Top 10 Safeties All Time

1. Ronnie Lott
2. Troy Polamalu
3. Ed Reed
4. Brian Dawkins
5. Kenny Easley
6. Paul Krause
7. Donnie Shell
8. Steve Atwater
9. Cliff Harris
10. Joey Browner

I know I don’t have a lot of old timers on here but I have never seen any of them play. So this list is more from the 70’s to present.

 

Cool idea you came up with to past the time. Normally I'd be really into thinking on it but as my avatar should tell you I'm pumped about the Pirates. As soon as their crap hit's the fan (and it will;() it will be Steeler time. At the moment they are making the wait very easy.

 

I'm going to give a shout out to some home grown Pittsburgh boys. Hell, one grew up in my neighborhood.

Paul Martha and Mike Logan two fine Pittsburgh home grown products. Logan was nothing special but I think he did OK on special teams. (????)

Got to give a shout out to Ryan Clark. He is the reason Troy was so good. I'm just goofing, pretty sure it would have been Troy making him better.

And a shout out for 4 time Super Bowl winner and my second favorite safety of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mr. Mike Wagner. He once gave me a big smile and wave , actually to a group of us, but I was sure he was looking into my eyes. Thus, favorite safety until That guy with the funny hair came along.

 

I gotta think about this one. I see guys like Atwater that I think should be higher, but then I don't know who to take out.

 

You should split this list between FS and SS

 

Pretty good list. I just want to add some more old timers to consider.
Larry Wilson, Jake Scott, Ken Houston and Emlen Tunnell. Tunnell missed his first 3 years in the league to fight in WWII and still ended up with 79 interceptions. He was the first African American player to be voted into the HOF.

 

Is Troy really considered 2nd all time safety like in a non homer way?

 

Hm?!


Quite a bit of All Time Safeties list have both positions on there. It is just the majority of the Top Five usually have Free Safeties.. and for good reason. Turnovers are a big part of a Safeties job as the final line of defense.

 

As much as I admire him, not for me.


Troy Polamalu is either the greatest or arguably greatest ever Strong Safety. Ken Houston, despite his lack of Super Bowls, has a very strong argument going for him in this regard. That said, I agree; two is way too high imo.


While the OP stated he missed out on some old timers, man oh man.... Emlen Tunnel, Herb Adderley, Jack Christiansen, Larry "Wild Cat" Wilson and Yale Larry are all notable omissions. That said, given the fact that only a handful of them would fit the list, Emlen, Jack and either Larry or Yale would been my personal picks.

 

Could argue all day over that just like a ton of other things in the sport world. Just to much to consider, the era they played, the advances in research and development, etc. etc.

 

All four of those guys are more deserving than Atwater or Browner.

 

You take that back about Atwater. Only player I ever seen knock out 3 players in one hit. Take it back.

 

Nope. Atwater was as good a hitter as I've ever seen at the safety position, but he was a liability in coverage.

 

All the more reason to separate the 2... .
Different positions with different responsibilities..... The same argument can and has been made with the many comparisons between the careers of Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu

 

If this is the argument to be made, what about separating the All Time Deep Threat WRs vs the All Time Possession WRs?! What about All Time Power Backs vs All Time Speed Backs?! For that matter, the All Time 4-3 Defensive Tackles vs the All Time 3-4 Defensive Ends?!


Seems quite unfair overall if we are to separate based solely on responsibilities. Yes, the priorities of the position are different but how influential the impact and performance of either position are felt the same. The methods to go about to obtain such impact or performance shouldn't matter.


If Chris Johnson scores a Touchdown on an 80 Yard run vs. The Bus scoring a Touchdown after a 15 play drive, the end result is a touchdown. Similarly, if Troy Polamalu forces and recovers a fumble for 15 yards vs. Ed Reed intercepting the ball for 25, the end result is the same, a turnover created by the players themselevs.



Positions are just that, positions. They all have different roles of course and their values are solely gauged by their teams. However, if a player can routinely create great play after great player and have great game after great game for every great season after great season, no matter the position, they will always be ranked highly among their peers; differences of position being irrelevant.