We’re going from a not very impressive list of players who are competing to be the Best #25 in NFL history to one of the most storied numbers in league history.
The #80 rivals the #81 as perhaps the deepest and most competitive jersey digit the league’s teams have ever handed out.
Of course one stands out: Jerry Rice. But with the induction of Cris Carter later this summer, there will be eight players in the Hall of Fame that wore #80 as their primary number, which appears to be the most for a single number.
And there are several more on the list who might eventually find their way to Canton.
The best players in NFL History to wear #80 include:
Jerry Rice – San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks – Possibly the best player of all time (in fact, voted just that by NFL.com), 13 Pro Bowls, 10-time First-Team All-Pro, most games played by non-kicker/punter, three time Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP (XXIII), All-Decade for 1980’s and 1990’s, inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame first year eligible (2010), NFL’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yardage, receiving TDs and overall TDs (all by significant margins), along with most other significant regular season and postseason receiving records.
Steve Largent – Seattle Seahawks – Largent was Jerry Rice before Jerry Rice was Jerry Rice, if that makes sense. Unlikely anyone would have put him in the race for best player ever, but that was largely because he played receiver when it was still a running league. A seven-time Pro Bowler and (somehow only) one-time First-Team All-Pro, he finished his career with 819 receptions, 13,089 receiving yards, and 101 total touchdowns, and was the first player to catch 100 touchdowns in his career (surpassing Don Hutson, who caught 99). He held all major receiving records when he retired, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995, his first year of eligibility.
Cris Carter – Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins – Despite being held out of the Hall of Fame for the first five years of his eligibility, Carter put up numbers that clearly belong in Canton. An eight time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All-Pro, Carter still ranks in the top 10 in career receptions, receiving yards, receiving TDs and overall TDs.
Len Ford – Los Angeles Dons (AAFC), Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers – Ford started his career at receiver for the Los Angeles Dons in the AAFC, but switched to Defensive End (and #80) when the league folded and he was taken in the 1950 AAFC dispersal draft by the Cleveland Browns. He was a four-time Pro Bowler, four-time First-Team All-Pro, a member of the 1950’s All-Decade team, and played in five NFL Championship games, winning three. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976.
Kellen Winslow – San Diego Chargers – Winslow had a relatively short career for a Hall of Famer, playing just nine seasons for the Chargers—but he basically redefined the Tight End position in that time, being a primary target in the passing game rather than serving as an extra offensive lineman. He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection, three-time First-Team All-Pro, member of the All-Decade team from the 1980’s and the NFL 75th Anniversary team, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995.
Jack Butler – Pittsburgh Steelers – Butler is the only defensive back on the list of top #80’s in NFL history. He was a four-time Pro Bowler and three-time First-Team All-Pro, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2012.
Tom Fears – Los Angeles Rams – Another receiver with a relatively short career, Fears was the first true Wide Receiver in NFL history (first player to line up on the line of scrimmage away from the Tackle), while also playing on defense and at Tight End. He led all NFL receiver in catches over his first three seasons, including breaking the single-season record with 77 catches in 1949, a number he pushed to 84 in 1950. He was a one-time Pro Bowler and one-time First-Team All-Pro, and finished his injury shortened career with 400 catches for 5,397 yards and 38 touchdowns. He also apparently was an early trend setter for another frequent WR trait, threatening to leave his team after the 1950 season to work for General Motors or a local liquor distributor.
James Lofton – Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles – Lofton wore #80 with the Packers, Raiders, Bills (from 1990-1992) and Eagles. He racked up 764 catches for 14,004 yards in his 16-year career that included eight Pro Bowl appearances and one First-Team All-Pro selection. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003.
Henry Ellard – Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins, New England Patriots – Getting into non-Hall of Fame options, Ellard wore #80 during his 11 years with the Rams. He finished his career with 814 receptions for 13,777 yards, three Pro Bowls and two First-Team All-Pro selections—numbers that would seem to put him the running for Hall of Fame consideration, yet he is seemingly an afterthought.
Irving Fryar – New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins – Wearing #80 for all but his final two seasons in Washington, Fryar accumulated 851 receptions for 12,785 yards and 84 TD catches. Would seem to be in the same class as Ellard for Hall of Fame consideration.
Isaac Bruce – Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers – The third player for the Rams to wear #80 on this list alone (he wore #88 with the 49ers), his career numbers—1,024 receptions (7th overall), 15,208 receiving yards (4th overall), 91 receiving TDs (10th overall) would seem to put him on track to be making the trip to Canton, although with the struggles Carter, Tim Brown and Andre Reed have had (not to mention Ellard & Fryar), he might be waiting for a while.
