Brad Oremland is a sportswriter and football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

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This is the eighth article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. You can find the previous installments below:

111-125
101-110
91-100
81-90
71-80
61-70
51-60

If you haven’t read those yet, especially the article introducing the series (111-125), I hope you’ll start there. At this point, we’re counting down the very greatest players of all time, the inner circle of the inner circle, the top 50 players in the history of professional football.

Best Players of All Time: 41-50

50. Rob Gronkowski
Tight End
New England Patriots, 2010-18
521 receptions, 7,861 yards, 79 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls

Rob Gronkowski probably had the greatest peak of any TE in history. Gronk was a record-setting receiver, but also one of the finest blocking TEs in recent memory. In this era of specialization, his ability to excel at both blocking and receiving allowed the Patriots to do unique things with their offense. In the all-time 53-man roster that inspired this series, I based my offensive philosophy partly around the 2010-12 Patriots with Aaron Hernandez and Gronkowski.

You all know about Rob Gronkowski, but this entry is a good opportunity to point out that recent and active players have fewer honors listed than older players. Gronkowski will certainly be chosen to the 2010s All-Decade Team, and perhaps the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team, but he hasn’t been eligible for any previous All-Decade or All-Time honors. A similar problem afflicts most of the recent players. It’s also substantially harder to win recognition in a 32-team league than it was in the ’50s and ’60s, when the leagues ranged from 8-16 teams. Contemporary players benefit from the expansion of Pro Bowl rosters and sometimes from the decline in football savviness among All-Pro voters, who tend to overrate “name” players and artificially boost the profile of established stars, but those factors don’t really help a player like Gronkowski, who [1] doesn’t really have borderline Pro Bowl seasons; he has excellent seasons and lost-to-injury seasons, and [2] plays a position at which postseason honors are determined mostly by statistics.

Gronkowski’s statistics are excellent: his four 1,000-yard seasons are tied for the most of any TE, and his five years of double-digit TDs are the most of any TE. But Gronk’s excellence extended beyond the stat sheet, to blocking — a distinction that set him apart from most contemporary Pro Bowl TEs, who tend to be reluctant and/or ineffective blockers. Tony Gonzalez played at a high level for forty-eight years or something, and in my opinion that makes him the greatest tight end of all time, but I believe Rob Gronkowski had the greatest prime of any tight end ever to play.

49. Gino Marchetti
Defensive End
Dallas Texans, 1952; Baltimore Colts, 1953-64, 1966
7 consensus All-Pro, 10 AP All-Pro, 10 Pro Bowls, 1950s All-Decade Team, 50th Anniversary Team, 75th Anniversary Team

Gino Marchetti was already recognized among the greatest defensive players in football before the Colts started winning championships with Johnny Unitas. He was second-team All-Pro in 1955 and 1956, when the Colts had losing records, and a consensus All-Pro in 1957, when the team finished a modest 7-5.

He was 6-foot-4 and 245, nicknamed Gino the Giant. But when you watch film of Marchetti, he wasn’t a bullrusher. He had great speed, and that weird ability some guys have to slide between blockers, and he had the best hands I’ve ever seen on a defensive lineman, barring perhaps Reggie White. Gino would grab hold of the blocker and get him off-balance, or sometimes just throw him out of the way, and then charge at whoever had the ball. It was magnificent. Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman called Marchetti “the greatest player in football” and “the most valuable man to ever play his position.” “It’s a waste of time to run around this guy’s end,” Gillman marveled. “It’s a lost play. You don’t bother to try it.”

Marchetti played offensive tackle in 1953, and although he hated it and refused to stay at the position, he applied the lessons from that year to his play as a defensive end: whatever defensive opponents did that was toughest for him to handle, that’s how he played when he switched back to defense. He was one of the first defensive linemen to really manhandle blockers. Opposing coach Buddy Parker once ran and re-ran the film from a game trying to figure out what had happened on a particular play. “Are there two Colts wearing 89?” he finally asked one of his assistants. “Or is Marchetti tackling both the ball-carrier and the quarterback?” There was only one number 89.

Marchetti was a war veteran before playing in the NFL. He was decorated as part of the Sixty-Ninth Infantry and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The less pleasant side of that story is that Gino’s heroism helped persuade the United States government to release his parents, who had immigrated from Italy, from a Federal Security Center. “Every day my mother cried,” remembered Marchetti of her incarceration. He died earlier this year, on April 29, aged 93.

