from playing mind games before kickoff to delivering career-ending hits a special group of players have kept opponents up at night with their terrorizing behavior these are the 10 scariest players in NFL history no other player had a more iconic way of instilling fear in the eyes of his opponents than Ray Lewis and he did it before the game even started his pregame entrance was a declaration of [Applause] war from a guy who said that every time he stepped on the field he was Maximus from Gladiator as Lewis would emerge from a smoky tunnel with fire
blazing all around him before partaking in something that looked like a scene from his favorite movie opposing teams shuddered we not with the blue we un hell today we the blue we un hell because they knew what was coming 60 Minutes of bone crushing hits from number 52 Sport Science said the only reason he didn't break his opponent's Bones on every hit is because the shoulder p has absorbed 50% of the force Lewis was so powerful that he didn't even have to be locked in on a player to lay them out having shared a division
with him for many years former Bengals wide receiver Chad ooso decided that he had finally had enough of Lewis's reign of terror while Lewis had his eyes on the ball ooso tried to get payback for countless brutal hits with a Blindside shot on the linebacker yet despite paying no attention to ooso Lewis leveled him to the ground like it was nothing and left the wide without gasping for air when Rudy's coming I tried to Blindside race he ran me over consider it a lesson to never test one of the most vicious to ever do it
he wasn't looking and still ran through me and unfortunately the concussion set in I tried to pretend like nothing happened along with making every hit count it wasn't just quality over quantity for Lewis to this day he is still the NFL's all-time leader in career solo and combined tackles with 1,568 and 259 having a This Is War mentality is definitely something that the terrorizing Jack Tatum could relate to but there was nothing even remotely close to civilized about his play Tatum developed a reputation for being absolutely ruthless with his hits and sometimes even crossing the
line because of this he became known as the Assassin and for good reason fiercest hitter at safety ever and Jack Tatum affir mention by me in the call the Assassin yep the Assassin during a 1978 preseason game on an incomplete pass over the middle he paralyzed Patriots wide receiver Daryl Stingley from the chest down not only were people Furious that Tatum paralyzed another player they couldn't believe it happened during a meaningless preseason game and to make matters worse Tatum never apologized for the hit I just like to you know wish Daryl you know a full
speedy recovery and uh send him my best wishes and even when as far as saying this I understand why Daryl is considered the victim but I'll never understand why some people look at me as the villain while this response may come as a bit of of a shock Tatum's idea of a good hit sheds some light on his approach to the game my idea of a good hit is when the victim wakes up on the sideline train whistles blowing in his head I like to believe that my best hits border on fonus assault despite public
blowback Tatum refused to change his hard-hitting ways a year after it he was face Toof face with one of the game's most powerful running backs in Earl Campbell Tatum met him head on at the goal line and even though Campbell managed to stumble into the end zone the Collision left a lasting impact the lick I took from Jack Tatum that's the only time I ever felt somebody hit me Campbell said a shock went down to the heels of my feet and it burned when I was standing on my head in my end zone nobody knew
this but I was thinking something's wrong A year later one of Campbell's doctors watched the collision and believed it caused him spinal problems that plagued him long after his career was over Tatum's hits will live forever in infamy but there's still not the most famous hits in NFL history that distinction belongs to arguably the greatest defensive player player ever Lawrence Taylor with the football World tuned into a 1985 Monday Night Football game between the Giants and Redskins Taylor on a single play changed the sport forever as Washington ran a Flea Flicker Taylor saw right through
the trickery and pounced on QB Joe thyman like a jungle cat Taylor and a handful of players immediately signaled to the sign line for help as thyman was in excruciating pain and unable to get up having broken both bones in his lower leg thyman never played another snap because of that play and 's overall dominance at the position teams at all level began placing on emphasis on the left tackle position to protect the quarterback's Blind Side although the play ultimately defined his career Taylor's accolades should be just as memorable as the iconic John Madden put
it he changed the way defense is played the way pass rushing is played the way linebackers play and the way offensives block linebackers as a 10-time pro bowler Taylor became just the second Defender to win the League's MVP award he was also named defensive player of the year three times legendary coach Bill bich served as Taylor's defensive coordinator with the Giants and said what makes LT so great what makes him so aggressive is his total disregard for his body belich even went as far as to declare him the best defensive player he's ever coached by
