Top 10 Best NFL Linebackers of All Time
Unreal speed. He didn't play middle linebacker and forced teams to actually pay the left tackle, making the position the most important on the line. LT sometimes needed a tight end, running back, fullback, or left guard to guard him every time he rushed.
Teams respected Taylor every phase of his career. If that doesn't convince anyone, how many times did Lewis win the NFL MVP? The only linebacker to do that was Lawrence Taylor.
Finally, if you see the linebackers today, many try to be like Lawrence Taylor: fast pass rushers who can stunt and drop in coverage. I never saw the man play, but on film, it is clear that LT was football's LeBron James - a pure freak of nature.
Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. is a former American football middle linebacker who played his entire 17-year career for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. What Ray does only a movie came close to capturing: "win one for the Gipper"! He made other men play better every down. Player with the most years between Super Bowl wins? Ray. Many claim their franchise has __ rings. Well, no other player has 12 years between wins and never lost a Super Bowl.
Best MLB and ILB in NFL history. He not only made his play. He made others play. He set them or moved them at the right time and right place. The chess piece is moved by the master, just that great. BEST EVER.
Ray Lewis is great. Period. His greatness is incomprehensible. He is such a hard worker. There is not a person on this earth that can outwork him. He is the greatest leader to ever live on this earth. He knows he will win even when nobody else does. This explains his two Super Bowl rings, one where he was MVP, 13-time Pro Bowler, and two-time Defensive Player of the Year.
Greatness is reinvented by Ray Lewis.
Football is a game of heart and ferocity. Nobody, in my opinion, ever played the linebacker game quite as tough, ferocious, and relentless as Butkus. He was a human freight train, covering all aspects of a linebacker's skills superbly. He did it in the pre-drug or extreme weight training era too.
You young guys, go find some good video of him. It's well worth it. No doubt in my mind he should be #1. Leave the stat reading and rant watching to those who admire more the paper game or showman types. Butkus embodied the very soul of what a linebacker should be.
Probably the craziest linebacker there ever was, and in a good way. Butkus was intense physically and verbally, but Singletary was intense and on the verge of crazy in the mental aspect of how he played. Theismann and others called him "Crazy Eyes" for a reason.
Not many have ever had as much heart, passion, and football smarts.
People underestimated him because of his size and considered him strange because of his Samurai accent and large eyes. But he was one of the greatest defensive players of the '80s and was the keystone and leader of the Bears' famed '85 defense, perhaps the most dominant defense of all time.
Lambert and Butkus are easily the top two linebackers who ever played! LT was great, but he was one-dimensional. He was okay against the run and not good at all in pass protection. For Ray Lewis to be that high on the list is an insult to the great linebackers on this list!
Ham is an easy top 5. He is the most perfect technical linebacker of them all. He didn't hit quite as hard as some of the others, but his hands were like meat hooks. Once he got a hold of you, you weren't going anywhere.
No other linebackers were feared like Lambert and Butkus. Young people must be voting. Butkus changed the linebacker position, and Lambert redefined it! There are a lot of excellent linebackers on here, but those two are easily the best!
Patrick L. Willis is a former American football inside linebacker who played his entire eight-year career with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. No way Patrick Willis is #9 on this list. No linebacker is quicker from sideline to sideline than Willis! He has achieved so much with seven seasons of straight 100 tackles, is a seven-time Pro Bowler, and winner of the Dick Butkus Award twice. He's only 29 years old.
What truly separates him is his leadership and ability to elevate the linebackers around him. Look at NaVorro Bowman, Aldon Smith, and Ahmad Brooks. They are all Pro Bowl linebackers. He's the unquestioned leader of the 49ers defense!
Oh, and Ray Lewis said he sees himself in Patrick Willis, but Willis is a whole lot faster than Lewis.
He could have played at least four more years, and if he had, with nine sacks each year (easy), he would have destroyed the all-time career sack record if my math is right. I think that if he had finished his career, he would have been number one on anyone's list.
I would like to see a sacks per game stat to compare with the top guys on this list. Keep in mind the Chiefs didn't play a lot of playoff games in DT's career.
Derrick, had he had a Super Bowl win, would have been #1. Or had he lived on and played another four years, he easily would have had every sack record. LT is number one only because he played longer, I guess. DT will always be the best to me. Ask Ray Lewis. He will tell you! RIP DT.
