Previously: Running Backs; Defensive Ends

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:

The Great Decade

Is it really possible that the 4 best defensive tackles in history were all in their primes at the start of the 1970s?

Bob Lilly entered the NFL in 1961. Merlin Olsen joined a year later. Alan Page was drafted in 1967, and Joe Greene was picked two years later.

When Brad Oremland did his series on the greatest defensive tackles in history, he ranked these four as the top four ever: he ranked Page at 30, and put Greene at 16, Olsen at 13, and Lilly at 12. As Brad noted:

Associated Press first-team All-NFL defensive tackles, 1964-75: (1964) Bob Lilly and Henry Jordan, (1965) Bob Lilly and Alex Karras, (1966) Bob Lilly and Merlin Olsen, (1967) Bob Lilly and Merlin Olsen, (1968) Bob Lilly and Merlin Olsen, (1969) Bob Lilly and Merlin Olsen, (1970) Merlin Olsen and Alan Page, (1971) Bob Lilly and Alan Page, (1972) Joe Greene and Mike Reid, (1973) Joe Greene and Alan Page, (1974) Joe Greene and Alan Page, (1975) Curley Culp and Alan Page. That’s seven selections for Lilly, five for Olsen, five for Page, three for Greene (he added a fourth in 1977), and four for everyone else combined.

That’s a mean vertical leap.

Lilly, Olsen, Page, and Greene were more or less contemporary, competing with one another for honors — Lilly, Olsen, and Page especially, since they all played in the NFC. Lilly, for instance, almost certainly would have been first-team All-Pro in 1970 if Olsen and Page hadn’t both been in their primes at the same time. The All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors showered upon these players actually undersell how dominant they were. I tend to be skeptical about claims that all the greatest players were from the same era, especially when that era is the ’60s and early ’70s — but Lilly, Olsen, Page, and Greene really were the most outstanding defensive tackles in the history of professional football. Until Aaron Donald logs a couple more seasons, only Randy White is really even close.

In Sean Lahman’s Pro Football Historical Abstract, he ranks Olsen was the best defensive tackle ever, Lilly as the second-best, Green as his third-best, and Page as his fifth-best. Only Randy White — who, yes, has a very strong claim to being a top-5 DT ever — breaks the chain, as Lahman ranks White (drafted by the Cowboys in ’75 months after Lilly retired) fourth.

John Turney ranked the top 4-3 DTs ever last summer. Turney ranked Lilly as the best ever, followed by Greene, Olsen, and Page, and then White a tier below but in fifth place.

Bryan Frye put Page, Lilly, Greene, and Olsen on his personal DT Mt. Rushmore. At this point, I’d like to remind you that Page is typically ranked 4th among this group, and Frye noted that Page was the best DT in the league for 4 different seasons, with the other three all active those years.  In ’73, Page was the Defensive Player of the Year according to both the Professional Football Writers of America and the Newspaper Enterprise Association (Dolphins safety Dick Anderson, who led the NFL in interceptions and pick sixes, won the AP award). In 1971, Page won the AP MVP award — not the Defensive Player of the Year award, but the MVP award.  In 1970, Page was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Year (in a conference featuring Lilly and Olsen) by the NEA, and easily being named a consensus first-team All-Pro.  He was better that year than a 2nd-year Greene (who lost out on the AP’s All-AFC team to Jets DT John Elliott).  And in 1969, Page was one of the stars of arguably the greatest defense of all time.  He also was the NFC Defensive Player of the Year in 1974, although Greene was the AFC DPOY and overall DPOY.  So Page, playing in the most star-studded DT of all time, was the best defensive tackle in the league 3 or 4 times, and is typically the least-heralded of the bunch.  When the #NFL100 committee put together this list, only two defensive tackles were unanimous selections: Lilly and Page. Greene and Olsen should have been, too.

So yes, it really is possible that the four best defensive tackles all played in the same era.  Strange, but true.

So when the NFL selected its top 7 defensive tackles of all time, you expected to see these four on the list. But there’s also Buck Buchanan, a direct contemporary of this group, on here too! Buchanan starred with the Chiefs in the AFL, but he played from 1963 to 1975, perfectly overlapping with Lilly and Olsen. Is it possible that 5 of the best defensive tackles ever played during this time?

