When you take a look at football players who have
made it into the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame, usually you find a player
who has spent the vast majority of his career with one team. This is
mainly because when a team gets a player with exceptional ability like
that; they usually do all they can to hold onto him. Sometimes, because
of diminishing skills or payroll reasons, a player will play his last
couple years with another team before retiring. That being said it is
rare that a Hall-of-Fame caliber player plays with more than two or
three teams during their entire career.
So, that begs the question: What is the most teams that a member of the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame has played for.
The easy answer is: Six.
Three
member of the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame have played for six different
teams in their career. The back story on these three players is that
they all played the majority of their careers in the NFL’s startup days
(1920’s) when teams would go out of business, change names or cities
frequently, and just overall not have the stability of the modern NFL,
making it more likely that a player would play for multiple teams.
Those players are:
Jim Thorpe - 1915-1928
Canton Bulldogs
Cleveland Indians (NFL)
Oorang Indians
Rock Island Independents
New York Giants
Chicago Cardinals
Joe Grunyon – 1919-1927
Canton Bulldogs
Clevenland Indians (NFL)
Oorang Indians
Rock Island Independents
Kansas City Cowboys
New York Giants
Fritz Pollard – 1919-1928
Akron Pros/Indians
Milwaukee Badgers
Hammond Pros
Gilberton Cadamounts
Providence Steam Roller
Chicago Black Hawks
If
we look at the more modern era of professional football, the most teams
any Hall-of-Fame member has played for is five, and three different
players have accomplished this feat.
Warren Moon 1983-2000
While
Moon is in the Hall-of-Fame and has played for five different teams,
some may count it differently as only four of the teams were in the NFL.
Edmonton Eskimos (CFL)
Houston Oilers
Minnesota Vikings
Seattle Seahawks
Kansas City Chiefs
Tommy MacDonald 1957-1968
Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys
Los Angeles Rams
Atlanta Falcons
Cleveland Browns
James Lofton 1978-1993
Green Bay Packers
Los Angeles Raiders
Buffalo Bills
Los Angeles Rams
Philadelphia Eagles
Most
often, when we think of Hall-of-Fame players we think of players like
Barry Sanders, Terry Bradshaw, Bart Starr, or John Elway who played
their entire career with one team. Sometimes we think of players like
Joe Montana, O.J. Simpson, Tony Dorsett, or Emmitt Smith who played the
majority of their career with one team and then finished it with
another. Not too often do we remember the players who played for four
or five different teams as Hall-of-Famers.
Subscribe to this comment's feed