Trent Cole—The Hunter

 By John Turney 

Starting in the mid-1990s the Eagles had a penchant for acquiring smaller defensive ends, small by the standards of the day that is. They seemed more suited for the 1970s than the 1990s or 2000s. They were essentially "tweeners", in between the size and speed of a defensive end and outside linebacker, thought in that era too small to play on the line and not quite fast enough to be outside linebackers. 

It seemed to begin in 1995 they drafted Mike Mamula, perhaps drafted him too high but that is a story for a different day. There were only about 250 pounds on his six-foot-four-inch frame.

In 1998 they sent a second- and fifth-round draft pick to the Jets for Hugh Douglas. Douglass was 6-2 and by Eagles standards, he was fairly heavy—281 pounds. Then in 2001, they drafted N.D. Kalu (6-3, 246) and Derrick Burgess who was 6-3, and 262 pounds. Kalu, like many defensive ends in this era, put on weight and was bigger than 246, but that is what he weighed when they drafted him.

Jerome McDougle was the Eagles top pick out of Miami in 2003. He was 6-2, 264 pounds and he was one of only three first-round picks in this long line of undersized ends, many were mid-round types.

As soon as "The Freak" Jevon Kearse was available in free agency in the winter of 2004 the Eagles jumped on him, signing him to a big-money contract. Kearse was 6-4, 263 pounds, and still had his sub-4.5 speed. Quickness was his gift, not bulk.

The following year the Birds drafted Trent Cole, at 6-3, 240 pounds, out of the University of Cincinnati. That same year they also signed a free agent named Juqua Parker from the Titans. Parker was a pass rush specialist who weighed about 250 pounds and stood 6-2., though when he came out of college, he was closer to 240 pounds.

Next, in 2006, it was Darren Howard, 6-3, and was about 260 pounds, who got inked by the Eagles. He was followed by Victor Abiamiri was a second-round pick in 2007 and was 6-4, 267. Abiamiri was a bit taller and heavier than the rest of this lot, but not by a lot.

It went on even after Cole had been drafted—in 2008 they signed Chris Clemons, 6-3, 255—but he was under 240 pounds when signed as an undrafted free agent by Washington three years earlier. 

In 2009 Philly brass signed defensive end/linebacker Jason Babin who was 6-3, 267 pounds as a free agent and he also fits the mold of that tweener. Babin has shown some success but had yet to produce to his ability, at least that was "the book" on him.

Then of course, in 2010 the Eagles used their first-round pick to select Brandon Graham who is still menacing quarterbacks today. Graham was 6-2 or so and weighed in at about 268 pounds. 

Third-round pick Daniel Te'o-Nesheim who was 6-1, 250, can also be included in the pattern. Also in 2010, the Eagles signed 6-1, 270-pound Darryl Tapp. Tapp had been a Seahawks second-round pick in 2006 when he weighed about 252 pounds so he'd already put the weight on that many of these Eagles d-ends did during their careers.

It was Vinny Curry's turn to join the ranks in 2012. He grew to be 279 pounds but coming out of Marshall he was around 265. But, by 2013, though, guys the size of those mentioned here were linebackers due to the Eagles shifting to a 3-4 front with a 40-nickel scheme on passing downs. 

Clearly, four defensive coordinators in a row, Emmitt Thomas, Jim Johnson, Sean McDermott, and even Juan Castillo could make use of this type of edge rusher, and a few of them sunk inside to play tackle on sure pass rush downs. They wanted speed, not size. No rangy 6-6, 290-pound behemoths in this group.

Most of those players ran the 40-yard dash in about 4.7, some a bit better perhaps 4.65 or so, some maybe a 4.8, so all were within similar parameters in not only size and length but also in speed and quickness. 

From 2001-2010 Tom Heckert had a role in those defensive end acquisitions that seemingly fit more of a 1970s profile than the 2000s. He was the Director, then Vice-president of the Eagles pro player personnel department before becoming the general manager from 2006-2010. 

He remarked to the media, "We're a little undersized at defensive end but the guys who are undersized usually rush the passer a little better." The Eagles were proponents that third down, both offensively and defensively was the most important in football and getting a good pass rush on third down was a big key to victory.

Of course, not all those draftees and signees worked out well but that, too, is a story for another day.

One who did succeed was Trent Cole. 

Cole was a country kid who loved the outdoors and still does to this day. He owns a production company that makes hunting videos featuring Cole, nicknamed "The Hunter", going after all kinds of game.

In the NFL his game was passers and runners. Like some of those others, Cole was not just a quarterback killer, he was conscientious about the opponent's run game. But he wanted those sacks as well. "I'm hunting for 23 sacks," Cole to the press before the 2010 season.

By then, he'd bulked himself up to 270 pounds, and still, there were none quicker off the snap. In addition, he worked on his rush techniques—developing a great wrist club/swipe and could take that upfield or go inside to go with his relentless outside speed rush and his effective bull rush, too.

