacks (20.5), deflected 16 passes, forced 4 fumbles, and recovered 2. I’m inclined to believe this is the greatest season ever by a defensive lineman.”

2014: “Watt led all defensive linemen in tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, fumble recoveries, and pass deflections. He also forced 4 fumbles, intercepted a pass, gained 139 return yards, scored 5 touchdowns and a safety, and blocked an extra point. It’s one of the greatest seasons by any defensive player in history, and no one else this season was close . . . Watt is not just a great defensive lineman, he’s outstanding, historic, from another planet.”

2015: “J.J. Watt led all defensive linemen in tackles (57), tackles for loss (29), sacks (17.5), and pass deflections (8). Watt and Buffalo’s Jerry Hughes were the only defensive linemen to play at least 1,000 snaps this season.”

Watt is the best in the league at everything defensive linemen are asked to do. He has already proven himself a historic talent with a non-stop motor. All he needs to rise up the list is to stay healthy and sustain success, and the all-time top 10 is a realistic possibility.

Over the last 20 seasons, Watt has the three single best totals in one of the best measures of defensive disruption: tackles for loss. Watt at his best could play multiple positions along the defensive line and be the best player in the NFL at any of them. In 2012, he set the record for sacks by a player in a 3-4 defense, and he was only just getting started.

Shockingly, the NFL committee whiffed on this one, not choosing Watt for the team. That omission is not defensible.

After The Top Five

There is a noticeable dropoff from the top 5 to the rest of the list. Lee Roy Selmon, Bill Hewitt, and Doug Atkins were the actual choices, but it could have easily been Julius Peppers, Len Ford, and Jack Youngblood, or Michael Strahan, Carl Eller, and Willie Davis, or Andy Robustelli, Howie Long, and DeMarcus Ware.

So how do you decide? Oremland had Peppers, Taylor, Strahan, Robustelli, and Youngblood on his list of the best 125 players in NFL history, along with Jared Allen. Turney put Youngblood and Straham in his list of the best 4-3 defensive ends in history, and Selmon and Long were 3 and 4 behind Smith and Watt on his list of the best 3-4 defensive ends.

The 1950s All-Decade team had Marchetti and Ford at defensive end.
The 1960s team had Jones, Atkins, and Davis.
The 1970s team had Youngblood and Eller.
The 1980s team had White and Long.
The 1990s team had Smith and White.
The 2000s team had Stahan and Dwight Freeney; Peppers and Taylor were on the second-team.

So how do you pick?

1920s and 1930s

Let’s start with Bill Hewitt, whose popularity has increased from a few decades ago. Hewitt was not chosen on the NFL’s 1969 50th anniversary team, and did not make the Hall of Fame until 1971. Hewitt was the third of the two-way era ends to make the Hall of Fame: Don Hutson was an inaugural choice in ’63, and Wayne Millner went in with the Class of 1968. Both players, particularly Hutson, were more known for their offensive accomplishments, but it still speaks to — something — that Hewitt didn’t get inducted until 1971. Hewitt was joined by Hutson, Millner, and Gaynell Tinsley on the NFL’s All-Decade team of the 1930s, but had largely been ignored by modern analysts until his selection to this team (he did make the 75th anniversary two-way team).

I think the best comparison for Hewitt might not be too Hutson or Millner, but to Lavvie Dilweg, the Packers great end of the late ’20s. Dilweg is not in the Hall of Fame, but historians have been working hard to get him there. Dilweg was a consensus all-pro in six straight seasons from ’26 to ’31, and was Green Bay’s best player when the Packers three-peated from ’29 to ’31. I don’t think anyone can definitively claim that Dilweg was better than Hewitt, or Hewitt was better than Dilweg, or that either was better than Guy Chamberlin. They all played end in the pre-WWII era, but that meant different things for different teams and the game also evolved from Chamberlin’s time to the end of Hewitt’s time. It is hard to comment much on Hewitt’s selection — he is regarded as having had a dominant 1933 season — but it is hard to even declare him the consensus best end of his era.  That said, as a worthy Hall of Famer and perhaps the first excellent edge rusher in league history, he’s still a player worth honoring.

1940s

There was a bit of a gap here at the defensive end position, and no players from the ’40s stood out in a legendary way.

