When Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins caught a touchdown pass in Week 16, he became the fifth player over pounds to record a receiving touchdown in That is the most in a single-season since at least Then it happened again the very next day. Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Christian Wilkins hauled in a 1-yard touchdown pass that made it six on the year for pounders. Here are all the pound touchdown receptions of the season, ranked by the weight of the receiver.
Some pre-snap motion and a play-action fake made it easy for Quessenberry to sneak through and run straight toward the goal post. All Marcus Mariota had to do was hit him with a quick dart. Draw it up, Arthur Smith! Goal line TD for offensive lineman David Quessenberry. Unlike the rest of the players on this list, Ricard actually plays an offensive position that touches the ball from time to time. He was a defensive tackle in college, but moved to fullback when he joined the Ravens in The former No.
Ngata can play any interior line position at an elite level, and he has dominated as a defensive end for the Ravens. There may not be a better defensive lineman in football than Ngata. He is frequently double-teamed, yet he still racked up five sacks in while excelling against the run. Until , Joe Staley was always a solid player. This past year, however, he was much more than solid.
Physically, Staley is a great athlete, and he combines this with excellent technique. Staley can be overpowered, but he is rarely beaten by quickness alone. Though he hasn't garnered as much attention as teammate Darnell Dockett has, Calais Campbell may be the better player. Campbell technically makes this list the "greater-than-or-equal-topounds list," but he's worthy of the eligibility change. Campbell is a freakish athlete with superb length, and he racked up eight sacks as a defensive end, where he is primarily a run defender.
After playing right tackle in , Marshal Yanda was able to move back to his natural position of right guard and excelled on the inside. Yanda is one of the toughest players in football, and he played though a variety of injuries in , including one that required calf surgery. The Ravens have an excellent offensive line, and Yanda is the unit's best player. There are few players who play with as much nastiness and power as Yanda does. Geno Atkins burst onto the scene in after playing part-time as a rookie.
Atkins ended up with 7. At 6'1" and pounds, Atkins doesn't have the body type of a penetrator, but that's exactly what he is. It's no coincidence that Cincinnati's defense improved with Atkins playing in the middle. For years, Logan Mankins has been an elite offensive lineman. He actually had a down year in , but he was still a stud. The former first-round draft pick may not have even been New England's best offensive lineman, though. In the early s, Washington line coach Joe Bugel told Joe Jacoby, a 6 foot 7 inch, pound offensive tackle at the University of Louisville, that he had a chance to make it in the NFL — but only if he got bigger.
With training, Jacoby increased his bench press from to pounds, put on 30 pounds and increased his quickness in the yard dash to five seconds flat. By , the median weight for NFL guards and tackles had reached pounds, according to one analysis.
That means over half weigh more than Jacoby did. For defensive ends, the need for speed and agility to rush the quarterback may mitigate some of the size increase. Ends averaged pounds and 6 feet 4 inches tall, the analysis of NFL rosters found. But defensive tackles, responsible for shutting down an opponents running game, averaged 6 foot 3 and pounds.
The impression that players at every position are much bigger and stronger than previous generations is not always true. Consider the running back. His strength and size helped him plow through would-be tacklers. Running backs today average just shorter than 6 feet, and pounds. On those terms alone, Nagurski would not be outmatched.
Quarterbacks do not necessarily stand taller either. The average weight has risen to about — more than 20 pounds above the playing weights of Baugh, Starr and Montana. Their support system through youth leagues, high schools and college — from the leagues and schools themselves and NFL-sponsored events and player development programs — is unprecedented. Relieved of the need to play on both sides of the ball on every down, they have honed their skills at specific positions.
Given the time and resources, they have maximized their fitness and become greater students of the game. Professionals now in every sense of the word, they are the best of the best, a specialized elite, continuing to elevate the game. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy NFL. The earliest NFL players were everymen. Playing rules prohibited most substitutions, so they played both offensive and defensive positions, on every down. Meager pay and a sport struggling for popularity meant players worked other jobs and the league struggled to attract talent.
Physically, players were bigger, heavier and stronger than the average man, but not astronomically so. Pro Football Hall of Fame At the time, all football players were supposed to be amateurs — many of them playing for teams created by the athletic clubs that sprang up across the country after the Civil War.
A New Era for the Player. Integration and Specialization The years during and immediately after World War II brought two big player-related developments. The other big change involved a rule. Sized and Specialized Players have grown in many ways over the past three decades — in professionalism, earnings, specialization, size and strength. According to Missi Matthews of Steelers. The Steelers had 14 of them. Here they are, ordered alphabetically with the weight the Steelers list the players at:.
The obvious explanation for this simply comes down to roster numbers. The Steelers carried quite a few linemen on both sides of the ball. Every player listed here is a lineman, and teams that play defenses need heavier linemen as their duties relate more to clogging space and stuffing the run.
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