30 NFL players you won’t believe never won an award

11. Anthony Munoz
Pro Football Hall of Fame: 1998

This is a stretch, but only because of what we know about the immense disrespect offensive linemen get in terms of awards. The best of the best offensive linemen never win anything. There are obvious reasons for that. O-line gets no discernible statistics. They are there to do a job, and they are often compensated in money and internal accolades, but most times we know the name of a lineman, it’s because they made a mistake or committed a penalty. However, Anthony Munoz was known around the league because he might have been the best big man in the history of the sport.

Munoz was named first-team All-Pro nine times in his career at offensive tackle. That’s more than Lawrence Taylor, Aaron Donald, Bruce Smith, Peyton Manning, and Ray Lewis, among thousands of others. Only Jerry Rice and Jim Otto have 10 All-Pros in the history of football. That’s incredibly impressive. Otto could also be on this list, playing center as well as anyone ever.

This could be a few different players. Joe Thomas probably also has a claim to the award. Trent Williams should at least get a share of Christian McCaffrey’s Offensive Player of the Year award last season. 

This is just an ode to offensive linemen, especially offensive tackles. They deserve to get recognition in these instances. Hopefully, one can at least win Offensive Rookie of the Year.