Rod Smith – Denver Broncos – Smith had the kind of career that any player should be extremely proud of—849 catches, 11,389 yards, 68 TDs, three Pro Bowl appearances. Yet he can’t crack the top 10 #80’s, and probably will never be seriously considered for the Hall of Fame.
Cris Collinsworth – Cincinnati Bengals – Collinsworth started his career with three Pro Bowls in his first three seasons, but was really only impactful for six of his eight seasons in the NFL. Probably doesn’t really belong on this list, but I’ll leave him here since I already typed this up.
Andre Johnson – Houston Texans – Just realized we left Calvin Johnson off of our original list of the Best #81’s in NFL history. Much like Megatron, Andre isn’t anywhere near the top of this list yet, but is the best active #80, and has a very good chance to move very far up this list. Assuming he stays healthy, he’s probably got another 5-6 years left in the NFL, and he’s already amassed 818 receptions for 11,254 yards 56 TD catches, six Pro Bowls and two First-Team All-Pro selections.
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I think Tony may have gone a little overboard in including some of the guys he did on this list, but the point remains – there have been a lot of great players who have worn #80.
Jerry Rice is the clear-cut winner in my eyes, but Cris Carter, Kellen Winslow … it would have been interesting to see a couple guys like Largent and Lofton play in today’s pass-happy era of football. This is one of the best represented numbers out there.
Tony Hill was a very good player.
Nearly 8000 yards. Three pro bowls. You probably wouldn’t put hill at the top of this list but you could argue he should be in the mix w/ collinsworth and some of the others.
It’s worth pointing out that Tony Hill had higher career yards/game, receptions/game, and yards/reception averages than John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, and Drew Pearson. Of those four, Pearson is the one I would have put in Canton, but too many people forget how good Hill was.
Ditto on that. Pearson was one of the best sideline receivers ever. Still have a hard time calling Rice anything but the best at his position. How can you compare him to Lawrence Taylor or Jim Brown or Johnny Unitas? I don’t think you can. Taking lists a bit too far IMO. :)
What did you think of ESPN’s Top 20 Head Coaches of all-time?
A Vikings fan might say Pearson is paying the karmic price for the push off in the 1975 NFC Championship game … but nonetheless, he’s right up there. 3 pro bowls, 3 all pros. In my mind, off the top of my head, with no additional study done at this time, Cliff Branch would be the WR from that era that I would first put in. But the Pearson/Hill combo is right up there. It would be interesting to see how some of those duos: Hill/Pearson, Stallworth/Swann, Branch/Biletnikoff, S. White/Rashad, et al, would do in today’s pass happy NFL.
Oh my Gosh!! To see that would be so awesome. They would love not getting mugged at the line by the likes of Mel Blount. Maybe we could add Houston’s “Double Zero” Ken Burrough to a WR list. He was a heck of a deep threat and with his size would carry over to today’s game in great fashion.
As far as who should get in next I’d go with Harold Jackson. He made a big impact where ever he went. He played for the Rams, Eagles and Pats. Not sure why he bounced around. The little speed burner was great. Just ask the Cowboy’s Charlie Water who was roosted on a fall day in LA in I believe 1973. John Hadl threw something like 4 bombs to him for TD’s. :)
Ha Ha, a non-Vikings fan would probably say that it looks like Nate Wright just tripped over his own feet trying to adjust too late and fell down, Andy.
Tony P, Waters got torched by a lot of WRs while playing out of position at cornerback. He was much better suited to safety. As for the ESPN greatest coaches list, personally I think it was as shoddily constructed as most of what ESPN does.
Great point about Waters. Objectively I still can’t make that call either way. Truthfully the game should never of been that close with the Viking being a heavy favorite at home. That game sure made my Father happy and me in shock as I hated everything Cowboy. Except Coach Landry who I’d watched every Sunday on his show. He was such a fine person and it came through the TV screen.
