Top NFL Legends

Only a handful of NFL legends exist among the thousands who've played and coached the professional game. While some players set records and find their names forever enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame, the NFL legends are a truly elite group. Not only were they the best at their jobs, they also exemplifed sportsmanship and teamwork, acting as leaders both on and off the field. For fans and players alike, these men reached a level of excellence that embodied the highest levels of success.

Vince Lombardi
Considered the greatest NFL coach of all time, Lombardi took the Green Bay Packers to five championship titles, including consecutive wins in 1965, 1966 and 1967, a feat that has never been repeated. Lombardi's Packers won the first two Super Bowls, and his lifetime winning percentage as a coach (.738) still stands as an NFL record four decades after his death.

Known for his disciplined training programs and insistence on player conditioning, Lombardi turned around a struggling Packers team when he took over as head coach in 1959. In his second season as head coach, Lombardi took the Packers to the NFL championship game, where they lost to the Phildaelphia Eagles by a score of 17-13. It was the only postseason game Lombardi would ever lose.

In 1970, Lombardi's life was cut short by colon cancer. The NFL honored his achievements by naming the Super Bowl trophy for him. His contributions as a college coach are also remembered through the Lombardi Award, given annually to the best college lineman.

Lawrence Taylor
Defensive players seldom get the same attention as the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers who score touchdowns, unless they're the type of players who can stop those touchdowns from happening. Lawrence Taylor is was the best at breaking up passing plays, playing for the New York Giants from 1981 to 1993, rewriting the rules for pass rushing and helping his team get to two Super Bowls.

Taylor grew up in Virginia and attended UNC Chapel Hill, where he began playing outside linebacker and racking up collegiate records. He was named Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1980, then became the NFL Rookie of the Year during his first professional season in 1981. Gifted with size, speed and athleticism, Taylor could hunt down quarterbacks quicker than defenders could respond, making him a true NFL legend. When he retired in 1993, his career totals of 1,088 tackles, 132 sacks and 9 interceptions, along with 12 touchdowns, only told part of the story of his influence. Regularly topping 240 pounds in weight, Taylor had a speed to match his size, enabling him to push defenders aside and track down quarterbacks. His presence would lead NFL defensive and offensive coordinators to look for larger, faster players on the lines.

Jim Brown
From 1957 to 1965, Jim Brown was the undisputed rushing king of the NFL. Over the course of eight seasons, the physical, fast-footed running back from Syracuse University set nearly every rushing record in the NFL, including total yards (12,132), rushing touchdowns (106) and all-purpose yards (15,549). Although many of Brown's records have since been broken, it's important to remember that NFL seasons were shorter when he started playing, lasting only 12 games until 1961 and 14 games for the rest of his career, compared with the current season of 16 games that began in 1978. Even with the longer seasons that offer more opportunities for rushing, Brown is still an NFL legend and still holds records for most seasons leading the league in rushing (8) and most consecutive seasons leading the leage in rushing (5). He is the only player in NFL history to rush for at least 100 yards in every game in his career.

Like Lawrence Taylor, Brown had an impressive size that didn't slow him down on the field. In an NFL where running backs were often smaller players who would try to avoid the defense by scampering toward the sidelines, Brown rushed straight ahead, using his size and momentum to force defenders out of his way. Off the field, Brown discovered a talent for acting. This led to his retirement after the 1965 season, when he chose to stay on the set of The Dirty Dozen rather than return to training camp.

Jerry Rice
No NFL player currently holds more records than wide receiver Jerry Rice, who owns nine top spots in the record books, including most pass receptions in a career (1,549), most seasons with 50 or more passes (17), most consecutive games with pass receptions (274), most yeards gained in a season (1,848), most touchdowns in a career (197) and most consecutive games with touchdowns (13). The Mississippi Valley State University graduate played most of his 20-year career with the San Francisco 49ers, helping the team to win three Super Bowls. He was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 1987 and 1993 and was named MVP of Super Bowl XXIII.

When he entered the NFL in 1984, Rice was an unusual candidate for a wide receiver. At a height of 6 feet and 2 inches and a weight of 200 pounds, he looked more suited for basketball than the gridiron. Rice's height and speed, coupled with his sure hands, gave him a distinct advantage. Rice could leap over defenders to pluck passes from the air, and he had the toughness needed to shake off big hits and still keep playing. Injuries only shortened an NFL season for Rice once, in 1997 when he missed much of the season with knee injuries.

John Madden
For many fans, the name Madden is synonymous with football. A graduate of California Polytechnic State University, Madden was a standout offensive tackle who was drafted by the Philadephia Eagles in 1958. A training-camp injury prevented Madden from ever playing in a game, but his love of football remained.

Madden began coaching at California colleges in 1958. In 1967, he was offered the job of linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders. Two years later, during the AFL/NFL merger, Madden became the league's youngest head coach at the age of 32 when he ascended to the top spot in Oakland. Over the course of the next 10 seasons, Madden won more than 100 regular-season games (the youngest coach ever to hit that milestone), never had a losing season and led the Raiders to a win in Super Bowl XI. His overall winning percentage of 76.3%, including playoffs, is the best in NFL history, making him a true NFL legend.

Madden is perhaps best known for his work off the field. After retiring following the 1978 season, Madden was tapped as a color commentator for football broadcasts. An avid student and fan of the game, Madden spent time in the broadcast booths for all four major networks, with his final years spent broadcasting Monday Night Football for ABC and Sunday Night Football for NBC. With a deep understanding of football and the ability to break down the game's complexity so that casual fans could understand what was happening on the field, Madden became one of the game's greatest ambassadors and contributed to its growing success on television.