Defensive Tackle
Doug English: DET 1975-1985
Lions Career Stats:
25 sacks, 4 safeties (NFL record)
1x All-Pro (1982)
4x Pro Bowls (1978, 1981-1983)
Case for making the team: A player who was both tenacious and opportunistic, English once scored two safeties in a single season and has four on his career tying an NFL record.
Doug English was the inside dynamo that helped power the much feared “Silver Rush” defense of the seventies and eighties. By totaling his unofficial sacks prior to 1982, his 59 are good enough for sixth most in team history.
Ndamukong Suh: DET 2010-2014
Lions Career Stats:
181 tackles, 36 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 1 interception, 1 safety
3x All-Pro (2010, 2013-2014)
4x Pro Bowls (2010, 2012-2014)
2010 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
Case for making the team: Now hear me out on this one. Suh’s free agency departure in 2015 was upsetting. His dirty hits, bone headed penalties, and numerous fines from the league office were maddening.
His time with the team caused me as much pain as it did joy, but I’d be hard pressed to find another defensive tackle in team history who was as capable of wreaking the type of havoc that Suh could.
He came in and from the very beginning had an immediate impact as a rookie by leading all defensive tackles in sacks in 2010.
When he was locked in, he was one of the top two best interior defensive lineman in the entire league.