You can separate the all-timers by 3-4 or 4-3 if you care to, but for the purposes of discussion, I've listed the 4 best DLs, 4 best LBs and NT I've ever seen..Would be interested in your take(s):
DT: Alan Page and Bob Lilly..Cases can be made for Joe Greene and Merlin Olsen, Randy White
DE: Deacon Jones and Reggie White..These were clear-cut to me
NT: This is a bitch to nail, but I've narrowed it down to Wilfork(highly versatile) and the vastly underrated(for all-time purposes, that is) Casey Hampton. To me he's one of the best 2-gap NTs I've ever seen..I'm gonna go with Hampton as he's been the rock of the Steelers DL for a decade or so..Much room for other choices, but he's my guy right now..
LBs: Two are a slam dunk, LT and Butkus...The other two, not so much, but since I have to complete the LBer list, my choices are Derrick Thomas and Bobby Bell
CBs: This might have been the toughest for me as the list is as big as a long cat, imo..Deion has to be a clear cut choice, imv. The other guy? I chose Willie Brown of the Raiders, but a solid case can be made for Rod Woodson, Lem Barney, Dick Night Train Lane, perhaps Darrell Green, to name the few I was considering..
S: Also not that easy, but I have to Go with Ronnie Lott for certain..I chose Larry Wilson of the Cards as my other S..Again, strong cases can be made for our Emlen Tunnell as well As Kenny Houston, Ed Reed, Polamalu
So, in sum:
DTs: Page and Lilly
DEs: Reggie White and Deacon Jones
NT: Casey Hampton
LBs: LT, Derrick Thomas, Butkus, Bobby Bell
CBs: Deion and Willie Brown
S: Lott and Larry Wilson
I didn't necessarily differentiate between strong and free safety, so be my guest
Looking forward to your areas of agreement/disagreement
Just throwing this name out there, but remember Lester Hayes? He shouldn't be on this list(he just popped in to head while I was thinking about this)but he was great for a couple of seasons.
DT- Sapp, John Randle (La'roi Glover)
NT- Wilfork (Hampton)
LB- LT, D. Thomas, Lewis, Z. Thomas (D. Brooks, Urlacher)
CB- Deion, Champ Bailey (Revis)
S- Reed, Lott (Sharper)
Willie Lanier, Jack Ham and Ted Hendricks as LB's.
I think the BB56 list is a very strong list.
Buck Buchanan at DT is a starter for me.
Nose tackle is a tough one since the 3-4 isn't that old and the position lends itself to being caught in the wash and just tying up OL's. Gilbert Brown might have been the best I've seen for the short time he was healthy.
Corner: Night Train Lane / Mel Blunt
OLB: LT / Jack Ham
MLB: Butkus
DE: Decon Jones / Reggie White
DT: Bob Lilly / Mean Joe Green
So I'm just going to name my Defensive Team since 2000, not in terms of overall resume but just in terms of peak play. Strahan's post-2000 career probably doesn't trump Jason Taylor or Jared Allen's but Strahan's peak performances do trump theirs imo.
DE: Strahan -- Peppers
DT: Sapp -- Ngata (Big Pat Williams and Wilfork if that's your style of DT)
ILB: Lewis -- Willis (Willis > Urlacher imo)
OLB: Brooks -- Ware (I want to say Von Miller so bad)
CB: Revis -- Bailey (Bailey and Woodson had similar peaks but Bailey was more consistent)
S: Polamalu -- Reed (Polamalu > Reed imo, I know that's a minority opinion)
For instance I'd say the modern superstar corners are more athletically gifted than the old school guys, but would probably have a harder time covering stronger receivers who could push off (it goes both ways), plus the tackling skills that were valued back then as well. And vice versa, I don't think a Night Train Lane could cover a good portion of the league's best receivers with modern rules helping them.
Surprised no Singletary on the list. Lousy coach, but decent MLB no? :)
Also, I'm pretty sure they used our draft pick for Randy White.
When I was growing up it was rough being a Gman fan...makes the last 25 years even sweeter!
The CBs od the earlier less constrianed era have to include Night Train, Lester Hayes....
If we're talking peak performance and not long term, I put Bob Sanders on any best of list. He was one of the best defensive players I ever saw. When healthy, I take Sanders over any S including Lott.
Only been 2 years, but Von Miller has been as good as any LB I can remember. Better than the best from Derrick Thomas. Couple more years and he'll be there with LT.
Another safety who might have made this list, had he lived, was Don Rogers of the Cleveland Browns. I know he only played a couple of seasons, but I think he had greatness written all over him.
Frigging cocaine...
Green had an injured hammy if I recall correctly, but still took it all the way back for a TD. Dude was amazing. Here it is below:
Darrell Green - 1987 NFC Divisional Playoffs - ( New Window )
And the difficulty of lists like these is that players are punished for their versatility. Hampton and Wilfork are good choices but Haloti Ngata might deserve consideration too - except that he plays all over line.
Here's a guy from the past that I'd consider: Fred Smerlas.
WRT Randy White, if the Giants had held onto the second pick in the 1975 draft, they probably would have taken Mack Mitchell. It was that kind of decade.
DT: Lilly, Joe Greene
DEs: Deacon Jones and Reggie White
NT: Damned if I know...I guess I like Ngata a lot
LBs: LT, Butkus, Willie Lanier, Ted Hendricks
CBs: Deion (I hate to pick him, would love to put Mike Haynes in here, but Deion deserves it) and Willie Brown
S: Ronnie Lott and Ed Reed
James Jett is the only guy I can recall seeing that was in the same stratosphere.