No way should he of been number 7 on ESPN’s list. The same for Don Shula being number 3 behind Coach Walsh. Shula had two losing seasons out of 33 years!!! Walsh had 10 seasons with 3 SB wins. Not to shabby but. :) I know he’s the Father of the West Coast Offense which everyone uses. IMO he changed football but he didn’t make it great. The Legend of Lombardi and Shula’s many achievements make it next to impossible to pick a number one. In fact if ESPN wanted to be serious they’d have a 5 or 10 best and leave it at that. But than they wouldn’t have a show and no one would be talking. LOL
IMO Shula was the best Coach for the late 60’s, all of the 70’s and up until the early 80’s. Than the trifecta of Walsh, Gibbs and Parcells took over the joint. :) Let it be said Shula won in every different way getting the most out of all of his players. It was routinely said he would beat you with his players and than could turn around and beat you with yours and it did feel that way sometimes. I think somewhere along the line probably in the 80’s with having the mega talent of Dan Marino and IMO the beginning football over exposure of the time his genius was forgotten by the media. It didn’t help losing two Super Bowls but I thought it was remarkable just to get there. Come on, David Woodley is your QB and Andra Franklin is your best runner and your team is still favored. LOL They led the game but Shula wasn’t a miracle worker. :) In 1984 the Dolphins were remarkable again to win so many games with a historic QB performance and three super WR’s and no serious running game. They were no match for the exceptional talent of the 49ers and that crazy dinky new Offense. lol
IMO the Legend of Lombardi and Shula’s many achievements make it next to impossible to pick a number one. In fact if they want to be serious they’d have a 5 or 10 best and leave it at that. But than they wouldn’t have a show. lol
The Dolphins didn’t have many good number 80’s in their history. In fact only one good one I recall in Irving Fryar. He should rank pretty high on the all-time list. 80 was a mainstay with the Broncos great receivers with Ricky Upchurch, Mark Jackson and Rod Smith. Smith is likely a HOFer to be. In fact it appears number 80 hasn’t been given out since Smith retired so maybe they only give to extra talented WR’s.
I think Landry was the best coach of the 70s. It’s hard to pick against him when he appeared in 7 of the decade’s 10 NFC Conference Championships and half its Super Bowls, despite a lot of key roster turnover, and won more games than anyone else. Ranking Noll above him was a disgrace. Noll mostly rode a brief wave of great players. Once the key ones retired he didn’t do much. Landry was more successful than Noll in the 1980s. Walsh was a brilliant innovator but Landry was the only one of the modern coaches to exhibit true football genius on both sides of the ball, from inventing the 4-3 defense to reviving and popularizing the shotgun offense to countless other innovations that became league staples. I respect Shula but the only thing he’s got on Landry is longevity and total games won. Landry even has more playoff wins than Shula or anyone else for that matter. Landry’s record 20 consecutive winning seasons, despite multiple QB changes, was an awesome accomplishment. Landry belongs at the highest level of rankings like this, with guys like Halas, Lombardi, and Paul Brown.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :) Was Landry’s win percentage higher? Did he have a perfect season ? Dallas’s GM was the BEST for all of those years that’s why he’s in the HOF. :) Gotta give others credit in any organization for Team success. And Landry had a heck of a partner in Tex Schramm. IMO Shula won with less talented teams. I can’t even find reference to Miami’s GM after 1970. Was it Shula? If so that would make coaching more difficult. But I don’t think it was because didn’t they start that with Mike Holmgren in Seattle?
Over a six-year period Miami had a regular season record that will stand up versus any team in history along with 3 straight Super Bowl appearances. I’ll give Landry credit for his legendary computer success even though I know Staubach thought he could make the calls just as well. I wish we knew how well Staubach would of done. I think making his own calls was a big reason Griese made it to the HOF. Very few in the 70’s did that thus his reputation as a cerebral QB which only grew after he started to wear glasses.
See why these lists make no sense. It’s fun to think about and boast about accomplishments but it resolves nothing. Unless I possibly changed your opinion? LOL At least we can argue about a player going into the HOF and I might be right. :) I suspect I’m like you in that all I need is a crack and I’m talking about my team. :) Thank you ZoneBlitz for my indulgence off topic.
Landry’s winning percentage was higher during the 70s. While I agree the Cowboys had more talent than the Dolphins, that was in part due to Landry’s coaching ability and vision in cultivating it (e.g. turning Mel Renfro from a RB into a HoF DB, turning Rayfield Wright from a TE into a HoF offensive tackle, taking a basketball player named Cornell Green who had never played a down of college football and turning him into a 5 time Pro Bowl DB, turning defensive linemen Pat Donovan, Mark Tuinei, and Blain Nye into Pro Bowl offensive linemen, etc.), something most of his great players have credited him with.
That said, let’s not overstate the gap. Shula had loads of great players too. Shula deserves praise for the perfect season, but don’t forget that the previous year the Cowboys annihilated Miami 24-3 in SB VI, despite both teams being stacked with HoF talent, handing Shula the dubious honor of being the only coach in history to not score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. This wasn’t a nail biter decided by a fluke, but was a combination of talent and Landry thoroughly out-coaching Shula. Then there’s the fact that I can point to specific innovations by Landry like those cited earlier and pioneering the use of keys, complex pre-snap shifting, being the first to employ real quality control and strength coaches, concepts like the third down back, and others. Shula can’t match that list. For that matter neither can Walsh, much less Lombardi or the others.
