January 2, 201313 yr Andre Tippett Dave Wilcox Derrick Thomas Dick Butkus Harry Carson Jack Ham Jack Lambert Junior Seau Kevin Greene Lawrence Taylor Mike Singletary Randy Gradishar Ray Lewis Ray Nitschke Ted Hendricks Willie Lanier Lewis is retiring at the end of the season, and that got me to thinking...how would you order your list of "The Greatest NFL Linebackers Of All Time". These are the guys I could come up with, so feel free to add/subtract whomever you'd like. I'm working on my own ranking.
January 2, 201313 yr The mantle of "greatest" is worn by one of the following: Lewis Butkus Singletary Lambert LT (forgot him)
January 2, 201313 yr I feel like Brian Urlacher should be included in the list, but that is primarily due to my generational bias.
January 2, 201313 yr Top 5 in order: LT Butkus Lewis Singletary Seau That's my list- not written in stone except for the top 2. LT and Butkus are really like 1 and 1A for me.
January 2, 201313 yr 1. LT 2. Ray Lewis Everyone else.... Top 5 in order: LT Butkus Lewis Singletary Seau That's my list- not written in stone except for the top 2. LT and Butkus are really like 1 and 1A for me. Your thoughts on Jack Lambert?
January 2, 201313 yr Your thoughts on Jack Lambert? Don't know enough about him, but from what I've read and seen, I'd imagine he's in the next tier along with Ham, Butkus, etc.
January 2, 201313 yr Almost to hard to make a list considering some of these guys played in a different era of the NFL when no one knew what a forward pass was. Today's LB is a totally different position.
January 2, 201313 yr Author Lawrence Taylor Games Played - 184 Tackles - 1,088 (Avg 5.9 tackles per game) Sacks - 132.5 Ints - 9 Dick Butkus Games Played - 119 Tackles - 1,020 (Avg 8.6 tackles per game) Sacks - Not Recorded Ints - 22 Ray Lewis Games Played (to date) - 228 Tackles (to date) - 1,573 (Avg 6.9 tackles per game) Sacks (to date) - 41.5 Ints (to date) - 31 Mike Singletary Games Played - 179 Tackles - 1,488 (Avg 8.3 tackles per game) Sacks - 19 Ints - 7 Jack Lambert Games Played - 146 Tackles - 1,479 (Avg 10.1 tackles per game) Sacks - 8 Ints - 28
January 2, 201313 yr When I saw the thread title (meaning without seeing the names listed in the first post), the three names that popped into my mind were LT, Ray, & Singletary.
January 2, 201313 yr Admitted Packer fan bias but I like Ray Nitschke and former Steeler, now Packer OLB coach, Kevin Greene.
January 2, 201313 yr I'd go with Butkus, Nitschke, LT, Ray Lewis and then have a list that would include Chris Hanburger, Jack Lambert, LeeRoy Jordan, Sam Huff and London Fletcher.
January 2, 201313 yr Lawrence Taylor Games Played - 184 Tackles - 1,088 (Avg 5.9 tackles per game) Sacks - 132.5 Ints - 9 Dick Butkus Games Played - 119 Tackles - 1,020 (Avg 8.6 tackles per game) Sacks - Not Recorded Ints - 22 Ray Lewis Games Played (to date) - 228 Tackles (to date) - 1,573 (Avg 6.9 tackles per game) Sacks (to date) - 41.5 Ints (to date) - 31 Mike Singletary Games Played - 179 Tackles - 1,488 (Avg 8.3 tackles per game) Sacks - 19 Ints - 7 Jack Lambert Games Played - 146 Tackles - 1,479 (Avg 10.1 tackles per game) Sacks - 8 Ints - 28 Sacks were not counted for a year or so of LT's career if I'm not mistaken.
January 2, 201313 yr Author Sacks were not counted for a year or so of LT's career if I'm not mistaken. Correct you are. Looks like they started keeping that stat in '82 - LT's second season in the NFL. I figure LT up to have a career average of 0.81 sacks per game. Played 16 games his first season - you could potentially boost his career sacks total by about 13 on that basis.
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