I pray that the lack of Willie Lanier on peoples' lists is due to him being historically early enough for people to not have watched without fishing out tape. Otherwise every one of these lists should have him at 1 Dammit! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Gary Cooper:
5. Mike Maslowski
Holy Shit, I forgot that man even existed. The NFL Europe Defensive Player of the Year himself! If my memory serves me correct, I think he was the only guy or one of only two guys who had 100 tackles in an NFL Europe season. [Reply]
5. Willie Lanier: never saw him play but have seen/read enough to respect the hell out of his game.
4. Deron Cherry: The first 'star' player I recognized as a kid. My entry to great Chiefs defensive players.
3. Bobby Bell: See Willie Lanier
2. Derrick Thomas: Took over for Cherry as the badass on the D.
1. Derrick Johnson: Just kept evolving and developing as a player. A great solider throughout the worst times this franchise has ever seen. Will always respect the hell out of this guy. [Reply]
1. Bobby Bell
2. Willie Lanier
3. Derrick Thomas
4. Chris Jones
5. Emmitt Thomas
That is a good list, Emmitt was great, I might substitute Albert Lewis, who definitely could line up today and start with no problem. He was 6'2" ran a 4.38 40. He was a glue like defender, but had the added bonus of killing it on special teams. Still holds the career record for blocked kicks (12) and who knows how many misses he also caused because the kicker rushed. It got to the point that you just expected him to bend the corner layout and block the kick and turn the game around. [Reply]
I didn’t get to see the greats of the early Super Bowl years play, so I can’t really evaluate them fairly. Something about living those moments gives you a greater appreciation.
I’ll limit this to guys I’ve seen during my lifetime.
1. DT
2. Chris Jones
3. Eric Berry
4. Trent McDuffie
5. Justin Houston
I’m also just going with their “peak”, not entire careers. Just who was the best at their best. [Reply]
Some of this is out of their control because they didn't play with a QB like he does, but Chris Jones has to be pretty high up for what he's done thru the playoffs, no? [Reply]
Willie Lanier + Bobby Bell
Emmitt Thomas
Derrick Johnson
Derrick Thomas
Chris Jones
Honorable Mentions: Nick Bolton, James Hasty, Quad Pack of Deron Cherry/Albert Lewis/Kevin Ross/Lloyd Burress, Eric Berry, Gary Barbero, Art Still, Johnny Robinson, Buck Buchanan [Reply]
Originally Posted by kcgreene:
Holy Shit, I forgot that man even existed. The NFL Europe Defensive Player of the Year himself! If my memory serves me correct, I think he was the only guy or one of only two guys who had 100 tackles in an NFL Europe season.
He was a crowd favorite. Obviously not a great player but the dude played hard and looked like Stone Cold.
Originally Posted by VAChief:
That is a good list, Emmitt was great, I might substitute Albert Lewis, who definitely could line up today and start with no problem. He was 6'2" ran a 4.38 40. He was a glue like defender, but had the added bonus of killing it on special teams. Still holds the career record for blocked kicks (12) and who knows how many misses he also caused because the kicker rushed. It got to the point that you just expected him to bend the corner layout and block the kick and turn the game around.
Albert Lewis should be in the HOF. He was a special player. [Reply]
1) Derrick Johnson (All time Classy dude and player)
2) Derrick Thomas
3) Jared Allen (would be #1 if he played here his entire career)
4) La'Jarius Sneed
5) Eric Berry (Damn I hated the way it ended Day-to-day)
Honorable mentions:
Albert Lewis
James Hasty [Reply]