NFL 101 Part #2 - Defensive line

By: Schwartz

Now that we’ve gone through the NFL’s greatest offensive linemen of all time, let’s take a look at the guys they blocked; the defensive linemen.

Starters in italics

Ends: Reggie White, Bruce Smith, JJ Watt, Gino Marchetti, Deacon Jones, Michael Strahan, Doug Atkins

Additions: Watt, Strahan

Cuts: Lee Roy Selmon, Bill Hewitt

There have been so many dominant pass rushers that it was nearly impossible to pick just the two I felt were best at getting into the backfield, so in the end, I started at the top, with a player who took down the QB 198 times - Reggie White. After starting his career in the doomed USFL, White’s move into the NFL proved to be highly fortuitous. He pulled in a crazy amount of individual honors, garnering 8 first-team All-Pro selections as well as 5 second-team nods. His peak production was insane, putting up back-to-back league-leading sack totals, which were each accompanied by defensive Player of the Year awards. In the final season of what can be considered his prime, he put together one final All-Pro effort, and capped it off by helping the Packers to their first Super Bowl title in decades. 

If there’s any way to top a career that included 198 sacks, it’s to be the only player to ever reach the 200-sack plateau, which is exactly what Bruce Smith did. A one-of-a-kind force for the Buffalo Bills, the league’s all-time sack leader put together 8 first-team All-Pro seasons within the span of a decade, including two Defensive Player of the Year campaigns. A first overall pick who lived up to the hype, Smith managed to find himself on two all-decade teams, being named to the second team for the 1980s but first team for his efforts in the 90s. This is a duo of defensive ends that would be nearly impossible to stop. Although it was one of the tougher decisions I had to make as far as the lineup, they belong above the rest as the starters on this team.

I didn’t think it was right that the NFL’s single-season sack leader wasn’t recognized on the list of best sack artists of all time. Similarly, the end who has defined a generation of hyper-talented edge rushers in an offensive league, who has seemingly made his career an assault of the aforementioned sack record, also deserves a place among the game’s greats. This reasoning is how JJ Watt and Michael Strahan landed on my all-time roster at the expense of Lee Roy Selmon and Bill Hewitt. Watt, a unanimous first-team all-decade player in the 2010s, is a truly unique case, as he pulled in an unprecedented three Defensive Player of the Year awards in four years, accounting for one of the most dominant peaks of all time during which he racked up an insane 20.5 sacks...in two separate seasons. During one of those seasons, 2014, he was even employed as a dominant *offensive* goal line threat, scoring 3 touchdowns on just 3 targets. He has put up 96 sacks in just 112 games, but his overall accumulation of statistics will surely be hurt by the time he has already missed due to injury, and his likely early retirement for the same reason. Still, he has made great use of his time while sidelined, raising nearly 50 million dollars for Hurricane Harvey relief, supporting his adoptive hometown of Houston and thoroughly earning himself Man of the Year honors. While the best years of Watt may already be behind us, I feel extremely lucky to have watched them. 

Michael Strahan, on the other hand, did have a full career, resulting in 141 sacks, good enough to land him in sixth on the all-time list. A four-time first-team All-Pro, including a Defensive Player of the Year season during which he famously set a league record with 22.5 sacks, Strahan capped things off right with his final game, one of the great upsets in league history: Super Bowl 42, where his Giants knocked off the undefeated Patriots. 

I know it may come as a surprise that Julius Peppers wasn’t one of the contemporary players I chose to include, as he is fourth on the sacks list and enjoyed a fantastic career, but his peak wasn’t high enough - he never earned either a Defensive Player of the Year award or a sack title. He was a hard cut, but the line had to be drawn somewhere and his lack of high individual achievements cost him his spot.

Tackles: Randy White, “Mean” Joe Greene, Bob Lilly, Merlin Olsen, Alan Page, John Randle, Aaron Donald

Additions: Donald

Cuts: Buck Buchanan

It really says something about these two starters that although defensive tackle is one of the most stacked positions in the entire sport, I didn’t even have to think twice about who I’d line up if given the chance. Let’s start with one of the great nicknames in sports history - Mean Joe Greene. As I mentioned earlier, the Steel Curtain defense is one of the most iconic units in sports history, and its dominance of the line of scrimmage started with their monster defensive tackle. Considered by many to be the best overall player of the 1970s, Mean Joe racked up 10 Pro Bowl appearances to go along with 8 All-Pro nods (5 first-team 3 second) and two Defensive Player of the Year awards. Most importantly, he was a role model for all of his fans off of the field. He was given the Man of the Year award for his contributions in his community, and starred in the iconic “Hey kid, catch!” Coca-cola Super Bowl commercial, which helped to paint him as a lovable hero whose nickname only applied between the sidelines. 

Another star of the 1970s, Randy White racked up 9 consecutive first-team All-Pro commendations, while anchoring the Dallas Cowboys defense. He helped them to their second Super Bowl title, winning co-MVP honors in the process, still one of just ten defenders to do so. While the statistic wasn’t officially kept until the middle of his career, White is generally accepted to have racked up over 110 sacks, putting him in rare territory for an interior linemen. These two tackles would be a terror for any offensive line to deal with, and while there is a litany of talented options, I’m extremely confident picking them as my two starters.

It’s rare that a defender is a serious part of the discussion for best player in the entire league. That has been the case for the entirety of Aaron Donald’s career, as he has wreaked havoc from the defensive tackle position. So far, Donald has piled up an insane 5 first-team All-Pro nods to go along with back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards, and a 20-sack season, all in just a 6 year career, which led to him being a unanimous choice to the NFL’s All-2010s team. At just 28 years old, Donald has taken the league by storm and has many, many honors and statistics ahead of him; the only thing we have yet to see is whether he’ll be a champion, as his Rams came up just short in Super Bowl 53. 

To make room for the world’s current best defender, we had to remove a legend in Buck Buchanan. While he was a true force at the tackle position, it’s hard to take his accomplishments quite as seriously due to the relative weakness of the now-defunct AFL; he was the first overall pick of the AFL draft, whereas he was pick #265, in the 19th(!!!) round of the NFL draft of the same year. His accomplishments simply do not stack up that well with the stars who made it onto the final roster.