Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Question: Lawrence Taylor was likely the best pass rushing OLB, but my understanding is that he wasn't the first. Robert Brazile preceded him.

Did anyone precede Brazile as this type of OLB? Someone of dubious veracity on another site is trying to say Dave Robinson was the first, but given the hooey he's spewing otherwise, I'm very skeptical.

Can anyone shed light on this matter for me? Thanks.

It wasn't Dave RObinson.

Players who got quite a few sacks as OLBer: Wayne Walker, Matt Halzeltine, Chris Hanburger. The thing is they had varying totals year-to-year. All these were weakside linebackers, and it was a trend in the 1960s to dog that player and all of them were in 4-3 defenses. And really, the "rush backer" is usually associated with 3-4 defenses. The Oilers, when they went to the 3-4 did have Brazile in the 2nd year, but in 1974 Ted Washington had 11 sacks, He is the first of the 3-4 LBers to have double-digit sacks, In the 4-3 Walker and Hazeltine had double digit in sacks at least once. The first OLBer to have a monster year was Joel Williams in 1980 when he had 16. Lawrecne Taylor didn't surpass that until 1984.

If you go way back, in the old 5-3 defenses of the 1950s, the DE was more akin to Lawrence Taylor. The best of was Len Ford, who was most of the time in a 2-point stance. He was more of a tradition DE when they moved to a 4-3 defense.

So, it's not one of those easy answers, it's looking at the film and seeing similarities in schemes over generations.