Almost eight years ago now we started this series, and apparently more than five years since our most recent, thanks to the COVID19 shut down that has us working at home, we’re going to try to get back into our By The Numbers series.

We’ve seen quite a few go down this path over the years—many just using a list of their opinions as way to drive pageviews–but our audience of Hall of Fame fanatics, combined with our non-traditional approach of bouncing around by picking numbers out of a hat leads to better content (in our opinion).

So, with the goal of getting us back to averaging more than one of our number posts per year, we finally get into the trenches with number 79.

Number 79 has always been a number that I pay a little bit of extra attention to, probably because it’s the number that Andy wore in high school.  Even so, I was kind of surprised at just how few big names have worn number 79—and the voting will be particularly interesting given that the two Hall of Fame enshrines that wore number 79 as their primary number both played a bit before most (all?) of our regular readers’ time watching football.

Roosevelt Brown – Brown wore #79 for the New York Giants from 1953 to 1965, joining the team as a 27th round pick in the 1953 draft (321st overalI). I originally read that as 27th overall pick—in the 2020 NFL Draft this weekend, there will be 255 selections. As a 20-year old out of Morgan State, he won the starting left tackle spot by the start of his rookie season, and didn’t give it up until he retired, starting 159 of 165 games. He was a 9 time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

Bob St. Clair – The other Hall of Famer wearing #79 as their primary jersey, St. Clair also entered the NFL in 1953, selected in the third round (32nd overall) by the San Francisco 49ers. He too started almost every game of his career, starting 9 of 10 his rookie season, and starting 117 of 119 in his injury shortened career. He was a five-time Pro Bowler, and although ProFootballReference.com doesn’t credit him with any All-Pro selections, his Wikipedia credits him with five (appears he was named second team All-Pro). He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1990.

Forrest Gregg – Gregg is the lone Hall of Famer to wear #79 as a secondary number, wearing the number in his final season, his one year in Dallas. He played in six games, zero starts, and was probably another player that should have hung it up after he was done with his main team. I’d go deeper, but I suspect we’ll be talking about him when we get to #75.

Ray Childress – Childress is generally who I first think of when I think of #79, and he has the honor(?) of having the highest “Approximate Value” of the #79’s listed on ProFootballReference.com, with a 110 (although this score really only goes back to 1960, so most of Brown and St. Clair’s careers are ignored). To be honest, if asked, I would have guessed he was in the Hall of Fame. After being drafted 3rd overall in 1985, he spent 11 years wearing #79 on the defensive line for the Houston Oilers (and also one season for the Cowboys, wearing #72). Childress racked up 75.5 sacks, 19 fumble recoveries and started all 160 games he played for the Oilers, only missing six games his first 10 seasons. He was named to five Pro Bowls, and selected First-Team All-Pro in 1992.

Jacob Green – As the 10th overall pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 1980, Green played his first two seasons in the pre-sack era, but still recorded 97.5 sacks and 17 fumble recoveries while starting 176 of 178 games he played with the Seahawks through 1991. He also recorded three career interceptions, scoring touchdowns on two of them (not bad for a defensive end), and was named to two Pro Bowls.

Harvey Martin – As a third round pick out of East Texas State in 1973, Martin came off the bench mostly in passing situations his first two seasons, but still compiled an incredible career stat line for his 11 seasons—unfortunately, most of it is unofficial, since the league doesn’t count sacks prior to 1982. Officially, Martin finished with 10 career sacks—unofficially, he was credited by the Cowboys with 114 sacks in his career, including an incredible 23 sacks in 1977—when the league was still playing 14 game schedules. In fact, his 1977 season may be one of the best ever by a defensive lineman—85 tackles, 23 sacks, Super Bowl Champion, Super Bowl Co-MVP (with Randy White), and NFL Defensive Player of the Year—he was also named to his second of four Pro Bowls, and was named First Team All-Pro the only time in his career. Martin was also named to the second team All-Decade team for the 1970’s.

Harris Barton – One of the unsung heros of the late ‘80s Dynasty San Francisco 49ers, Barton was a first round pick (22nd overall) in 1987, he started 9 of the 12 games he played in as a rookie, and 134 of 138 for his career, mostly at Right Tackle (with a little big of Right Guard mixed in). His accolades are a bit unusual in that he was named an All-Pro (two times) more than he was a Pro Bowler (one time), and he was a three time Super Bowl Champion.

Erik Williams – Wasn’t initially going to include Williams, who shows up further down the Approximate Value list than I would have expected, but his career accolades (four time Pro Bowler, two time All-Pro, with a Sporting News All-Pro accolade on the list as well) and also a three-time Super Bowl Champion, not to mention making up a part of one of the best lines in NFL history while blocking for Emmitt Smith & Troy Aikman.

Other notables: Dave Szott, Ruben Brown, Bill Fralic, Jim Lachey.

Current players wearing #79: Brandon Brooks (3-time Pro Bowl Guard for the Eagles, formerly played for the Texans) has worn it the longest, since 2012. Ronnie Stanley (Pro Bowl & All-Pro Tackle in 2019 for the Ravens). Michael Bennett wore #79 for the Dallas Cowboys after being traded to the team midway through the 2019 season, although he was not re-signed.

So Zoneblitz readers—who was the best #79 in NFL History?

Who was the best #79 in NFL History?

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See our other By the Numbers Posts: #14 | #25 | #36 | #53 | #80 | #81