Some of the best players in the SEC went on to have outstanding careers in the NFL. Here are the 25 best players in NFL history with SEC football roots.
For decades, SEC football has been a driving force behind the southern sports fabric. You have to remember that until the 1960s, the Southeast didn’t have professional sports franchises. That has allowed major southern institutions to have major college athletics. In short, SEC football fans are some of the most rabid you’ll find across the United States.
It also helps that high school football is insanely popular in the part of the country. Friday night lights have yielded some of the best players in the history of these SEC blue-blood programs. More than a few of those stars on fall Saturdays have gone on to be NFL superstars.
Canton has many members in its Pro Football Hall of Fame with SEC roots and several players that will one day reach enshrinement that are still playing in the NFL. Let’s take a look back at the 25 best players in NFL history that have strong SEC roots.
While he is insanely busy these days running the front office for the Baltimore Ravens, general manager Ozzie Newsome was one of the best tight ends to have ever played the game of football. Though he only made three Pro Bowls and one All-Pro selection, Newsome was widely regarded as the best tight end in the 1980s.
He spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Cleveland Browns (1978-90). Newsome had 662 career receptions for 7,980 yards and 47 touchdowns before hanging up the spikes. Before starring on the shores of Lake Erie for the Browns, Newsome was an All-American for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Muscle Shoals native was an All-American in 1977 for the Crimson Tide. Alabama went a combined 42-6 during Newsome’s four years in Tuscaloosa. He was a four-year starter for the Crimson Tide.
Newsome has already been elected to the Pro and College Football Hall of Fames as a player. With him being the architect of two Super Bowl Championship teams in Baltimore, one day he will garner another honor in Canton as a Hall of Fame executive. You can’t tell the history of the NFL without Newsome.
The Auburn Tigers have had some unbelievable players over the years. It’s part of what makes Auburn a top-15 in college football history. To play at Auburn, a guy has to be an elite football talent. However, it is peculiar that one of the school’s greatest NFL players was a former walk-on back in the 1980s.
He’s finally gotten the respect he deserves, as outside linebacker Kevin Greene was a pass rushing monster in his prime. Greene played for four different NFL franchises from 1985 to 1999, most notably with the Los Angeles Rams and later the Carolina Panthers. He made five Pro Bowls, three All-Pro first-teams, and was the Defensive Player of the Year in 1996 with Carolina.
Greene collected 160.0 career quarterback sacks, leading the NFL in that category in 1994 and 1996. He was finally elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016. Greene has since gone on to be a linebackers coach in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers and now the New York Jets.
He was underrated for most of his career. People didn’t really realize the sack numbers Greene was putting up until after the fact. From his days as a walk-on at Auburn in 1981 to Canton enshrinement 35 years later, few people in NFL history had the motor of Green. He just wanted it more than people who had more football talent than he did.
Cincinnati Bengals No. 1 wide receiver A.J. Green is the first of a few active NFL players that make this list. While his 2016 NFL season was cut short by injury, he still made it to his sixth straight Pro Bowl in as many seasons. At the rate he’s going, Green will be in Canton before his 50th birthday.
Before starring in the Queen City for the Bengals, Green was a transcendent talent for the Georgia Bulldogs under Mark Richt. The wide receiver had been a major position of disappointment for most of the Richt era, but Green electrified the SEC in about 2.5 years in Athens.
Through six NFL seasons, Green has 481 catches for 7,135 yards and 49 touchdowns. Since he only played in 10 games last season, he missed out on his sixth straight 1,000-yard receiving season by 36 yards, essentially three completions from reliable starting quarterback Andy Dalton.
To ensure that Green will make it to Canton, he will need about 3.5 more years of high production in the Bengals passing game. Helping Cincinnati win its first playoff game this century will only help his NFL legacy. Football rarely has receivers of Green’s caliber. He’s been unbelievable so far for the Bengals. Can’t wait to see what comes next.
After taking the college football world by storm during Auburn’s 2010 National Championship, Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Cam Newton went No. 1 overall to the Carolina Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft. Five years later, he had Carolina playing in Super Bowl 50.
When he’s on, Newton is the most electrifying dual-threat quarterback in the game. He has a rocket for a right arm and is the most accomplished runner of a quarterback in NFL history. Newton is a three-time Pro Bowler and won NFL MVP in 2015 during Carolina’s run to the Super Bowl.
