The 51 greatest HBCU players in NFL history

For a very long time, most of the major college football programs wanted nothing to do with Black players. While UCLA did boast the backfield of Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, and Jackie Robinson (yes, that Jackie Robinson) in the late 1930s, that was the exception.

In 1959, Alabama was set to play Penn State in the Liberty Bowl. Alabama’s Board of Trustees threatened to boycott the game because Penn State had an integrated team. As late as 1970, when the Crimson Tide played USC, Bear Bryant’s team had no Black players. Head coach Paul “Bear Bryant” had tried with seven walk-on players in 1967, but none made the team. As Bryant later said, neither the administrators nor the fan base would stand for an integrated team.

Sadly, this was par for the course in certain conferences. Some Southern schools had signed Black players, but in 1966, though half the schools in both conferences had integrated in a general sense, there were still no Black players in either the SEC (the Southeaster Conference) or the SWC (the now-defunct Southwest Conference). The SWC finally broke their ban when Baylor and SMU recruited Black players, but the SEC held out.

That changed after the Alabama-USC game, a 42-21 win for the Trojans in which USC running back Sam Cunningham ran up and down Alabama’s defense, and USC’s long-integrated team beat the daylights out of Bryant’s white team in general. In the end, for competitive reasons alone, those who had blocked Bryant’s calls for integration had to back down.

In the absence of opportunity at those more storied programs, Black players in the South found different ways to succeed — the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) that had been playing football since the late 19th century and were able to bring in some of the greatest football talent ever seen.

While the major Southern programs insisted on institutional racism, HBCUs were able to recruit and benefit from the talents of athletes like these:

Nearly 10 percent of the players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame came from HBCUs, which is an amazing number given the relatively low number of players who were able to break into the NFL after their college successes, given the NFL’s own institutional racism. The NFL had a ban on Black players from 1934 through 1946, and as late as the 1950s, a lot of NFL teams wouldn’t even send their scouts to HBCUs, though all teams were well aware of the talent available.

In 1959, Black players accounted for about 12 percent of NFL rosters. What opened the floodgates was the formation of the American Football League in 1960. The new league had no such ban or quota, and signed the best players regardless of color. Still, per historian Charles K. Ross, of the 173 Black players who played in the NFL between 1946 and 1962, only 42 came from historically Black schools. And from 1946 through 1960, no player from an HBCU was selected higher than the fourth round.

In 1963, the Kansas City Chiefs became the first professional football team in any league to select a player with the first overall pick when they drafted defensive linemen Junius “Buck” Buchannan from Grambling State. The NFL did not see fit to select Buchannan until the New York Giants picked him with the 256th overall selection in the 19th round, because Buchannan had agreed to play for the Chiefs so quickly.

As the AFL grew and became fully competitive with the NFL, the older, more established league finally had to realize that its own racism was shutting it out of some of the best talent football would ever see. It was a long road from that 12 percent to NFL today, where over 70 percent of rosters have Black players, and goodness knows there’s a long way to go when it comes to the coaching and administrative sides of things, but it was the HBCUs who held, fostered, and perfected so much Hall of Fame talent while the bigger and more established schools turned away. The HBCUs built the bridge Black players needed, and the list of players who played at those schools because they had no other options is truly transcendent from a talent perspective.

Here are the 51 best players in NFL history who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities. If you’re not familiar with the history, prepare to be amazed at the names.

1. WR Jerry Rice, Mississippi Valley State

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San Francisco 49ers, 1985-2000 Oakland Raiders, 2001-2004 Seattle Seahawks, 2004 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2010 class. Selected with the 16th overall pick in the first round of the 1985 draft. 13-time Pro Bowler, 10-time All-Pro. 1987 NFL PFWA MVP, 1988 Super Bowl MVP, 1993 NFL AP Offensive Player of the Year, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1980s Team, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1990s Team, NFL 100 All-Time Team. By the time Rice was eligible for the NFL draft, most pro scouting departments had finally eschewed the monumentally stupid practice of ignoring players from HBCU schools. So, Rice was coveted by several teams, including the Cowboys (who were ahead of the game in that department, as you'll see on this list) and the 49ers. Bill Walsh had watched Rice do his thing for Mississippi Valley State on a hotel room television the night before his 49ers were set to play the Houston Oilers on October 21, 1984, and that's all it took. Rice had set NCAA marks for receptions (102) and receiving yards (1,450) in 1983, and broke both records in 1984 with 112 and 1,845. He also had 27 touchdowns in 1984. In the end, Walsh traded up with the Patriots to jump ahead of Dallas for Rice's services, which worked out pretty well. The greatest and most productive receiver in NFL history by an unbreakably crushing margin, and if you were to argue that Rice is the best player in NFL history, you wouldn't get that much pushback. Rice finished his career with 1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards, and 197 receiving touchdowns. Added 87 rushing attempts for 645 yards, and 10 touchdowns. He also had 151 receptions for 2,245 yards and 22 touchdowns in the postseason. Rice led the NFL in receptions twice, in receiving yards six times, and in receiving touchdowns six times.

2. RB Walter Payton, Jackson State

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Chicago Bears, 1975-1987 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1993 class. Selected with the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 1975 draft. 9-time Pro Bowler, 5-time All-Pro. 1977 NFL AP MVP, 1977 NFL AP Offensive Player of the Year, 1977 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year, 1985 NFL Newspaper Ent. Assoc. MVP, 1985 NFL Bert Bell Award (Player of the Year), Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1970s Team, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1980s Team, NFL 100 All-Time Team. Payton received no offers from SEC schools despite his status as a high-school star in Mississippi, which was par for the course at the time. Instead, he signed on with Jackson State, where he played with Jackie Slater and Robert Brazile. He gained 3,600 yards and scored 63 touchdowns on the ground over three seasons. After he was selected fourth overall in the 1975 draft, Payton ran eight times for zero yards in his first NFL game. Suffice to say, things got a lot better from there. With very little around him or in front of his for his first few seasons, Payton gained over 1,000 yards every year from 1976 through 1981, and was only stopped from doing that in 1982 as well by a strike-shortened season., In 1977, he led the league with 1,852 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns on 339 carries, and in that season, he set the NFL single-game record against the Vikings with 275 rushing yards -- he did so despite a 101-degree fever and the flu. That record stood for 23 years. In 1984, Payton broke Jim Brown's career record of 12,312 yards, and that stood until Emmitt Smith broke Payton's own career mark of 16,726 yards years later. As is the case with Jerry Rice, if you wanted to put forth the claim that Payton was the greatest player in NFL history, you shouldn't expect too much debate.

3. OT Art Shell, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

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Oakland Raiders, 1968-1981 Los Angeles Raiders, 1982 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1989 class. Selected with the 80th overall pick in the third round of the 1968 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1970s Team, NFL 100 All-Time Team. Shell is on a very short list of the best offensive tackles in NFL or AFL history, and he also holds the distinction of being the second Black head coach in NFL annals, and the first in the modern era (Fritz Pollard coached the Akron Pros in 1921 and 1925). From 1971 through 1973, Shell was part of a Raiders offensive line that included four future Hall-of-Famers -- Shell himself at left tackle, Gene Upshaw at left guard, Jim Otto at center, and Bob Brown at right tackle. But it was Shell, among the ultimate combinations of technician and mauler, who set the tone on all of his offensive lines.

4. OT Jackie Slater, Jackson State

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Los Angeles Rams, 1976-1994 St. Louis Rams, 1995 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2001 class. Selected with the 86th overall pick in the third round of the 1976 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler. Slater played at Jackson State with Walter Payton and Robert Brazile, and though his talent was obvious as he entered the NFL, it took three seasons before he was named a full-time starter. When that finally happened in 1979, the Rams made their first Super Bowl -- XIII against the Steelers, Though Los Angeles lost that game, Slater shut Pittsburgh defensive end L.C. Greenwood out in the sack column. Greenwood came into that game with five sacks in three other Super Bowls, including four of Roger Staubach in Super Bowl X. As a pro, Slater broke the NFL record for the most seasons with one team, and he blocked for seven different running backs who each gained at least 1,000 yards in a season.

