A few Redskins greats have been recognized of late by some media types as some of the best ever to play the position. Hat tip to Skin Patrol over at Hogs Haven for bringing these to my attention.
- Larry Felser at the Buffalo News lists his top seven QBs of all time and unlike most of the national media he included the first great quarterback – Sammy Baugh. Baugh was the player who really showed that the forward pass could be an effective weapon in pro football. He had some ridiculous stats including a baffling 70% completition percentage when no one else in the league could top 50%. Oh and he also holds the Redskins record for best punting average (51.2 yards per punt, take that Derrick Frost). I’m planning on doing a legend profile on Baugh sometime this off-season but he was briefly mentioned in this profile on Cliff Battles, another early Redskins star.
- Mike Sando on ESPN.com listed his top ten receivers of all time and Redskins legend Charley Taylor came out in 6th on his list. Taylor is one of the forgotten greats in Redskins history. I knew nothing about him when I started to compile the top ten seasons by Redskins wide receivers in history and he ended up taking 5 of the 10 slots (should probably clean-up and re-write that at some point). We all remember Art Monk and Gary Clark (and deservedly so) but Taylor was the best receiver the Redskins have ever had.
Lee, as a younger guy, you’ve missed more than one great who played during the 60s and 70s. How about Paul Krause, only one of the greatest Cornerbacks ever? Darrell Green broke HIS records when he set the Redskins team records. How about Diron Talbert? Jerry Smith?
As a follow on, ESPN has admitted that Art Monk ranked #11 on the “Top 10 WR” list; out of the over 200 they evaluated, he came out that close, and it would have only taken one position change in the ballots to have had him in the 10.
Considering the Redskins have never been a passing team (even during the Spurrier era; they may have WANTED to be a passing team, but it takes some wideout and QB talent to be a passing team, something we didn’t have), the fact that 2 of the top 11 Wideouts of all time according to that panel were Redskins is nothing less than remarkable… and that’s not including the fact that the greatest QB of all times was ALSO a Redskin…..
Good point Bill. Don’t forget the Redskins also have Bobby Mitchell (although he was a Brown as well) who was another very good RB/WR in the ‘good ole days’.
I haven’t really heard of those guys you mentioned, I know of Krause but the other guys I’m completely out of the loop.