48. Steve Largent
Wide Receiver
Seattle Seahawks, 1976-89
819 receptions, 13,089 yards, 100 TD
5 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls, 1980s All-Decade Team

Steve Largent set career records for receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He had eight 1,000-yard seasons — a record that stood almost a decade before Jerry Rice broke it — and probably would have had more if not for the 1982 and 1987 strikes. He was a scab in 1987, playing one of the three games in which replacement players were used. Largent was known for diving catches, and his hands were universally acknowledged as the best of his generation. He was also a dedicated and effective blocker in spite of his size.

Teammates called Largent “Yoda.” “The force was with Steve,” explained quarterback Dave Krieg. “The thing that amazed me about him,” remembered beat writer Clare Farnsworth, who covered the Seahawks for 36 years, “is how open he would get.” Largent’s ability to separate from his defender was unparalleled. While he wasn’t fast, Largent had good acceleration and he was by far the best route runner in the league. “When he came out of that break, he was flyin’,” recalled Hall of Fame CB Mike Haynes. Even Jerry Rice was generous in his admiration, “What I learned from Steve Largent is how precise he ran his routes . . . It was amazing how he could just snatch the ball out of the air. I idolized him.” Largent himself explained, “I could get into a route, and out of a route, without losing any speed. I was quicker than a lot of guys that had a lot faster straight-ahead speed.” Largent ranked among the top 10 in yards per reception in 1977 and 1979, and his career average of 16.0 yards per reception is not consistent with the idea that all Largent did was run hitches and slants.

Largent was remarkable for his long, productive career and his large number of very good seasons. He ranked among the top 10 in receptions nines times, the top 10 in yards and TDs eight times each. Largent gained 1,000 yards at age 32, and certainly would have done the same at age 33 if not for the strike. He was the first player in history to catch 100 touchdown passes. Eighty-nine of those 100 touchdown receptions were thrown by either Krieg (46) or Jim Zorn (43). Both were pretty good players, though their accomplishments — Zorn’s especially — are difficult to divorce from Largent’s excellence, and Largent never played with a Hall of Fame-caliber QB, which is unusual among elite receivers. Of the 27 Modern-Era wide receivers in the Hall of Fame, 21 played significantly with a Hall of Fame quarterback ^[1]The six who did not are Pete Pihos, Lance Alworth, Bob Hayes, Art Monk, Tim Brown, and Largent. , and 26 played multiple seasons with an All-Pro. ^[2]First- or second-team, any major organization The 27th is Largent, who arguably got less help from his QBs than any HOF wide receiver in history.

47. Marvin Harrison
Wide Receiver
Indianapolis Colts, 1996-2008
1,102 receptions, 14,580 yards, 128 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 8 AP All-Pro, 8 Pro Bowls, 2000s All-Decade Team

In eight consecutive seasons, Marvin Harrison finished with 1,100 yards and double-digit touchdowns. He led the NFL twice in receptions, twice in receiving yards, three times in receiving first downs, and once in receiving TDs. Harrison still holds the single-season record for receptions (143).

Harrison came late to stardom. He was 24 as a rookie, and although he played well in his first three seasons, he didn’t really emerge until age 27, Peyton Manning‘s second season. Then came his exceptional eight-year run (1999-2006). Only Jerry Rice has gained more receiving yardage over an eight-year period. Harrison got injured in 2007. When he came back at age 36 the next year, he was no longer the top receiver on the team, and he retired rather than be a role player.

Comparing Harrison to his contemporaries… Harrison played at basically the same time as Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. Among that trio, Harrison gained the most receiving yardage in a single season (1,722). Harrison gained the most in any two seasons (3,385), as well. Harrison leads over any three seasons (4,909), any four seasons (6,322), any five seasons (7,688), any six seasons (8,960), any seven seasons (10,106), and any eight seasons (11,219). Moss takes over at nine seasons.

The same pattern applies to first downs. Harrison leads for one year (92), two years (171), three (249), four (324), five (394), six (457), seven (517), eight (576), nine (622), ten (665), eleven (706), twelve (746), and beyond. Owens made only 742 first downs in his career, Moss only 704.

Harrison even holds his own for touchdowns. While no one can equal Moss, Harrison had eight seasons of double-digit touchdowns — as many as Owens. ^[3]And as many as Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and Hines Ward combined. Harrison’s 128 career receiving TDs rank 5th all-time.