As a 250-pound rookie, he impressed his teammates and coaches. The aforementioned Kalu observed that Cole, "(W)as going to be a star in this league. I have not seen a rookie come on the science like him in a long time. He plays at one speed . . . it's like he doesn't know to be tired after a 10-play drive." 

His head coach Andy Reid concurred, "It’s hard to get Trent out of the game. You look at the first play and the last play and you can’t tell the difference...he has that motor where it’s just the first and the last play, they are relentless."

Even the GM Tom Hackert added to the praise, "Trent doesn't win because he's a great athlete. he's a good athlete, not a great one. he just fights and fights and he just wears down a guy. He makes plays he probably shouldn't because he goes 100 miles per hour all the time." 

Said Cole, "God gave me this motor and I use it. That’s the only way I know how to play. If I know I can get to the quarterback, I’m going to try and find a way to do it. I don’t care what it takes, I’m going to get there."

He did find a way to do it.

In Cole's first six seasons as a starter, he averaged 63 tackles, 7½ run stuffs, and 10½ sacks. No pure defensive end made more total tackles in that same span and only Jared Allen had more sacks. 

In the stuff category—"run stuffs" are essentially tackles for loss other than a sack but are tallied differently than the official NFL website)—Allen had 46.0 and Cole had 45.5. For comparison, some contemporaries at defensive end had far fewer than both. For example, Dwight Freeney had 14.0, Robert Mathis had 19.0, and Julius Peppers 27.0. 

In 2007-08 no NFL defensive player, defensive end or not, totaled more than his 19.5 run stuffs than Cole, according to Stats, LLC., and he was fifth in the NFL in sacks those same two years combined. Cole was a two-way end, playing the run and the pass despite still being undersized at 270 pounds.

But sacks and stuffs are important but so is pressure on the passer. Depending on which source is used, Football Outsiders (FO) or Pro Football Focus (PFF), he averaged 43 (FO) or 65 (PFF) disruptions per season from 2006-2011. Those marks from both organizations put Cole near the top of that category during Cole's prime.

It goes on.

One pro scouting firm ranked Cole in their top three edge players four times in that span, but the Pro Bowl voters, players, coaches, and fans, sent him to just two Pro Bowls (one as an injury replacement) while Peppers, Allen,  Freeney, and Mathis all went to more. 

First-team All-Pro? Forget about it. Eight pure defensive ends were All-Pro during that same time frame, though in 2009 Cole was voted Second-team All-Pro by the AP voters.

Cole did get some recognition for his play, he was on USA Today’s All-Joe team for three consecutive seasons from 2006-2008. The "All-Joe" team was a list of players who had excellent seasons but did not receive post-season honors. 

The high motor was serving Cole well.

But the motor slowed in 2013, just a year after he'd signed a four-year extension of $55.3 million that included $14.5 million in guaranteed money. The Eagles defensive scheme was different and the results were different. 

Cole was moved to outside linebacker in the base defense of a hybrid 3-4/4-3 scheme new coordinator Bill Davis installed, the same kind of thing he used with the Cardinals a few years earlier. The Davis scheme required both of the outside linebackers to drop a portion of the time. 

It put Cole, who was still a defensive end on passing downs, into doing things that were not his forte. In the next two screenshots, Cole can be seen buzzing the flat and dropping into the hook zone.

Credit: Fox Sports

Credit: Fox Sports

After an adjustment year, he did better in 2014 but still, sacks, tackles, and pressures were down from those in his prime—in part due to his dropping on some of the pass-down snaps. He just was not as productive as he had been and not as productive as the Eagles brain trust thought his contract called for. So in March of 2015, he was a cap casualty—he was released and became a free agent.

Less than a week after the Eagles cut him he signed a two-year, $14 million contract with the Colts and like the Eagles, the 2013-14 Colt scheme asked Cole to drop into coverage some of the time and it affected his pass rush numbers, one cannot pressure the quarterback when he's trying to play a short zone. That is not to say that he always dropped, he rushed most of the time but it was just odd to see such a great rusher not doing what he did best, even if it was perhaps only 15-20% of the time.

Credit: ESPN

His production fell even further as a Colt and after not meeting some pretty high expectations he agreed to rework his deal for the 2016 season, taking a pay cut. He was hurt most of that season and was released after just two seasons in Indianapolis. 

Cole finished his career with 90½ sacks, officially the second-most in team history, and proved he was clearly worth the fifth-round pick the Eagles used to take him. Interestingly it was the pick acquired for much-maligned wide receiver James Thrash who was shipped to Washington in 2004 so it was a win for the Eagles in that swap.

He was a high school star at Xenia (Ohio) High School and a two-time First-team All-Conference USA selection and left the University of Cincinnati ranked third on the school's all-time sack list with 19. 

In high school, he'd been a running back and linebacker/defensive end, and in his time as a collegian, he played nose tackle at first before moving to the edge. It was there he caught the eye of NFL scouts with his amazing hustle on the field. 

