Mike Kenn—The Consummate Left Tackle

By John Turney

Starting in the 1980s, the print and broadcast media spent time and energy on how important it was to protect the blind side of a quarterback with a talented left tackle. And the reason was apparent to anyone who followed the NFL.

That's where the most effective pass rushers were.

Like ancient maps that demarked uncharted waters for ship captains with a warning phrase, "Here there be monsters" and, perhaps, dragons -- so was it for waters of the left side of an offense. Right-side pass rushers were as feared as though they were actual "monsters." 

These "dragons" had names like Lawrence Taylor and Chris Doleman, Richard Dent, Lee Roy Selmon Bruce Smith, Fred Dean and Charles Haley -- Hall of Famers all. Then there were All-Pros like Harvey Martin, Clyde Simmons, Al "Bubba" Baker, Pat Swilling and many more.

In response, teams wanted tackles with great footwork, balance and long arms to fend off those "monsters," and the Cincinnati Bengals had one who could do it -- Hall-of-Famer Anthony Munoz. The Bears did, too. His name was Jimbo Covert. Later in the 1990s and 2000s, Willie Roaf, Jonathan Ogden, Tony Boselli, Walter Jones and Orlando Pace took their place among the great dragon slayers, and all earned Gold Jackets for their labors.

But the Atlanta Falcons had one, too, only few remember him ... especially the Hall-of-Fame's board of selectors. And that's a shame. Because there were few left tackles better than Mike Kenn.

Let's start with availability. He was always in the lineup. Kenn missed just 10 games in his career, with five in 1985 when he was sidelined by knee surgery. He played in the NFL 17 years, only he didn't just play; he was a starter for every ... single ... season. Only one NFL tackle started that many seasons: Lomas Brown. Granted, there were several who had more years of service -- Jackie Slater, Jason Peters and Brown, for instance -- but all sat on the bench for one or more years. 

Not Kenn. He was a starter from the cradle to grave; from the season opener in 1978 through the final week in 1994. What's more, no tackle started more games than Kenn, who is tied with Brown at 251. In fact, only one offensive lineman -- Hall-of-Famer Bruce Matthews -- started more games, and he spent more time as an interior lineman than as a tackle.

But earning a Gold Jacket goes beyond durability; it goes to filling a position ... and Kenn did just that. He played at a level worthy of the Hall-of-Fame attention he isn't getting. He was a five-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler for a franchise that had little success.

ADAPTING TO CHANGE

The NFL was starting to change when the Falcons chose Kenn in the first round of the 1978 NFL draft. At that time, it was still a running league, and running is what the Falcons emphasized the first part of Kenn's career -- and they ran it well. From the time, then-coach Leeman Bennett drafted Williams Andrews in 1979 through Dan Henning's last year in Atlanta (1986, with Gerald Riggs), only the Bears, Rams and Steelers ran for more yards -- and only the Rams had a higher yards-per-carry average.

After Andrews stepped in as a rookie, he ripped off-season rushing totals of 1,023 yards; 1,308 in 1980; 1,301 in 1981; 573, in the strike-shortened 1982 season year (which projects to a 1,000-yard season) and 1,567 in 1983. Then, when he was sidelined by a knee injury, Riggs stepped in to rush for 1,486 yards in 1984, 1,719 in 1985 and 1,327 in 1986. That's eight straight 1,000-yard seasons (counting the projected total of 1982), including six for over 1,300. 

During that time, Kenn was rooting out so many defensive ends he was described by one publication as "a strong drive blocker who pulls well to lead wide runs. In goal-line situations, the Falcons usually will try to chunk out the necessary yardage behind Kenn."

It is also noteworthy that the two rushing-oriented offenses were not the same. Under Bennett, it was a traditional two-back offense, like the one Bennett ran under Chuck Knox. After he was gone Henning brought the Washington one-back offense to Atlanta and each had their own unique blocking scheme that had few things in common.

It presented new challenges for the linemen especially for the tackles, who were asked to pull in the famous "Counter Trey" play that Joe Gibbs's Redskins made famous. Kenn and the Falcons line adjusted and didn't miss a beat.

Translation: While Kenn was one of the Falcons' five offensive linemen, he was recognized as the best. In both 1981 and 1982, he was voted the NFLPA Offensive Lineman of the Year and was a Pro Bowler from 1980-84. He was also a first-team All-Pro in 1980.