Maybe, although I won’t blame you if you think that’s a bridge too far. Buchanan was a physical marvel, a standout player who looks like you could transport him into 2019. He dominated the AFL in the late ’60s, but he didn’t earn those same honors in the post-merger NFL (arguably past his prime). He also benefited from playing next to a Hall of Famer in DT Curley Culp, and in front of a pair of Hall of Famers in Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier. And the Chiefs had a fifth player from that defense make the Hall of Fame in safety Johnny Robinson. Oh, and let’s not forget cornerback Emmitt Thomas, a sixth Hall of Famer, who was a starter from ’68 to ’78 for Kansas City. And yet these defenses were not the legendary defense you might expect. Buchanan is a worthy Hall of Famer who probably waited too long (nearly a decade) to make Canton due to anti-AFL bias. His size/speed combination was legendary, at a position where there are few men blessed with that combination. But he was at best the 5th best defensive tackle of his own generation, and played with 5 other Hall of Famers on his own defense. I would have left him off this team.

A quick word about The Manster, Randy White, before moving on. White is one of just 7 first-ballot Hall of Famers, joined by the three of the four described above (Page was unceremoniously passed over for a year) and two others we’ll get to soon. John Turney summarizes him well:

White played 14 seasons and was a starter for 11 of them. He played 209 games and started 165 and missed just two games in his career. He ended his career with 111 sacks and was a First-team All-Pro nine times (eight consensus) and was All-NFC nine times and voted to nine Pro Bowls. He was a co-MVP of Super Bowl XII (with Harvey Martin).

White, nicknamed “Manster” was playing the same position as Bob Lilly and was a tremendous pass rusher from that spot, and was a good pursuit player as well. “Stronger than two bulls and quicker than three cats”.

According to Joel Buchsbaum, “His only flaw is he can be too aggressive and can be trapped, but is that a flaw?”

Or as Brad Oremland notes:

Consensus All-Pro nods are meaningful because they indicate that pretty much everyone thought you were the best at your position, and White fell a little bit short in those three seasons, but he was incredibly close to eight straight consensus All-Pro selections (1978-85). UP named him NFC Defensive Player of the Year in 1978. Head coach Tom Landry said of White, “His performances range anywhere from spectacular to spectacular.”

White excelled despite constant double-teaming. Paul Zimmerman — who chose White to his All-Pro team five times, most of any DT — marveled at the lengths opponents went to in attempting to neutralize the “Manster”: “Guards always get help when they’re trying to block White; sometimes two men will just lay all over him at the snap of the ball, sometimes he’ll get pinballed from guard to center to running back.” Hall of Fame guard Russ Grimm explained his Pro Bowl selection process for defensive linemen, “My choice is always easy. Randy White’s the best guy I’ve played against for the last three years.” In 1979, the Cowboys went 11-2 with White in the lineup, allowing just 13.6 points per game. In the three games he missed, Dallas went 0-3 and allowed 31.7 points per game. Part of that is strength of schedule, but White had a titanic impact.

We are splitting hairs when we put White behind the legendary four.

John Randle joined White and most of the 1971 Pro Bowl roster on the NFL 100’s defensive tackles list.  Randle led all NFL players with 51 sacks from 1994 to 1997; he also had an impressive 124 sacks over the prime, 11-year stretch of his career.  While Randle benefited early in his career from playing in between Henry Thomas and Chris Doleman, Randle also excelled when the defensive talent declined on Minnesota.  In 1997, Randle led the NFL in sacks despite no other Vikings defender making the Pro Bowl.

Randle began his career with Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy as his defensive coordinators; Foge Fazio took over when Dungy went to Tampa Bay, but Fazio ran a similar defense.  For most of his career, Randle was playing the Under or 3-Technique Defensive Tackle position in the Tampa-2 defense.  Before Randle came along, Keith Millard played the Under Tackle spot alongside Doleman for the Vikings in the Kiffin-Floyd Peters defense in Minnesota; Millard recorded an 18-sack season and was named the AP Defensive Player of the Year in 1989.  After him, Warren Sapp would have a Hall of Fame career as a three-technique in the Tampa-2 defense.