1950s and 1960s

The ’50s had Len Ford (who entered the AAFC with the Browns in ’48 but didn’t play defensive end until the ’50s), Andy Robustelli, Doug Atkins (whose career stretched through the end of the ’60s) and Marchetti. And Willie Davis was, with the Deacon, the star end of the ’60s. So why did the committee choose Atkins for this squad, over Ford, Robustelli, and Davis? Atkins certainly wins on longevity, but he was the last to make the Hall of Fame: Robustelli made it in ’71 on his second ballot, while Ford (’76), Davis (’81), and Atkins (’82) were each passed over more than five times.  Given that Davis and Atkins both retired in 1969, it’s noteworthy that it was Ford who made the 50th anniversary team; none of Ford/Davis/Robustelli/Atkins made the 75th anniversary team (which Hewitt did as a two-way player).

Ford had the most honors of this group: he was a consensus first-team All-Pro each year from ’51 to ’55.  Davis was a consensus first-team All-Pro from ’64 to ’67, and received some honors in ’62 and ’63, too.  Both were contributors on teams that won five rings, and were all-decade picks, and Davis recorded three sacks in Super Bowl II.

Robustelli won an MVP award in 1962, the first defensive player to ever do so, and had a very long sustained peak.  He received first- or second-team All-Pro honors in 11 straight seasons beginning in 1952, with at least one organization naming him a first-team All-Pro in 7 seasons. He also won titles with the Rams and the Giants, and was exceptional at recovering fumbles.

Atkins might have the worst resume of the bunch, or the best, depending on how you squint.  There were 8 seasons where he was a first-team All-Pro, but just two where he was a consensus choice. One could argue that Atkins was never the best defensive player in the league, the way Ford was in ’51, Robustelli in ’62, or Davis in ’65. But he was very good for a very long time, played (and played well) until he was 39, and had the size and athleticism that more so now, make star defensive ends a rare breed.

So who should join Jones on the list? I think it’s  too close to call: Atkins was a monster sack artist, but the other three were, too.  Longevity favors him, but you could make equally strong arguments for the other three.

1970s

Carl Eller (who received his first all-pro honors in ’67), Jack Youngblood, and Lee Roy Selmon (who starred well into the ’80s) took over the mantle from Jones, Davis, and Atkins. If the #NFL100 team wanted to honor a defensive end who excelled for a long time, Youngblood would have been my choice over Atkins.

The former Rams star didn’t have the same sort of competition for honors, but he dominated the All-Pro voting in ’74, ’75, ’76, ’78, and ’79. He was the NFC Defensive Player of the Year (UPI) in ’75 and ’76. And he received some All-Pro honors in ’73, ’77, and ’80, too. Youngblood recorded 151.5 sacks according to John Turney, and had that been better known, Youngblood likely walks into the Hall of Fame much earlier than 2001. Youngblood’s most famous for his toughness and playing through a broken leg, along with being a guy who maximized his talents due to his work ethic. Those are absolutely admiral traits, but they do a disservice to the extent they obscure how dominant he was.

Eller didn’t have quite as many sacks as Youngblood, but he received similar All-Pro honors: he dominated the voting in ’68, ’69, ’70, and ’71, and then again in ’73. He received first-team All-Pro votes from at least one team in ’72 and ’75, too. Eller has perhaps been overshadowed by Alan Page as the best player on those great Vikings defenses, but Eller was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1971 and had a 15-sack season in 1969 where he was arguably the NFL’s best defensive player. But like Youngblood, it took Eller forever to get to Canton (2004), and history has not always looked kindly upon how those Vikings fared in the Super Bowls.

Selmon had the shortest career of these stars, but it is noteworthy that Selmon made the Hall of Fame before both. In fact, after Atkins in ’82, Selmon was the only defensive end inducted from ’83 to ’99. The two biggest differences between Selmon and Youngblood and Eller? Selmon was a 3-4 defensive end and Selmon played on defenses that lacked star power. Selmon made 6 Pro Bowls during his career; during that time, other Tampa Bay defensive players combined for four. Eller had Page, of course, but also Paul Krause and Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen and Jeff Siemon later in Eller’s career. Youngblood played with Merlin Olsen early in his career and Nolan Cromwell late, while getting the full prime of Isiah Robertson and Larry Brooks and Jack Reynolds.

