Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

JohnTurney wrote:LT the only "rusher" in the LBer group

glad to see they had Bednarik as OLBer, sometimes people call him a MLB. He did play
some MLB late, but his position for most of his career was more akin to an OLBer.

I just typed it up as I watched the show, just assumed they got OLB 'correct' since supposed to be 6 of each.

Reaser wrote:

JohnTurney wrote:LT the only "rusher" in the LBer group

glad to see they had Bednarik as OLBer, sometimes people call him a MLB. He did play
some MLB late, but his position for most of his career was more akin to an OLBer.

I just typed it up as I watched the show, just assumed they got OLB 'correct' since supposed to be 6 of each.

Just looked at the release from the NFL and Bednarik was listed with the OLB's.

I also assumed they had Seau on the MLB/ILB list (and seeing it now, they did) since that's what he always made all-pro at even though he was the weakside LB (or RLB or in basic terms, OLB) in the Chargers 4-3 which is when he was doing most of his work in terms of resume/honors/etc.

Choices get interesting if Seau was in the OLB group.

From NFL.com:
nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001081870/article/nfls-alltime-team-lawrence-taylor-headlines-defensive-front

DEFENSIVE END (7): Doug Atkins, Bill Hewitt, Deacon Jones*, Gino Marchetti*, Lee Roy Selmon, Bruce Smith, Reggie White.
DEFENSIVE TACKLE (7): Buck Buchanan, Joe Greene, Bob Lilly*, Merlin Olsen, Alan Page*, John Randle, Randy White.
OUTSIDE LINEBACKER (6): Chuck Bednarik, Bobby Bell, Derrick Brooks, Jack Ham, Ted Hendricks, Lawrence Taylor*.
MIDDLE LINEBACKER (6): Dick Butkus*, Jack Lambert, Willie Lanier, Ray Lewis, Joe Schmidt, Junior Seau.
*Denotes unanimous selection.

I find the unanimous choices (or lack thereof) interesting...

JuggernautJ wrote:I find the unanimous choices (or lack thereof) interesting...

Yeah, someone didn’t vote for Reggie White as a DE, Joe Greene as a DT, Jack Ham as an OLB, and Jack Lambert as a MLB. Maybe a Steelers hater in the group

JuggernautJ wrote:I find the unanimous choices (or lack thereof) interesting...

That is interesting. Can track those here also. I've been posting the finalists who did not make it along with who did (anyone else can post them when they come out on Friday's also) so it's easy to look at in list form.

The unanimous choices so far: Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Deacon Jones, Gino Marchetti, Bob Lilly, Alan Page, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus

TanksAndSpartans wrote:

JuggernautJ wrote:I find the unanimous choices (or lack thereof) interesting...

Yeah, someone didn’t vote for Reggie White as a DE, Joe Greene as a DT, Jack Ham as an OLB, and Jack Lambert as a MLB. Maybe a Steelers hater in the group

Or maybe anti-Pennsylvania...

I was surprised to see that Ray Lewis and Merlin Olsen were not unanimous choices.
Glad to see that great Chiefs defense well represented and that Joe Schmidt was remembered.

The 70's had some great defenses...

With Watt not in, Donald not nominated, and Lewis not unanimous, we're starting to see a clear bias against guys who played after 2000. Wonder how they're gonna handle this when the QBs come around. I'd bet anything the same few curmudgeons who didn't vote for Lewis were also the deciding votes on Watt and Tomlinson missing the team.

JameisLoseston wrote:With Watt not in, Donald not nominated, and Lewis not unanimous, we're starting to see a clear bias against guys who played after 2000. Wonder how they're gonna handle this when the QBs come around. I'd bet anything the same few curmudgeons who didn't vote for Lewis were also the deciding votes on Watt and Tomlinson missing the team.

I don't know if that is true, maybe you are right, but the larger point is it would be great to see the voting results.

JameisLoseston wrote:With Watt not in, Donald not nominated, and Lewis not unanimous, we're starting to see a clear bias against guys who played after 2000. Wonder how they're gonna handle this when the QBs come around. I'd bet anything the same few curmudgeons who didn't vote for Lewis were also the deciding votes on Watt and Tomlinson missing the team.

I'd certainly vote for Lewis, but I wouldn't vote for anyone who's still active. A player has to be retired for at least 5 years to be eligible for the HOF; I think he should at least be retired to qualify for the all-time team.

rhickok1109 wrote: I'd certainly vote for Lewis, but I wouldn't vote for anyone who's still active. A player has to be retired for at least 5 years to be eligible for the HOF; I think he should at least be retired to qualify for the all-time team.

Why? And I certainly respect your view, just asking

The 50th and 75th All-Time teams had active guys... Do you mean just the 100th? or that
those two teams shouldn't have had active guys?