Harrison was not the biggest, fastest, or strongest receiver in the game. He didn’t intimidate opponents the way Owens and Moss did. But Harrison was one of the smartest receivers ever to play, and he worked very hard to be the best; the extra practice hours he put in working with Peyton Manning are legendary. Harrison was the greatest route-runner of his era, he had the best hands of his era, and he was the finest I ever saw at the toe-tap on the sideline. He had underrated speed (4.37), but his ability to shift gears was more impressive than his top sprint. Varying speed drives defensive backs crazy, and no one was better at it than Harrison.

He was more reliable than Owens and Moss, and more consistent, both game-to-game and year-to-year. He didn’t take plays off or divide locker rooms, and Manning always knew where Harrison would be on the field. John Madden mused, “There was a time that I thought Randy Moss was the best receiver. Then I thought T.O. They’ve kind of been up and down, but the one constant has been Marvin Harrison.” Another HOF coach, Marv Levy, concurred, “[Harrison] makes fewer mistakes.” Harrison made more Pro Bowls and more All-Pro teams than Moss or Owens. They were greater at their peaks, some might suggest. But did either of them ever have a better year than Harrison in 2002, when he caught 143 passes for 1,722 yards, 92 first downs, and 11 TDs, and didn’t fumble all season? Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson, the most celebrated cornerbacks of that era, both named Harrison as the toughest receiver they played against. Harrison didn’t do end zone dances, and seldom spoke to reporters. His lower profile made his excellence less memorable, but not any less excellent.

46. Randy Moss
Wide Receiver
Minnesota Vikings, 1998-2004, 2010; Oakland Raiders, 2005-06; New England Patriots, 2007-10; Tennessee Titans, 2010; San Francisco 49ers, 2012
982 receptions, 15,292 yards, 156 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 6 Pro Bowls, Rookie of the Year, 2000s All-Decade Team

Probably the greatest physical talent in the history of his position, Randy Moss made an immediate splash in the NFL. He led the league in receiving TDs (17), he was Offensive Rookie of the Year and first-team All-Pro, and the Vikings improved from 9-7 to 15-1. Sometimes Moss seemed literally unstoppable, impossible to defend. He was 6′ 4″ and could outmuscle defenders in traffic, but he was also impossibly fast, the fastest player in the league, and he had a vertical leap no one could match. Randall Cunningham threw him alley-oops, and Moss beat defenders on pure freak athleticism. That season, Moss had 14 receptions of at least 40 yards, the most on record (1991-pres).

Moss went on to ten 1,000-yard seasons (more than anyone but Jerry Rice) and nine years of double-digit TDs (tied with Terrell Owens and Rice for the most ever). Moss surpassed 1,200 yards eight times, and 1,400 yards four times. He led the NFL in receiving TDs five times, including a record 23 in 2007. His 64 career 100-yard receiving games are second only to Rice. He was the most explosive receiver in history, and the most feared deep threat in decades, maybe the most feared ever.

When I first made up my list of the top 125 players in history, I had Randy Moss 20 spots higher than this. In the course of my research, though, I kept coming across reminders about Moss’s imperfections. His most famous quote is from 2001: “I play when I want to play. Do I play up to my top performance, my ability every time? Maybe not.” The quote bothered people not just because of its content, but because Moss was already perceived as someone who often didn’t give full effort, who didn’t care about plays on which he wasn’t the primary target. When Moss fizzled in Oakland, it seemed to confirm that he wasn’t motivated to play his best, that he only played when he wanted to, and that he too often didn’t want to.

Moss rebounded in New England, but talked his way out of town, and four games into the 2010 season, the Patriots traded him back to Minnesota. The Vikings cut him only four games later. Only one team, the Tennessee Titans, even put in a claim for Moss. Unmotivated, Moss gained 80 yards in eight games with the Titans. Meanwhile, Deion Branch, re-acquired to replace Moss in New England, averaged over 64 yards per game, a 1,027-yard pace. He wasn’t Moss, but his production wasn’t a significant downgrade, and the team didn’t seem to miss Moss. The Patriots went 14-2 and led the league in scoring by almost five points per game. How much of Moss’ New England renaissance was the system and the supporting cast?

Jerry Rice tends to be self-serving in his commentary on other great receivers, but he condemned Moss in terms which resonate with many fans, or at least those of us who are contrarians: “You never knew what you were going to get with Randy.” Imagine yourself an NFL assistant coach, maybe an offensive coordinator or receivers coach. Would you rather have Randy Moss than Marvin Harrison or Torry Holt or Hines Ward? Imagine yourself a player. Would you rather be on the same team as Moss, or a less spectacular but more predictable teammate? Even as a fan, was Moss’ unstoppable brilliance worth the frustration of watching the best player on your team visibly fail to make an effort?

