Whenever the subject of football comes up, we are quick to recall quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady, or wide receivers like Jerry Rice or Terrell Owens. Attacking players always seem to get all the attention. However, it would be foolish to assume that these names and more alone carried their team, hence the need to talk about the greatest safeties of all time.
Throughout the history of the sport there have been defensive players who were worth more than their weight in gold. They took on their defensive responsibilities with a mixture of brute force and Mozart-esque finesse. These men have struck terror into the hearts of many wide receivers and quarterbacks and deserve attention as well.
Here is a list of 10 names that deserve a place in the list of the greatest guarantees of all time.
The 10 greatest all-time guarantees in NFL history
1. Ronnie Lott
Ronald Mandel Lott is not a name to forget in a hurry. In the 1980s and 1990s, during his fifteen seasons as a professional player in the NFL, he played for four top NFL teams. He attended the University of Southern California, where he was unanimously recognized as an All-American and led his team, the Trojans, to the Rose Bowl title in 1979.
He was a first-round pick (8th overall) of the San Francisco 49ers in the 1981 NFL Draft. Ronnie spent nine years with the team and later played for the Los Angeles Raiders in 1991 and the Jets. from New York in 1993. He joined the San Francisco 49ers in 1995 but retired the same year before the start of the season.
Ronnie is one of the most decorated players in NFL history. During his career, he won four Super Bowl titles with the 49ers and part of the Pro Bowl for 10 seasons. He is also an eight-time All-Pro First Team member and, in 2000, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
2. Emlen Tunnell
An interesting addition to this list of the greatest security of all time. Born in the 1920s, Tunnell has gone on to become one of the greatest protections in the history of the sport. Known for his interception ability, he was an integral part of the famous New York Giants “umbrella defense” of the 1950s.
Emlen played for the University of Toledo in 1942 before volunteering for the United States Coast Guard the following year during World War II. After his time with the Coast Guard, he spent two years with the University of Iowa team.
Tunnell became the first African-American player signed by the New York Giants in April 1948. He ran the floor after his rookie season and became a mainstay on the team’s defensive line during the eleven years he spent with them. In 1958, he joined the Green Bay Packers and stayed there for three years, winning the NFL championship in 1961.
By the time of his retirement in 1962, the Tunnell had a plethora of enviable records. He is the player with the second most interceptions (79) in NFL history. He is a two-time NFL champion, was voted 9 Pro-Bowls and is on the 6 Pro All-Pro team. In 1967, he was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame, becoming the first African-American to receive this honor.
3. Ed Reed
Many Baltimore Ravens fans won’t forget Edward Earl Reed Jr. very soon. After a stellar college football career at the University of Miami, Ed was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He spent 11 years with the franchise, winning the SuperBowl in his last season with the team. He would next play for the Houston Texans and New York Jets in 2013.
By the time he retired from the sport in 2015, he had racked up 64 professional interceptions and 1,590 interception run yard. From 2003 to 2012, he was invited to the Pro Bowl nine times and was a member of the All-Pro first team five times and three times of the All-Pro second team. He was also a consensus American twice during his time in college. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest guarantees of all time for the game.
4. Paul Krause
Krause stands head and shoulders above most of the others on this list and with good reason. One of the greatest defensive backs in the game, he holds the record for most interceptions in NFL history (81), a record he set in 1979, when he usurped the 79 interceptions of Emlen Tunnell, the NFL’s highest finisher. What’s even more remarkable is that he collected those interceptions from 45 different quarterbacks.
Paul spent his professional football career with the Washington Redskins (1964-1967) and the Minnesota Vikings (1968-1979). The Vikings have played a role on the team in all four Minnesota Vikings SuperBowl appearances. Krause is a 1969 NFL champion, eight-time Pro Bowl professional, three-time first team, and twenty-second full team.
Alumnus of the University of Iowa, he was inducted into the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1998.
5. Troy Polamalu
A former strong safety footballer and first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Troy is a deserving name on this list. He is one of a dying breed of lifelong players who have spent their entire careers with one team. A consensus All-American and a two-time first-team Pac-10 player for the University of Southern California, he was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2003 NFL Draft.
Polamalu, a tough tackle expert, was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and was part of the Steelers squad for their SuperBowl victories in 2005 and 2008. He was also named to the Pro Bowl eight times between 2004 and 2013. Former first-team All-Pro and two-time second-team All-Pro safety.
