Cliff Harris, Safety Dallas Cowboys safety Cliff Harris knocks Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Harold Jackson off his feet on a pass play during the 1976 NFC championship game. "I didn't have to wear a mask on Halloween to scare people, so I didn't need one to cover my face on the field." -Tommy McDonald 49. Tough Words From Tommy McDonald Tommy McDonald was an All-American at Oklahoma before being drafted in the third round of the 1957 NFL draft. After a frustrated Green Bay Packers defender shoved "Scooter" into a snowbank on a touchdown reception, he gleefully jumped to his feet, then raced to the bench like his hair was on fire.
Here’s more crazy: McDonald played without a face mask for virtually his entire career, the last player to do so.īut an image in the 1960 Championship Game said it all. His favorite route? A slant over the middle, of course. The 5-foot-9, 178-pound fireball of a flanker bounced off tacklers like a human Super Ball. Tommy McDonald was the schoolboy who thumbed his nose at the bully. Games missed: 8 Bottom Line: Tommy McDonald Philadelphia Eagles flanker Tommy McDonald, front, catches a pass from quarterback Sonny Jurgensen in 1961. Teams: Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns Tommy McDonald, Flanker Tommy McDonald, at the University of Oklahoma in 1956, before the Philadelphia Eagles drafted him in 1957. You, too, Bill Romanowski, Jack Tatum and Ndamukong Suh. Here’s looking at you, Hardy Brown, Conrad Dobler and Rodney Harrison. Players who go outside the rules to maim opponents are not tough. Ability to recover when punched in the gut. Laser focus, no matter how big the moment. It can’t be bottled, packaged or weighed. It’s an intangible that comes in all shapes and sizes.
Toughest Football Players in NFL History Ronnie Lott, right, made life miserable for a lot of opponents.īefore the toughest players in NFL history can be discussed, we need to define the term. There’s no measure for toughness. This site is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the University of Florida.If you were smart, you didn’t mess with these guys. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy.Let us know your thoughts and comment on this story below. 7 at his position.įollow us on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions. The On3 consensus, which weights all four major services’ individual rankings evenly, has him at No. 13 overall by On3’s individual rankings and is a five-star recruit according to the service. A decision is expected ahead of his senior year, so Napier and Co. On3’s recruiting prediction machine has the Tigers as 97.7% favorites to land Heard when all is said and done. FSU will also get him this week, so he’s clearly opening the door for the Florida teams to join the fray. Blake Alderman of 247Sports confirmed that Heard will make his way to Florida on Wednesday, July 27, for his first-ever trip to the Swamp. So far, LSU, Texas and Nebraska are viewed as the major players in the race for his services. Heard is the perfect candidate for Florida to go after. Mix in the fact that Napier has brought some of his former staffers along with him, and Florida is more than a reasonable threat to poach a kid out of the Bayou State. He just left ULL after four years at the helm for the Ragin’ Cajuns, and local prep players are bound to have a favorable opinion of him. Of course, Napier’s ties to the state of Louisiana are well known. After Florida missed out on four-star offensive tackle Payton Kirkland on July 23, Billy Napier and his recruiting staff shifted to another blue-chip target on the offensive line, four-star tackle Zalance Heard out of Neville High in Monroe, Louisiana.