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Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 3:21 am
by JameisBrownston
And was he the last semi-regular two-way player? He's listed with 33 catches for 700 yards on offense and 3 interceptions on defense, while credited with only 2 starts (I don't know on what side). What's the story here? Players converting positions usually don't go through a mid-transition phase like this.

Green seems like a very fine HOVG candidate. I imagine we'll start hearing his name on broadcasts a lot once Travis Hunter is drafted. Whenever Hunter does something that hasn't happened in however many decades, Roy Green will probably be the proximal antecedent in a good number of cases. For others, they'll have to go back to guys like Pihos.

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 6:39 am
by Sonny9
Primetime went both ways. In 1996 he had 36 catches and 2 ints

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... ndDe00.htm

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 7:43 am
by rhickok1109
Troy Brown occasionally played on defense for the Patriots in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, he had 39 receptions and 3 interceptions.

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 9:02 am
by conace21
rhickok1109 wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 7:43 am Troy Brown occasionally played on defense for the Patriots in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, he had 39 receptions and 3 interceptions.
IBrown stepped in as a nickel DB in 2004, and that was the year he intercepted three passes. The Patriots had a slew of injuries at DB at midseason. Brown held up surprisingly well on defense, but he was the 4th WR for NE that year, and only caught 17 passes all season.

PFR lists him as a WR/DB in both 2004 and 2005, but I don't think he played defense at all in 2005, as he didn't record a single defensive statistic. Not one tackle or pass defensed.

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 9:55 am
by RichardBak
Sonny9 wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 6:39 am Primetime went both ways. In 1996 he had 36 catches and 2 ints

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... ndDe00.htm
The guy won back-to-back SB w/ 2 different teams, batted .533 in the World Series, one season had 56 stolen bases w/ Reds. Pretty damn incredible.

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 4:03 pm
by GameBeforeTheMoney
Roy Green was a very good player on both sides of the ball. Sanders was a dynamite athlete, as were Bo Jackson and Brian Jordan who also played baseball.

There have been a few guys in college lately that have done it - Hunter included.

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 5:12 pm
by conace21
GameBeforeTheMoney wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 4:03 pm Roy Green was a very good player on both sides of the ball. Sanders was a dynamite athlete, as were Bo Jackson and Brian Jordan who also played baseball.

There have been a few guys in college lately that have done it - Hunter included.
Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson both played on offense and defense in college. I think Bailey was a near "60 minute man" as he caught 47 passes in his final year at Georgia. Woodson didn't play nearly as much as a receiver (he only caught 10 or 11 passes in each of his last two seasons at Michigan), but his cameos on offense and special teams probably gave him a slight boost in the Heisman voting.

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 6:01 pm
by Sonny9
Charley Hannah?

I just found out he played DL his first 2 years before moving to OL. I wonder if he ever played offense and defense the same season

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 11:37 pm
by JohnTurney
Sonny9 wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 6:01 pm Charley Hannah?

I just found out he played DL his first 2 years before moving to OL. I wonder if he ever played offense and defense the same season
I don't believe he did. His move to T was talked about in the summer of 1978 ... but they didn't go through with it ...
and then in Summer of 1979 they made the switch.

Someone may have other info but I don't think he did ...

Re: Was Roy Green a two-way player in 1981?

Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 2:26 pm
by JameisBrownston
Seems like the Green, Sanders, and Brown seasons were all about similar. So maybe we won't hear Green's name so much since he was the earliest and all did just about the same things for one year.

As for college, there's also Myles Jack, Jabrill Peppers, and Adoree Jackson of recent note. All of the names we've mentioned were just moonlighting, though, besides arguably Bailey. How long has it been since someone was recruited on both sides and jumped straight into playing both ways, eventually leading to starting games on both sides and playing nearly every snap, like Hunter has?