5. DE David “Deacon” Jones, South Carolina State/Mississippi Valley State

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Los Angeles Rams, 1961-1971 San Diego Chargers, 1972-1973 Washington Redskins, 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1980 class. Selected with the 186th overall pick in the 14th round of the 1961 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler, 5-time All-Pro, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1960s Team, NFL 100 All-Time Team. At 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, Jones was one of the first archetypes of the modern defensive end with his size, strength, aggression, speed around the turn, and ability to bull-rush blockers right out of the picture. The most infamous purveyor of the now-illegal head slap ("I didn't invent it, but I perfected it," he was fond of saying), and the inventor of the term "sack" for quarterback takedowns, Jones totaled 173 1/2 sacks in his career by unofficial count. To this day, only Bruce Smith and Reggie White have more career sacks. Unofficially, Jones had 22 sacks in 1964, 21 1/2 in 1967, and 22 again in 1968. Amazingly, Jones almost didn't get his chance. South Carolina State revoked Jones' scholarship after he participated in a civil rights protest, and Mississippi Valley State took him in. Were it not from a tip to the Rams from Bill Nunn, the managing editor of the Pittsburgh Courier who helped forward the Black College All-America teams and later stocked the Steelers' rosters of the 1970s with Hall-of-Fame HBCU talent, Jones may have slipped through the cracks.

6. OG Larry Little, Bethune-Cookman

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San Diego Chargers, 1967-1968 Miami Dolphins, 1969-1980 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1993 class. Undrafted free agent. 5-time Pro Bowler, 5-time All-Pro, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1970s Team. Little was a three-time All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player an an offensive and defensive lineman. But he went undrafted in both the NFL and AFL, and after getting interest from the Chargers, Dolphins, and Colts, he signed with San Diego because the Chargers were offering the biggest signing bonus -- $750! San Diego traded Little to the Dolphins in 1969, which marked his first of five Pro Bowl selections. By the early 1970s, a Dolphins offensive line filled with undrafteds and castoffs from other teams was ready to be the force multiplier for the NFL's best rushing attack, and one of the key cogs in the only undefeated season in NFL history in 1972.

7. LB Willie Lanier, Morgan State

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Kansas City Chiefs, 1967-1977 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1986 class. Selected with the 50th overall pick in the second round of the 1967 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler, 3-time All-Pro, NFL 100 All-Time Team. Before Lanier, it was considered gospel in pro football that Black players simply weren't intelligent enough to play certain positions -- specifically quarterback and middle linebacker, the shot-callers on both sides of the ball. Over an 11-year career in which he became one of the AFL's and NFL's most formidable tacklers and intercepted 27 passes for 440 return yards and two touchdowns, Lanier blew that myth to bits at that position to the point where it could never be taken seriously again. He recorded seven tackles and an interception in the Chiefs' Super Bowl IV win over the Minnesota Vikings, and could have easily been named the game's Most Valuable Player.

8. CB Ken Riley, Florida A&M

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Cincinnati Bengals, 1969-1983 Selected with the 135th overall pick in the sixth round of the 1969 draft. One-time All-Pro. Riley had the most interceptions of any player on this list with 65 in the regular season, and he added three more in seven postseason games, His regular-season mark ties him for fifth all-time in NFL history with Charles Woodson (a Hall-of-Famer) behind only Paul Krause, Emlen Tunnell, Rod Woodson, and Dick "Night Train" Lane -- also all Hall-of-Famers. Not only is Riley the only top-five interception artist who isn't in Canton, he somehow was named to just one Pro Bowl roster, and no All-Pro teams, in his career. Riley finally broke that logjam in his final season of 1983, when he picked off eight passes for 89 return yards and two touchdowns... at age 36. He's also one of 26 cornerbacks in pro football history to play in at least 200 games.

9. QB Steve McNair, Alcorn State

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Houston Oilers, 1995-1996 Tennessee Oilers, 1997-1998 Tennessee Titans, 1999-2005 Baltimore Ravens, 2006-2007 Selected with the third overall pick in the first round of the 1995 draft. 3-time Pro Bowler. 2003 NFL AP MVP (Co-MVP with Peyton Manning). The University of Florida offered McNair a scholarship to play running back, but McNair wanted to play quarterback, which is why he chose Division I-AA Alcorn State instead -- also the preferred college of longtime Packers receiver Donald Driver, and current Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. McNair threw for over 15,000 yards in college, and totaled 6,281 combined yards (5,377 passing yards and 904 rushing yards) and was responsible for 56 touchdowns, in his senior season. He won the Walter Payton Award as the top I-AA player, and finished third in the 1994 Heisman Trophy voting behind Rashawn Slater and Ki-Jana Carter. The then-Houston Oilers selected McNair with the third overall pick in the 1995 draft, and despite the fact that he was the quarterback in a bunch of run-first offenses, he finished sixth in passing attempts (4,544), fifth in completions (2,733), fifth in passing yards (31,304), and tied for sixth in passing touchdowns (174) in his era. 2003 was his banner year, as McNair led the league in yards per attempt, Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, and passer rating, and was named Co-MVP with Peyton Manning. McNair's Titans were also famously one yard away from tying Super Bowl XXXIV against the St. Louis Rams at the end of the 1999 season.

10. DL Willie Davis, Grambling State

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Cleveland Browns, 1958-1959 Green Bay Packers, 1960, 1969 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1981 class. Selected with the 181st overall pick in the 15th round of the 1956 draft. 5-time Pro Bowler, 5-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame team All-1960s Team. We could start and end Davis' credentials for the top 10 on this list with the fact that he was reportedly the only player Vince Lombardi never yelled at. You want more? Sure. The Browns selected Davis in the 1956 draft, but he didn't play until 1958 due to military commitments. Cleveland traded Davis to Green Bay in 1960, which really got the ball rolling for the future Hall-of-Famer. He had been a bit player under Paul Brown, but Lombardi immediately saw what Davis could be, and talked Davis out of going into teaching because he didn't want to play in what he called "the NFL's Siberia." Sack totals were notoriously hard to collate in Davis' era, but he's unofficially credited with over 100 sacks in his career, with 9 1/2 sacks in 1961, 13 in 1962, 8 1/2 in 1963, and at least 14 1/2 in 1964. He was also the epicenter of a series of defenses that led the Packers to five NFL titles and wins in the first two Super Bowls. Packers center Bill Curry once called Davis "the finest combination of leader and player that I ever saw." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRT6kjsIfC0&ab_channel=ClaytonCrumell

11. CB Willie Brown, Grambling State

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Denver Broncos, 1963-1966 Oakland Raiders, 1967-1978 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1984 class. Undrafted free agent. 9-time Pro Bowler, 5-time All-Pro. AFL Hall of Fame 1st team All-1960s Team, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1970s Team, NFL 100 All Time Team. The Houston Oilers signed Brown out of Grambling as an undrafted free agent but cut him in training camp, which has to go down as one of the more remarkable personnel blunders in American Football League history. Instead, Brown was signed by the Denver Broncos, for whom he amassed 15 interceptions over four seasons. But it was the trade to the Oakland Raiders before the 1967 season that formed a perfect marriage between player and scheme. Brown was one of the best bump-and-run cornerbacks in AFL or NFL history, and the Raiders of the time were as aggressive with that particular technique as any team you'll see in any era of pro football. Over 12 years with the Raiders, he grabbed 39 regular-season interceptions for 277 return yards and two touchdowns, adding seven more interceptions for 96 return yards and three more touchdowns in 17 postseason games. Brown's best-known play came in the Raiders' win in Super Bowl XI -- a 75-yard pick-six of Fran Tarkenton which iced Oakland's 32-14 win.