He was true to the work ethic he learned as a young man and it made for a very successful NFL career one that got him into the Cincinnati Bearcats Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Eagles Hall of Fame in 2022 (along with Hugh Douglas). 

Cole is also true to his stance on hunting and has been a long-time host of Blitz TV on the Sportsman Channel even though it has its detractors, "I know that some people look down on hunters and think that it’s a barbaric hobby, but I pride myself on doing everything within the proper rules and regulations. Hunting is a tradition where I am from. . . it also serves the community by controlling the animal population and keeping certain diseases from running rampant."

Though he was not rewarded much by the media in terms of making the "all" teams  or even fellow players and coaches in terms of being voted to the Pro Bowl, he impressed the scouts and his own coaches, one summing it up by calling Cole, "(A) model of what we want our guys to do here, to work and train, and do the right things."

He certainly had a career that needs to be remembered.

Career stats—

 

Albert Lewis and Ted Hendricks—Punt Block Kings

 By John Turney 

It's good to be wrong, it helps you learn.

A couple of weeks ago I had an e-mail conversation with a very astute writer who also happens to be a Hall of Fame voter. In the context of making the case for Chiefs cornerback Albert Lewis's candidacy for the Hall, this writer pointed out a couple of errors I made in a post concerning blocked kicks and punts. He was right and that post has been updated HERE.

Thanks to that writer because it helped me report the most figures for a couple of great punt blockers.

However, this goes a little further—specifically, the topic of the exchange was the number of blocked punts Ted Hendricks had in his career and who was the modern all-time leader, semi-officially. The explanation for "semi-official" will be covered in this post.

When you Google "Ted Hendricks" and "blocked kicks" the results will inevitably tell you that he had 25 in his career.  

Here is an example from the Pro Football Hall of Fame's bio on Hendricks.

One would also find that Hendricks was credited with seven blocked kicks in 1974, his lone year with the Packers. 

Again, from the Pro Football Hall of Fame website—

My error was not doing my due diligence and double-checking the totals. The only thing that was posted that altered Hendricks' total is that he shared one of his placekick blocks with Bubba Smith which reduced his total to 24½. Or, in the alternative, he can be credited with 25 in one counts the shared block fully. There is no right answer for that but going with giving each a half makes sense.

Because of the e-mail discussion, it was important to look deeper into the gamebooks. In the last couple of weeks, two things were found—

The first is that one of Hendricks's blocked punts was actually a blocked field goal. I misread the information and reported it as a punt block rather than a kick block. My error. 

The correction reduced his total of blocked punts by one and increased his blocked placekicks by one, giving him 8 blocked punts and 15½ placekicks blocked. His total number of kicks, at this point, remained unchanged, one was just moved from the wrong category to the proper one.

The second thing was Hendricks had, included in his total, two punts that ended up beyond the line of scrimmage and because of what we think is peculiar scoring they are not actually blocked punts.

Again, I did not check properly. No excuse, I got it wrong and am embarrassed about it.

In the first non-block, the gamebook tackle chart showed a blocked punt, but the actual play-by-play which is the text portion of the gamebook showed it was not a block but a one-yard punt that was "blocked by Hendricks".

Tackle charts are the totals for defensive statistics and appear in grid form usually at the end of the old gamebooks. The defensive stats are not considered official in terms of tackles, sacks, and forced fumbles but the interceptions and fumble recoveries were. 

As for blocked kicks, it was fuzzy. When doing some research at the Raiders El Segundo headquarters in the early 1990s I asked Raiders executive Al LoCasale if blocked kicks were official, and he said, "semi-official." 

That likely means they were kept by teams and did not appear in the NFL Record & Factbook so LoCasale termed it semi-official. 

With that background, the facts can be explained on the punts in question the first of which was in a Packers-Bears Monday Night football game played on October 21, 1974, at Soldier Field. 

Here is the tackle chart for shows Hendricks had a blocked punt—

Here is the play-by-text that shows the line of scrimmage was the Bear 35 and on the exchange of possession the Packers started the drive at the Bear 36. The punt went for a one-yard gain.

The same thing happened in the Raiders' 1980 season finale at the Meadowlands against the New York Giants.

 Here is the tackle chart from that game showing a block credited to Hendricks—

This is a screenshot shot of the actual text of the play—

As a result of this uncovered information, it is evident that Hendricks was credited with two blocked punts that traveled past the line of scrimmage making his actual career total of blocked seven, not the ten in the original post. 

This means Hendricks has 23½ total blocks, 7 punts, and 15½ placekicks with four of those being extra point attempts and 11½ field goals.

As for the punts that were deflected, for lack of a better word, that twenty for one yard they surely should count. It seems wrong that they don't count because it still can be a huge play and two yards should not make a difference. It's a gain of about 35-40 yards that would not have otherwise been realized. The way blocked punts are scored differently than deflected placekicks. 

The way it works is if a player blocks a field goal and it goes past the line of scrimmage that player gets credit for a blocked kick and that is not so for a punt. It's something the league should correct unless there is a compelling reason not to. 