Through six NFL seasons, Newton has completed 58.4 percent of his passes for 21,772 yards, 136 touchdowns and 78 interceptions. As a runner, he has 689 carries for 3,566 yards and 48 rushing touchdowns.
If Newton can keep this up for a few more years, he will make a compelling case for himself for Canton enshrinement. His accuracy issues hurt him, but his ability to decimate teams as a runner in goal-line situations makes him incredibly difficult for opposing defense to game plan against.
It’s not debatable. While his father Archie Manning is the best player to have ever played for the Ole Miss Rebels, his youngest son Eli Manning is the greatest NFL player to have come from Ole Miss. Yes, linebacker Patrick Willis was amazing for the San Francisco 49ers, but you can’t tell the history of the NFL without Manning.
He has been with the New York Giants since 2004 when the San Diego Chargers traded the No. 1 overall pick for North Carolina State signal caller Philip Rivers. It’s been pretty good for both teams, but Manning has won two Super Bowls and Rivers has never been to one.
Manning has completed 59.7 percent of his passes for 48,214 yards, 320 touchdowns and 215 touchdowns in 13 NFL seasons. He has made four trips to the Pro Bowl and could very well end up being the best quarterback to play for the Giants.
Though he is often thought of as the third wheel of the Manning Football Family, he did the most in winning time when compared to his dad and older brother Peyton Manning. His two Super Bowl victories over the Bill Belichick New England Patriots have cemented Manning as a football legend. The good outweighs the bad from this New Orleans native in both Oxford and East Rutherford.
There will be a few Bayou Bengals making this list. The first one is former Green Bay Packers fullback, Jim Taylor. Before there was Billy Cannon in Baton Rouge, there was Taylor. He was an All-American running back for the 1957 LSU Tigers before being a second-round pick by the Packers in 1958.
Taylor would go on to spend nine of his 10 NFL seasons in Green Bay, making five Pro Bowls, winning four NFL Championships and what would be later known as Super Bowl I over the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.
Taylor would play his final NFL season for the expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967. He would finish his NFL career with 8,597 rushing yards and 83 rushing touchdowns. As a pass catcher, Taylor had 225 career receptions for 1,756 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns.
In a 10-year NFL career, Taylor would become the first player of the Vince Lombardi era in Green Bay to earn Canton enshrinement in 1977. He was a highly productive and physical player in his prime. His numbers aren’t particularly gaudy today, but he was probably the best running back in football during his day not named Jim Brown.
It’s been 20 years since he last played a college game, but we’re starting to look back on the late 1990s Georgia Bulldogs and wonder why they weren’t better. There looks to be three future Pro Football Hall of Famers in that era of Bulldogs football. The first guy we’ll talk about on this list is wide receiver, Hines Ward.
Ward played all 14 years of his NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1998-2011). He won two Super Bowls in Pittsburgh and made five Pro Bowls as a star receiver. Ward had exactly 1,000 career receptions for 12,083 yards and 85 touchdowns.
While he wasn’t the flashiest wideout of his day, Ward fit into the blue-collar style associated with Steelers football perfectly. He was a model of consistency and showed up big time when the Steelers needed him most. Ward was Super Bowl XL MVP back in the 2005 NFL season versus the Seattle Seahawks.
He has successfully transitioned to television, working for NBC on their Sunday Night Football telecasts. Ward may get into coaching at some point. One would think he would consider going back to his alma mater to help his former college teammate Kirby Smart out. For now, Ward is one of the best wide receivers in Steelers and Georgia football history.
Of all the active NFL players that make this list, it’s hard to argue that any former SEC player is more talented than Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones. As Calvin Johnson’s came to a close in Detroit, Jones has emerged as the more explosive and versatile wide receiver in football today.
Jones will be forever linked with Cincinnati Bengals star wideout A.J. Green, whose careers have overlapped both in the SEC and the NFL. While Green starred at Georgia, Jones won National Championships in his home state with the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Through six NFL seasons, Jones has made four Pro Bowls and garnered two All-Pro selections. In 79 career games thus far, Jones has 497 catches for 7,610 yards and 40 touchdowns. Though he didn’t win MVP last season, it’s not debatable that Jones is the best player on the Falcons roster currently. We’re seeing greatness in effect.