12. CB Mel Blount, Southern University

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Pittsburgh Steelers, 1970-1983 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1989 class. Selected with the 53rd overall pick in the third round of the 1975 draft. 5-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. 1975 NFL AP Defensive Player of the Year, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1980s Team, NFL 100 All Time Team. A general rule of player evaluation: If the NFL creates a rule to lessen your effectiveness, and that rule is named for you over time, you were probably pretty good at your job. That was the case for Blount, whose ability to erase and intimidate receivers with aggressive (to say the least) press coverage all over the field was a hallmark of Pittsburgh's legendary defenses of the 1970s. The Mel Blount Rule, enacted in 1978, decreed that defenders can only make contact with receivers within the first five yards of the line of scrimmage. It created a serious uptick in offensive production, but it didn't stop Blount from picking off 22 regular-season passes and two more in the postseason from 1978 on. In total, Blount had 57 regular-season picks, and four more in the postseason, including a league-leading 11 in 1975.

13. TE Shannon Sharpe, Savannah State

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Denver Broncos, 1990-1999 Baltimore Ravens, 2000-2001 Denver Broncos, 2002-2003 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2011 class. Selected with the 192nd overall pick in the seventh round of the 1990 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler, 4-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1990s Team. Though greats like John Mackey, Ozzie Newsome and Kellen Winslow had already freed the tight end position from the realms of "yeah, he blocks a lot and catches a few passes," Sharpe was also one of the first tight ends in NFL history who could legitimately line up at the "Y iso" position -- the primary receiver detached from the formation -- and nuke defenders all over the field. Despite his success in college, Sharpe wasn't considered a great prospect when he left Savannah State. In a conceit that would be considered hilarious today, he was thought of as too big to be a receiver, and too small to be a true tight end. Survey says? Oops. By the time his career was over, Sharpe had set the all-time records for a tight end in receptions (815), receiving yards (10,060) and receiving touchdowns (62). He was also the first tight end to pass 10,000 receiving yards. As Newsome once said of Sharpe when Newsome was the Baltimore Ravens' general manager, "I think he's a threat when he's on the field. He has to be double-teamed. He's a great route-runner. He's proven that he can make the big plays. That's what separates him. He's a threat." Few truer words have ever been spoken, and Newsome would certainly know.

14. S Ken Houston, Prairie View A&M

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Houston Oilers, 1967-1972 Washington Redskins, 1973-1980 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1986 class. Selected with the 214th overall pick in the ninth round of the 1967 draft. 12-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1970s Team, NFL 100 All-Time Team. Nobody on this list has more Pro Bowl nods than Houston, who was selected for that honor every season from 1968 to 1979. He had to endure some lean years with the Oilers early on, but that didn't diminish his effectiveness -- in 1971, for example, Houston picked off nine passes for 220 return yards and matched his team's win total (four) in interception return touchdowns. A fine punt and kick returner as well, Houston was an early version of the modern do-it-all safety who could play the strong and free positions with equal effectiveness. Houston finished his career with 49 regular-season interceptions for 898 return yards and nine touchdowns, adding one more pick in five postseason games.

15. DT Junious “Buck” Buchanan, Grambling State

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Kansas City Chiefs, 1963-1975 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1990 class. Selected with the first overall pick in the first round of the 1963 AFL draft. Selected with the 256th overall pick in the 19th round of the 1963 NFL draft. 8-time Pro Bowler, 4-time All-Pro. AFL Hall of Fame 2nd team All-1960s Team, NFL 100 All-Time Team. In 1967, the Oakland Raiders selected Texas A&M-Kingsville offensive guard Gene Upshaw with the 17th overall pick in the draft. The primary reason for this, legend tells us, is that the Raiders had no answer for one Junious “Buck” Buchanan, who kept pummeling Oakland's quarterbacks in their preferred "bombs-away" offense. At 6-foot-7 and 270 pounds, Buchanan was a nightmare for all opposing offensive linemen as an occasional defensive end and primary defensive tackle. He's credited with 16 batted passes in the 1967 season alone. The first Black college player selected with the first overall pick in any professional football league, Buchanan was one of the most dominant players at his position in his era.

16. CB Emmitt Thomas, Bishop College

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Kansas City Chiefs, 1966-1978 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2008 class. Undrafted free agent. 5-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. Thomas was one of the primary catalysts of the great Chiefs defenses of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he was also one of many players from HBCUs given to head coach Hank Stram by Lloyd C.A. Wells, the newspaperman and member of Muhammad Ali's entourage who was the first full-time Black scout in any pro football league, and brought Thomas, Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan, and Otis Taylor (all four players are on this list) and many more to the Chiefs. Now that Bill Nunn is in the Hall of Fame, Wells needs to be next. In any event, Thomas totaled 58 interceptions for 937 return yards and five return touchdowns in his great career, including a league-leading 12 picks for 214 yards and two return touchdowns in 1974. He added five more interceptions in the postseason, including four in the Chiefs' 1969 Super Bowl run. A longtime assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, and defensive backs coach after his playing career was over, Thomas last coached for the Chiefs in 2018, and he was the coach tasked to hold the Atlanta Falcons together in 2007 in the infamous aftermath of the Bobby Petrino "era."

17. DE Michael Strahan, Texas Southern

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New York Giants, 1993-2007 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2014 class. Selected with the 40th overall pick in the second round of the 1993 draft. 7-time Pro Bowler, 4-time All-Pro. 2001 NFL AP Defensive Player of the Year, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-2000s Team. Lightly regarded as a high-school prospect because he spent most of his childhood in Germany (his father was an Army major who once beat Ken Norton in a boxing match), Strahan played just one year of American high-school football and received a scholarship offer from Texas Southern. He set a school record with 41.5 sacks, and was named to the Black College Hall of Fame in 2014. The Giants got a steal with Strahan in the second round; he had by far the most sacks in his era with 141.5 (Simeon Rice, Jason Taylor, John Randle, and Bruce Smith finished behind him), and he added 9.5 more sacks in 10 postseason games, including two Super Bowls and one Super Bowl win. Strahan also holds the single-season sack record with 22.5 in 2001 -- in that season, he also led the NFL in forced fumbles with six, and tackles for loss with 24. He led the NFL in sacks once again in 18.5, and that was another season in which he also led the league in tackles for loss with 23.

18. DE Richard Dent, Tennessee State

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Chicago Bears, 1983-1993 San Francisco 49ers, 1994 Chicago Bears, 1995 Indianapolis Colts, 1996 Philadelphia Eagles, 1997 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2001 class. Selected with the 203rd overall pick in the eighth round of the 1983 draft. 4-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. 1985 NFL Super Bowl MVP. Dent was a great player throughout his career, but his 1985 stands out as one of the single greatest seasons any defensive end has ever experienced. In the Bears' Super Bowl year, Dent had two interceptions with a pick-six, a league-high seven forced fumbles, a league-high 17 sacks, and he then helped to define one of the greatest defensive seasons a team has ever enjoyed with six more sacks in three postseason games in which Chicago pitched shutouts in the divisional round against the Giants and in the NFC Championship game against the Rams, and leveled the Patriots, 46-10, in Super Bowl XX. Dent finished that all-time season off with a Super Bowl MVP award. In that game, he had 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a deflected pass. Not bad for a guy who had to sit through 202 draft picks in 1983 to hear his name called in an eighth round that doesn't even exist anymore.

