Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I was thinking about former Vikings offensive lineman David Dixon the other day, and how he was probably the biggest OG that I had ever seen. Was able to play from the mid 90's all the way until the mid 2000's, starting most games all with the Vikings. I saw him as a pretty decent mauler, but I was surprised he just never even got a single Pro Bowl nod at some point. Didn't see that many Vikings games as a 49ers fan, but I still liked watching the guy play. That got me thinking of other guys that should have at least at some point gotten at the very least a Pro Bowl award in their career.

Jeff Bakus played C for the Lions and stated a possible 191 out of 192 games over the course of 12 seasons, and zero recognition. His constant teammate Dominic Raiola posted 203 out of 219 possible starts, and again zero recognition. Lions fans will have to tell me if either of these guys ever truly deserved to go to Hawaii. Playing in Detroit certainly didn't help guys get noticed I'm guessing also. I just remember them being around for years, and years.

Another guy I think should have gone at least once for sure was C Brad Meester for the Jacksonville Jaguars. If he had played in another city, on a winning team I think he gets more praise. Liked him as a player.

Then there was Stan Brock the long time Saint who just seemed to fall into the shadows like other long-time stalwarts.

Help me think of some others. I'm sure there are a boatload out there if one really thinks about it. George Starke, David Williams, etc.

One guy who was a high-peak, short career player that came to mind was John Vella of the 1970's Raiders. He only had like 4 years of being a regular starter, but he was one of the best RTs in the NFL when he was healthy. I think if he had stuck around longer, he probably would have start accumulating pro bowl berths.

Al Bemiller, center, Buffalo Bills 1961 to 69. Also filled in at guard and tackle when needed. Part if two AFL Championshio teams.

There's a lot of OL like mentioned in the OP. like a Jerry Fontenot who seemed to be on the Bears forever, followed by being on the Saints for forever. Seemed like a name that most people knew but didn't get any 'accolades'. Which is surprising for a lot of these since all-pro/pro bowl/etc., especially anything media votes on, for OL has always been more about whoever they can manage to name rather than who was best or even good that season. Sort of how "Steelers Center" was/is a default all-pro vote for a long time for a lot of media (especially AP voters.)

To answer the question of "favorite."

Blair Bush. Not sure if we're counting All-Rookie team? Which would be a single accolade.

Regardless, he was the Seahawks center from when I was born to age 5. And more than that, our McDonalds had the sheets over the trays inside and the sheets were literally for drawing x's and o's. So I took the entire stack of sheets and I started off every play I drew up by putting a "59" at center. Which even post-Bush still remained my default C square # (when there wasn't a x in it) when I would put something down or on the board.

Dan Neil and Bruce Collie are two that quickly come to mind. Claudie Minor is another guy.

Jon Kolb for the Steelers ... Maybe the most underrated OT to ever play.

Reaser wrote:There's a lot of OL like mentioned in the OP. like a Jerry Fontenot who seemed to be on the Bears forever, followed by being on the Saints for forever. Seemed like a name that most people knew but didn't get any 'accolades'. Which is surprising for a lot of these since all-pro/pro bowl/etc., especially anything media votes on, for OL has always been more about whoever they can manage to name rather than who was best or even good that season. Sort of how "Steelers Center" was/is a default all-pro vote for a long time for a lot of media (especially AP voters.)

To answer the question of "favorite."

Blair Bush. Not sure if we're counting All-Rookie team? Which would be a single accolade.

Regardless, he was the Seahawks center from when I was born to age 5. And more than that, our McDonalds had the sheets over the trays inside and the sheets were literally for drawing x's and o's. So I took the entire stack of sheets and I started off every play I drew up by putting a "59" at center. Which even post-Bush still remained my default C square # (when there wasn't a x in it) when I would put something down or on the board.

Jerry Fontenot is a good one I had forgotten about.

Two others that were really good, and a part of probably the best OL in Chargers history during the early 80's was tackle Billy Shields and center Don Macek. Both all-time Chargers.

Jamie Dukes was a center who played many years in Atlanta, but I'm not sure he was ever that remarkable.

Dan Alexander was a damn good offensive lineman from LSU who played a lot of excellent football for the New York Jets for thirteen seasons (1977 - 1989). He missed hardly any games.

Great call on Macek, Ness ... Proscout Inc, thought he was HOF worthy ... Dave Dalby was also underrated at center with the Raiders. He was part of SB records for most rushing yards as a team in SB XI and helping Marcus Allen set the single-game record in SB XVIII ...

Ken Bowman, the Packers' starting center for 10 years, 1964-73.