Running Backs and Defensive Back
There is a handful of NFL Hall of Fame running backs and
defensive backs who have worn number 24. The player in the painting wearing
number 24 can be anybody. He could be a
running back or a cornerback or a free safety after intercepting a pass. I wanted it to be an unidentified player and
leave
Lenny Moore - Baltimore Colts number 24
Lenny Moore is probably the best who wore number 24. He played in Baltimore from 1956 – 1967 He was inducted into the Hall of Fame Class
of 1975. Lenny was a 7 Time Pro Bowler and 5 Time
First Team All – Pro. There is a big
difference in playing in the NFL now as opposed to playing in the 50's and
60's. Lenny Moore was asked in a interview,
"When you watch the Ravens and other National Football League teams play,
is there something you like more about today’s football game than the game it
was when you played?" Lenny's
answer. "I just enjoy it because of the nature of what it’s all about.
It’s still the same to a degree with other modifications that they added in,
different techniques, different calls, and how they monitor the game is a lot
different. A lot guys wouldn’t have been able to play during our day that are
playing today, with the things they do. There
was no whistle - you’d just be blasting people man, just be beating on people.
Jumping, knocking them down. It wasn’t until you were just about dead man that
the whistle blew, but that’s the way it was – punching, elbowing, slapping."
Willie Brown - Oakland
Raiders - Cornerback Number 24
What I like about another player who wore number 24 is that
he was overlooked in the draft - number 24, Willie Brown. Brown played college
football at Grambling
State University
Willie Wood - Green
Bay Packer - Free Safety
Another Willie - Willie Wood
had a similar experience that Willie Brown had. Wood was not selected in the 1960 NFL draft,
and contacted head coach Vince Lombardi to request a tryout. Tthe Packers signed him as a rookie free
agent in 1960. After a few days with the quarterbacks, he requested a switch to
defense and was recast as a free safety, and was a starter in the season. He
started until his retirement in 1971.
Willie Wood won All-NFL honors nine times in a nine-year stretch from
1962 through the 1971 season, participated in the Pro Bowl eight times, and
played in six NFL championship games, winning all except the first in 1960. Not bad for another non-drafted player.
Champ Bailey - Denver Broncos - cornerback- number 24
The great Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith, said ChampBailey was the best cornerback he had faced in his long career. This is what Smith said about his comment. “But
the reason that I really just say Champ is (best) because everybody wants to
talk about the success of all these guys who are in their fourth or fifth
years. I’m in my 15th year, and I’m 36. Some of these guys, when I was a
rookie, were in elementary school. So I’m not going to crown a guy who’s been
in the league six years and had three years of success and three years of
failure or average. I want to see how he is in three or four more years when
his speed goes, and he has to learn how to use his technique. That’s just me,
but that’s where I feel like the legacy is built.’’
The 12 Pro Bowl selections are the most-ever
by a cornerback, is tied for most ever (with Hall of Famer Ken Houston) for a
defensive back and is tied for third all-time among all defensive players. Only
Merlin Olsen, with 14 Pro Bowl selections, and Reggie White and Ray Lewis, with
13 each, had more on defense.
Marshawn Lynch - Seattle Seahawks - running back number 24
It's time to put a running back in with the
cornerbacks. Marshawn Lynch. The Hall of Fame flanker and running back was
All-NFL five times and the NFL Player of the Year in 1964. He starred for the
Colts for 12 seasons (1956-67). As some
of you might know Marshawn was never a person who liked to give interviews or
answer questions. In one famous
interview "I ain’t got nothing to say," the Seahawks running back
told NFL Network's Michael Robinson, a former Seattle fullback, in a 2014 interview.
"I just want to play football."
After a big win against the Arizona
Cardinals Lynch was on camera with reporters in the hallway outside of Seattle 's locker room he
responded to every question by simply stating, "Thanks for
asking." He had stomach problems
during the game and when asked about it, he said, "I appreciate you asking
about my stomach," Lynch said. "Thank you."