19. Roosevelt Brown, OT, Morgan State

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New York Giants, 1953-1965 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1975 class. Selected with the 322nd overall pick in the 27th round of the 1953 draft. 9-time Pro Bowler, 6-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame team All-1950s Team, NFL 100 All Time Team. A prodigy from the word "go," Brown found himself advancing a few grades in school very early. “I was always a big boy," Brown told the New York Times in 1964. "When I was 6, my mother put me in school and I took a test. I must have passed it because they put me in third grade. No first grade and no second grade. That meant I graduated from high school when I was 15 and from college at 19. When I played my first game for the Giants, in 1953, I was still 19.” When he did hit the NFL after making Bill Nunn's All-America Grid Team (Giants owner Wellington Mara told his front office to select Brown based solely on the linked article), he then became the team's ultimate road-grader and pass-protector. Vince Lombardi, who knew as much or more about offensive line play as any coach who has ever plied his trade, put it succinctly: “When you think of great tackles in professional football, you must think of Rosey Brown.”

20. DB Aeneas Williams, Southern University

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Phoenix Cardinals, 1991-1993 Arizona Cardinals, 1994-2000 St. Louis Rams, 2001-2004 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2014 class. Selected with the 59th overall pick in the third round of the 1991 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler, 3-time All-Pro. 1991 NFL All-Rookie Team, Pro Football Hall of Fame 2nd team All-1990s Team. Williams was not offered a scholarship from any college, went to Southern to focus on academics, and only started playing football again in his junior year. But after bagging 18 interceptions in two seasons, he found himself on the Cardinals' radar -- for better or worse. On a series of Cardinals defenses that spent far more time in the bottom five than the top five in yards and points allowed, Williams was the longtime exception to the rule of mediocrity. During his time with that particular franchise, Williams led the NFL in interceptions with 46, ahead of Rod Woodson, Eugene Robinson, Deion Sanders (who admittedly wasn't targeted enough to come up with more picks), and Eric Allen among defensive backs who played every year from 1991 through 2000. Then, the Cardinals traded Williams to the Rams on the first day of the 2001 draft for second- and fourth-round picks. He eventually switched to free safety, and picked off 18 more regular-season passes in four seasons. In the 2001 postseason, Williams picked off Brett Favre twice for two touchdowns in the divisional round, and intercepted a Donovan McNabb pass late in the NFC Championship game against the Eagles to ensure the Rams' trip to Super Bowl XXXVI. The Rams lost that game to the Patriots, but Williams had announced his presence with authority. Williams finished his career with an incredible 14 defensive touchdowns -- 12 on interceptions, and two more on fumbles. He's on a very short list of the best defensive backs who could play any position required in his era.

21. FB/LB Marion Motley, South Carolina State

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Cleveland Browns, 1946-1953 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1968 class. Undrafted free agent. 1-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame team All-1940s Team, NFL 100 All Time Team. Appropriately, Motley grew up in Canton, Ohio. After high school, he joined the Navy in 1944 and played on a service team coached by Paul Brown. When the war was over, Brown, who very much wanted to break pro football's shameful boycott of Black players that began in 1934, signed Motley (who was working at a steel mill) and defensive lineman Bill Willis to play on his new Cleveland Browns team in the All-America Football Conference. The Browns won all four AAFC titles before joining the NFL along with the Baltimore Colts and San Francisco 49ers. Injuries ended Motley's NFL career early, and though he wanted to be a coach after his playing career was over, he ran into predictable resistance. Nonetheless, he was one of the most dominant running backs in NFL history in a short space, gaining 4,720 yards and scoring 31 touchdowns on just 828 carries. His yards per carry average of 5.7 is a record that still stands. He was also a force as a linebacker -- fellow Hall of Fame running back Joe Perry once called Motley the greatest all-around football player there ever was," and renowned historian Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman believed Motley to be the best player in pro football history.

22. CB Lem Barney, Jackson State

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Detroit Lions, 1967-1977 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1992 class. Selected with the fourth overall pick of the first round in the 1975 draft. 7-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. 1967 NFL AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Football Hall of Fame team All-1960s Team. We might put Barney on this list just because he was cool enough to hang out with Marvin Gaye when the legendary singer was recording the seminal "What's Going On" album -- Barney and teammate Mel Farr can be heard on the title track. Of course, there are many more reasons he's here. From 1967 through 1977, only Vikings safety Paul Krause had more interceptions than Barney's 56 -- Barney tied with Kansas City's Emmitt Thomas for second over that time ahead of Ken Houston, Jake Scott, Mel Renfro, and Ken Riley. Barney had an especially impressive rookie season when he led the NFL with 10 interceptions for 232 return yards and three touchdowns. Barney returned his first target for a touchdown in his first NFL game, and that pass was thrown by Bart Starr. In his final game of the 1967 season, he picked off three passes from Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp in a period of 10 clock minutes, and returned one 71 yards for a touchdown. No fluke, Barney had seven picks in 1970, eight in 1971, and seven more in 1972. A dominant return man as well, Barney also ran the ball five times for 45 yards and punted 113 times for a 35.5 yard average in his career.

23. OT Winston Hill, Texas Southern

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New York Jets, 1963-1976 Los Angeles Rams, 1977 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2020 class. Selected with the 145th overall pick in the 11th round of the 1963 NFL draft. 8-time Pro Bowler. AFL Hall of Fame 2nd team All-1960s Team. A high-school tennis champion who played both sides of the likn at Texas Southern, Hill was selected by the Baltimore Colts in the 11th round of the 1963 NFL draft, but chose instead to sign with the AFL's New York Jets as an undrafted free agent. The irony of that was likely not lost on the Colts when, at the end of the 1968 season, Hill did a great deal to hold Baltimore's all-time defense at bay in Super Bowl III as the Jets performed one of the biggest upsets in sports history. An excellent pass-protector with lightfeet (perhaps from his tennis days?), Hill was also perfectly capable of gashing opposing defensive lines with pure power, as he frequently did to the Colts' usually amazing front in that Super Bowl.

24. WR Charlie Joiner, Grambling State

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Houston Oilers, 1969-1971 Houston Oilers/Cincinnati Bengals, 1972 Cincinnati Bengals, 1973-1975 San Diego Chargers, 1976-1986 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1996 class. Selected with the 93rd overall pick of the fourth round in the 1969 AFL draft. 3-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. When Joiner retired after the 1986 season, he did so with the most receptions (750), receiving yards (12,146) and games played (239) of any receiver in NFL history. Of course, Joiner retired after Jerry Rice's second NFL season, and most records are made to be broken... but there's little doubt that Joiner was one of the best receivers of his -- or any -- era. Joiner didn't play high school football until his junior year, but he did so well enough to receive a scholarship offer from the legendary Eddie Robinson at Grambling, and caught passes from James Harris when he was there. Incredibly, Joiner started his NFL career as a defensive back -- the switch to receiver was made after Joiner had his block knocked off by Broncos running back Floyd Little in Joiner's rookie season. He caught just seven passes for 77 yards in 1969, and just 82 catches for 1,480 yards and 12 touchdowns over nearly four seasons with the Oilers. Traded to the Bengals in 1972, Joiner had similarly anonymous numbers through four seasons -- 82 catches for 1,463 yards, and six touchdowns, though he did set a franchise record with 200 yards against the Browns in 1975.. But when the Bengals traded him to the Chargers before the 1976 season, Joiner proved to be a perfect part of Don Coryell's "Air Coryell" passing game, and it was in San Diego over 11 seasons that he caught 586 passes for 9,203 yards and 47 touchdowns. Sometimes, all it takes is the right home.