We understand that there may be a good reason for doing it the way the NFL does it, perhaps making the yardages add up or some such thing. It is hard to know but in terms of what happened in the play it does not treat the events similarly, and it likely should. 

Can't a punt be blocked AND the punter gets credit for a 1- or 14-yard punt? Also, note that this type of deflected punt does not count in a punter's blocked kick category either. Of course, that makes sense if you don't count the block but we'd suggest there was no substantial reason to credit both.

We get it, we just think for punt blocks the player should get credit regardless if it ends up a short distance past the yard line where the ball was snapped. That is certainly the way the Packers and Raiders did when they gave Hendricks credit for the one-yarders. 

What possibly happened is that the person tallying tackles, sacks, and so forth wrote the even down one way on the tackle chart and the person typing the text wrote down the other way. 

When team public relations folk look through the gamebooks for defensive statistics they would go to the tackle chart and not the text. That likely is how they have been included all these years, there was no reason to check. That is my guess because I did the same thing, using the tackle chart rather than the text of the play-by-play.

So, with this new information here is a current list of all the blocked punts by Hendricks highlighting the plays that are not technically blocked punts for those interested —

Again, I am grateful that these issues were raised by the writer. Now the more accurate total is known and that could be the silver (and black) lining to my error. It caused further research to get to the bottom of the questions and correct them. 

Oh well, live and learn and be better the next time.

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Newspaper accounts of players in the NFL's first few decades show something different but that is a story for a different day. Based on the available information, Albert Lewis is the top punt blocker as far back as play-by-records go. He had ten. 

He also had two deflections, the same as Hendricks but his total in the original post did not include them.  In Lewis's case, both tackle charts and play-by-play text differentiated between blocks and deflections. 

In addition, Lewis tackled a punter who tried to run rather than get a kick blocked and he also had a block in the playoffs. Though not a block it for all intents and purposes accomplishes the same thing—causing the punting team to lose significant yardage.

Essentially, the miscalculations were not counting deflections for Lewis and counting them for Hendricks, not using the same standard for both. The net effect was that the all-time leader wasn't clear and caused confusion for the aforementioned writer. 

For comparison, here are the Lewis punt blocks and again highlighting the plays that are not counted in semi-official records and the total does not include an interception by Lewis on a fake punt in Week 1, 1987—

The NFL's Best-ever Kick and Punt Blockers—Updated

Update

We've updated this piece that was originally posted on April 29, 2019.  

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OPINION

By John Turney

In the early 1990s, when we were doing sack research we had a conversation with longtime Raider executive Al LoCasale about official statistics and unofficial statistics. Of course, sacks came up, and other statistics. We asked if punt blocks were official. He smiled and said, "semi-official".

Okay, whatever that means. To us, official or not, they are interesting. Although we have not checked we think blocked kicks are now official but still, they are only interesting if the players now are compared with past greats. So, we decided to do another list.

As with the return men where we combined kick- and punt-returners on one list, we are combining the kick blocks and punt blockers. Sure, we could have a separate list for each and then a combined just like we could have had a kick returner, punt returner, and a dual returner list, but for our purposes, we want to capture who the best of the best were and combining the lists made sense.

Pro Football Researcher Association member and Pro Football Journal contributor Nick Webster made this list possible. His amazing work brought light players many fans had not heard of or didn't know were great blockers. Also, he clarified some inconsistencies in the kick-blocking stat as well.

This is how we rank them based on Webster's research and our own evaluation of the quality of the blocks and the ole' 'eye test'. 

We've ranked them through the top 30 and the rest are honorable mentions and notables.

The List:
1. Ted Hendricks—He blocked both kicks and punts with remarkable frequency. Blocking punts is rarer (more difficult) than kicks and due to that, we put Kick ‘Em in the Head Ted’ at the top of our list. He blocked seven punts and 15½ placekicks (he shared one with Bubba Smith) with four of those being extra point attempts and 11½ field goals. In 1974 had six combined blocks to lead the NFL.

Once he blocked a punt but was called offsides and the extra yards put the opponents into field goal position. So, Hendricks went ahead and blocked the field goal for good measure.

He also had one punt block and one placekick block in playoff games and had two punts he blocked that traveled one yard past the line of scrimmage. These do not officially count as a punt blocked. We think they should so the scoring would be consistent with placekicks. If someone deflects a field goal and it travels past the line of scrimmage the player gets credit for a blocked kick not so with punts.

Punts are harder to block and therefore rarer and since he was a threat on both placekicks and punts we put "The Stork" number one on our list.

2. Alan Page—Mostly an interior rusher on placekicks, but he did block a punt, he has the highest total in NFL history with 27 according to Webster. Regardless, Page was always a threat, especially late in his career. He topped the NFL in 1978.

3. Dave Whitsell—Best edge rusher on placekicks ever with at least 22 blocked field goals and extra points in his career. We say 'at least' because while Webster uncovered most of those, Whitsell possibly had one or two in 1958-59 where the Detroit Lions records are spotty. Unofficially, Whitsell led the NFL in blocked kicks three times.