Moss never led the NFL in receiving yardage, and he only came within 100 yards of the lead twice. He tied for the lead in receiving first downs in 2007, but only had two other seasons in the top five. He was regularly among the league leaders in offensive pass interference penalties. How much credit do you want to attribute for terrifying defensive coordinators? Does it outweigh worrying and frustrating his own coaches? How do you balance otherworldly highlights with production that didn’t always match his reputation?

The questions above are deliberately contrarian. I’ve ranked Moss as the greatest receiver of his generation. He was a unique talent, a thrill to watch and a player who dictated gameplans. He ranks 2nd all-time in receiving touchdowns and 4th in receiving yards, and he was the leading receiver on the two highest-scoring offenses in league history. The 2006 Patriots scored 385 points. The next season, they added Wes Welker and Moss, and scored 589. That broke the record set by another Moss team, the 1998 Vikings.

The full picture of Moss as a player includes plays on which he visibly failed to give effort, and it includes wearing out his welcome with multiple teams. But it also includes over 15,000 yards, and innumerable highlights, awards, and touchdown records. I rank him ahead of Harrison without conviction.

45. Jim Parker
Offensive Line
Baltimore Colts, 1957-67
5 consensus All-Pro, 8 AP All-Pro, 8 Pro Bowls, 1950s All-Decade Team, 50th Anniversary Team, 75th Anniversary Team, All-Century Team

The first pure offensive lineman inducted into the Hall of Fame, Jim Parker excelled at both guard and tackle for the John Unitas-era Colts. For many years he was regarded as the greatest offensive lineman ever to play, and it was sacreligious to suggest otherwise. “I once wrote a piece for SI in which I called John Hannah the finest offensive lineman who ever lived,” remembered Paul Zimmerman in 1984. “It stirred up some controversy, which made my editors happy.”

Parker was probably the best pass-protecting guard of all time. Zimmerman called him “the best pure pass blocker who ever lived.” More than 20 years later, he stood by that position: “Who are the great pass blocking guards in history? . . . I’d hold up one finger. Jim Parker, greatest pass blocking guard who ever lived.” Hall of Fame coach George Allen, one of the great defensive minds in history, reported that he stopped trying to pressure Unitas on Parker’s side of the line. “By himself he took away half your pass rush.” The famous 1958 NFL Championship Game, The Greatest Game Ever Played, saw Parker singled out for his excellent blocking against Hall of Fame defensive end Andy Robustelli. “I used to think that I could outmaneuver any big tackle,” Robustelli admitted, “but that Parker can stay with anybody.”

Parker had both speed and straight-ahead firepower, and he excelled at both tackle and guard, a perennial All-Pro at both positions. He was known as a great pass protector, but he was also a fine run blocker, at a time when that was a bigger part of the game than it is today. Parker led the way for Alan Ameche, Lenny Moore, and Tom Matte. Chuck Bednarik suggested that Roosevelt Brown and Parker, because of both their endurance and their combination of skills, could have replicated his two-way, 60-minute odysseys of 1960.

It’s difficult to disentangle Parker’s excellence from that of his teammates. To what extent was his reputation bolstered by blocking for such talents as Unitas and Moore? How good would Unitas have been without Raymond Berry and Parker? To what degree was Moore’s success a product of the line and the quarterback? They were great players, certainly, but it’s easier to look magnificent when you’re surrounded by other guys who are also magnificent. I have Parker ranked as the fourth-best offensive lineman of all time.

44. Marshall Faulk
Running Back
Indianapolis Colts, 1994-98; St. Louis Rams, 1999-2005
12,279 rush yards, 4.33 average, 100 TD; 767 receptions, 6,875 yards, 36 TD
2 MVP, 3 OPOY, 3 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls, Rookie of the Year

Marshall Faulk is the best receiving running back I’ve ever seen. Certainly he has the stats to support that view, but it’s not just that Faulk caught a lot of passes. He had good hands and he was a good route-runner, including out of the slot. Faulk could have been a Pro Bowl wide receiver. He caught at least 40 passes every season of his 12-year career, including five seasons with 80 receptions or more, and he is the only running back to lead his team in receptions five times. Faulk’s versatility baffled defenses. He was a terrific runner out of the backfield, who had seven 1,000-yard rushing seasons, including five with over 1,250 yards. You needed run-stuffers in the game to contain him. But on pass plays, you had to treat him like a wide receiver, and you needed an extra defensive back. The defense was always on its heels with Marshall.

