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Please read the general project page and post any related questions there. The current plan will be to let the discussion go 2 weeks with voting being open the last 4 days of that period. This may change however seeing as how this is a brand new board and it may take some time before awareness is where I'd like it.

The all-time ranking list will be 15 players long.

Some key names everyone should consider along with accolades. Please don't feel limited by this list, but do utilize unless you are already aware of this information.

Sources:

archive.sportingnews.com/nfl/100/list-complete.html
hickoksports.com
pro-football-reference.com
databasefootball.com

Guys in TSN's Top 100:

Anthony Munoz

Rookie: 1980
TSN All-Time Ranking: 17
NFL All-Pro: 10 years
Pro Bowl: 11 years
Hall of Fame
All-1980s Decade Team

Forrest Gregg

Rookie: 1956
TSN All-Time Ranking: 28
NFL All-Pro: 8
Pro Bowl: 9
Hall of Fame
All-1960s Decade Team

Art Shell

Rookie: 1968
TSN All-Time Ranking: 55
NFL All-Pro: 3
Pro Bowl: 8
Hall of Fame
All-1970s Decade Team

Roosevelt Brown

Rookie: 1953
TSN All-Time Ranking: 57
NFL All-Pro: 8
Pro Bowl: 9
All-1950s Decade Team

Lou Groza

Rookie: 1946
TSN All-Time Ranking: 99
NFL All-Pro: 6
Hall of Fame

Other notable Hall of Famers:

Ron Yary

Rookie: 1963
NFL All-Pro: 5
Pro Bowl: 7
Hall of Fame
All-1970s Decade Team

Lou Creekmur

Rookie: 1950
NFL All-Pro: 4
Pro Bowl: 8
Hall of Fame

Dan Dierdorf

Rookie: 1971
NFL All-Pro: 4
Pro Bowl: 6
Hall of Fame
All-1970s Decade Team

Rayfield Wright

Rookie: 1967
NFL All-Pro: 4
Pro Bowl: 6
Hall of Fame
All-1970s Decade Team

Recent Players:

William Roaf

Rookie: 1993
NFL All-Pro: 6
Pro Bowl: 11
All-1990s Decade Team

Jonathan Ogden

Rookie: 1996
NFL All-Pro: 5
Pro Bowl: 10


Bob Brown

Rookie: 1964
NFL All-Pro: 6
Pro Bowl: 6
All-1960s Decade Team

George Connor

Rookie: 1948
NFL All-Pro: 5
Pro Bowl: 4

Gary Zimmerman

Rookie: 1986
NFL All-Pro: 3
Pro Bowl: 7
All-1980s Decade Team
All-1990s Decade Team

Orlando Pace

Rookie: 1997
NFL All-Pro: 3
Pro Bowl: 7

Walter Jones

Rookie: 1997
NFL All-Pro: 3
Pro Bowl: 6

Without looking at your list, the first names to come to mind:

Willie Roaf
Anthony Munoz
Jon Ogden
Orlando Pace

I witnessed first hand for a long time the dominance of Willie Roaf, he is my #1 but probably for homeristic reasons.

i think the recent OTs are better than the older ones, as if the older ones would play today they's be dominated by superior DLine s today in terms of athleticism.

Where in the world is Bruce Matthews.

But, my standings would probably go like this:

1. Anthony Munoz
...
...
...
The rest... I'll get into the details later

Anthony Munoz
Jonathan Ogden
Willie Roaf
Art Shell
Orlando Pace/Gary Zimmerman/Ron Yary

Not exactly the easiest group of players to rank, given the complete lack of statistics at the position to help out. That and the general disinterest media and other available sources give towards offensive linemen

J.Kim wrote:Where in the world is Bruce Matthews.

Slotted at guard instead of tackle. You disagree?

Doctor MJ wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Slotted at guard instead of tackle. You disagree?

I don't entirely know....he was so versatile as a O-Line guy that he got significant playing time everywhere around the line...so technically you can include him for T, G and C...but I don't know how you want to approach this

J.Kim wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I don't entirely know....he was so versatile as a O-Line guy that he got significant playing time everywhere around the line...so technically you can include him for T, G and C...but I don't know how you want to approach this

Well what I want to make sure is that a guy doesn't have his votes split between similar positions. Sammy Baugh's quarterbacking and punting skills will be separated out, since he can play both concurrently without conflict. But a guy can't play both tackle and guard at the same time, so I say pick what he was most known for. Matthews made the All-90s NFL team at guard, so that seemed the reasonable choice to me, but I'm open to persuasion.

Bruce Matthews went into the HOF as a G and C, though I remember him best as a tackle going up against his brother Clay, a pretty fair OLB in his own right. I think it's safe to say he's the best overall lineman in NFL history.

My initial thoughts:
Anthony Munoz
Willie Roaf
Art Shell
Ron Yary
Orlando Pace
Jon Ogden
Walter Jones
Rosie Brown

then a dropoff
then there's a melange of about 25 guys that were more stylistic fits and preference than definitively superior ot one another. In that group for me:
Dan Dierdorf
Gary Zimmerman
Jackie Slater
Erik Williams
Art Donovan
Forrest Gregg
Lomas Brown
Chris Hinton
Bob Brown
Tarik Glenn
Bruce Armstrong
Jimbo Covert

I'm partial to Slater and Hinton. Hinton was a master technician and a great finesse tackle. Slater was Orlando Pace before Pace came along.

Time to vote folks, post your list, or PM it to me.

1. Anthony Munoz
2. Forest Gregg
3. William Roaf
4. Roosevelt Brown
5. Johnathan Ogden
6. Art Shell
7. Ron Yary
8. Lou Groza
9. Orlando Pace
10. Dan Dierdorf
11. Gary Zimmerman
12. Walter Jones
13. Rayfield Wright
14. Lou Creekmur
15. Tony Boselli

C'mon guys, need your help!

This may be the hardest list for me to compile. I'm still waffling over my picks.

Me too. Should have them on the next rainy day--too nice to be inside right now.

How are you guys accounting for the different rule changes over the course of the history of NFL?

Especially for something like the O-Linemen's ability to use hands to block, and the inability before the 70s?

And to be honest, I havn't had a chance to do any of the rankings except for the first batch... It's peak mid-term season in my Summer term...
But I promise, once I'm done this mid-term tomorrow, I'll try and give my rankings...

My ballot:
1. Anthony Munoz
2. Willie Roaf
3. Orlando Pace
4. Art Shell
5. Rosie Brown
6. Ron Yary
7. Jonathan Ogden
8. Walter Jones
9. Jackie Slater
10. Erik Williams

Does anybody find Walter Jones to be somewhat overrated in the best-of catergory? I really can't see him being in my Top-10.

Basketball Jesus wrote:Does anybody find Walter Jones to be somewhat overrated in the best-of catergory? I really can't see him being in my Top-10.

If you asked me the same question last year? I would've honestly said he belongs in the top-5...

But after last season, I don't know...

A season ago, I would've made the claim that he was the only one in the NFL that could change the fortunes of an offensive line of a team immediately, should he sign with another team....

Prelim list:


1. Anthony Munoz