25. DT Roger Brown, Maryland Eastern Shore

(AP Photo/File)

Detroit Lions, 1960-1966 Los Angeles Rams, 1967-1969 Selected with the 42nd overall pick of the fourth round in the 1960 draft. 6-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. With all the talk last season about the Steelers setting the record for consecutive games with at least one quarterback sack, there was a franchise that was ignored in that equation. From 1960 through 1965, the Detroit Lions set the real record with a sack in 76 straight games with the dominant front seven that included Brown, Alex Karras, Wayne Walker, and Joe Schmidt. If you include postseason games, the 1970s Cowboys defenses that included Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Jethro Pugh -- two more players on this list -- also had at least one quarterback takedown in 76 straight games. But we're talking specifically about Roger Brown here. Best-known for his performance in the 1962 "Thanksgiving Day Massacre" against the Packers in which he sacked Bart Starr seven times, including once for a safety, Brown played on more than one historically great defensive line. When Rosey Grier lost the rest of his career to a torn Achilles tendon in 1966, Rams head coach George Allen was desperate to keep the legendary "Fearsome Foursome" front four together, and traded for Brown's services in exchange for first-, second-, and third-round draft picks. Brown's career is lost to the general football-watching public to the vagaries of of the pre-1982 era when sack totals weren't officially kept, and though he wasn't as big a name as Karras, Merlin Olsen, or Deacon Jones, Brown could hit his weight with any defensive lineman in the NFL during his estimable career.

26. CB Everson Walls, Grambling State

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Dallas Cowboys, 1981-1989 New York Giants, 1990-1991 New York Giants/Cleveland Browns, 1992 Cleveland Browns, 1993 Undrafted free agent. 4-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. 1981 NFL All-Rookie Team. Walls hasn't made the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite his 61 interceptions over 14 seasons, but at least one of his former coaches has no issue endorsing Walls for his own bust in Canton. "Everson did it in a different system -- a lot of man-to-man coverage in Dallas," this coach said. "When I had him at the Giants, he played safety and called signals for us. Played corner and safety for me at Cleveland. He's a very versatile player." "So Everson, I think he's a good football player. Other guys might test better on an athletic test, but in terms of seeing the ball, route recognition, key plays in big games, awareness, all those kind of things, Everson is near the top of my list in that group. I loved coaching Everson. He's a really good guy to coach." Given the years and locations, you may have already surmised that the coach in question is former Giants defensive coordinator and Browns head coach Bill Belichick. Walls also played for Tom Landry, who pretty much invented modern defense, for Jimmy Johnson in Walls' last and Johnson's first year in Dallas, and the great Eddie Robinson at Grambling (not to mention Giants head coach Bill Parcells), so it's safe to say that he had quite the lineup of coaches to impress, and he always did. During the years of Walls' career, only Ronnie Lott had more interceptions than Walls' 57. A walk-on at Grambling, Walls eventually earned a scholarship, and transcended the "too slow" label NFL scouts had put on him, which led to his undrafted status.

27. DE Claude Humphrey, Tennessee State

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Atlanta Falcons, 1968-1978 Philadelphia Eagles, 1979-1981 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2014 class. Selected with the third overall pick in the first round of the 1968 draft. 6-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. 1968 NFL AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. Humphrey had the dual misfortune of playing his prime years with a series of mostly poor Falcons teams, though he was a key part of the "Grits Blitz" defense that terrorized every opposing quarterback it faced in 1977, and the fact that he retired the year before sack totals became official. He may be most famous for getting called for roughing the passer with the Eagles in Super Bowl XV, picking up the flag, and throwing it at official Ben Dreith. Of course, that's not why Humphrey eventually made the Hall of Fame -- that would be his 126 1/2 sacks (unofficial), including 10 1/2 in his rookie season, and 9 1/2 sacks in the "Grits Blitz" season, when the 1977 Falcons set an NFL record for points allowed with 129..

28. DE/DT Coy Bacon, Jackson State

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Dallas Cowboys, 1967 Los Angeles Rams, 1968-1972 San Diego Chargers, 1973-1975 Cincinnati Bengals, 1976-1977 Washington Redskins, 1978-1981 Undrafted free agent. 3-time Pro Bowler. It took a while for Lander McCoy Bacon to find his home in pro football, and it clearly wasn't going to be in Texas. Bacon tried out for the Houston Oilers in 1964, but was released when it was discovered that he had not graduated from Jackson State. After a few cups of coffee in the Continental Football League, Bacon landed on the Cowboys' practice squad in 1967, but wasn't a great fit, as he was a "pin your ears back" pass-rusher, and Dallas' flex defense demanded more discipline. Dallas traded him to the Rams in 1968 for a fifth-round pick, and Bacon saw some time on the "Fearsome Foursome" front due to injuries to defensive tackle Roger Brown (also on this list) and end Lamar Lundy's retirement. Bacon played at a Pro Bowl level for the Rams in 1971 and 1972, kicking inside at times when Los Angeles featured a three-DE speed-rush package. But in 1973, the Rams traded Bacon and running back Bob Thomas to the Chargers for quarterback John Hadl. Among the reasons for the trade is that new head coach Chuck Knox thought Bacon didn't play the run well enough, which is like trading in your Ferrari for a used pickup truck because your Ferrari won't tow anything. But it was after Bacon was traded to the Bengals for receiver Charlie Joiner that he really went off at a historical level. In 1976, Bacon was unofficially credited with 21 1/2 sacks, which would have been the NFL record if official until Mark Gastineau had 22 sacks in 1984. Bacon also had 15 sacks in 1979 and 11 in 1980 for the Redskins, and finished his career with 130 1/2 quarterback takedowns.

29. DB Donnie Shell, South Carolina State

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Pittsburgh Steelers, 1974-1987 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2020 class. Undrafted free agent. 5-time Pro Bowler, 3-time All-Pro. The Steelers' 1974 draft haul, which produced four Hall-of-Famers in Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Jack Lambert, and Mike Webster and is rightly considered the greatest single draft in NFL history, is actually even better than you think it was if you include the addition of undrafted free agent Donnie Shell. That's five Hall-of-Famers in one rookie haul, kids. Not bad at all. Shell finished his career with 51 regular-season interceptions, tied for 16th all-time, and he added two more in 19 postseason games. Undrafted despite his All-American and All-Conference honors, he was yet another player directed to the Steelers through the auspices of super-scout Bill Nunn, who had the ultimate bead on HBCU players, and was also inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020 -- an honor in Nunn's case that took far too long.

30. CB Lemar Parrish, Lincoln University

(AP Photo/Cook)

Cincinnati Bengals, 1970-1977 Washington Redskins, 1978-1981 Buffalo Bills, 1982 Selected with the 163rd overall pick in the seventh round of the 1970 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. ' Imagine you're a quarterback facing the Bengals in any season from 1970 through 1977. Your opposing right cornerback is Ken Riley (also on this list), and your opposing left cornerback is Lemar Parrish. That's 112 combined career interceptions for nine touchdowns in just the regular season, so you might be better off checking to a run play most of the time. A running back and dynamite punt returner in college, Parrish took the latter skill with him to the NFL, with five return touchdowns in his pro career. But it was as a defensive back that Parrish would really leave his mark. From 1970 through 1982, only Mel Blount, Riley, and Jake Scott had more interceptions, and Parrish added four interception return touchdowns and three fumble return touchdowns to his resume. In 1979 and 1980, at the ages of 32 and 33, he totaled 16 interceptions for the Redskins.

31. RB Leroy Kelly, Morgan State

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Cleveland Browns, 1964-1973 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1994 class. Selected with the 110th overall pick in the eighth round of the 1964 draft. 6-time Pro Bowler, 3-time All-Pro. 1968 NFL Bert Bell Award (Player of the Year), Pro Football Hall of Fame team All-1960s Team. Jim Brown was an impossible act to follow, but Kelly did his level best for the Browns following Brown's retirement after the 1965 season at the age of 30. From 1964 through 1973, no back in either the NFL or AFL had more attempts (1,727), rushing yards, (7,274) or rushing touchdowns (74) than Kelly. He led both leagues in attempts, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns in both 1967 and 1968, and added the lead in yards per carry in 1966 and 1967. Kelly also led pro football in rushing touchdowns in 1966, and he returned 94 punts for 990 yards and 3 touchdowns, and 76 kickoffs for 1,784 yards in his career.