Selmon’s peak was shorter — he was a consensus first-team All-Pro in only ’79, ’80, and ’82, although he also received first-team All-Pro honors in ’77, ’78, and ’84. Based on reputation, you might say Selmon’s the best of this group: he was a playmaker (blocking kicks, forcing fumbles, sacking quarterbacks) who was exceptional against the run. Nobody will complain about putting Selmon on this or any team, but I wouldn’t quibble with you if you split ties in favor of players who lasted longer.

1980s and 1990s

Howie Long was a great player, but he was overshadowed by Smith and White. He is a worthy Hall of Famer and a consensus first-team All-Pro from ’83 to ’85, but otherwise, his resume does not quite compare to the rest of this group.  He made 8 Pro Bowls and is a Raiders great, but was not one of the best 100 players in NFL history.

Michael Strahan, however,  has a great case as one of the best defensive ends of the modern era. He has a DPOY award, was a consensus first-team All-Pro in ’97 and ’98, and then made the All-Decade team of the ’00s. He was a consensus choice in ’01 and ’03, and earned honors in ’05 as well.  He wasn’t necessarily dynamic or electric, and his sack totals may have overstated his true dominance as a pass rusher.  But he almost always gave great effort, excelled in the postseason, and had an extremely high floor.  He was well-liked and considered a great teammate and leader, most notably leading the 2007 Giants to one of the great upsets in league history.

2000s and 2010s

Julius Peppers was more talented than Strahan; I am sure even Strahan would acknowledge that. In fact, Peppers may be one of the most naturally gifted players to ever play in the NFL.  Peppers was a massive player with remarkable athleticism: it enabled him to dominate as a raw 22-year-old rookie, averaging a sack a game and win the AP DROY award, and to also hit double digit sacks at 37 years old (and an old 37 at that; Peppers was born in January).   I think Peppers was a bit of a victim of his own natural gifts: he never came all that close to winning a DPOY award, and never made any All-Pro team in consecutive years.  I think people always expected a little more from him.

But that’s probably a bit harsh.  As Brad Oremland notes, Peppers really was dominant: he blocked 12 field goals and an extra point, had 11 interceptions, and scored 6 defensive touchdowns. Oh, and he had 10 seasons with 10+ sacks and forced 52 fumbles.  He probably would have been even more valuable in an earlier era of football, as he was much more versatile than most defensive ends of the last 25 years.

Finally, we get to one of the best players on this list, and also one of the most curious.  You could make a good argument that DeMarcus Ware is one of the two best 3-4 outside linebackers in NFL history.  He spent nearly his entire career as a 3-4 outside linebacker, which admittedly didn’t make him much different than many 4-3 defensive ends.  In 2013, with Monte Kiffin at Defensive Coordinator, Ware officially moved to defensive end in Kiffin’s 4-3 defense; in 2014, he joined the Broncos and played 4-3 end in Jack Del Rio’s 4-3 defense.  For Ware’s final seasons he returned to 3-4 outside linebacker, after Denver brought in Wade Phillips in ’15, who of course coached Ware in Dallas from ’07 to ’10.

So should Ware be included in this list? Probably not, but if that’s where he’s placed, that’s where we’ll have to analyze him (similar to Dutch Clark).  Ware was a consensus first-team All-Pro in ’07, ’08, ’09, and ’11, and earned honors in ’06, ’10, and ’12 as well.  Ware was outstanding during that 7-year stretch, and in the running for best defensive player in football.  He also made the Pro Bowl in ’14 and ’15, and it wasn’t all reputation.  In the 2015 playoffs, Ware had a whopping seven hits in the AFC Championship Game and then two sacks in the Super Bowl.

In 2008, he was the runner up for the AP Defensive Player of the Year award, but his 20 sacks that season produced the single-greatest era-adjusted sack season since 1982.  Ware had three monster sack seasons, playing at a time when the league sack rate was depressed.  Ware is one of the best pass rushers of the last 40 years, and was also very good in coverage and strong against the run.   Ware led the NFL in sacks twice, was a runner-up (with 19.5 sacks!) a third time, and ranked third in the league a fourth time; that level of repeated dominance puts him in rare company.  Ware had 138.5 sacks in 178 games in an environment not conducive to sacks; Lawrence Taylor had 142.0 sacks in 184 games, playing with a better front 7 and with better coaches in a friendly sack era.  Ware was a master sack artist, who also forced 32 fumbles over the 10-year prime of his career.  And he did it while playing on Cowboys teams that were generally poorly managed, often poorly coached, and were light on talent on the defensive side of the ball.

What do you think?