8. John Lynch
Lynch was one of the last safeties that would gladly take your head off. He still played in an era where the league hadn’t quite cracked down on shots to the head or hitting defenseless receivers, and he took advantage of both of those things more often than not.
That’s not to say Lynch was a dirty player- everything he did was well within the rules. It was just a different game in the late 1990s-2000s. Lynch had several note-worthy hits throughout his career. He leveled Barry Sanders before he could get to the second level of the defense, he hit Marshall Faulk multiple times in one game against St. Louis, he knocked out his own brother-in-law- he was not one who was fearful of getting his nose dirty.
Whether it was with the Buccaneers or Broncos, Lynch was one of the best safeties of his generation. He was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, as well as a two-time All-Pro. He was part of the legendary Buccaneers defense that helped Tampa Bay win Super Bowl XXXVII over the Raiders. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021, and is currently the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers where he has already helped build a team that went to a Super Bowl.