32. WR Bob Hayes, Florida A&M

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Dallas Cowboys, 1965-1974 San Francisco 49ers, 1975 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2009 class. Selected with the 88th overall pick in the seventh round of the 1964 NFL draft. Selected with the 105th overall pick in the 14th round of the 1964 AFL draft. 3-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Before he became one of the NFL's best vertical receivers, Hayes was one of the world's most prominent track stars -- he he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash in 1962, became the first person to break the six-second mark in the 60-yard dash, and set several records and won two gold medals at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics despite running on a chewed-up track on borrowed spikes. The Cowboys had already selected him in the 1964 draft before the Olympics, His effect on enemy defenses was immediate -- in his first two NFL seasons, Hayes caught 110 passes for 2,235 yards and 25 touchdowns. Hayes is sometimes credited with the advent of both the zone defense and the advancement of bump-and-run coverage to try and contain him. He never had another 1,000-yard season after those first two (though he had 998 yards in 1968), but he averaged a league-high 26.1 yards per catch in 1970, and 24.0 yards per catch in 1971. He was also a dynamic punt and kick returner. Not just a straight-line speed guy, Hayes developed outstanding route awareness and a Gumby-like catch radius to make him one of the most imposing receivers in NFL history from a Peak Value perspective. If you've never seen Hayes at his best, think of Tyreek Hill playing in the 1960s, and that's a pretty good approximation.

33. LB Harry Carson, South Carolina State

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New York Giants, 1976-1988 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2006 class. Selected with the 105th overall pick in the first round of the 1976 draft. 9-time Pro Bowler. 1976 NFL All-Rookie Team. At South Carolina State, Carson became the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player to win consecutive Defensive Player of the Year honors, and he recorded 117 tackles and 17 sacks in 1975 for a defense that posted six shutouts and also included future Steelers Hall of Fame defensive back Donnie Shell (also on this list). For the Giants, Carson became one of the most important parts of one of the greatest defenses of his era, in a linebacker corps with Brian Kelley, Brad Van Pelt, and Lawrence Taylor. In his career, Carson had 11 interceptions for 212 return yards, eight official sacks and 11 more before sacks were recorded as an official statistic. It took him far too long to make the Hall of Fame, but Bill Belichick, the Giants' defensive coordinator from 1985-1990, later said that Carson was the best linebacker he ever coached.

34. DE Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Tennessee State

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Dallas Cowboys, 1974-1989 Selected with the first overall pick in the first round of the 1974 draft. 3-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. 1974 NFL All-Rookie Team. One of two players on this list to be selected with the first overall pick in either an AFL or NFL draft (Junious "Buck" Buchanan was the other, selected first overall by the Chiefs in the 1963 AFL draft), Jones received his nickname during his first practice at Tennessee State when a teammate posited that his football pants didn't fit, and he was "too tall to play football." That didn't seem to affect Jones' future. He put up 106 career sacks, with 57.5 of them official, and he added 12 sacks in 20 postseason games. Jones left the Cowboys to attempt a professional boxing career and returned to the team in 1980.

35. WR Harold Jackson, Jackson State

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Los Angeles Rams, 1968 Philadelphia Eagles, 1969-1972 Los Angeles Rams, 1973-1977 New England Patriots, 1978-1981 Minnesota Vikings, 1982 Seattle Seahawks, 1983 Selected with the 323rd overall pick in the 12th round of the 1968 draft. 5-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. The Rams didn't know what they had with the 323rd overall pick in 1968 -- Jackson didn't catch a single pass for them in his rookie season, and they traded him to the Eagles before the 1969 season, in which Jackson caught 65 passes for a league-leading 1,116 yards and nine touchdowns. Jackson also led the NFL in receptions (62) and receiving yards (1,048) in 1972, his final year in Philly. The Eagles then traded Jackson back to the Rams for quarterback Roman Gabriel, who then led his new team in attempts, completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. But it was a pretty good deal for the Rams, as well. Jackson led the league in receiving touchdowns in 1973, and proved to be the most prolific receiver of the decade. From 1970 through 1979, no receiver had more receptions (432), receiving yards (7,724), or receiving touchdowns (61) than Jackson. He added 24 catches for 548 yards and five touchdowns in 14 postseason games. A longtime college and NFL coach after his playing career, Jackson wound up coaching at his alma mater in 2014 and 2015.

36. WR Harold Carmichael, Southern University

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Philadelphia Eagles, 1971-1983 Dallas Cowboys, 1984 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2020 class. Selected with the 161st overall pick in the seventh round of the 1975 draft. 4-time Pro Bowler. 1980 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year, Pro Football Hall of Fame 2nd team All-1970s Team. A walk-on at Southern, Carmichael starred in football, track, and basketball with a 6-foot-8, 225 pound frame he used to physically dominate opposing defensive backs. That extended to his NFL career -- his battles with 5-foot-9, 170-pound Redskins cornerback Pat Fischer were fairly legendary -- and he led the NFL with 67 receptions for 1,116 yards in his third season of 1973. Carmichael never again amassed "black type" numbers in his career, but that was more about the fact that the Eagles struggled to find consistent quarterback play through much of the decade until Ron Jaworski found himself in the latter part of the decade, and Sid Gillman started to run the Eagles' passing game behind the scenes. In the Eagles' first Super Bowl season of 1980, Carmichael caught 48 passes for 815 yards and nine touchdowns, adding 13 catches for 174 yards and another touchdown in the postseason. In that same season, he set what was then the NFL record with a catch in 127 consecutive games.

37. OL Nate Newton, Florida A&M

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Dallas Cowboys, 1986-1998 Carolina Panthers, 1999 Undrafted free agent. 6-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Newton was known primarily for his fondness for Stubbs sandwiches and keeping candy bars in his socks for in-game snacking, but comedy aside, he was one of the best guards of his era. At 6-foor-3 and a "yeah, right" listed weight of 318 pounds, Newton tried football with the Redskins in 1984 and the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL before signing a contract with the Cowboys in 1986. It wasn't until Jimmy Johnson became the Cowboys' head coach in 1989 that Newton really found his stride -- first at right tackle, and then at left guard when Erik Williams proved to be even better at Newton's old position. Thus became the "Great Wall of Dallas," one of the NFL's best-ever offensive lines. Though he struggled with his weight throughout his career, he was also a physically imposing player, capable of forklifting and cockroach-clicking anybody in front of him. Only Larry Allen has been to more Pro Bowls (10) among Dallas offensive linemen in franchise history.

38. DE Robert Mathis, Alabama A&M

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Indianapolis Colts, 2003-2016 Selected with the 138th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2003 draft. 5-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. The most recent HBCU player on this list (current Saints left tackle and Arkansas-Pine Bluff alum Terron Armstead just barely missed the cut), Mathis combined with Dwight Freeney to make the Colts' pass of the 2000s and early 2010s a mahor problem for opposing quarterbacks. Mathis set an NCAA I-AA record with 20 sacks during his senior season, and after a three-sack total in his rookie campaign, Mathis hit the ground running with 22 sacks in the next two seasons. Mathis finished his career with 123 regular-season sacks, which ranks fourth from 2003 through 2016 behind only DeMarcus Ware, Jared Allen, and Julius Peppers. Mathis added 6.5 more sacks in 18 postseason games and 11 postseason starts. Perhaps his most amazing feat was putting up 19.5 sacks and forcing 10 fumbles -- both league-high totals -- at age 32 in 2013. Mathis leads all 32 year-old players in sacks; Michael Strahan finished second with 18.5 a decade before.