The comparisons to Johnson may apply more to Green than Jones. Though it’s almost blasphemous to seriously consider, is Jones the most complete wide receiver in the NFL since Jerry Rice? Health is the main issue going forward with Jones. If that stays in his favor, his work ethic and student mentality to the game of football will make him an all-time great by the time he hangs up the cleats.
Four years, Jack Youngblood made opposing quarterbacks mincemeat as a pass-rushing dynamo for the Los Angeles Rams. The former superstar defensive end for the Florida Gators is a College Football and Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Youngblood spent his entire 14-year NFL career (1971-84) with the Rams. He played in 202 NFL games, unofficially garnering 151.5 quarterback sacks in his Hall of Fame career. Youngblood was not only one of the best pass rusher in the NFL in the 1970s, but one of the best in NFL history.
Keep in mind that he came into the league to play for a Los Angeles franchise that once had a guy named Deacon Jones wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks. While he didn’t slap dude’s helmets like Jones did in the 1960s, Youngblood loved driving quarterbacks like Steve Bartkowski and Archie Manning into the ground annually.
Youngblood was a seven-time Pro Bowler, a five-time All-Pro and a two-time NFC Defensive Player of the Year. The Rams have been an NFL franchise for a long time. Youngblood is one of the very best to play in Los Angeles and in Gainesville.
The late George Blanda had one of the most interesting NFL careers that rarely gets talked about anymore. He played professional football from 1949 to 1975, only taking one year off in 1959. Blanda is remembered for his role as a quarterback/kicker for the Chicago Bears, the Houston Oilers and the Oakland Raiders.
In college, Blanda played for Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Kentucky Wildcats. He would have an up-and-down working relationship with George Halas in Chicago. After being told he couldn’t play quarterback anymore, Blanda retired in 1958. Two years later, Blanda would go to Houston in the AFL and tear it up.
Statistically, Blanda would be considered a below-average NFL quarterback. However, his longevity and ability to kick at a high level made him a bit of a renaissance man in football for a record 26 seasons.
The versatility with which Blanda played football set him apart. He wasn’t the best player of his era, but it’s hard to not respect what he did on the gridiron for so many years. In a sport that is becoming specialized, was one of a kind.
For the last decade, the amount of talent coming out of the LSU Tigers secondary has been absolutely ridiculous. Apparently, it takes only three years of playing for the Bayou Bengals to get a cornerback back or safety ready to star in the NFL.
The brightest LSU defensive star of the bunch is easily Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson. He went No. 5 overall in the stacked 2011 NFL Draft. Since arriving in Glendale, Peterson has made the Pro Bowl every season and is a three-time All-Pro cornerback.
Peterson is a technician in the Arizona secondary. The Cardinals love to go dime and thrown confusing looks at NFL offenses. A major reason that Arizona can do that is that Peterson is a lock-down cornerback with great ball skills that rarely makes mistakes.
Through six NFL seasons, Peterson already has 20 interceptions. Still in his prime at 26 years old, if he can help Arizona win its first Super Bowl in franchise history, he will go down in defensive back lore like a Deion Sanders or a Charles Woodson. He’s been a model of consistency so far. Let’s see what he can do before he turns 30 in a few years time.
At No. 15, we have the second of three standouts from the late 1990s Georgia Bulldogs. Defensive linemen Richard Seymour was everything for the New England Patriots in their first three Super Bowl Championships. He also had a strong finish to his NFL career for albeit a lousy Oakland Raiders team.
Seymour spent 12 seasons in the AFC with those two teams, the first eight in Foxborough and the final four in the Bay Area. He was a seven-time Pro Bowler and a three-time All-Pro. Seymour played both defensive end and defensive tackle in his Hall of Fame-worthy career.
While he only had 57.5 sacks, his impact on the gridiron was more than that. Without Seymour, who knows if New England wins back-to-back Super Bowls in 20003-04 or nearly goes undefeated in 2007. Thanks a lot, David Tyree!
Overall, Seymour will go down as the best front-seven player to have ever played in the NFL out of Georgia. His prime was longer than Thomas Davis’ and while David Pollack was better in college, his career was cut devastatingly short by injury. The more you think about it, Seymour is definitely an all-time great and a lock to make it to Canton sooner rather than later.
