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

24. Darrell Green
Pro Football Hall of Fame: 2008

There could be dozens of defensive players alone who could be on this list. Superstar players like Rodney Harrison, Julius Peppers, Brian Dawkins, and Bobby Wagner aren’t even on this list, but they could be as they had seasons where they were absolute game changers. However, there’s only one real award that goes to defensive players who are veterans, and then there’s one for rookies. So, either a player dominates from the jump, or they have an uphill battle to fill the trophy case. 

Darrell Green is still a player we were floored to learn never won a Defensive Player of the Year (or any award, for that matter). Green is considered one of the great defensive players of his era and one of the best defensive backs of all time. That’s part of the issue. The front seven is given much more credit for the viability of a defense than the secondary. 

That will be a theme here. Some of the great players in the history of the last line of defense aren’t given their just due for their impact to the game. 

Green started his career with a snub, losing the Defensive Rookie of the Year to the Baltimore Colts’ Vernon Maxwell. For most of the rest of his career, quarterbacks avoided his side of the field. So, he didn’t get to put up the insane stats that some other cornerbacks were at liberty to claim. He did finish his career with 54 interceptions, and he will always have his bust in Canton to fall back on.