39. DE/LB Rich “Tombstone” Jackson, Southern University

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Oakland Raiders, 1966 Denver Broncos, 1967-1971 Denver Broncos,/Cleveland Browns, 1972 Undrafted free agent. 3-time Pro Bowler, 3-time All-Pro. AFL Hall of Fame 2nd team All-1960s Team. The Broncos never had a winning record in the years Jackson did his thing with them, and his career was shortened by a 1971 knee injury. As such, he may have been doomed to relative obscurity were it not for the efforts of the legendary Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman, who often said that at his peak, Jackson might have been the greatest pass-rusher he'd ever seen. And as you may know, Dr. Z had seen a lot. As they say, tape don't lie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRbPRA-UNNQ&ab_channel=BCFHOF Jackson finished his career with just 43 sacks, but 31 of those came in his peak time between 1968 and 1970. Jackson did that without a ton of talent around him, and if you ask anybody who was around in that era, they'd tell you that under different circumstances, Jackson would be a more well-known name, and quite possibly a Hall-of-Famer.

40. DT Larry Brooks, Virginia State

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Los Angeles Rams, 1972-1982 Selected with the 355th overall pick in the 14th round of the 1976 draft. 5-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. Per the research of Pro Football Journal's John Turney, in the decade Brooks started for the Rams' defense (1972-1981), Los Angeles allowed the fewest yards in the NFL, allowed the second fewest rushing yards, sacked the most quarterbacks, allowed the second-fewest points, allowed the fewest passing yards, allowed the third-best defensive passer rating, allowed the second-fewest rushing touchdowns, and picked off the fifth most passes. Brooks was a big part of that. And in 1976, Brooks put up 14 1/2 sacks in a 14-game season -- a record for Rams defensive tackles that stood until some guy named Aaron Donald broke it in 2018 with 20.5. Over his career as a starter, Brooks averaged 7½ stuffs, 9 sacks, and 80 tackles per season. If you want to see Brooks completely demolish John Hannah, one of the best guards in NFL history, in the 1980 season, you can do so here.

41. OT/TE Rayfield Wright, Fort Valley State

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Dallas Cowboys, 1967-1979 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2006 class. Selected with the 182nd overall pick in the seventh round of the 1967 draft. 6-time Pro Bowler, 3-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame 1st team All-1970s Team. The Cowboys' scouting departments, which were the first to use computers in 1960s and cast a wide net back when most teams didn't, have not been given the credit they deserved in reaching out to great HBCU players, but the fact that there are Cowboys draftees all over this list tells the story. Wright, another such player, went to Fort Valley State to play basketball (at 6-foot-6 and 255 pounds, he was going to be tough in the paint). Eventually, head football coach Stan Lomax encouraged Wright to quit his summer job at a mill to prepare for football. Lomax tried Wright just about everywhere on the field -- free safety, tight end, defensive end, and punter. Wright started just four games with the Cowboys in his first three seasons, though he did catch two passes for 27 yards total in 1968 and 1969. But a strong performance against Deacon Jones in Week 10 of the 1969 season cemented his starting status at right tackle in 1970. Through the 1970s, he was a rock in an offense that spent more time in the top three in yards gained and points scored than not, and Wright was the best offensive lineman on Cowboys teams that played in five Super Bowls and won two of them. As Vikings Hall of Fame defensive end Carl Eller once said, "Having an all-day fight with Rayfield Wright definitely is not my idea of a pleasant Sunday afternoon." "He was absolutely the best," Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach concluded of Wright's excellence. "Rayfield was a big, strong guy that was able to transfer his size and strength from tight end to tackle. He also had such quick feet that he was able to deal with some of the faster defensive ends and even the linebacker blitzes. If he got beat, I don't remember it." That's two Hall-of-Famers with strong words about Rayfield Wright, who deserves his own bust in Canton.

42. WR Otis Taylor, Prairie View A&M

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Kansas City Chiefs, 1965-1975 Selected with the 29th overall pick in the fourth round of the 1965 AFL draft. Selected with the 203rd overall pick in the 15th round of the 1965 NFL draft. 3-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Taylor is best known for the 46-yard touchdown reception he took in from Len Dawson to sock things away for the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV against the Vikings, but he was also one of the first prototypes of the modern receiver with his size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds), physical nature, downfield acceleration, and ability to win at the catch point. During his career, Taylor ranked fifth in receptions (410; tied with Lance Alworth, who's in the Hall of Fame), sixth in receiving yards (7,306; more than Don Maynard, who's in the Hall of Fame), and tied for sixth in touchdowns (49; also more than Maynard, who was considered the preeminent deep threat of his era). If you get the idea that we're stanning for Taylor to get his bust in Canton, you are absolutely correct.

43. DT/DE Jethro Pugh, Elizabeth City State

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Dallas Cowboys, 1965-1978 Selected with the 145th overall pick in the 11th round of the 1965 draft. Pugh had a great career with the Cowboys, and his peak was something else: He had 73 sacks (unofficial) from 1967 through 1972, and 15 1/2 sacks in 1968. To put that in perspective, Aaron Donald has 85.5 sacks in a seven-year career. You would have to go quite a ways to find a ton of defensive tackles, especially in the 14-game era, who can boast such numbers. His career total of 95.5 puts him sixth all-time in Cowboys history, and the only reason he was never voted to a Pro Bowl is that he had to deal with the recognition given to Bob Lilly at the start of his career, and Randy White at the end of his career.

44. OT Erik Williams, Central State

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Dallas Cowboys. 1991-2000 Baltimore Ravens, 2001 Selected with the 70th overall pick in the third round of the 1991 draft. 4-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Were it not for a 1994 car accident in which he suffered a torn ACL and PCL, as well as thumb and rib injuries, Williams would probably be in the Hall of Fame. He was certainly on the track. Grades kept him out of Division I, so he went with Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio instead. A high school defensive lineman, Williams moved to left offensive tackle in college and was dominant enough to help the Marauders to the 1990 NAIA national championship in an offense that averaged 492 yards and 54.8 points per game, setting an NAIA record with 592 points. Williams started just three games in his rookie year with the Cowboys, but he shut Reggie White out from a sack perspective in his second season in both Week 4 and Week 8 in a season where White posted 14 sacks for the Eagles, and that was that. Williams became the only Cowboys offensive lineman ever to win the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Dallas inserted Williams at right tackle, moved Nate Newton to left guard, and that was the final piece in the "Great Wall of Dallas" line of the 1990s, one of the greatest front fives in NFL history. Williams was never quite the same after the accident, but at his prime? Hoo boy. As analyst and former Packers scout Bryan Broaddus wrote on the Cowboys' official site in 2012:

Williams finished his career with the Ravens in 2001, and as great as he was, there's always going to be an element of what might have been.

45. DE Elvin Bethea, North Carolina A&T

(AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky, File)

Houston Oilers, 1968-1983 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2003 class. Selected with the 77th overall pick in the third round of the 1968 draft. 8-time Pro Bowler. The Houston Oilers and New England Patriots were the first NFL teams to switch to a full-time base 3-4 defense, and both did so in the mid-1970s. Houston head coach Bum Phillips had tried to run the 3-4 as San Diego's defensive coordinator in the late 1960s, but head coach Sid Gillman didn't believe in it. But in 1975, when Bum got his first head coaching job, he was going to run his defense -- which he had already done as Gillman's defensive coordinator in Houston the year before -- and he needed a table-setter. It didn't take Phillips long to realize that he had that guy in Bethea, who set a career high with 16 (unofficial) sacks in 1973 on a 1-13 Oilers squad. As the right defensive end in that 3-4, Bethea was just about unblockable in conjunction with nose guard Curley Culp and outside linebacker Robert Brazile. He finished his career with 106 sacks and finally made the Hall of Fame in 2003.