a good margin and while Taylor had no intentions of ending Theismann's career the same cannot be said for when Hall of Fame linebacker dick buckus was out there according to fellow Hall of Famer Deacon Jones he was an animal and he was a welled an animal and every time he hit you he tried to put you in the cemetery not the hospital this Savage playing style and mindset came from buck' unique warm-up routine when I went out on the field to warm up I would manufacture things to make me mad he said if someone on
the other team was laughing I'd pretend he was laughing at me or the Bears I'd find something to get mad about it always worked for me but opposing players were definitely never laughing at bukus cuz in reality they were deathly afraid of him told me he was going to kick M you know what the first time I ever played against him a rookie year as former Packers running back MacArthur Lane once put it if I had a choice I'd sooner go one-on-one with a grizzly bear than with buus I prayed that I could get up
every time buckus hit me in addition to laying the boom on guys like Lane buckus LED one of the NFL's all-time greatest defenses in tackles for eight straight Seasons Jack Lambert was another linebacker in charge of one of the League's most terrorizing defenses ever serving as the face of the Steel Curtain and it was an unforgettable face to say the least missing his four Upper Front Teeth Lambert's toothless snarl was the perfect representation of his playing style before becoming a Legend John Elway in his first career game had to go up against Lambert Steelers it
was a moment that Elway would never forget and one he couldn't wait to end he had no teeth and he was slobbering all over himself Elway said I'm thinking you can have your money back just get me out of here I can't tell you how badly I wanted out of there nicknamed Dracula in cleats Lambert's motto was where the Pittsburgh Steelers were supposed to be the Intimidators he did everything he could to live up to this even if it meant almost getting thrown out of the Super Bowl in Super Bowl 10 Cowboy safety Cliff Harris
taunted Steelers kicker Roy Jella by patting him on the head following a missed field goal Lambert responded immediately by Body slamming Harris to the ground after the game he explained the move by saying when I see Injustice I try to do something about it Lambert never shied away from confrontation and always had his teammates backs his bold attitude and fearless play inspired teammates and propelled them to four Super Bowl victories in just six seasons and with just as cool a nickname as Dracula in cleat dick Night Train Lane was never supposed to make this list
let alone play in the NFL Lane played just one season of junior college football before serving in the US Army for 4 years after being discharged from the Army he happened to pass by the Los Angeles Rams office on his bus ride to work despite a total lack of experience playing the sport at a high level Lane decided to stop in and and asked to try out as a receiver the team was so blown away by his raw athleticism that they gave him a spot Lane eventually switched to defensive back and the Rams quickly fell
in love with his ferocious playing style it didn't take long for the rest of the league to become familiar with this as the NFL had to create rules against Lane's brutal tackling style he became known for wrapping players around the neck or grabbing their face mask and slinging them to the ground people started calling the move the Night Train necktie in 1961 he tackled John Arnett by the face mask while he was running at full speed and left him lying motionless on the field the next year the NFL made a rule prohibiting grabbing the face
mask to make a tackle they later banned a tackle around the head and neck or what was called a clothesline tackle largely because of nit train for Lane there was no malicious intent with it explaining my object is to stop the guy before he gains another inch I'm usually dealing with ends who are trying to catch passes and if I hit them in the legs they may fall forward for a first down there's nothing I hate worse than a first down in addition to wreaking havoc with his tackling style Lane was also a menace as
a ball Hawk to this day he still holds the NFL record for most interceptions in a season with 14 somehow doing so in only 12 games but Lane isn't the only player on this list who also finds himself all over the NFL record book and while most people associate scary football players with Defenders this guy actually played on the other side of the ball throughout his career Jim Brown made sure that the opposing team always saw him in the warm-ups he said knowing that they'd been told all about me all week and how they'd have
to watch out for me and how they'd have to plan to stop me and gang tackle me I challenged them by saying this is the guy man take a look here it is right now 232 lb 6'2 in I can beat you in a 40 and I got attitude the attitude is you're going to hit me and I'm going to hit you what could be mistaken for an arrogant mindset by Brown was a well-earned confident Swagger he knew that he was nearly impossible to bring down as he led the lead league and rushing in eight
