Top 100 most influential people in Steelers history: Honorable Mention Part 2
In case you missed the beginning of this list, you can refer back to part one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Steelers History where I outline the concept of the list and give some other “honorable mention” names I had to leave out of the Top 100 ranking.
This idea began with the NFL Top 100 and was further cemented as something I wanted to do based on the Steelers announcement of a Hall of Honor. I came up with 122 names in the end and had to cut that down to fit 100: I still felt some of these players deserved a mention, so here’s the second half of those Steelers who just missed the cut.
Plaxico Burress
Some will argue that Plaxico Burress is one of the top receivers in franchise history. Heck, I would be one of them! And yet he ends up in Honorable Mention rather than in the top 100. This will almost certainly drive my buddy Zac here at SCU nuts, but in the end, I couldn’t find a guy who I wanted to move out of the top 100 to make room for Plaxico.
I like to think that had Plaxico stayed in the ‘Burgh instead of heading off to the bright lights of NYC, he might have been one of the best we ever had. He sure as heck wouldn’t have shot himself in the leg! Plax was really the last TALL receiver we had before Martavis, and it’s that type of receiver Ben has wanted for years. No Pro Bowls and the off field shenanigans all drop Plaxico off the list.
Marcus Gilbert, DeAngelo Williams
Up until 10 minutes ago DeAngelo was 100 on the top 100. I finally had to make a hard choice, and despite how much I loved having D.Wil on the team, I had to drop him. Williams is one of the best off-season free agent signings the Steelers have ever pulled off. ). It’s been a bromance/romance/SNomance (Yes, I’m coining that phrase – a SN-omance is a Steelers Nation Romance. I like it) whatever you want to call it. The day D.Wil signed, we loved him. DeAngelo has connected with the fan base from DAY 1 and even now people are still hoping that the Steelers re-sign him (Yes, I am talking to you Terry!). What’s not to love about the guy? He’s outspoken, he wears pink in his hair, he plays with his daughters on line – he’s awesome! In the end, I couldn’t keep him in the top 100, but he might have been 101.
I had to choose between Marcus and Ramon Foster in the end, and I decide the Big Ragu was going to get the nod right now. If Marcus keeps up the level of play he showed last year for a few more years, well there is no way he won’t be on the list. Gilbert should have been a Pro-Bowler the past two years and if he played left tackle instead of right tackle, he would have been. He has been stable, solid and above the line and given a few more seasons with the same level of play, he probably knocks someone else off the top 100 and takes his place there.
Bennie Cunningham
I loved watching Bennie Cunningham play. He was the Steelers’ first-round draft choice in 1976 and the starting tight end in Super Bowl XIV and overall a 2x Super Bowl Champion, but he simply wasn’t productive enough over the course of his career to make the list. Yes, the knee injury he sustained in 1978 was almost certainly to blame, but that’s how these things go.
Chad Brown
The bottom line is Chad Brown was a hell of a linebacker. Unfortunately for us, he didn’t stay home for long. He played 5 total years for the Steelers, and 8 for the Seahawks. He took the money, and I understand that players have to do what they have to do. Had he stayed, who knows what we might be saying about him, but the fact that he left slides him off the list for me.
Mike Merriweather
It’s hard to leave a 3 time Pro Bowl linebacker off the list, but again, that just tells you what kind of history this franchise has! Merriweather was, perhaps, a great linebacker on some not so great teams. He helped keep the Steelers defense respectable during a time when we didn’t have much to cheer about. The bottom line was that I just couldn’t put him in the top 100 considering who would have been dropped off.
Bobby Walden
Look – he’s a punter – probably the best punter in team history. Still, he’s a punter. I kept one “kicker” type, and it wasn’t going to be a punter. I mean, if we had Ray Guy, maybe I’d have kept him on the list, but Bobby Walden, as good as he may have been, even with 2 Super Bowl rings, wasn’t Ray Guy.
Mike Wallace
I will forever remember Mike Wallace, not for the speedy long bombs, but for that touchdown against Green Bay in 2009. Wallace was (and still is) fast, scary fast, but as Mike Tomlin used to tease him, he was really a one-trick pony. As a part of the “Young Money” group, Wallace left to chase those $ and I can’t put him on the list, as much as I loved cheering him on while he was here.
Frank Pollard
Frank Pollard was probably the best running back we had between Barry Foster and Franco Harris. He was solid, stable and again, was unlucky enough to play on some Steelers teams that really weren’t going anywhere at all. I liked him, hell, I think I like everyone who has worn the Black ‘n’ Gold (with the singular exception of “He Who Shall Not Be Named”) – but he’s just not good enough to make the top 100.
Darren Perry
I remember when we had Rod Woodson and Darren Perry in our secondary. My goodness! If we only had an offense during those years! When you play next to a future HOF’er, and possibly one of the greatest CB’s of all time, it’s hard to know for sure if you are as good as you seem to be, or if you’re benefiting a bit from how good the other guy is. He led the Steelers in picks his rookie year and considering how few rookies even see the field for us, I don’t think that’s happened very often. Still, he just missed being on the list.
Eric Green
Green was a 2x Pro Bowl tight end for us. He was a good player, but the bottom line is that nobody (other than Rod Woodson) who leaves us and wears that nasty purple crap they wear in Baltimore is making this list.
Johnny Unitas
I wanted so badly to put Johnny U on the list. I had my arguments all panned out about how he had a huge impact on the team because he was ignored by the coaches. How would Steelers history be different if we had Johnny U playing QB for us? It didn’t happen, and the truth is, I’m not sure I would trade that past for the future we ended up with. It’s hard to even consider Unitas a Steeler because he was cut before the season started, but hey, he was in the Black ‘n’ Gold for a few short weeks nonetheless.
Conclusion
That rounds out the guys who warranted “Honorable Mention” status. I admit there are some you could argue should be in the top 100, they have some stats and played well while with the Steelers. I’m not sure that you can try and do one of these lists without second guessing yourself, and I know I still have questions about who I left off and who I kept on. The problem is, even though 100 is a pretty big number, it’s still finite, and some people had to be left off. Even though there are some really good, maybe even great players on this Honorable Mention list, they just missed the cut.
Next: Players 91 through 100.
