Almost eight years ago now we started this series, and apparently more than five years since our most recent, thanks to the COVID19 shut down that has us working at home, we’re going to try to get back into our By The Numbers series.
We’ve seen quite a few go down this path over the years—many just using a list of their opinions as way to drive pageviews–but our audience of Hall of Fame fanatics, combined with our non-traditional approach of bouncing around by picking numbers out of a hat leads to better content (in our opinion).
So, with the goal of getting us back to averaging more than one of our number posts per year, we finally get into the trenches with number 79.
We’ve previously written about the tallest player in NFL history, but what about specifically the tallest quarterback in NFL history? And tallest active quaterback in the NFL?
Well, the tallest quarterback in NFL history appears to be Dan McGwire, who was a first round pick (16th overall) of the Seattle Seahawks in 1991, just 17 spots ahead of a guy named Brett Favre. McGwire, the younger brother of former Major League slugger Mark McGwire, stood (and still stands) 6 foot 8 inches tall.
As for the tallest more recently active quarterback, as of April 1st, 2016 (when this article was first written), Brock Osweiler, who stands either 6 foot 7, or possibly also 6 foot 8, depending on what source you believe, was the tallest=–his NFL.com profile lists him at 6-8, while his NFL.com draft combine profile lists him at 6-7. Osweiler himself has said he is just a shade over 6 foot 7, while Wikipedia says he measured in at 6-6 7/8 at the combine. Paxton Lynch, who who was drafted in the first round by Denver in 2016, also measured in at 6-7 at the 2016 NFL Combine, would have joined Osweiler in the back row of an all-time NFL Quarterback group picture.
As of updating this article in 2025, the tallest quarterback’s are Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence, both standing at 6-foot, 6-inches tall. Bryce Young and Kyler Murray are the shortest, listed at 5-foot, 10 inches–although frankly that might be generous for both of them.
Troy Polamalu has announced that he’s retiring after a mostly spectacular 12-year career with the Pittsburgh
Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Steelers.
During his career he racked up eight Pro Bowls and four first-team All Pro awards, one behind Ravens safety Ed Reed in both categories. Polamalu also was a second-team All Decade safety on the team of the 2000s. Reed and Brian Dawkins won first-team and Polamalu shared his honors with Darren Sharper.
So Polamalu’s credentials as a Hall of Famer should be without question, right?
Probably so. He’s a year behind Reed in eligibility, so I would normally think he’s a year behind Reed in induction – though Reed could go in slightly more quickly due to the additional honors. Still, Polamalu’s credentials are solid. He becomes eligible in 2020 and one would think he’d have a pretty good shot of making it then or, at least, shortly thereafter.
However, it’s been very difficult in recent years to figure out how voters view the safety position. There are several top-notch candidates from the last three All-Decade teams – among others – who have still not been voted into the Hall – guys with similar postseason profiles to Polamalu and Reed. So how long they wait really depends on how voters decide to sort out the backlog.
Here’s at least a partial list of guys who seem to be viewed as legit candidates: (more…)
Who was the tallest player in NFL history? That would be Richard Sligh, who was drafted in the 10th round by the Oakland Raiders in 1967, out of North Carolina College. Sligh measured in at 7 feet even, the only NFL player to break that mark.
Sligh played sparingly in his rookie year, appearing in eight games, but was a reserve on the team that lost Super Bowl II. He was chosen from the Raiders roster by the expansion Cincinnati Bengals in 1968, but waived before the season started. Slight didn’t play again after his rookie season, and passed away in 1998.
The tallest current active player (as of an update to this article in 2025) is Dan Skipper, offensive lineman for the Detroit Lions, at 6 foot, 10 inches tall. Matt O’Donnell, at 6-foot, 11 inches, spent a couple of offseason stints on the Cincinnati Bengals roster, and several seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos/Elks of the Canadian Football League.
Nearly a year later, and we’re finally back with our latest number segment. In the last 358 odd days, a lot has happened—including a certain popular pro football website absconding with our idea. Of course, they actually pay their writers, so they’ve already made it quite a bit further (maybe even all the way) than we have with five numbers in three years…
Of course, our posts our still better. And the original.
Interestingly enough, when I Googled their site to see if I could find an example, the first one I came across just happened to be the same number that we randomly drew today—the number 14.
There have been a lot of famous players to wear #14 in the history of the NFL, including Hall of Famers (and the best #25 in NFL History) Fred Biletnikoff, who wore #14 for the first two years of his career, Curly Lambeau, who was better known as #1 (according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame) and as the Packers owner/coach than a player, and John “Blood” McNally who apparently wore whatever number he could find.
As for players who wore (or are wearing) #14 as their primary number, here’s the best: (more…)
It’s been 40 years since Jim Tyrer’s career ended at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams, who beat Washington in the first round of the 1974 playoffs. Despite his six All-Pro nominations, the end of his career merited little mention – nary a word in the Sporting News.
Tyrer played for Washington in 1974, primarily as a backup, squeezing one last season out of a top-notch career that included nine invitations to the Pro Bowl or AFL All-Star Game. The first 13 years of his career were spent with the Kansas City Chiefs/Dallas Texans franchise that was among the AFL’s strongest, at least during the years he played.
It’s been 34 years since his name popped up in the last item of Sports Illustrated’s Sept. 29, 1980 Roundup section, where remembrances of his nine All-Star games and two Super Bowl appearances were followed by mention that he had died by suicide after fatally shooting his wife, Martha.
Tyrer did merit mention again a couple times in the early 1980s. His one year as a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist was 1981 and another when he also made a list SI’s Paul Zimmerman compiled – an informal poll of the all-time best offensive linemen.
Though voters are not supposed to consider character and conduct as part of whether or not someone should be enshrined, Tyrer has not made it into the Hall – this statement alone sparking some irony because during his playing days, by most accounts I could find, his character was never in question.
Almost eight years ago now we started this series, and apparently more than five years since our most recent, thanks to the COVID19 shut down that has us working at home, we’re going to try to get back into our By The Numbers series.
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Like you said Justin, it will be collusion with deals for next year. I hope at least seven but we…
Justin I agree with that
Paul we’ll just see what happens you know what they say life is full of surprises
No “shock” for those of us here…the math just doesn’t work. We’ve been discussing. See my prediction above. This is…
LOL.....Shock and Awe