Three Steelers named in Gil Brandt’s “greatest safeties” ever ranking
The “Godfather of Professional Football” is the latest to tease football fans with an offseason rankings article. This time, the NFL.com analyst rates the players he believes are the greatest to ever play the safety position. Brandt ranked a total of 31 players, which included three former Pittsburgh Steelers.
Unlike some of the random ratings which have come out recently, such as the NFL Top 100 list or anything related to Pro Football Focus, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Brandt’s rankings. It’s not as though the NFL’s list or PFF have done anything wrong, but it’s great to read the thoughts of one of the greatest minds in pro football history.
For those unfamiliar with Gil Brandt, the 84-year-old is often referred to as “The Godfather” for his uncanny knack to recall small cities from memory. The talent comes from serving as an NFL executive since 1955 and the following 33 years, holding a position with three franchises: the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys.
Gil can be heard on most weeknights on Sirius XM NFL Radio’s Late Hits program.
30. Carnell Lake
Pittsburgh Steelers, 1989-1998; Jacksonville Jaguars, 1999; Baltimore Ravens, 2001
Voted to five Pro Bowls, First Team All-Pro one time
16 career interceptions
Lake is a five-time Pro Bowl selection and named once to an All-Pro first team selection. He finished his career with 25 sacks and 16 interceptions.
An odd fact about Lake’s career is that he was so well thought of that he received an MVP vote from Sports Illustrated’s Peter King: that vote forced a tie for the award between Green Bay QB Brett Favre and Detroit Lions RB Barry Sanders.
8. Donnie Shell
Pittsburgh Steelers, 1974-1987
This College Football Hall of Famer defined the safety position for eleven seasons with the Steelers. A member of the vaunted Steel Curtain defense of the 1970’s, Shell accumulated 51 interceptions during his career: a record at the time of his retirement.
Shell was named to five Pro Bowls, selected to three first and one second team All-Pro roster, and won four Super Bowls with the Steelers. He was also named to Pittsburgh’s All-Time team and the NFL’s Silver Anniversary Super Bowl Team.
An “Iron Man” of a player, Shell’s 202 games played for Pittsburgh is third all-time to Mike Webster‘s 220 and Hines Ward‘s 217.
2. Troy Polamalu
Pittsburgh Steelers, 2003-2014
If you ask anyone in the vicinity of the Pittsburgh area who the greatest safety of all time is, one name comes to mind: Troy Polamalu.
Polamalu is a two-time Super Bowl champion, a four-time All-Pro, and an eight-time Pro Bowl selection. He was named the 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and selected to the league’s All-Decade Team for the 2000’s. The Steelers also named him to their all-time team as well.
He finished his career with 770 tackles, 12 sacks, 32 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles, and three defensive touchdowns. Seeing him named number two is a tough pill to swallow for Steelers fans, but they can take solace in knowing that former Baltimore Ravens safety, Ed Reed, wasn’t named number one overall. Reed, who’s name is often brought up in conversations with Polamalu’s while discussing the best safeties to play the game, finished fourth on Brandt’s list.