He retired in 2015 with a record 770 tackles, 3 touchdowns and 32 interceptions. He was also named to the Pittsburgh Steelers team.
6. Jake Scott
This Greenwood native’s career has nothing to do with making fun of by any stretch. He had already started to show his dynamism and his talent since his time in high school. Jake played football for Washington-Lee High School and then for the University of Georgia. For the latter, he served as the school’s interceptions manager in 1967 and 1968 and was named the team’s first-team centric defensive end in both years.
His professional career started with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League until he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins the following year. He quickly became an integral part of the team and participated in Super Bowl winning appearances in 1972 and 1973, winning Super Bowl MVP in the former case.
After playing for the Washington Redskins in the last three years of his career, he retired in 1978 having started all 126 games in his nine-year professional career. Jake Scott is also a five-time Pro Bowl professional and two-time first-team MVP among many other accolades. It will forever be recognized as one of the greatest guarantees of all time.
7. Brian Dawkins
The Florida native came onto the professional football scene in 1996 and etched his name into the Sports Hall of Fame as one of the best ways to play sports. Dawkins spent thirteen seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles before joining the Denver Broncos where he retired.
Brian played for Clemson University and was a First Team All-ACC and First Team All-American in 1995. He was selected by the Eagles in the 1996 NFL Draft and immediately established himself as a solid safety. In February 2009, he joined the Denver Broncos on a five-year contract, but retired before the 2012 season.
Brian’s playing and leadership skills were so evident that he was named a safety to the Clemson University Centennial Team in 1996, inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of school in 2009 and established the Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
In honor of the player’s contribution, the Philadelphia Eagles retired his No. 20 jersey in 2012. The 9-player Pro Bowl player and 5 All-Pro first-team players were inducted into the Hall of pro football fame in 2018, a deserving honor for one of the all-time greats.
8. Steve Atwater
Atwater is best remembered for his famous success overpowering Kansas City Negro running back Christian “Nigerian Nightman” at Okoye in September 1990. However, that is by no means the only reason safety free makes this list the greatest security measures of all time.
The grinning assassin, as he was nicknamed, played quarterback at Lutheran High School North, then moved to safety after joining the University of Arkansas, recording 14 interceptions at the highest school level during his academic career.
He was drafted in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and remained with the team until 1998. He played his season with the New York Giants before calling his career time after a one-day deal with the Denver Broncos.
Atwater retired as a two-time Super Bowl champion. 8 Pro Bowl players and 2 First Team All-Pro players. In 2005, the safety legend was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame.
9. Bobby Dillon
He may belong to this list but maybe he will argue – and rightly so – that he had more physical hurdles to overcome to stay relevant in the sport. Dillon is the only player on this list of greatest safety measures of all time to achieve what he did while only seeing with one eye.
He began his career in high school where he attended Temple High School before joining the University of Texas, where he earned all-American honors.
Dillan didn’t let his blindness stop him from becoming a game legend. He played professionally for the Green Bay Packers from 1952 to 1959, averaging 8 interceptions per season for six consecutive seasons (1953 – 1958). Nicknamed “The Hawk” paradoxically because of his single eye, he is the second player in NFL history to record 50 interceptions and also holds the record for interceptions (52) for the Green Bay Packers.
The defensive back was a four-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl player and was named to the PRFA Hall of Very Good Class of 2011.
10. Rod Woodson
He is the oldest player on this list of greatest safeties of all time. Woodson was tied to the network for 17 years, peaking in 2003. During his career, he played for four different top franchises.
He played for Purdue University and left for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1987 after amassing 13 individual bests for his college football career. He joined the Steelers as a first pick and spent 10 years in the franchise. Woodson made the Pro Bowl in six consecutive seasons (1989-1994) with the Steelers.
Before retiring in 2003, he also played for the San Francisco 49ers, then the Baltimore Ravens and the Oakland Raiders. He was an All-Big Ten and an All-American while at Purdue. Rod also won the Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2000. During his career, he was an 11-time professional Pro Bowl player and 6-time first team player. His name was also inducted into the Purdue Cross-Cultural Athletics Hall of Fame (2003), Professional Football Hall of Fame (2009), and College Football Hall of Fame (2016).
He also ranks third on the list of highest interceptions (71) in NFL history, behind Emlen Tunnell and Paul Krause (81) and Emlen Tunnell (79).