46. DE/DT/LB Carl Hairston, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

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Philadelphia Eagles, 1976-1983 Cleveland Browns, 1984-1989 Phoenix Cardinals, 1990 Selected with the 191st overall pick in the seventh round of the 1976 draft. Credited with 94 sacks during his career (unofficial) including 17 in 1979, Hairston preceded Reggie White as the mainstay of the Eagles' defensive line before moving on to Cleveland and Phoenix. He never made a Pro Bowl, and he was justifiably unhappy about his 1979 snub. Former Browns head coach Marty Schottenheimer gave Hairston his first coaching opportunity as the Chiefs' defensive line coach

47. QB Doug Williams, Grambling State

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1978-1982 Washington Redskins, 1986-1989 Selected with the 17th overall pick in the first round of the 1978 draft. 1978 NFL All-Rookie Team, 1987 NFL Super Bowl MVP. Williams' legacy is a complicated one, as is the case for every Black quarterback who plied his trade before NFL teams pulled their heads out regarding that particular subject. He was one of the primary reasons the Buccaneers went from losing their first 26 games as a franchise in 1976 and 1977 to nearly winning the NFC Championship game against the Rams near the end of the 1979 season, but even as his efficiency increased in 1980 and 1981, he was about to find a schism in what the team thought he was worth. Williams had been paid $120,000 per season, the lowest salary for any starting quarterback in the league, and less money than most backups were making. After the 1982 season, Williams asked for a raise to $600,000 per year, and team owner Hugh Culverhouse refused to move from his offer of $400,000. Williams responded by leaving the team and signing with the Oklahoma Outlaws of the USFL. Joe Gibbs, who was Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator in 1978 and was tasked by head coach John McKay to study Williams out of college, put this in his scouting report:

So, it should not have come as much of a surprise that when Williams returned to the NFL in 1986, it was with Gibbs' Redskins -- first as a backup to Jay Schroeder, and then as the starter in time for his historic performance in Super Bowl XXII. Not only did Williams become the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, he was named the game's Most Valuable Player after throwing four touchdown passes in the second quarter of a 42-10 rout. Williams completed 41 of 84 passes for 666 yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions in the 1987 postseason. Williams played in the NFL through the 1989 season, finishing his career with 100 touchdown passes and 89 interceptions, but we're left with a whole lot of what might have been had Williams not been lowballed by his first team, and he hadn't lost several years of NFL time as a result.

48. LB Greg Lloyd, Fort Valley State

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Pittsburgh Steelers, 1988-1997 Carolina Panthers, 1998 Selected with the 150th overall pick in the sixth round of the 1987 draft. 5-time Pro Bowler, 3-time All-Pro. One of the most intimidating defensive players of his era, Lloyd was picked up by the Steelers after he won three All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) nods, three team Defensive MVP awards, and the SIAC Player of the Year award in his senior season. In the 1990s, Lloyd was a big part of the resurgence of Pittsburgh's defense -- the "Blitzburgh" teams under defensive coordinators Dom Capers and Dick LeBeau. The linebacker group was especially great with Lloyd, Hall-of-Famer Kevin Greene, Levon Kirkland (who weighed 270 pounds and moved like he weighed 240), and Chad Brown. In every season from 1992 through 1996, the Steelers ranked in the top 10 in points allowed. Lloyd finished his career with 791 total tackles, 11 interceptions for 189 return yards, 35 forced fumbles, and 54.5 sacks. He picked up three more sacks in nine playoff games.

49. DE L.C. Greenwood, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

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Pittsburgh Steelers, 1969-1981 Selected with the 238th overall pick in the 10th round of the 1969 NFL draft. 6-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. Pro Football Hall of Fame 2nd team All-1970s Team. Greenwood was one of the four pillars of the Steel Curtain defensive front, along with Dwight White, Ernie Holmes, and Joe Greene. At 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds, Greenwood was the longest and lankiest of the four, and his specialty was pressure from the edge. Unfortunately, he retired the year before sack totals became official, but he's unofficially credited with 73 1/2 career quarterback takedowns, and he saved his best for the biggest games -- he batted down two Fran Tarkenton passes in Pittsburgh's Super Bowl IX win over the Vikings, and sacked Roger Staubach four times when the Steelers beat the Cowboys in Super Bowl X.

50. CB Albert Lewis, Grambling State

(Herb Weitman-USA TODAY Sports)

Kansas City Chiefs, 1983-1993 Los Angeles Raiders, 1994 Oakland Raiders, 1995-1998 Selected with the 61st overall pick in the third round of the 1983 draft. 4-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro. A 6-foot-2, 198-pound cornerback with 4.4 speed, Lewis finished his NFL career with 42 interceptions for 403 yards and one return touchdown. He was also responsible for 12.5 sacks, 13 forced fumbles, 13 fumble recoveries for 30 yards and one touchdown. He also blocked 10 career punts. Lewis probably would have had far more interceptions -- he tied for seventh during his career -- if he had been targeted more often, but after his first few years in the league, opposing quarterbacks knew better than to do that.

51. WR John Stallworth, Alabama A&M

(Tony Tomsic-USA TODAY NETWORK)

Pittsburgh Steelers, 1974-1987 Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2002 class. Selected with the 82nd overall pick in the fourth round of the 1974 draft. 3-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro. 1984 NFL PFWA Comeback Player of the Year. One of the four Hall-of-Famers selected by the Steelers in the 1974 draft, Stallworth famously wound up in Pittsburgh in part because the Steelers refused to share Stallworth's college films with other teams -- which led to the standardization of tape sharing. Whoops. In any event, Stallworth finished his career with 537 receptions for 8723 yards and 63 touchdowns, adding 57 more catches for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns in 18 postseason games, including some of the most acrobatic catches in Super Bowl history. Stallworth ranks in the top seven in his era in each of those categories even without the playoff numbers, so the occasional argument that his stats don't merit a bust in Canton don't hold much water.

Honorable Mentions

Denver Broncos' quarterback Craig Morton (7) tires to get set for the crunching blow from Houston Oilers' Robert Brazile (52) after being upended by Oilers' cornerback Zeke Moore (22) in the second quarter of their game in Houston, Dec. 5, 1977. Morton picked up 11 yards around his left end on a keeper. Denver took the game 24-14. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky)

How stacked with talent is this top 51? Here are the players I studied who didn't make the cut. Not easy decisions to make. OLB Robert Brazile, Jackson State WR Jimmy Smith, Jackson State LB Isiah Robertson, Southern University OT Terron Armstead, Arkansas-Pine Bluff WR Donald Driver, Alcorn State OT Howard Ballard, Alabama A&M WR John Gilliam, South Carolina State OG/OT Herbert Scott, Virginia Union University OL Henry Lawrence, Florida A&M DB Antoine Bethea, Howard University RB Rickey Young, Jackson State DE/DT Julius Adams, Texas Southern DE Verlon Biggs, Jackson State CB Rashean Mathis, Bethune-Cookman WR Ken Burrough, Texas Southern OT Terron Armstead, Arkansas-Pine Bluff DE Hugh Douglas, Central State HB/DB Clem Daniels, Prairie View A&M CB Johnny Sample, Maryland-Eastern Shore DE Len Ford, Morgan State WR John Taylor, Delaware State CB Ashley Ambrose, Mississippi Valley State RB/LB Tank Younger, Grambling State DT Ernie Ladd, Grambling State DB Jim Kearney, Prairie View A&M TE Raymond Chester, Morgan State RB Emerson Boozer, Maryland-Eastern Shore WR Jake Reed, Grambling State WR Homer Jones, Texas Southern QB James Harris, Grambling State CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Tennessee State DE/DT Jim Lee Hunt, Prairie View A&M WR Sammy White, Grambling State DB James Hunter, Grambling State RB Willie Galimore, Florida A&M CB Robert James, Fisk University TE Ben Coates, Livingstone College

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