While he has only been in the NFL for seven seasons, it’s almost a sure thing that Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry will one day reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The former standout in the Tennessee Volunteers secondary has quickly become one of the best safeties in NFL history.
Berry has made five Pro Bowls and three All-Pro teams. He was also the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2015 after seeing his 2014 season come to an end after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Berry not only bounced back from cancer, but he continues to play at an elite level in the back-end of the Chiefs defense. In 86 career games, has 51 passes defended, 14 touchdowns, five touchdowns, 367 tackles and 63 assists. At 28 years old, Berry should be able to play at a Pro Bowl level for the next few seasons before exiting his prime.
Should he help the Chiefs win their first Super Bowl in nearly 50 years, we could be looking at the best safety in the NFL since Ronnie Lott dominated in the middle of the San Francisco 49ers defense three decades ago.
The offensive line is an ofter overlooked position group. However, when a player is elite at that position group, it’s hard to not recognize greatness. During the 1990s, there may not have been a better center in the NFL than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Dermontti Dawson.
Dawson made seven trips to the Pro Bol and six All-Pro teams in his 13-year NFL career with the Steelers (1988-2000). While he never won a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh, he is one of the best to play for the franchise.
He was the master of angles and leverage concepts. Dawson was an offensive line tactician for years in the AFC and in the SEC for his hometown Kentucky Wildcats before that. He made quarterbacks like Bubby Brister and Neil O’Donnell better players because of his ability to keep the quarterback upright.
Dawson played in 184 regular season games for the Steelers, starting in 181 almost exclusively at center. From 1993 to 1998, there was nobody better in the middle of an NFL offensive line than Dawson. He won the chess match every week in the trenches and anybody that was paying attention knew that to be true.
The SEC has been a dominant football conference for a long time because it draws from the talent-rich Southeastern United States region for football talent. The disparity between the SEC and everybody else is well-documented in the trenches.
Center Dwight Stephenson was a huge reason for two National Championships in college at Alabama. After a few years in the NFL, Stephenson was universally recognized as the best center in the NFL during the 1980s.
Stephenson made five trips to the Pro Bowl and five All-Pro first team selections playing for Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins. He and quarterback Dan Marino fed off each others’ greatness during the 1980s as one of the best passing teams in football. In his prime, there may not have been a better player at his position than Stephenson was at center.
Unfortunately, Stephenson’s Hall of Fame NFL career was cut short by a ghastly knee injury suffered against the division rival New York Jets in 1987. He was only 30 when he had to abruptly hang up the spikes. To this day, Stephenson remains the gold standard for elite play at center.
Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr set the tone for excellence while with the Green Bay Packers in the 1950s and 1960s. He was an NFL MVP, a five-time NFL Champion, a four-time Pro Bowler and a two-time Super Bowl MVP.
In Green Bay, Starr has been a legend for a long time. However, he wasn’t always as celebrated at his alma mater. The Montgomery native played his college ball for the Alabama Crimson Tide during a down cycle for the program. Injuries, inconsistency, and later an abrupt youth movement had Starr looking like anything but a future NFL star when he left Tuscaloosa.
Green Bay took him with the 200th pick in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft. He would work achieve unbelievable success playing for head coach Vince Lombardi. The rest was history. Even in a run-first football league, Starr was a next-level passer.
He completed 57.4 percent of his passes for 24,718 yards for 152 touchdowns and 138 interceptions. Even more impressive, he went 94-57-6 as a starting quarterback in 16 seasons as the Packers quarterback. He was even the Packers head coach from 1975 to 1983, but we always tend to overlook that disappoint part of his football career. Starr was still one of the best quarterbacks of his time.
While he didn’t win the championships at the professional level that Bart Starr did, quarterback Y.A. Tittle might have been the slightly better football talent. He was everything for the LSU Tigers in college, taking his all-around quarterback skills to new heights with the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants.
Tittle was a seven-time Pro Bowler, a four-time All-Pro selection, and won three different variations of NFL MVP during his career. Decades after his retirement, Tittle still holds the record for most touchdown passes in a game at seven.
While he only completed 55.2 percent of his passes in his NFL career, Tittle threw for over 30,000 yards and 240 touchdowns. He also had 39 rushing touchdowns, elite as a runner in goal-line situations.