And yes, obviously we’re both a sucker for these discussions, lol.
I wish Shula’s team could of played the Cowboy’s the next two season’s but they were losing the Redskins 26-3 and Vikings 20-12. Miami dominated both teams. Shula’s team has the record for holding a team from scoring the longest in Super Bowl history at 2:41 of the 4th quarter and if not for the Kicker’s Yepremian’s boneheaded play would have the only shutout.
OK I think I’ll go with the 24 ESPN experts. lol
Miami wasn’t far from being shut out itself in SB VII, only beating Washington 14-7. Amazingly, that was the largest margin of victory the Dolphins enjoyed in the “perfect” season, squeaking by their other opponents by 4 and 6 points. Staubach got injured in 72 (or else old Dolphins might have had a lot fewer get togethers since) and Dallas was soon in a rebuilding state (albeit one that sustained their winning season streak), but one can only dream about how many games Landry would have won if he had gotten to play in the cream puff AFC East over the years, racking up gimme wins. From 1970-1988 the NFC East won more combined games than the AFC East in 14 out of 19 seasons, with the AFC East winning slightly more in 73, 80, and 88 while the divisions tied in 83 and 87. In three out of those five exception seasons an NFC East team still made it to the Super Bowl. Both the Dolphins and Cowboys were far and away the class of their respective divisions over that long period, but you have to admit that Shula did have an easier road.
The one time they did meet head to head in the Super Bowl proved to be the difference in their all time playoff records. They both coached in an NFL record 36 postseason games, with Landry going 20-16 and Shula going 19-17. And, I know this sounds immodest, but in all honesty, due to a combination of native intelligence and studying this stuff so much over the years, I’m more of an “expert” than a few hacks at ESPN cranking out some half-assed lists to fill time and attract eyeballs. Regardless, you shouldn’t accept appeals to authority at face value (either from me or morons at ESPN), but should instead consider the facts and arguments themselves.
You’re digging awful hard to be right. LOL
Not really. Landry and Shula enjoyed similar success on the field. The big difference between them are Landry’s innovative contributions to the game. Hopefully we can at least agree that they should both be ranked above guys like Walsh, Noll, and Belichick.
There was no disagreement on the Cowboys having the better team during more of the 70’s but I’m not sure why you put down my team’s “Perfect” Super Bowl seasons and all of my team’s victories. Check your facts if you think 7 pts was the largest victory that season. Boy, I thought I was bad. LOL You really are pulling things out of your butt.
And the game with the Redskins was a total defensive domination by the number one Defense. Did you watch the game? Did see how Manny Fernandez and MVP Jake Scott played that day? The Redskins did NOTHING until the last 2 minutes. Not sure what game you were watching. :) I’ve never heard anyone say anythig close to “boy those Dolphins were lucking to win that game” until you. It must be your genius? Too bad they always focus on the last two minutes but that’s because Miami made it a boring game.
I always wondered how a team could go 14-0 and have to play it’s Championship in Pittsburgh? Shula made a hell of a call to take their All- Pro QB out of the playoff run. I don’t think they ever go undefeated without that move. The 1973 team was better. :) They beat the Cowboys 14-7 in the Stadium with the hole in it and in the shadow of the stoic man wearing the fedora. No “Captain Comeback” that day. :)
To say the AFC was a cream puff compared to the NFC in the 70’s is asinine. You just keep blowing smoke up everyone’s butt. That’s what I call digging. :) I’ll put Miami’s competition ahead of the Cowboy’s every day of the week.
Quote, “The 1970s was the AFC’s heyday. From 1972-80, the AFC won every Super Bowl but one.” Go find the AFC vs. NFC head to head record for 1972-79. :) Every year the AFC beats the NFC. But I suppose that doesn’t matter to a star-crossed Cowboy Lover.
Steelers, Raiders, Colts, Broncos, Bills/Browns versus Vikings, Redskins, Rams, St.Louis and who? Bears, Saints, Eagles were real juggernauts. LOL As you should recognize the 70’s were generally weak as far as overall League strength but there’s not much doubt to most OBJECTIVE fans that the AFC had become the better League. I know how painful that must be for you to hear. :) I like how you shifted the discussion to cover the 80’s.
45 years of living in “Cowboy Country” and they always making excuses and coming off like their team was God’s gift to Pro Football. LOL I should of known when I brought up of the 70’s. :) And Noll was a great Head Coach. That’s was evident by the devastating way his team played for him for 20 years. I suppose you’d say the Cowboys were better than them too even though they couldn’t beat them? LOL I don’t have a problem with Noll at 5, Walsh 6, Landry 4, Belichick 3, Shula 2 and Lombardi 1 .