The second overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft, Faulk made an immediate impression: as a rookie, he gained over 1,800 yards from scrimmage, scored 12 TDs, and earned Rookie of the Year honors. He was a complete player, very fast with great cutting ability and spin moves. And although he wasn’t big, only about 210 pounds, he was a tough inside runner who could punish tacklers. He was a good pass blocker, he rarely fumbled, and of course, he was an excellent receiver.

Faulk is most celebrated for his role in The Greatest Show on Turf. From 1999-2001, Faulk rushed for over 1,350 yards every year, averaged over 5.30 yards per carry each season, caught more than 80 passes every year, and scored an average of 20 TDs. Faulk was named AP‘s NFL MVP in 2000, and teammate Kurt Warner took the honor in both ’99 and ’01, but many people felt Faulk was the Rams’ best and most important player all three years.

In 1999, Faulk recorded only the second season in history with 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving, setting a single-season record for yards from scrimmage (2,429). The following year, he broke the single-season touchdown record, and he didn’t fumble all season. It’s hard to notice something not happen, so ball security is inevitably underrated, but it’s a valuable quality. In addition to his many other positive attributes, Faulk was among the best runners in history at taking care of the football.

43. LaDainian Tomlinson
Running Back
San Diego Chargers, 2001-09; New York Jets, 2010-11
13,684 rush yards, 4.31 average, 145 TD; 624 receptions, 4,772 yards, 17 TD
1 MVP, 1 OPOY, 2 consensus All-Pro, 6 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls, 2000s All-Decade Team

LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for 13,684 yards (5th all-time) and 145 touchdowns (2nd all-time). He caught 624 passes, 2nd-most only to Marshall Faulk among running backs who were primarily ball-carriers. L.T. rushed for 1,000 yards eight times and caught 50 passes nine times. He led the NFL in rushing yardage twice, in rushing TDs three times, and in yards from scrimmage once. He rushed for 1,400 yards five times, and 1,600 yards three times.

Tomlinson is distinguished by two particularly extraordinary seasons. In 2003, he rushed for 1,645 yards, with a 5.26 average, scored 17 touchdowns, and caught 100 passes — for a 4-12 team. Without Tomlinson, the Chargers might not have won a game that season. L.T. gained over 200 yards from scrimmage in each of the four wins, scoring multiple TDs in three of them.

In 2006, Tomlinson won Offensive Player of the Year, NFL MVP, and the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. He rushed for 1,815 yards, averaged 5.22 per carry, gained over 500 yards as a receiver, and scored 31 TDs. That single-season touchdown record will probably never fall in a 16-game season.

There was nothing Tomlinson didn’t do well, but I always thought what made him special as a runner were the little things. He had speed, he could break tackles, and he had great agility, with on-a-dime cuts and very quick acceleration; that change of direction and acceleration out of the break distinguished him from the rest of the league. But Tomlinson was also the best in the game at reading the hole and following his blocks, and he had one of the quickest first steps I’ve ever seen. He was such a dangerous goal-line runner because he could not only go up the gut, he could beat you to the outside. He was a superb receiver out of the backfield, and after his rookie year, he seldom fumbled. Tomlinson was the unquestioned star RB of his generation, a standout who combined a sensational peak with a reasonably long career.

42. Randy White
Defensive Tackle
Dallas Cowboys, 1975-88
111 sacks (unofficial), 10 FR, 1 INT
5 consensus All-Pro, 8 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls, 1980s All-Decade Team

According to the standards I outlined in the first article of this series, Randy White was a consensus All-Pro five times, which is excellent. ^[4]The only DT with more is Bob Lilly (6), whose selections were All-NFL, in a league with only 16 teams. But that doesn’t include 1980; Pro Football Writers of America, Newspaper Enterprise Association, The Sporting News, and Pro Football Weekly all named him first-team All-Pro, and United Press, which only named all-conference teams, had White first-team All-NFC, but the Associated Press had White on the second team. In 1983, everyone had White first-team, except NEA, which had him second-team. In 1985, AP, NEA, Sporting News, UP, they all had White first-team All-Pro, but Pro Football Writers, which only named one defensive tackle each year, chose Joe Klecko.

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.

He was both unusually fast and incredibly strong, all but unblockable on his best days. Zimmerman wrote, “The Cowboys’ White, currant [sic] king of the defensive linemen, combines the moves of [Alex] Karras with tremendous upper body strength.” White was a great interior pass rusher, who was 30 when sacks became an official statistic and still posted three official seasons of double-digit sacks. John Turney credits him with 111 over his career, one of the highest figures ever for an interior pass rusher. White was also distinguished as a postseason player, with four sacks in three Super Bowls and co-MVP honors in Super Bowl XII.

