15 Greatest NFL Draft Steals of All-Time
By Daniel Tran
2. Deacon Jones
Fear is a powerful weapon, and no used it more effectively than Deacon Jones. However, he did not start off as the most intimidating force in the NFL. In fact, his 186th overall selection in the 14th round of the 1961 NFL Draft would have suggested that he would do nothing in the league.
However, the defensive end out of Mississippi Vocational College would become one of the most devastating forces on the defensive side of the ball with this unseen combination of size and quickness. He would revolutionize football by coining the “sack,” and using it as his main weapon to stop offenses as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
The sack would not become an official stat during the duration of his career, but he would hold the highest single season sack seasons in NFL history unofficially (26 in 1967 and 24 in 1968). If sacks were being counted, he took down the quarterback 173.5 times in his career, which would be good for third all-time if they had counted.
Jones would retire in 1974, only missing six games in his entire career, and going to the Pro-Bowl eight times. He would be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1980.
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