With today’s hire-and-fire mentality when it comes to NFL head coaches it is getting harder and harder to imagine coaches who only coach with one team and coach long enough to make it to the Hall-of-Fame.

In the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame right now there are seven coaches who only coached one NFL team in their entire career:

John Madden – Oakland Raiders 1969-1978

Bill Walsh – San Francisco 49ers 1979-1988

Earle “Greasy” Neal – Philadelphia Eagles 1941-1950

George Halas – Chicago Bears (Numerous occasions)

Joe Gibbs – Washington Redskins 1981-1992, 2004-Present

Tom Landry – Dallas Cowboys 1960-1988

Bud Grant – Minnesota Vikings 1967-1983, 1985

Chuck Noll – Pittsburgh Steelers 1969-1992

To accomplish this feat takes a rare combination of very good coaching ability, ownership with a good amount of patience, great talent to put on the field, and probably a fair amount of luck.

Players Who Have Made The Hall-of-Fame But Played For The Most Teams

When most people think of a player making the Hall-of-Fame they think of a player that has played their entire career, or at least the majority of it, with one team. John Elway with the Broncos. Barry Sanders with the Lions. Joe Montana with the 49ers and then his last two seasons with the Chiefs. The list goes on and on. But, what players have managed to make it to the Hall-of-Fame and played for the most teams?

The answer is a little complicated. The most teams a player has played for and made it to the Hall-of-Fame is six and three players have done this, but all played in the early days of the NFL when franchises went out of business, changed names, and relocated frequently. 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

When looking at modern times, the most teams a player has played for and still made it to the Hall-of-Fame is five, and that has also been done by three players:

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

Usually players with the abilities of Hall-of-Famers don’t get a chance to play for that many teams, as teams like to hold onto quality players like that. But sometimes due to injury, payroll reasons, or deteriorating skills even great players will move around a little bit more than we think.