He also reportedly kicked the crap out of Hollywood Henderson, when Henderson returned to the team’s practice field after he had been dismissed from the team, stirring up trouble. According to Joe Nick Patoski in The Dallas Cowboys: “Henderson mouthed off to White, who walked over to him and got in his face. Henderson threw a punch at White with zero effect. White grabbed Henderson’s throat with one hand and pushed him against a wall, high enough that Henderson’s feet were off the floor, and started pummeling him with the other hand until several teammates peeled him off.” The Dallas Morning News account of the incident was substantially similar: “Hollywood took the first shot and Randy retaliated twice . . . Henderson got up the first time, like a fool. Randy ended up picking him up with one hand and pinning him.” White was not to be trifled with, on or off the field.

41. Ken Houston
Safety
Houston Oilers, 1967-72; Washington, 1973-80
49 INT, 898 yards, 9 TD; 19 FR, 116 yards, TD
1 consensus All-Pro, 5 AP All-Pro, 12 All-Star Games, 1970s All-Decade Team, 75th Anniversary Team, All-Century Team

The Associated Press repeatedly snubbed Ken Houston. 1971 and 1976 were particularly egregious, but far from the only omissions. The Newspaper Enterprise Association, whose teams were voted by the players, named Houston All-League ten times, twice as often as AP. The All-Pro figures above are not representative of leaguewide regard for Houston; you’ll notice they’re out of kilter with his 12 All-Star and Pro Bowl selections, first-team All-Decade selection, and spot on reputable 1994 and 1999 All-Time Teams.

Houston was a true strong safety, and Zimmerman considered him the best ever: “Ken Houston had the perfect combination of range and hitting ability, and he was uncanny at sniffing out the run.” Houston was a linebacker in college, and he hit like one in the pros. He tackled high, grabbed opponents and threw them backwards, so no one ever fell forward on one of his tackles. What most distinguished Houston, though, were his coverage skills and returning ability. He intercepted 49 passes, second-most in history among strong safeties, ^[5]Donnie Shell, 51. Houston was bigger and stronger than Shell, and a far more dangerous returner. He had almost twice as many INT return yards as Shell, and 9 INT TDs to Shell’s 2. including eight seasons with at least 4 INTs. ^[6]As a point of comparison, Troy Polamalu — whom I think everyone agrees is the best strong safety of the last 20 years (at least) — picked off 32 passes, with three seasons of 4 or more. Houston scored 9 interception return TDs, a record that stood for 30 years, also scoring on a punt return, a fumble return, and a blocked field goal return. He had a great sense for the field, and he was fast for his size, a truly dynamic returner.

Yet it’s not his interceptions or his TD returns that Houston is most remembered for — it’s his tackle of Walt Garrison. On October 8, 1973, the Dallas Cowboys traveled to Washington to play on Monday Night Football, in a matchup of the NFC’s last three Super Bowl representatives (Dallas in Super Bowls V and VI, Washington in VII). With :16 remaining, Washington led 14-7, but Garrison caught a pass on the 1-yard line, poised to score. Houston grabbed him from behind, lifted him off the ground, and threw him backwards, preserving the victory. “That was probably the defining play of my career,” remembered Houston. “There were other plays I thought were greater, like the back-to-back interceptions I returned for touchdowns in one game. But . . . everywhere I go, people identify me with that play.”

When Houston retired, his 12 Pro Bowls (including two AFL All-Star Games) were tied (with Jim Otto) for second-most in history (Merlin Olsen, 14). That distinction stood for 19 years, and Houston is still one of only 15 players with a dozen or more Pro Bowls. He was tall, 6-foot-3, and a three-sport athlete who competed in both track and swimming at the NCAA level. Houston was a good teammate, well-liked, and widely recognized for his public service. He won the Byron “Whizzer” White NFL Man of the Year Award, and in Washington, the franchise humanitarian award is named for Houston. He earned a master’s degree in counseling and has spent his post-football life as a coach and counselor, mostly in the Houston public school system. He is a Ring of Fame member for two teams, and he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

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This series will continue here every Tuesday and Thursday for the next two weeks. The best way to reach me with comments and questions is via Twitter (@bradoremland), where I’ll also offer some brief bonus material on most days there’s no new article. Thanks for reading. Next article: Best Players in History, 31-40.