Green Bay Packers: 50 greatest players in franchise history

Greatest players in Green Bay Packers history: 15. Willie Davis

When it came to getting after the passer, few men did it as well for the Packers as did Willie Davis. While he spent his first two professional seasons out of Grambling State with the Cleveland Browns, it would be with the Packers where Davis cemented his Pro Football Hall of Fame legacy.

Though sacks were not an official stat when he was playing, Davis had at least 100, and probably a good bit more than that, during his time in the NFL over a dozen seasons. Davis won five NFL championships during the Vince Lombardi era of Packers football, including Super Bowls I and II. He made five straight trips to the Pro Bowl from 1963 to 1967.

Davis garnered his first All-Pro first team nod in 1962. After being named to the All-Pro second team in 1963, Davis would rattle off four more All-Pro first team designations in succession from 1964 to 1967. He would retire as a member of the Packers at the end of the 1969 NFL season at the age of 35.

Davis is a member of the Packers Hall of Fame and made the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1960s. In 1981, he earned pro football’s highest honor by receiving a bust in Canton. His Pro Football Hall of Fame classmates include Red Badgro, George Blanda and former Packers teammate in center Jim Ringo. Davis would go on to do color commentary for NBC on NFL games in the 1970s.