In the full games, PFJ has seen he didn't have any, but that covers only about six games. However, the great thing about looking at gamebooks and film is that a player like Whitsell can get his just due. Without Webster's work, that wouldn't be possible.

4. Ron McDole—The ‘Dancing Bear’ had 21 career kicks blocked. He was the best athlete around (290 pounds or so, heavy for a defensive end in that era) he got it done the Avis way—by trying harder. He said that offensive linemen often looked at FGs and PATs as “break time” and he’d simply outhustle them to get by and block or deflect a kick.

5. Matt Blair—A big-time leaper, he had 21 career blocks. He also had several blocks in the playoffs, most notably a punt in Super Bowl IX that prevented the Vikings from being shut out. 

Most of his career blocks, however, were PATs. While that can be important in a close game and can kill momentum, it isn't quite what a blocked field goal can be. Twice, he led the NFL in blocks in 1977 and 1981. 

Blair's style was to rush the middle of the line, jump like a basketball player and get his hands on a kick.  Bleacher Report stated it this way, "It’s a skill he likened to going for a slam dunk. You take a running start, you leap, and you make it happen."

Blair is the second Viking in the top five. And when you add in Carl Eller (tied for 28th) it's pretty impressive.

6. Albert Lewis—An edge rusher whose forte was blocking punts—He is tied for the most ever with ten. He also deflected two others and even tackled a punter, which is essentially the same as a block. 

He led the NFL in 1990 with four blocks (all punts) and was second in 1986 (all punts). However, in 1986 he had one deflection that dribbled past the line of scrimmage (not technically a block) and tackled a punter plus he had one block in the playoffs.

Since blocked punts can happen in the opponent's territory blocked punts can have a more damaging effect than even a field goal block. A good number of blocked punts are returned for scores or can be a safety. At the very least they can pick up 40-50 extra yards. Four of Lewis' blocks resulted in touchdowns and one went for a safety.

Three of his regular-season punt blocks were returned for touchdowns plus one more in the playoffs.

7. Swede Youngstrom—Webster's digging into old papers reveals Youngstrom is the top punt blocker ever. Quite an impressive nice total, at least 16 confirmed blocked kicks, 10½ were punts (one was shared according to the newspaper account. 

It was also reported that he blocked nine punts in first season in the NFL and Webster found four of them in game summaries ... so if the nine punts blocked (three returned for touchdowns) is accurate then you can add five more to Webster's total of 16 -- making his total 21. 

As an aside, he also reportedly blocked nine punts in his senior year Dartmouth.

We have him ranked 8th because we cannot be sure how hard it was to block a punt in his era. It was such a big play that the newspaper articles usually included them in stories about games but perhaps protection for punters was not sophisticated. Also, some of them could have been partial blocks, one he got his hands on but went beyond the line of scrimmage that would not be counted now, even though yo can argue they should.

But really, totals are not relevant. It seems pretty evident that Youngstrom possessed a great skill, one that made him one of the best kick/punt blockers of all time -- even if totals are not official.

8. Irv Cross—Cross blocked nine place kicks with the Eagles and seven with the Rams (an NFL-leading four in 1966 alone). An edge rusher who 'got there' as often as anyone in history. Like Albert Lewis, he had some length (height and long arms) that helped close the final inches which were the difference in a blocked kick and a successful field goal.

Was a very good corner, too. One of the best ever at 'axing', which is roll blocking a wide receiver at the line of scrimmage to take him out of the pattern, and a superb tackler, too. 

9. Shaun Rogers—Seventeen placekicks blocked. Not a leaper, Rodgers used his bulk to push the interior blockers back and then got his hands up quickly—the ultimate inside power rusher. He tied for the NFL lead three times with a career-high in three in 2004.

10. Julius Peppers—Twelve field goals and one PAT blocked for a total of 13 blocks. In this era when eighty percent of field goals are good, the twelve blocks matter a lot. Say in the 1950s, there was a fifty percent chance that the field goal was going to be no good anyway, depending on the length. Now, that is not true, making Rodgers and Peppers a top commodity in the 2000s.

Here is how the Chicago Tribune reported Peppers' skill, "In essence, Peppers has taken 25 (37 through the end of his career) points off the board (eight blocked field goal attempts, one blocked extra point attempt) in his career. "In terms of defensive ends, he's the best at it," said Lions special teams coach Danny Crossman, who previously coached him on the Panthers' special teams. "He'll get you a couple every year. You can write it down."

"What makes Peppers so effective? Well, he's 6 foot 6. His arms are long enough to clean gutters without needing a ladder (34 inches). And he has hops (36 1/2-inch vertical jump). 'He has great leverage and length,' Panthers coach John Fox said. 'He's quick and he can bend. He puts his body in a position that a lot of guys can't do.' Peppers can move like a basketball player."

