Green Bay Packers: Top 10 DBs in team history
By Kenn Korb
Herb Adderly: One of the best Courtesy of packershistory.net
#1 Herb Adderley
Here we have our number one: Herb Adderley.
These top three were a pretty tough choice to filter out, but my reasonings for the choice were boiled down in the Wood slide.
I didn’t feel as if Dillon – while supremely productive – was able to surpass either of Wood or Adderley due to the five-championship deficit he faced, and many of Wood’s contributions could either be matched or surpassed by what Adderley accomplished in slightly less time in Green Bay.
Adderley’s 39 interceptions in nine seasons is nearly exactly the rate forced by Wood for his respective 48 INTs in 11 seasons (4.33/yr versus 4.36/yr). Wood put up that impressive 699 INT-return yards, only to see Adderley put up 795 of his own (in two fewer seasons, no less).
Willie led the team in picks five times, but Herb was right there with him for four times of his own (and both had three-year streaks of doing so).
Wood forced 16 fumbles, narrowly edging out Adderley’s 13. Also, while both are members of the Pro Football Hall Of Fame, Adderley beat Wood there by almost a decade (1980 compared to 1989).
One of the more incredible things in this comparison to me is that these guys spent most of their careers together; Adderley was a Packer from 1961-70 while Wood was on the team from 1960-71.
Gotta feel sorry for those teams who had to face that lineup in the 60s; these combined contributions were key in why Green Bay managed to win five championships in that time frame (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967).
To me, however, Adderley’s achievements go beyond what Wood managed to do as a whole.
That’s especially true in terms of scoring prowess.
In his career, Wood only managed to return two turnovers for scores; a nice footnote, but not really game-changing from a career-outlook standpoint.
Adderley, however, took seven different interceptions to the house; that sits at second in team history on its own, as well as placing him second on the total defensive touchdowns list. Adderley also is one of the players to tie the team record for INT-return TDs in a season with three.
And this was all after Adderley was originally forced into a major role due to the injury of someone above him on the depth chart: Hank Gremminger, who you may remember, appeared earlier in the honorable mentions column.
A little reminder that even with all the greatness these guys exuded, in many cases it took events completely out of their control to allow them to become the players that we remember and put on a pedestal.
……………….
I hope you all enjoyed this exercise!
From my end it was quite an enlightening experience, one that opened my eyes to even more of the interesting history surrounding my favorite team.
Of course, the way this ended up is just one person’s opinion; I encourage you to form your own.
But while I don’t expect the same amount of time and effort to be put forward on your end, it would benefit everyone (including yourself) to be sure and make sure that opinion is an informed one.
Otherwise, what’s the point?
Debate without a foundation supporting it is just baseless argumentation that leads nowhere and leaves everyone involved feeling empty in the end.
Strive for something more substantial, even if this is just sports we’re dealing with here.