Tittle is held in high regard by three elite football teams: LSU, San Francisco and New York. As the league has become increasingly passing-centric, people tend to forget how good of a thrower Tittle was in his prime. Without him dominating in the NFL, the league would look very different today at the quarterback position.
Fran Tarkenton was a pioneer at quarterbacking in both the SEC and in the NFL. He scrambling ability to extend plays made him a legend for his hometown Georgia Bulldogs and in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants.
Widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks to never win a Super Bowl, Tarkenton is easily the best signal caller in Vikings history. In an 18-year NFL career, 13 with the Vikings, Tarkenton was a nine-time Pro Bowl and the NFL MVP in 1975 at age 35.
Tarkenton completed 57.0 percent of his passes for 47,003 yards, 342 touchdowns and 266 interceptions. Using his legs, Tarkenton scrambled for an additional 3,674 yards and 32 rushing touchdowns. He became the prototype for dual-threat playmakers at the quarterback position.
Tarkenton was insanely creative as a quarterback and thrived in winning time. He had 30 career fourth-quarter comebacks and 34 game-winning drives in his illustrious. Tarkenton did it all, but win a Super Bowl in his storied NFL career with the Vikings and the Giants.
Derrick Thomas was a pass-rushing behemoth both collegiately for the Alabama Crimson Tide and professional for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is enshrined in both the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta and in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
Thomas was a nine-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro in his 11-year NFL career with the Chiefs. He, unfortunately, passed away at age 33 in a car accident in Kansas City in 2000. His untimely death has elevated Thomas into the mythical pantheon as a football player.
Thomas had 126.5 career quarterback sacks, including an NFL-record seven in one game against the Seattle Seahawks. He had 601 career tackles, 41 assists, 41 forced fumbles, 19 fumble recoveries and three safeties in his illustrious NFL career.
While he exited his prime in his early 30s, Thomas was the best outside linebacker in football during the 1990s. He was about as explosive coming off the edge as any player in football history. Thomas was a dominant player every time he took to the gridiron, whether that was for the Chiefs or the Crimson Tide.
While his stats don’t stand the test of time, Joe Namath may have been the most impactful player to have ever played the position of quarterback. Though a native of Pennsylvania, Namath first came on the scene as the best quarterback to have ever played for Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama.
He helped the Crimson Tide win the 1964 National Championship before taking his talents to the AFL. That’s where Namath became the first rock star quarterback in professional football. He was football’s first true gunslinger under center, never afraid to throw the deep ball.
Namath forever etched his name into football lore by guaranteeing that the AFL Champion Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. He played the game of his life and toppled the juggernaut Colts, helping to pave the way for the AFL/NFL merger.
Namath was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 after 13 years with the Jets and the Los Angeles Rams. He made it really cool to play quarterback. The vertical passing game wouldn’t look like what it does today with a renegade under center in Namath calling the deep shots.
Before Tom Brady started winning championships, the greatest player in New England Patriots history was offensive guard John Hannah. That’s not to discredit players at more high-profile positions. Hannah was just that good at guard during his 13-year NFL career in New England.
Before arriving in Foxborough, Hannah was an absolute beast on Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide offensive line. He was a two-time All-American in Tuscaloosa before being the No. 4 overall pick by the Patriots in the 1973 NFL Draft.
In New England, Hannah would make 10-straight All-Pro teams and earn nine Pro Bowl nods. Over 30 years after his retirement, Hannah might still be the best guard to have ever played in the NFL. He was dominant up front from 1976 until his final NFL game in Super Bowl XX vs. the Chicago Bears.
Nicknamed Hog, Hannah was equally impressive in run blocking and in pass protection. When the Patriots would run a sweep, no linebacker wanted anything to do with Hannah leading the charge as the pulling guard.
The last of the active NFL players with SEC roots comes in at No. 5 in the form of Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten. While he was first-team All-SEC his senior season in 2002 with the Tennessee Volunteers, Witten is a future Pro Football Hall of Fame for his highly productive NFL career with the Cowboys.
Witten was the 69th pick of the third round in the 2003 NFL Draft. In 15 NFL seasons with Dallas, Witten has made 10 trips to the Pro Bowl, earned two All-Pro nods and was the 2012 Walter Payton Man of the Year.
