Mt. Rushmore by Position - Defensive Ends

[Rain Man]

Vote for EIGHT to go on this Mount Rushmore.

This is Chiefs players only, so if you want to vote on other NFL players, I'll remind you that the Chiefs have the greatest players so this is essentially the same thing.

We have way too many great players to limit our discussion to just one Mount Rushmore, so I thought it would be good to discuss the Mount Rushmore by position.

Here's how I'll post them up.

If a position has one person on the field (e.g., quarterback, center, tight end), the Mount Rushmore will have four players.

If a position has two people on the field (e.g., cornerback, offensive tackle, wide receiver), the Mount Rushmore will have eight players.

If a position has a varied history of one or two people on the field (e.g., defensive tackle, running back, inside linebacker), the Mount Rushmore will have six players.

The wide receiver Rushmore will have ten players since they've varied between two and three people on the field.

I'll put up a poll that will contain three times the number of available slots at a minimum. The candidates will include the players with the most career starts at that position, plus any player who ever made a pro bowl.

I'll use PFR as a reference, and will manually change any positions that are obviously an error (e.g., they list Joe Valerio as a center for some reason).

[cdcox]

I found 7 to vote for. No way am I ever voting for Donkey Neil. Not in 1000 years.

Art Still
Jerry Mays
Aaron Brown
Jared Allen
Frank Clark
Tamba Hali (47 starts???? Thought it would be many more)
George Karlaftis

Mike Bell was mediocre in his career and too controversial post career.
Eric Hicks — ha ha
Mel Branch — no memory

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I found 7 to vote for. No way am I ever voting for Donkey Neil. Not in 1000 years.

Art Still
Jerry Mays
Aaron Brown
Jared Allen
Frank Clark
Tamba Hali (47 starts???? Thought it would be many more)
George Karlaftis

Mike Bell was mediocre in his career and too controversial post career.
Eric Hicks — ha ha
Mel Branch — no memory

This is an interesting position for a lot of those reasons and others. We have some guys with a lot of starts and not a lot of impact. Then we have guys like Playoff Frank who no-showed a lot and then made iconic plays versus guys like Karlaftis who was productive all year in a championship season. Neil is controversial and Jared should be, and most of us aren't familiar with Branch and Mays.

There are a few no-brainers, but a lot of pros and cons for most of the candidates.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Neil is controversial and Jared should be...

Jared Allen left the Chiefs via trade for money.
The Chiefs traded him for picks who turned into Brandon Albert and Jamaal Charles.

Neil Smith was offered a good contract, which he turned down out of jealousy of the offer that Derrick Thomas (HOF player) received.
He joined a rival organization steeped in a culture of cheating.
He helped the rival organization win two illegitimate Super Bowls.
He celebrated a sack against KC using the baseball swing originally patterned to honor a true KC icon, George Brett.
After his NFL career he wanted to be recognized for his contributions as a Chief, as if all the betrayals had never happened.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Jared Allen left the Chiefs via trade for money.
The Chiefs traded him for picks who turned into Brandon Albert and Jamaal Charles.

Neil Smith was offered a good contract, which he turned down out of jealousy of the offer that Derrick Thomas (HOF player) received.
He joined a rival organization steeped in a culture of cheating.
He helped the rival organization win two illegitimate Super Bowls.
He celebrated a sack against KC using the baseball swing originally patterned to honor a true KC icon, George Brett.
After his NFL career he wanted to be recognized for his contributions as a Chief, as if all the betrayals had never happened.

Well said. Some serious ego involved. Smith wanted to be the man, not second fiddle the way I saw it. DT WAS the Chiefs at that time.

[smithandrew051]

It should be 157 starts for Hali, but I think most of those were technically at OLB

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

It should be 157 starts for Hali, but I think most of those were technically at OLB

Yeah, I realized that after I posted it. I need to assign people to one position, and maybe I should've made him a linebacker.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Why wasn't Dee Ford on that list?

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

Why wasn't Dee Ford on that list?

Because he was an OLB

[Hoover]

Interesting list. The Chiefs's recent Super Bowls are pretty impactful for me, I know those guys don't have a ton of starts, but what those playoff runs mean to the franchise is enormous.

[lewdog]

Mike Danna may not make the top 8 but as far as a guy being one of the best role players on championship teams, he's in the top.

[Gary Cooper]

Frank Clark has multiple Super Bowls here, but I don't consider him a better Chief than Mays, Still, Smith, and Hali. He was invisible too often. Not a consistent contributor.

Maybe a poor comparison but I don't consider Pacheco one of the four best RBs in Chiefs history either despite the two SB wins.