That was his introduction to the NFL. 

Near the end of his career, however, his priorities had to change ... and they did, virtually 180 degrees from how they began. The Falcons were no longer "pounding the rock," the majority of the time. They threw the ball. And threw it. And threw it some more. For Kenn and his linemates, it was pass-blocking all the time in an offense that featured four wide receivers on most downs, only one back and no tight end.

It was called the "Red Gun."

In Kenn's final five years, only two teams passed the football more than the Falcons, and only one (Houston, with the Run-and-Shoot) ran it fewer. It was a new world order, but Kenn adjusted and excelled. In 1991, for instance, he surrendered a single sack (coaches' report) and was named first-team All-Pro 11 years after the first time he made it.

Eleven. Years.

Think about that one for a moment. Only one modern-era tackle named first-team AP All-Pro was older, and that was the Rams' Andrew Whitworth in 2017. Plus, when Kenn first made the AP All-Pro team at 24, he was among the youngest ever. Only nine modern-era tackles are listed as 23 or younger. But no tackle ever blocked for such extreme offenses and was so elite at both ends to be named All-Pro. Furthermore, no one did it so early and so late in his career. 

That's completeness. It's also unprecedented, which didn't escape the Rams' Slater. 

"The thing I've been most impressed with," he said of Kenn in 1994, "is adaptability. He played well when they were primarily a running team, and he has played well in this wide-open offense."

But that's what happens when you play 17 years. Offensive trends change, but you stay. You adapt. You overcome. Or you leave.

Kenn did not go.

Things were almost different, though. It was possible that he'd not be an NFL tackle, but a tight end. That is where the Green Bay Packers were going to play him if they got a chance to draft him in the 1978 NFL Draft.

That was because during workouts for scouts before the draft the 6-foot-7, 257-pound University of Michigan All-American tackle ran a 4.67-second forty-yard dash. Not believing their stopwatches they made the lanky Wolverine run it again. He did. Result: 4.69. 

Shortly after that, former Colts center Bill Curry arranged a private workout for them to see if Kenn could catch. He's been recruited out of high school as a tight end so he did have some hands and at the workout he proved it, catching all the balls thrown his way. 

He, however, was chided for not running proper routes. To which Kenn retorted, "I've never been taught all these routes." Curry told him that the Packers would fix and if he was available when it was time for their second first-round pick (the 26th overall) he would be playing for Bart Starr, the Packers coach.

But Kenn was gone long before that. The Falcons took him with the 13th overall pick in the 1978 NFL draft. Two teams that took tackles passed on him. The New York Jets and the New York Giants grabbed Chris Ward and Gordon King respectively.

One has to wonder what might have happened if one of the two teams from Gotham took Kenn and he'd have had the kind of career he did in Atlanta. Would being in a major media center helped him get more exposure? Would the Hall of Fame have been a fait accompli?

Absolutely. 

But the Falcons were sure glad the New Yorkers didn't get their man. And rather than convert him to tight end they left him at tackle. 

Brilliant move.

As a rookie, Kenn shored up a position that was a problem for the Falcons since the team's inception in 1966. Though he took his lumps his first year, as most rookies do, he was voted to the All-Rookie team. Then he progressed so quickly that by his third season he was arguably the best tackle in the NFL. 

"I've never had anyone with his agility and quickness," said position coach Bill Walsh, who tutored great Kansas City Chiefs offensive linemen from the Hank Stram era. 

During that time, Kenn added size (around 20 pounds). He took up weightlifting to become the club's strongest player and one of the NFL's strongest tackles, bench-pressing 450 pounds. That gave him upper-body and leg strength which, as Walsh noted, was "a big help to him" as a pass protector.

So much so that when the Raiders' John Madden was asked to name his personal "Dream Team" after the 1981 season, he said, "I'd put Atlanta's Mike Kenn at one tackle. He may be the best technical pass-blocker in the league right now."

The scariest "monster" of that era, of course, was Hall-of-Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, and he and Kenn met five times in their careers. In those five games, Taylor produced a single sack. But the story gets better: Video proves that Kenn's assignment on that play was not Taylor but right defensive end Gary Jeter.

Monster slain. 

"HIS CAREER OUGHT TO BE BRONZED"

Kenn was a marvel to players and coaches -- even late in his career, with admirers saluting him in Kenn's fabled 1991 season.