Brian Urlacher is a former American football middle linebacker who spent his entire 13-year career playing for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. He had that major injury that impacted his speed and career. Yet he remained resilient and finished out as one of the most highly respected LBs in NFL history.
Maybe not the best all-time, but of modern linebackers, he's in the top 3 and should be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee.
Much better in coverage than Ray Lewis. There was a time when he was ranked ahead of Ray.
The player of the century listed number 8? This is a joke and not a good one! The only linebacker who is even worthy of mention in the same breath is Dick Butkus. Ray Lewis? Fine player but not in the same league!
All great, but with Taylor and Lewis at the top of the list, the poll was obviously taken by younger people. Nobody hit like Nitschke and Butkus.
Anyone remember the face of the tiger?! He is number three on my list. The only ones in front of him are Dick Butkus and Lawrence Taylor.
Clay is a fantastic linebacker. Tell me what Green Bay Packer play you've heard of on defense where Clay isn't there? By far the best alongside A.J. Hawk.
Clay Mathews is the best linebacker, and he is a beast!
Definitely one of the best active linebackers.
The Newcomers
Khalil Mack is an American football outside linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League.
Derrick O’Hara Johnson is a former American football linebacker of the National Football League.
Johnson was drafted 15th overall in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft, and spent 13 seasons with the Chiefs. He played his final season with the Oakland Raiders in 2018, before retiring.Played for 20 years. The first ten years of his career, which were his best, they did not keep stats on tackles made, and that is what he did best. So you can more than double his tackle stat numbers at the least. Inspirational to the whole team and any community he was associated with.
I saw Junior in person for many years. It seemed that if he did not make the tackle himself, he was almost always involved in making the stop. He was somewhat underrated because he played his prime years in San Diego.
Jack Raphael Ham Jr. is a former American football outside linebacker who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League from 1971 to 1982. He is considered one of the greatest outside linebackers in the history of the NFL. Best outside backer of all time!
Please look at statistics beyond sacks! Ham did not rush the passer because he did not have to. Mean Joe and the Steel Curtain did that. Jack was as good a tackler as there ever was and the best linebacker at dropping into coverage. He had 32 interceptions during an era when the ball wasn't thrown 40+ times a game.
Ham is #1 in my opinion!
By far the most technically sound linebacker ever. He is very underrated playing in the same corps as Lambert. The best defense of all time (70's Steelers) had 10 starting Pro Bowlers, Ham included. No linebacker was better in pass coverage than Ham, a great complement to the tenacious Lambert.
Listed much too low. Chuck Bednarik was an amazingly athletic player and was the greatest linebacker of his era. He was also one of the last players to play 60 minutes.
As mentioned before, he also laid out Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, who recently died of CTE (probably because of that hit!), which kindled and stoked the flames of the great New York-Philadelphia rivalry.
This guy was one bad MFer. He left people unconscious on the field. There are many good linebackers on this list, like Nitschke. Ray Lewis was good, and I agree better than LT, but you can't count out the older generation - shorter seasons, fewer rules, and PAIN.
I may be a TB fan, but it is disrespectful to have Derrick Brooks this low. Not only was he a force well into his later years, but he was also an ironman who missed very few games in his career. He always gave 110%.
Really? Clearly should be top 5 minimum.
Way too low. Should be in the top ten.
Most consistent pass rush threat in the NFL, second fastest to 100 sacks.
He should rank much higher on this list than number 21.
With all the great players in the game, including all the terrific linebackers, Schmidt was the leader of those great 1950s Lions' NFL Championship teams and the league's 1962 MVP.
Somewhat overshadowed by Butkus, I would put Lanier over every other MLB ever. Huge hitter, sure tackler, great in coverage, and a coach on the field. One of the best players I have ever seen.
Vonnie B'Vsean Miller Jr. is an American football outside linebacker for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He is an absolute monster and he takes down the quarterback.
Someone else said it best! To be a good linebacker after a stroke says it all! That's in a pickup game, but to be good in the NFL is amazing!
William Thomas Romanowski (born April 2, 1966) is a former American football linebacker. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, and Oakland Raiders.