11. Eddie Meador—Meador holds the Rams record for blocked kicks with ten FG or PATs thwarted, though some others are close to him. He was an edge rusher who could slip a block and deflect a placekick. He, unofficially, led the NFL in 1962.

12. Gary Green—Nine blocks including two punts in nine seasons. If the ball was kicked in any way he had a shot to stop it. He'd fire off the line and layout as well as anyone.

13. Leo Nomellini—Webster records eleven blocked kicks, but records are so spotty in the 1950s that if we had full records, he might challenge the top. On film, he hustles and is athletic on FG and PAT attempts.

14. Night Train Lane—Another where full records are not available, so when Webster updates his work and published his definitive list Lane could climb but his current total is 12 but one was "shared"

15. Frank Cope—Like with Nomellini and other early players full statistics are not available, but those that are available via gamebook review, newspapers, and film study shows that Cope was a terrific kick blocker.

16. Wahoo McDaniel—An original AFLer who was more known for his wrestling career, McDaniel led pro football in 1963 with four blocks, and his final tally was very high according to Webster—15 total.

17. Sam Huff—Statistics do not exist for his career, but he claims that he was adept at blocking kicks and punts. Webster's research confirms that the claim was accurate in the gamebooks and film that are available and currently has a total of nine confirmed blocks for Huff.

18. Bob St. Clair—Named the "Kick Blocker" for the 1950s All-Decade Team in Dan Daly's fine book Pro Football Chronicles. "Geek" was 6-9 and his inclusion is based on anecdotal evidence. 

For years there was an unverified report that he blocked ten kicks in one season, but quite a few researchers have debunked that and it's gone the way of the Norm Willey 14-sack game. (According to Paul Zimmerman he had 8, still, not too shabby).

So, while we, too, doubt the 10 in a season, he was reported to have a proclivity to block kicks, perhaps a proclivity that was bigger than the one that caused him to eat raw meat. So, while we have no numbers, we feel strongly he deserves to be mentioned here. 

19. Ed Sprinkle—Again, a player with incomplete statistics but still a high number of blocks, at least nine, six were punts and one punt was deflected.  

20. Erich Barnes—Like Night Train, another tall edge rusher. And like the earlier player on this list could rise as Webster's research becomes more complete, right now it's a dozen.

21t. Cornell Green—The Cowboys top edge blocker ever (Ed Jones was the best interior guy). Green had 11 blocks.

21t. Gary Lewis—Lewis played four seasons, 1981-84, and blocked nine kicks plus one more in the 1982 playoffs and deflected at least one other. He had four in the 1982 strike-shortened season and five in 1983 to lead the NFL both seasons. 

The five in 1983 were often blocks of potential game-winning or game-tying kicks. His five blocks that year were composed of three field goals and two PATs. He didn't block any kicks in his other two NFL seasons. He had to leave football due to a serious illness.

23t. Lloyd Mumphord—Nine blocks for Mumphord including one partially blocked punt. He and his cohort Curtis Johnson really helped the Dolphins in the early 1970s. In 1972 they combined for five blocks to give their contribution to the Perfect Season.

23t. Curtis Johnson—Eight blocks for Johnson and as mentioned, with Mumphord, the Dolphins had two excellent edge rushers who could vary the rush and confuse blocking schemes.

25t. Steve Tasker—Six blocks, mostly punts but he also had some punt deflections plus one in a Super Bowl, which were as nearly as good as blocks. So based on the difficulty of blocking punts and also the near-near misses he leapfrogs the group of inside rushers we've tied at 28th on this list.

25t. Ivory Sully—Sully, in our view, was one of the best all-around special team players ever, he could block kicks and punts, cover, block for returns, and could also return a kick himself.

He seemed to have a knack for blocking kicks in clutch situations that resulted in catastrophic (scoring) plays against the opponent. In 1979 he blocked a Viking punt that the Rams returned for a touchdown. In 1980 he blocked a punt that was recovered by Rams for a touchdown.

In 1982 a blocked field goal kept the 49ers out of the NFL playoff tournament. In 1983 he blocked a potential game-tying kick, again versus the 49ers. In 1984 he blocked a Giant punt that went out of the end zone for a safety. He also blocked the first punt in Tampa Bay Buc history in 1986.

The only 'nondescript' block, if you will (relatively speaking, that is) was a blocked field goal versus the Jets in 1983—but it still allowed the Rams to get to overtime where they ultimately lost.

27t. Turk Edwards Nine confirmed blocks in eight seasons. Edwards was a Hall of Fame tackle.

27t. Denico Autry— Nine blocks in nine seasons and he led the NFL with three blocks in 2015. He's on pace to be among the elite if he keeps up this pace. 

29t. Bob Rowe—Webster's work shows Rowe with 11½ blocks (one was shared) in nine seasons. In 1972 he blocked three field goals in one game against the Colts and was the AP Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts. He ended that year with 3.5 blocks which led the NFC and in 1975 he had three blocks which tied for the NFL lead.