-- Pro Bowl right end Leslie O'Neal told Sports Illustrated's Peter King (a current Hall-of-Fame voter) that playing Kenn "was like playing against a human textbook."  

-- When Pat Swilling, the 1991 AP Defensive Player of the Year, was  asked if his divisional rival knew "every trick in the book," he said, "To tell you the truth, he might have written the book."

--"I marvel at what he's done," said legendary coach Jim Hanifan. "You're talking about a guy who knows and thoroughly understands his craft so well (that) if someone ever sits down to write a textbook about all the little intricacies and components of pass-blocking, for instance, they'd have to start by talking to Mike. Someone ought to put the films from this year into a time capsule. His career ought to be bronzed."

So far, it hasn't been. Not with a bust in Canton, it hasn't. And that perplexes Hall-of-Fame tackle Art Shell, who didn't hesitate when asked about Kenn.

"He's a future 'Hall' guy, sure," Shell told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "If the folks who do the voting have any sense about them, he'll walk right in when it's his time."

 

But when it was time ... when Kenn was a modern-era candidate ... he didn't walk right in. In fact, he was barely noticed. A semifinalist once, he never made the cut to the final 15. Worse, after his 20 years of modern-era eligibility expired, Kenn moved into the seniors' category ... and you know how deep that pool is with Hall-of-Fame quality candidates.

So does Kenn.

"There are an awful lot of good football players in that category," he said.

That's an understatement. Over 50 all-decade seniors have never been discussed by the Hall's board of selectors. Kenn was never all-decade, but so what? That shouldn't be an impediment. The last six senior inductees weren't, either, and Kenn has the endorsements of some of the great defensive linemen in NFL history: 

-- "He, Munoz, and Covert were simply the best left tackles in all of football," said Hall-of-Famer Dan Hampton. Munoz and Covert have been inducted. Kenn is still waiting.

-- "He was the prototype at the time," said Hall-of-Famer Chris Doleman. "He moved well, great technique. He had great success against some great players. Hall of Famer? Yes, in my opinion."

"If Mike was in a major media market like New York," said Hall-of-Famer Clyde Simmons, "the world would have known of how great a player he was. He wasn’t a flashy player, which draws so much attention, but consistency was Mike Kenn. In my opinion. whatever standard there is to be a Hall of Famer, Mike Kenn has met."

You could also pour through the records of Proscout, Inc., the independent scouting group that's evaluated all NFL players since the mid-1970s. There, you'd find Kenn's name in its annual rankings for tackles nine times -- six of them in the top five and twice as number one in the NFL.

However, as Clyde Simmons stated, as great as Kenn was, he still was underrated and didn't pull as many major accolades -- like AP All-Pro teams -- as he might in more favorable circumstances. Maybe that was a factor of where he played. Atlanta was not a major media market. Maybe it was a factor of whom he played for. The Falcons lost a lot more than they won.

Whatever it was, Kenn didn't receive the acclaim he deserved, 

Kenn's off-field work for the players' union almost certainly is part of that narrative. As president of the NFLPA, he was a key figure in the 1989 decertification of the union, the 1992 Freeman McNeil antitrust lawsuit, the Reggie White class-action antitrust lawsuit, the settlement of all court cases in August, 1993 and the finalization and signing of the 1993 collective bargaining agreement.

But all that contributed to the NFL we have today -- where players receive a much higher percentage of the NFL's revenues and true free agency. Not only did Kenn protect quarterbacks; he protected all players from a different "monster" -- one that held them captive to teams that drafted them, with no ability to escape. 

Also worth mentioning is that Kenn was awarded the NFLPA's 1980 Byron "Whizzer" White NFL Man of the Year Award as the NFL player who best served his team and community.

Those things should matter. And they do ... to some people. Kenn is in the Falcons' Ring of Honor and was named to the Hall of Very Good by the Pro Football Researchers Association. But Canton? You already know.

As I said, one possibility is the lack of success. Kenn's teams only made the playoffs four times and won just two of six games.  But, if that were true, look no farther than recent inductee Joe Thomas. He was a first-ballot choice with a team that never went to the playoffs.

Another possibility is that a few old-school voters who have passed on were put off by Kenn's work with the Players' Association, believing he caused problems for NFL owners and executives, many of whom were friendly with them.

No matter what it was, the takeaway from this deep dive into Kenn's career should be this: It's time for the Hall's voters to rethink his case and do what's right: Make Mike Kenn a finalist for discussion.