Chase Stuart
Footballguy
You guys may remember this post about great linebackers playing on the same team during the peak years of their career. I've done the same thing for defensive lineman -- available here at the PFR blog.
Here's what I wrote in the beginning of the Shark Pool post on linebackers; the same thing applies for the DL table below.
, so here's the very quick explanation.The number in parentheses is the player's age that season; the second number is a very approximate guess at his average value during his best seasons. Then based on a player's age (28-30 = very good, really young or really old = bad) and his APPROXIMATE value at his peak (18 = excellent; 10 = good; 5 = bad), I gave a score to each player for each age. Note that repeat seasons are deleted -- so the '85 Bears won't show up here since the '87 Bears had the exact same LBs and they ranked higher. And why are they ranked higher? Because Singletary at 29, Marshall at 25 and Wilson at 30 are assumed to be better than Singeltary at 27, Marshall at 23 and Wilston at 28. Actual production in any given season is not considered. This is not a look at the best LBs ever, or the best LB corps ever. Just a look at the best set of great linebackers playing at their best seasons for the same team.
As for approximate value, note that it's very approximate. All I'll say is it's better than any other method of ranking defensive players. But it's far from perfect. E.g., Swilling's peak value is 19.0 while LT's peak value is 18.0. Taylor was the better player, of course; the only thing I'll say about the approximate value system is generally, a group of players with a rating of 19.0 will be better than a group of players with a rating of 15.0. Certainly any one player at 18 can be better than any one player at 19.
So here is the list. Commentary on this list along with the same for 3-4 DL is available here: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=2370
Here's what I wrote in the beginning of the Shark Pool post on linebackers; the same thing applies for the DL table below.
More methodology discussion available here. I know you guys won't read that, thoughThis post is not a look at the greatest linebacking corps ever. We might attempt to do that one day, but today I’ve got another thought on my mind today. What teams have seen a bunch of great linebackers playing together while those players were in their primes?
The first thing we need to do is rate the linebackers. You could use Pro Bowl nominations, or games started, or some combination of sacks, turnovers and tackles. Here at PFR, Doug developed the Approximate Value system — it assigns an approximate value to measure the approximate contribution of each player in each season since 1950. While none of us claim that the Approximate Value system is a perfect measure of player performance, we believe it’s a big improvement on things like games started or other objective criteria one might use to create a set of inter-positional rankings.
You could simply look at a list of the top linebacker by AV per team for each season. For various reasons, I chose a different approach. I looked at the peak three years of every linebacker ever, and assigned that as a rating for each linebacker. Then I gave him an age adjusted score for each season. That age adjusted score is the rating I’m giving each linebacker for each season of play, not his actual AV grade.
....

As for approximate value, note that it's very approximate. All I'll say is it's better than any other method of ranking defensive players. But it's far from perfect. E.g., Swilling's peak value is 19.0 while LT's peak value is 18.0. Taylor was the better player, of course; the only thing I'll say about the approximate value system is generally, a group of players with a rating of 19.0 will be better than a group of players with a rating of 15.0. Certainly any one player at 18 can be better than any one player at 19.
So here is the list. Commentary on this list along with the same for 3-4 DL is available here: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=2370
Code:
min-1970 16.4 Carl Eller (28): 22 Alan Page (25): 23.7 Gary Larsen (30): 14.3 Jim Marshall (33): 13.3ram-1967 14.6 Deacon Jones (29): 18 Merlin Olsen (27): 18 Roger Brown (30): 16 Lamar Lundy (32): 8.3dal-1981 14.3 Randy White (28): 17.7 Too Tall Jones (30): 14.7 Harvey Martin (31): 14.3 John Dutton (30): 12chi-1987 14.1 Dan Hampton (30): 17.7 Steve McMichael (30): 16.7 Richard Dent (27): 16.3 William Perry (25): 8.7chi-1988 14.0 Dan Hampton (31): 17.7 Richard Dent (28): 16.3 Steve McMichael (31): 16.7 Al Harris (32): 8.7pit-1976 13.9 Joe Greene (30): 19 L.C. Greenwood (30): 16.3 Dwight White (27): 12 Ernie Holmes (28): 9.3min-1974 13.8 Alan Page (29): 23.7 Carl Eller (32): 22 Doug Sutherland (26): 9.3 Jim Marshall (37): 13.3phi-1991 13.6 Reggie White (30): 20 Clyde Simmons (27): 15.3 Jerome Brown (26): 13.3 Mike Pitts (31): 8.7ram-1969 13.6 Merlin Olsen (29): 18 Deacon Jones (31): 18 Coy Bacon (27): 11 Diron Talbert (25): 11chi-1984 13.6 Dan Hampton (27): 17.7 Steve McMichael (27): 16.7 Richard Dent (24): 16.3 Mike Hartenstine (31): 10.3ram-1968 13.5 Merlin Olsen (28): 18 Deacon Jones (30): 18 Roger Brown (31): 16 Gregg Schumacher (26): 3.7ram-1965 13.2 Deacon Jones (27): 18 Merlin Olsen (25): 18 Rosey Grier (33): 16.3 Lamar Lundy (30): 8.3ram-1978 13.1 Jack Youngblood (28): 18 Larry Brooks (28): 13 Fred Dryer (32): 14 Cody Jones (27): 10cle-1953 13.1 Len Ford (27): 20.7 Don Colo (28): 15.3 Doug Atkins (23): 16 Derrell Palmer (31): 8.3cle-1954 13.0 Len Ford (28): 20.7 Don Colo (29): 15.3 John Kissell (31): 10 Carlton Massey (24): 9.7cle-1957 13.0 Len Ford (31): 20.7 Don Colo (32): 15.3 Bob Gain (28): 13 Bill Quinlan (25): 8dal-1980 13.0 Randy White (27): 17.7 Too Tall Jones (29): 14.7 Harvey Martin (30): 14.3 Larry Cole (34): 9.7pit-1977 12.9 Joe Greene (31): 19 L.C. Greenwood (31): 16.3 Dwight White (28): 12 Steve Furness (27): 7tam-2002 12.8 Warren Sapp (30): 19 Simeon Rice (28): 16.7 Greg Spires (28): 9.3 Anthony McFarland (25): 8.3phi-1990 12.7 Reggie White (29): 20 Clyde Simmons (26): 15.3 Jerome Brown (25): 13.3 Mike Golic (28): 6pit-1978 12.6 Joe Greene (32): 19 L.C. Greenwood (32): 16.3 Dwight White (29): 12 John Banaszak (28): 8clt-1957 12.6 Gino Marchetti (30): 17.3 Gene Lipscomb (26): 13.7 Art Donovan (32): 13.7 Don Joyce (28): 9.3nyg-1952 12.6 Arnie Weinmeister (29): 20 Ray Poole (31): 11.7 Ray Krouse (25): 12.7 Jim Duncan (27): 9.3dal-1978 12.6 Randy White (25): 17.7 Harvey Martin (28): 14.3 Too Tall Jones (27): 14.7 Jethro Pugh (34): 11.3min-1966 12.5 Carl Eller (24): 22 Jim Marshall (29): 13.3 Gary Larsen (26): 14.3 Paul Dickson (29): 8nyg-1959 12.5 Rosey Grier (27): 16.3 Jim Katcavage (25): 16 Andy Robustelli (34): 18.3 **** Modzelewski (28): 9min-1967 12.3 Carl Eller (25): 22 Jim Marshall (30): 13.3 Alan Page (22): 23.7 Paul Dickson (30): 8ram-1976 12.3 Jack Youngblood (26): 18 Fred Dryer (30): 14 Larry Brooks (26): 13 Merlin Olsen (36): 18gnb-1962 12.2 Willie Davis (28): 17.3 Henry Jordan (27): 17 Bill Quinlan (30): 8 Dave Hanner (32): 8.7nyg-1951 12.2 Arnie Weinmeister (28): 20 Ray Poole (30): 11.7 Al DeRogatis (24): 12.7 Jim Duncan (26): 9.3ram-1979 12.0 Jack Youngblood (29): 18 Larry Brooks (29): 13 Fred Dryer (33): 14 Mike Fanning (26): 7clt-1960 12.0 Ordell Braase (28): 14 Gene Lipscomb (29): 13.7 Gino Marchetti (33): 17.3 Art Donovan (35): 13.7rai-1995 11.9 Pat Swilling (31): 19 Chester McGlockton (26): 14 Jerry Ball (31): 11.7 Anthony Smith (28): 6.3chi-1983 11.9 Dan Hampton (26): 17.7 Steve McMichael (26): 16.7 Mike Hartenstine (30): 10.3 Jim Osborne (34): 9.7min-1992 11.9 Chris Doleman (31): 16.7 John Randle (25): 16 Henry Thomas (27): 11 Al Noga (27): 8.3sea-1999 11.8 Cortez Kennedy (31): 17 Sam Adams (26): 13.3 Michael Sinclair (31): 11 Phillip Daniels (26): 10tam-2001 11.8 Warren Sapp (29): 19 Simeon Rice (27): 16.7 Marcus Jones (28): 6.3 Anthony McFarland (24): 8.3den-1997 11.8 Neil Smith (31): 15.3 Michael Dean Perry (32): 16 Alfred Williams (29): 11 Keith Traylor (28): 8chi-1990 11.6 Richard Dent (30): 16.3 Dan Hampton (33): 17.7 William Perry (28): 8.7 Trace Armstrong (25): 10sea-1996 11.6 Cortez Kennedy (28): 17 Michael Sinclair (28): 11 Michael McCrary (26): 12 Sam Adams (23): 13.3