out of his nine Seasons unfortunately for Brown's opponents this unbelievable feat wasn't just the result of him just out running them saying that he viewed football as the closest civilized thing to war Brown would often bulldoze his opponents his famous line was make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts and his opponents sure did remember it as brown set the all-time record for most career rushing yards with 12,312 yards per carry with 5.2 and rushing touchdowns with 10 six it's been more than 50 years since he retired and his record of
career rushing yards per game still stands at 104.3 not only has it stood the test of time but no other player has even cracked the 100 yards per game Mark since and while Brown was always a superstar on the grid iron James Harrison's journey to making this list is A True Underdog Story undersized at only 6 feet tall Harrison was released three different times as a rookie but instead of giving up on his dream he used those setbacks as inspiration and fuel to become one of the strongest and most durable players the game has ever
seen it also LED Harrison to never taking his foot off the gas on the field my objective when tackling someone was to put them out of that game I didn't want to injure them but I wanted them to hurt even if he was going up against a close friend in the same 2010 game against the Browns Harrison knocked out two different Cleveland wide receivers in Josh cribs and Muhammad Masa describing his approach Harrison explained I tried to hurt people I never tried to injure anyone I tried to hurt people I wanted them not to be
able to finish the game when I hit my homeboy Josh Crips I felt like when I hit him that hurt I want to be able to say I got you then while talking years later about the hit on masy he said I hit masoy with about 50% bro dead serious I just wanted him to let go of the ball if I would have known then what I found out after I'd have gave him everything I had if I known they was going to find me $75,000 for that I would have laid into him he might
not have gotten off that field as Harrison got older neither his VIs viciousness nor his otherworldly strength faded While most Defenders don't play past 39 he was still lighting up opposing wide receivers and going viral for his workout videos a workout video from 2017 showed him doing 675 lb hip thrusts hang cleans and reverse lunges at 315 45lb decline presses 225lb overhead triceps extensions and 1,800 lb sled pushes another player who used superhuman strength to become a total nightmare for opposing teams was Reggie White as former Eagles wide receiver Mike Quick put it he could
take a 320 lb man and just toss him like it was nothing the funniest thing is to see a 320 lb man just being tossed and I've never seen anything like that and not only did white have this freakish strength but he had speed and athleticism that allowed him to play defensive end while moving like a linebacker Herm Edwards who played with white on the Eagles said I'd never seen anyone that big and that strong who could move that fast he was so explosive he drove blockers back like they were on roller skates this extremely
rare combination of speed and strength made him essentially unblockable as he retired as the League's all-time sack leader with 198 according to former Eagles linebacker Gary Cobb he never saw the kind of fear in the eyes of Al lineman the way they used to be afraid of blocking Reggie and similar to white the final player on this list also relied on a unique combo of speed and strength but standing at 5'1 and weighing 244 lb Earl Campbell shouldn't have been able to do what he did being that thick and condensed it was no surprise that
he could and would often run Defenders over punishing them with his aggressive play but the crazy thing about him was that he was just as fast as he was strong people his size aren't supposed to have 4640 yard dash times Campbell ran angry out there and with his massive 36in thighs he never went down without a fight the team's equipment manager joked that they made four sizes of thigh pads small medium large and Earl C cell no moment shows just how powerful Campbell was than a play from when he was only a rookie he met
Rams All Pro linebacker Isaiah Robinson in the hole with a head-on collision that left the defender flat on his back Campbell then shredded another tackler who held on for dear life and was left with nothing but a piece of his jersey as Campbell kept charging forward he was a human wrecking ball out there just demolishing opposing Defenders legendary Steelers linebacker Joe Green claimed that Campbell could inflict more damage than any other running back he's ever faced former Cowboys safety Cliff Harris agreed saying when you finished a game against Earl you had to sit in a
tub with epson salts and despite constantly using his body to deliver beatings to opposing players hamell throughout his career only missed six games due to an injury a testament to his next level toughness