29t. Art Thoms—Thoms had the six in 1972 to lead the NFL and eleven in his career, nine were placekicks and one was a punt which occurred in his rookie year. 

31t. Ed Jones—Eleven blocks for "Too Tall" which is good, but you'd maybe expect from someone who was 6-9. He had three in two different years which accounts for over half of his blocks. He tied for the NFL lead (with Joe Nash) in 1989 with three and was second in blocks in 1978 with three.

We've tied about fifteen defensive linemen at 20. First, we know this is just a list and the rankings this low are not really relevant and we don't take ourselves so seriously as to think the ranks have to be perfect. Second, when you have a bunch of linemen between eight and eleven blocks how does one separate them? There are ways to do that but when the number is, say, 10 in a 15-year career, there is some fuzziness in the math and it's hard to really quantify.

In the future, Nick Webster will do a post with all the final numbers that are available and have a formula that takes into account field goals, PATs and punts and so on and for the 'statheads' it will be more satisfying. This list is about the art as well which is why we include the likes of Cope or St. Clair.

Honorable mentions

Bubba Smith—Nine and a half blocks, the half is one he shared with Hendricks.

Deacon Jones—Ten blocked placekicks, in fourteen seasons, but none after 1970.

Carl Eller—Ten blocks for Moose (including one in playoffs), eight field goals and two PATs.

Clyde Simmons—Ten blocks (plus one in the playoffs) in fifteen seasons once had four in one season. A Tall (6-6) rangy player with long arms.

Joe Nash—Nine blocks in fourteen years. He tied with Too Tall Jones in 1989 with three. He also tied for the NFL lead in 1984 and 1985 with two (albeit it was a down couple of years for blocks).

Claude Humphrey—Nine blocks, five in 1974 alone (he was second to Ted Hendricks in the NFL that year).

Jack Youngblood—Eight blocks and one deflection plus one more blocked kick in the playoffs. The deflection came in 1983. The Green Bay Press-Gazette wrote, "Youngblood knifed through the middle of the line and got a piece of Jan Stenerud's PAT but it carried over the crossbar and caromed off of the stanchion . . . Stenerud said, "We knew that Youngblood had a knack of twisting through. It nearly cost us the game."

Joe Greene—Eight blocks, five field goals and three PATs in 13 seasons.

Dan Hampton—Eight blocks with one of them shared with All Harris according to Bears media guides. Named the "Kick Blocker" for the 1990s All-Decade Team by Dan Daly in Pro Football Chronicles.

Rob Burnett—Eight blocks on placekicks in fourteen years

Israel Idonije— Eight blocks, four PATs, and four field goals. He was the NFL leader in 2007 with a total of three blocked kicks.

Calais Campbell—Eight blocked kicks for the 6-8 Campbell with a high of three in 2011.

Craig Terrill— Eight blocks. A stout defensive tackle, just 6-2, was another of the 'hustle-types' that could push inside and get some penetration and a block. He led the NFL in 2010 with three.

Ed Neal—Eight blocks, at least, in seven seasons playing mostly for the Green Bay Packers in the 1940s

Dale Dodrill—Played for the Steelers from 1951-59. Another player with eight blocks. 

Tim Irwin— Nine blocks in fourteen seasons. A tall guy (6-7) with long arms. Only the second offensive lineman on this list.

Sean Jones—Another of the tall guys with eight blocks in a fine career.

John LoVetere—Also eight blocks, could block both punts and placekicks a bit rare for a defensive tackle. 

Ted Vactor—Had eight blocks, bunched in three seasons but many were big-time plays in big games.

Eugene Daniel—Eight blocked kicks in his first five years, then none the rest of his career. He also recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown. Solid special teams player, too, with a high of 13 tackles on kick/punt coverage in 1985.

Dick Lynch—Eight blocks for Lynch, including three in 1962.

Issiac Holt—Five blocked punts plus two blocked placekicks in eight seasons.

Nolan Cromwell—Five blocked punts plus a deflection, and also recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown. An integral part of the punt block team his entire career, blocking three punts in his final season. He was an edge rusher and in 1978 he scored a touchdown on a blocked punt and the blocked two, one went for a touchdown,. The next year one of his punts was returned for a touchdown.

Bill Hewitt—The complete numbers, of course, are not available so the evidence of Hewitt being an excellent kick blocker is mostly anecdotal but in 1933 Webster confirmed that he had four that season.

Chris Willis of NFL Films named him one of the best two-way ends ever and that kick blocking was part of his skill set.

Pat Thomas—Seven blocks, and among them are both punts and kicks. The blocks came in seven years before his knees gave out. He once blocked a field goal and punt in the same game and the punt resulted in a touchdown for the Rams and the field goal prevented three points. The final margin of victory for the Rams in the game was two points.

Fred Carr—Carr had one monster year then not much on his other seasons. In 1976 Carr blocked three field goals and three extra points to tie with Alan Page for the NFL lead in blocks. At 6-5, built a lot like Matt Blair you'd think he might have been dominant for a long time but all that can be found, he only blocked kicks in 1976 (six) and in 1971 (one) and in 1977 (one).

