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6 HOFers who would stick kick butt in today's NFL

gohusk

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Dumb list. There's plenty of players: Ronnie Lott, Richard Dent (off the cocaine hopefully), Darrell Green, Mike Singletary, ... that would still smoke it in today's game.
 

Schmoopy1000

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Dan Marino and Michael Irvin and Reggie White didn't have regular jobs. They kept in shape during the Spring.


That's part of it. Both the regimens and the roles are more targeted, but the intensity of training at the highest level was so brutal before. The NFL of yesterday was very much a "survival of the fittest" whereas today it's more, "next man up". Odell Beckham would get the sh*t kicked out of him in a previous NFL era, pushing off and then performing circus catches with his magic glue-gloves. Meanwhile, Darrell Green would be penalized out of today's game for being too strong / fast / aggressive.
Darrell Green is an anomoly.
The fact he stayed as fast as he was even the year he retired is crazy.

I remember Tony Dorsett broke out into daylight. meaning he is gone for 6. Give TD a lead & full speed & no one was catching him......... except for Darrell Green who ran him down & stopped the TouchDown. Mad props to Darrell Green as a player & a man.
 

Across The Field

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Oh. I am not dissing Sharpe. He just wasnt on my radar, when I read this article. I do remember him. Also watched when he got hurt. Which was a freak accident. They also make a good point. imagine rodgers throwing to him. What he would have stacked up in stats!
I'm with you there. He's not a name that comes up in these sorts of lists very often. It's too bad though. I remember being young, and while I wasn't a Packers fan, my pastor at my church was from Wisconsin and loved them so we'd talk about them sometimes. He used to talk about Sterling like people a decade later talked about Moss, or people now talk about Julio. Nearly unguardable.
 

Southieinnc

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Right! And if you are going to pick a RB I would have said Earl Campbell. Can you imagine with the current state of tackling and reduced physicality how much damage he would do in the game today!?


The pearl was fun to watch. Sanders was the best. Ever.
 

DonMan

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While I admit an obvious bias, Bruce Smith was the first person I thought of when I saw this topic.

Bruce, in his prime, was a phenomenal, arguably unique athlete.

When he was drafted, he was much heavier than his optimum playing weight, probably close to 300. I saw him on a local call-in TV show, where he was almost too big to fit in the chair in the studio.

Within a few years, he trimmed down to the weight he maintained for most of his career, about 260. He was arguably too small to be a 3-4 DE, most of whom were/are closer to 280-290. But he was so strong it didn't matter. In the Bills scheme, he generally lined up directly over the OT, with "2-gap" responsibility. Defensive schemes like this are generally designed for the DL to "hold off" the OL, while the LB shoot the gaps and make the plays. In spite of this, Bruce led the league in sacks on a number of occasions.

To give an example of his athleticism/versatility - I recall a MNF game when Ben Coates was in his prime. One scheme the Bills utilized in that game was a zone blitz, where Bruce dropped into coverage, and had solo responsibility for Coates for the entire field.
 

jarntt

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Right! And if you are going to pick a RB I would have said Earl Campbell. Can you imagine with the current state of tackling and reduced physicality how much damage he would do in the game today!?
Earl was one of the greatest no doubt and would be great in any era. But today's game is just perfectly made for Sanders with how spread out it is. It's all about speed and quickness in space and Barry was the best ever at that.
 

PhilSimms11

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Dumb list. There's plenty of players: Ronnie Lott, Richard Dent (off the cocaine hopefully), Darrell Green, Mike Singletary, ... that would still smoke it in today's game.
Agreed. Only 6? Dick Butkus. Don Hutson. Deacon Jones...and the list goes on.
 

Dude

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Today there are more tools, in nutrition, conditioning, and follow up. Any one of those goats of the past would be great today, with today’s tools.
 

Stomp

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Agreed. Only 6? Dick Butkus. Don Hutson. Deacon Jones...and the list goes on.

Guys from that era especially defenders would be villainized by the league and be treated like Burfict or Suh are by todays soft NFL fan.
 

iowajerms

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Bronko Nagurski
Chuck Bednarik
Fran Tarkentan
Steve Largent
Gale Sayers
Lynn Swann
 

ducky

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That's a pretty stupid article. It would make more sense to postulate which HOF'ers would not kick butt today.

By definition HOF'ers are those that were unquestionably superior in talent and skill than the majority of their peers.

I would find it hard to believe that any HOF'er of any era when given the training, etc. that players receive today would not be upper echelon players today.

The number of HOFer's who wouldn't be good players in the modern NFL far outweigh the number of HOF'ers would excel in it today.

That was a really, really solid list to boot.
 

broncosmitty

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Randy Moss
Barry Sanders
Steve Young
Deion Sanders
Mike Singletary
Derrick Thomas
 

broncosmitty

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I'm with you there. He's not a name that comes up in these sorts of lists very often. It's too bad though. I remember being young, and while I wasn't a Packers fan, my pastor at my church was from Wisconsin and loved them so we'd talk about them sometimes. He used to talk about Sterling like people a decade later talked about Moss, or people now talk about Julio. Nearly unguardable.
One of the greatest I ever saw.

Shame he was injured. Incredible receiver.
 

ATL96Steeler

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I think the idea is that, even without the highly advanced training and changes in the game we've seen, these guys would've still been beasts just as they were.

Maybe that caveat you're bringing out makes the list seem more appropriate.

I'm not going to say EVERY HOFer would kick ass in the today's NFL at a HOF level, but I think the vast majority would still be HOF caliber players in this era.
 

RP-29

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Sterling Sharpe IS NOT in the Hall of Fame.

And given that his name is on this list is more strong evidence that he SHOULD BE!

I've been bitching about that for a decade.

If Terrell Davis is a Hall of Famer, Sterling Sharpe damn sure is!
 
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