He is one of the few pass catchers in NFL history with over 1,000 receptions. To date, Witten has caught 1,089 passes for 11,388 yards and 63 touchdowns with the Cowboys. He’s basically done everything but win a Super Bowl in his long career with Dallas.
His sure-handedness and even-keeled manner has helped make this mid-tier draft prospect into a certain Hall of Famer. Witten perfected the slant route up the middle of the field to the point where NFL defenses know that it’s coming and they can’t do anything about it.
The players on this list just keep on getting greater. Georgia has had a ton of elite players over the years, but its best pro player only retired a few years ago. That guy is cornerback Champ Bailey, who starred in the 2000s for the Washington Redskins and the Denver Broncos.
Bailey made 12 Pro Bowls and garnered six All-Pro first-team selections. In 215 career NFL games, Bailey had 812 career tackles, 96 assists, 174 passes defended and 52 interceptions. Few defensive backs had the ball skills and the cover ability of Bailey.
He broke into the league as the No. 7 overall pick by the Redskins in the 1999 NFL Draft after being an All-American the year before in Athens. He would spend his first five NFL seasons in the nation’s capital before being traded for running back Clinton Portis in 2004 to the Broncos.
Bailey would play his final 10 NFL seasons in Denver, playing his last NFL game in Super Bowl XLVIII. Not since Deion Sanders played in the NFC in the 1990s has the NFL had a cornerback this dynamic. Bailey and Charles Woodson stood alone as the best cornerbacks in football during their heyday.
While he was sensational in three years for the Florida Gators, running back Emmitt Smith is better known for his work in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys for a good reason: he is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.
Smith left school a year early to enter the 1990 NFL Draft. Dallas would take him at No. 17 thanks to the infamous Herschel Walker trade with the Minnesota Vikings. Smith was a two-time NFL MVP, led the league in rushing four times, earned eight Pro Bowl nods, four All-Pro selections and won three Super Bowls in Dallas.
He has been enshrined in both the College Football and Pro Football Hall of Fame. Smith rushed the football 4,409 times for 18,355 yards and 164 touchdowns, all NFL records. As a receiver, Smith had 515 catches for 3,224 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Competitiveness, longevity and versatility made Smith a legend. When running backs tire in their late 20s, Smith played at a high level until age 35 with the 2004 Arizona Cardinals. The workload Smith undertook as an NFL running back may never be approached.
It was only a matter of time before this guy showed up on this list. Peyton Manning is one of the five best quarterbacks in NFL history, the best in football with SEC roots, and undoubtedly the best regular season quarterback of all-time.
Manning threw for more yards (71,940) and touchdown passes (539) in a career. He also holds the record for most yards (5,477) and touchdown passes (55) in a season. His 2013 season with the Denver Broncos was otherworldly. So was winning his fifth NFL MVP trophy that season at age 37.
Though he never won a National Championship while quarterbacking the Tennessee Volunteers, Manning would win two Super Bowls in his NFL career: one with the team that drafted him in the Indianapolis Colts and one in his final NFL game with the 2015 Broncos.
Manning is the only quarterback in NFL history to play in four Super Bowls with four different head coaches. His above the shoulders element to playing quarterback transformed the way the position is played today. Not since Joe Namath played for the New York Jets has a quarterback been more impactful on how the sport is played than Manning.
To be better than Peyton Manning at football, you have to be something else. Let’s just say there may not ever be another player quite like Reggie White. Like Manning, he got his start playing in Knoxville for the Vols. After four years with Tennessee, White briefly played for his home state’s Memphis Showboats in the USFL.
Once the USFL collapsed, White would go on to play the next eight football seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. After the 1992 NFL season, something called NFL free agency began and White would be the first marquee player to switch teams. He would play the next six seasons with the Green Bay Packers, winning a Super Bowl and going to another.
White would retire after the 1998 NFL season but came back to play one year with the 2000 Carolina Panthers. He would sadly pass away at age 43 in 2004 from sleep apnea. White’s untimely passing only added the mystique of his illustrious NFL playing career.
Next: SEC Programs Ranked By Statistical Greatness
He was a 13-time Pro Bowler and an eight-time All-Pro. White led the NFL in sacks twice and was Defensive Player of the Year on two occasions. He totaled 198.0 quarterback sacks, 1,048 tackles, 33 forced fumbles, and 20 fumble recoveries before hanging up the spikes for good in 2001.