Dave Washington—Eight blocks in three seasons, three each in 1975 and 1975, but none in the other none seasons in his career. A tall linebacker who could ump, like Fred Carr, and also like Fred Carr kind of a poor man's Matt Blair who was, in a sense a poor man's Ted Hendricks.

Karl Kassulke—Six career blocks, five of them punts and two resulting in touchdowns in ten seasons. His career ended abruptly when, in 1973, he crashed a motorcycle accident on the way to training camp and that accident left him paralyzed.

Rod Woodson—Seven career blocks. Woodson was a special player. A Hall of Fame corner who could have been a HOF as safety had he played there his entire career, he was excellent in returns and also could pressure a kicker. The definition of a football player.

Cory Littleton—With only three years in the league, Littleton is the least-tenured player on our list. He already has four blocked punts and one deflected punt and one near-miss (shown in the card below). He tied for the NFL lead in blocked kicks in both 2017 and 2018.

Now a seven-year vet, Littleton has not added any blocks to his scoresheet in the last few years.

Lee Roy Selmon—Six blocked kicks but all in three seasons. None in the other six.

Johnny Fuller—He had a big year in 1971 with four blocks, plus a couple in pre-season a total of five in his career.

Ken Reaves —An effective edge rusher with good height (6-3) for a corner and long arms. he had six career blocks.

Flozell Adams—Seven blocks for the Hotel. He led the NFL in 2003 with three blocks and tied for the NFL lead with two in 1999.

James Williams—The Bears recorded eight blocks for "Big Cat".

Richard Seymour—Seven blocks in twelve seasons plus another in the playoffs.

Dave Rowe—A total of seven blocks, including an AFC-leading four in 1974.

Tom Sestak Big Ses had a total of seven blocks. 

Dave Pureifory—deflected a punt as a rookie in 1972, and blocked one in 1973, '74, and '75, pretty good for a 6-1 defensive lineman. Imagine if he'd have been 6-5.

Marlin McKeever—An interesting player who was a Pro Bowler as a tight end, but was a good middle linebacker before that and after. He had seven blocks with the Rams and two with the Redskins for a total of nine in a 13-year career.

J.J. Watt—So far Watt has four blocked kicks but none since 2014. 

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie—Four blocks, all early in his career, we were told by one NFL special teams coach that he was a marked man for most of his career. When he got the blocks early he was always going to draw the blocking. So it's a case of his skills being as good as many above him on this list but the 'numbers' are not as high.

Steve Gleason—Four blocks in just seven seasons for Gleason before he was felled by ALS. Had he been able to stay healthy he may have been in the Tasker-area of this list.

Justin Bethel—five blocks, now in his eleventh year.

Special mention

Lenny Sachs—Blocked three punts in one game quarter in 1920 for the Racine Cardinals in a win over the Detroit Heralds. He recovered one for a touchdown and the other two were recovered for touchdowns as the Cards won 21-0 

Other notables: 
Herb Adderley

Johnnie Johnson
Ed Reed
Tim McDonald
Bill Malinchak
Bobby Freeman
Nate Allen
Mike Gaechter 8

Speedy Duncan

Bubba McDowell

Rasheem Green

Bobby Bryant

Dennis Smith
Fred Williamson
J.C. Caroline
Joe Lavender
Levi Johnson
Michael Downs

Miles Killebrew

Derek Barnett

Jack Butler

Len Ford

George Tarasovic

Bill George

Alex Carrington

Mike White

Henry Anderson

Henry Jordan

Neil Smith
Doug Atkins

Bobby Freeman

Andy Robustelli

Sherman White
Vern Den Herder
Cam Heyward

Gary Jeter
Mike Barnes
Ed Neal

Clay Matthews

Shelby Harris

Jerry Sherk

Paul Smith
Eric Swann
Curtis Weathers
Jim Bailey
Buck Buchanan

Burce Maher

Jack Pardee
Jethro Pug
George Tarasovic
Jim Dunaway

Jeff Cross
Margus Hunt
Frank Cornish

Langston Walker
Fred Robbins

Shane Burton

Kevin Williams

Bernard Pollard
Shane Dronett

Bill George
Ernie Ladd-
Roland Lakes

Nick Buoniconti
Joe Klecko
Bob Lilly
Harold Wells
Merlin Olsen

Rosey Grier

Michael Downs

William Judson

Ed Husmann

Lawrence Pillers

Bob Reinhard

Bucko Kilroy

Don Hutson
Jug Earp

Bruiser Kinard

Chet Adams

Jack Russell

Brentson Buckner-

LeeRoy Caffey

Red Bryant

Olivier Vernon

Ra'Shede Hageman

Lawrence Guy

As always a list can go on and on but we feel confident that we've covered the top guys if you think someone deserves some mention, let us know so we can update. And as we get more information from Webster we will update you as well.