Hey ZoneBlitz, I think I’ll go back under the rock I’ve been I’ve been under. LOL I’m going back to the real Fantasy, baby!!! :)
No, I said it was the Dolphins’ largest PLAYOFF win that season. Read more carefully. I even gave you the other two margins (context clues). And I’m not trying to knock your guys, but you did rank Shula over Landry and I take issue with that for the many specific reasons I gave. Landry often gets shortchanged in these discussions because many casual sports historians (including some at ESPN, who often have an anti-Cowboys bias anyway) aren’t aware of all the stuff he did, so you shooting your mouth off gave me an excuse to provide a little education. No need to get upset about it.
The 73 Cowboys were nowhere near as good as they had been in 71. I honestly don’t see either of the Dolphins Super Bowl teams beating that squad when it was peaking. Yeah I’ve watched Super Bowl VII. I didn’t say the team wasn’t dominant in some aspects or that they just got lucky, but it was a one score game, and you were acting like it was some kind of huge blowout. It wasn’t.
I’m not sure why you think the 70s were “weak as far as overall league strength”. The AFC Super Bowl representation you’re boasting about was skewed by two old NFL teams, the Steelers and Colts, and doesn’t say anything about broad based conference strength. The Colts fell off the map after the beginning of the decade and the Steelers weren’t in the Dolphins’ division. The AFC, mostly made up of former AFL teams, was actually weaker in objective metrics for a while after the merger. That said, I wasn’t talking about the AFC, but the AFC East being weak, at least compared to the NFC East. I can’t believe you’re complaining about me including the 80s (actually the time their coaching careers overlapped in the post merger divisional alignment) when I just finished listing the 80s heavy exception years. If you restrict it to the 70s then the NFC East won more games than the AFC East in 9 out of 10 seasons. That’s a significant disparity. Conference strength isn’t that relevant because this comparison just looks at regular season games, most of which were against division opponents. The remaining games were divided equally between same conference opponents from other divisions and cross conference opponents. The Dolphins were in a softer division. Period.
Your cheap shots missed the mark, btw. Landry actually owned the Steelers from the mid 60s through the early 70s. I assume you had in mind the two Super Bowl games, which were each decided by 4 points. In the first one Dallas was a rebuilding team on a Cinderella run fueled by the famous “Dirty Dozen” draft and almost pulled off the upset. The second one was marred by an atrocious, game changing passing interference call on Dallas when the Steeler WR ran over the Cowboy DB’s back and tripped, TE Jackie Smith dropping a wide open TD pass, and Randy White wearing a cast for a broken thumb and fumbling a kickoff. Without any one of those three events the Cowboys have a great chance of winning. The loss against the Colts was by 3 points and featured a Dallas team that mostly dominated and was on the verge of punching it into the end zone for the game sealing win when a fumbled snap was recovered by a Cowboy lineman, only to have an official whose view was obstructed screw up and call it Colts ball in response to excited signaling by their players. Camera evidence proves that at no time did a Colt have possession of the ball. Worst call in Super Bowl history.
Landry’s losses were all by 4 points or less (flukes that could have gone the other way), but his Super Bowl victories were crushing, the blow out win over Miami being especially dominant. By contrast Shula only had one decisive win (73), and his Super Bowl losses were all by double digits except for the 9 point loss to the Jets. Coaches can’t control every variable, but Landry almost always put his players in position to win.
Of course Shula usually did too. It may sound like I’m disparaging the guy but I really like Shula and agree that he’s one of the greatest coaches of all time. The problem is that an ignorant, often anti-Cowboys media properly treats him as such while improperly diminishing Landry. Of course he had stellar on the field success, but no one in the modern game comes close to matching Landry’s innovative contributions.
He’s got my name so i have to go with jerry r
If Largent had Joe Montana and Steve Young throwing to him instead of Jim Zorn and Dave Krieg the stats and this conversation would be very diffrrent.
Speaking of Largent, I would also think Tim Brown’s greatness would have to be awful comparable to Rice too if he had his 2 QB’s and not about 20 obscure ones he had.. You-all probably talked about with Brown’s HOF induction. Total class act!!
DONALD DRIVER
A solid receiver in both the Brett Favre and Aaron Roger’s eras. But also a great dancer.
Its Rice because of his accomplishments but he is also a James Lofton clone, though Lofton was much more faster …
Imagine Montana throwing to Lofton … or Largent …