This is not to suggest that the position is plug and play; it is not, and Randle had an outstanding motor, great technique, and was extremely quick for the position.  That said, we shouldn’t just compare raw sack totals among defensive tackles without noting that the under tackle position is more like a third defensive end than a defensive tackle.  Randle was also a one-dimensional player: he was not great against the run, even if that wasn’t his main responsibility.  The Vikings defenses were not particularly noteworthy; Randle was a first-team All-Pro every year from ’93 to ’98, a period where Minnesota’s defenses were average at best.  The undrafted Randle was exceptional at what he did, which was rush the passer as a three-technique (and later in his career at defensive end).  That earned him a lot of deserved praise throughout his career, but he is a clear tier behind the top five.

Much of the same could be said for Warren Sapp, who did not make the cut.  At his best, Sapp was a truly dominant player, but he struggled with his weight and was not a consistent player.  In 2001, while receiving yet another first-team All-Pro honor, he had just 9 tackles for loss all season.  He played on truly great teams, with multiple Hall of Fame talents around him in Tampa Bay.  He was similar to Randle in that he was a pass rusher first, but he didn’t come close to matching Randle’s sack totals; on the other hand, he was a better player against the run and played on much better defenses.  Both players were brash and vocal leaders; for Sapp, that may have showed better given the success his defenses typically had. Sapp was one of the 7 first-ballot Hall of Famers at defensive tackle.

For a decade, the AP selected either Randle (’93 to ’98) or Sapp (’99 to ’02) as a first-team All-Pro defensive tackle, but never both. The other selections each year, beginning in ’93: Cortez Kennedy, Kennedy, Chester McGlockton, Bryant Young, Dana Stubblefield, Darrell Russell, Trevor Pryce, La’Roi Glover, Ted Washington, Kris Jenkins.   How you value Sapp and Randle on an all-time lists depends on how much you value pass rushing — in particular, 3T pass-rushing — out of your defensive tackle position.  Randle was better for longer, while Sapp had more team success and was a more well-rounded player, but also more inconsistent.

Leo Nomellini was the first great defensive tackle. When the NFL selected its 50th anniversary team in 1969, Nomellini was the first-team tackle choice. He was a 10-time Pro Bowler who was a first-ballot choice for the Hall of Fame. He never missed a game. His 49ers were rarely great on defense (or on offense), and he is not well-remembered by modern fans. He played a time when pro football in California was still pretty new, and played in only one playoff game.

The other great defensive tackles of that era were Arnie Weinmeister, who who played in New York his whole career (with the New York Yankees in the AAFC in ’48 and ’49, and then with the Giants in the NFL from ’50 to ’53), and Ernie Stautner. Weinmeister had a shorter career, but his peak was considered legendary. Weinmeister played both offensive and defensive tackle, and was exceptionally fast not jut for a tackle, but for a pro football player. After 1953, he went to the CFL for more money — yes, this was really a different era of pro football — but he left his mark during his short time in the NFL.

Stautner, like Lilly/Olsen/Greene, and White, Sapp, and Nomellini, was one of the 7 defensive tackles enshrined in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. He played on the Steelers when they were miserable, but made 9 Pro Bowls. He was typically losing out on All-Pro honors to the Colts Art Donovan, whose careers overlapped and were the same age.

Bill Willis deserves some mention as a dominant middle guard for the Browns during their first years of pro football.  He was undersized (210 pounds, according to reports) but extremely fast.  Cleveland had great defenses during that era and Willis was a unique player: given his size and speed, playing in the middle of a 5-man defensive line, Willis was in some ways more like a 4-3 MLB than a nose tackle.  Willis was one of the leading men who integrated pro football and played in the championship game in every season of his 7-year career.

Oh, and then we get to Aaron Donald, who certainly should have been a finalist and is arguably already one of the 7 best defensive tackles ever. Donald has been a consensus All-Pro each of the last four years, and a fifth honor is likely coming next month. He’s won back-to-back AP Defensive Player of the Year awards, and his peak is truly exceptional. He led the NFL in sacks and tackles for loss last year (perhaps after the voting for the players on the #NFL100 team), and is currently leading the NFL in tackles for loss in 2019 through 14 weeks. His rookie year was dominant, and this year has been so as well, giving him 6 truly noteworthy seasons. He’s built a Hall of Fame career, and while it’s early, I would probably already include him in my list of the best seven defensive tackles of all time.