Green Bay Packers: Top 10 DBs in team history

Aug 22, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; General view of the

Center before the game against the Oakland Raiders and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

#7 – Don Hutson

… right behind another multi-positional talent.

Hutson is a guy who’s routinely in the conversation of best player in Green Bay history, but the praise for his abilities doesn’t end there.

He also can be seen somewhere on the short list for greatest wide receiver of all-time, and is credited as basically the creator of passing patterns and the wideout portion of WR position (i.e.: lining up wide of the line, as the vast majority receivers spend time doing on a regular basis in the game today).

The three-time champion (1936, 1939 and 1944) also held a ridiculous 19 NFL records at the time of his retirement, which undoubtedly helped him in getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

I could go on and on … so I will!

He garnered 13- and 14-catch games (only Packers player to accomplish that feat); led the team in scoring seven times (!) and the entire league for five consecutive years (league-record; 1940-44), still owns the league record for most points scored in a single quarter by one player (29), and his uniform number [14] was the first to be retired by Green Bay.

How is it that Hutson is only #7 on my list then?

Well, because his efforts at DB might be the least memorable part of his work.

If you’ll notice, pretty much everything I mentioned above dealt with his play at positions other than defensive back. He spent time at three different positions (WR, K, DB) and garnered success and accolades for his work at each, but whenever I come across someone mentioning him, it is almost exclusively for what he did at receiver with an aside about how he also kicked.

That isn’t to say his talents weren’t seen as a DB; just that it isn’t quite as prevalent in people’s minds. In fact, it is a bit of a shame that more people do not realize just how good Hutson was when he lined up at DB.

Though he played for 11 seasons total, Hutson only spent six of them at defensive back. You might expect that to limit his numbers, but you would be incorrect! He grabbed 30 INTs in those six seasons, while also managing to lead the entire league in his first year at the position (1940).

Not bad for a guy that almost wasn’t even a Packer (the backstory there: before his career began, Hutson had actually signed contracts with both Green Bay and the Brooklyn Dodgers; the story goes that Green Bay got him despite both contracts arriving to league offices at the same time – on the caveat that the Green Bay contract had been signed slightly earlier).