Green Bay Packers: 15 greatest pass rushers of all-time

Best pass rushers in Green Bay Packers history: 7. Dave Robinson

• Pro Football Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)


• 3x NFL Champion (1965-67)


• 2x Super Bowl Champion (I, II)


• NFL 1960s All-Decade Team


• 3x Pro Bowl (1966-67, 1969)

Dave Robinson had to wait a while, but finally got the recognition he deserved as one of the best linebackers of his era. Nearly 40 years after he last played, Robinson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Class of 2013.

Though he was only a three-time Pro Bowler with the Packers, Robinson was an instrumental part of the Green Bay defense during the peak Vince Lombardi years. Robinson first came to Green Bay as the No. 14 overall pick by the Packers out of Penn State in the 1963 NFL Draft. He would spend his first 10 seasons playing for the Packers.

Robinson would be a three-time NFL champion with the Packers from 1965 to 1967, winning the first two Super Bowls over the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders respectively in the latter two years. A dominating first seven years in the league helped Robinson made the NFL 1960s All-Decade Team, which certainly helped his Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy decades later.

Despite playing in an era where quarterback sacks were not an official stat, Robinson was certainly able to bring the pressure on the passer during his time in Green Bay. Perhaps the most notable play of his NFL career versus the Dallas Cowboys in the 1966 NFL Championship best illustrates this.

Robinson technically freelanced in the Packers’ defensive scheme to bring pressure on Dallas quarterback Don Meredith. Though Lombardi hated Robinson’s undisciplined moment, this pressure by the Packers outside linebacker forced a game-sealing interception in the end zone by Green Bay safety Tom Brown.

While he was certainly more of a pass defender and run stuffer in his playing days, Robinson absolutely had great pass-rushing talent when he played for the Packers. Of course, having two excellent players in Lee Roy Caffey and Ray Nitschke in the same linebacking corps helped. However, Robinson’s versatility and willingness to do whatever it took to win eventually yielded him a gold jacket.