Interesting Multi-Position Players

We all know that back in the day, the majority of players played both offense and defense at times. The theory was to have your best athletes on the field as often as possible, even if it meant your star running back will also be making tackles as your starting safety. After this two-way player era ended, there were still players who occasionally played both ways but the practice became more and more rare.

Later on, and even somewhat now on a limited basis there were players that played multiple positions. Most people are familiar with William “Refrigerator” Perry playing as a blocking back (and sometimes carrying the ball) in the mid 80’s Chicago Bears backfield. Deion Sanders and Champ Bailey are among those that play, or played, Cornerback but also saw playing time on offense as Wide Receiver. Many offensive lineman, like New York’s Jumbo Elliott, saw time at Fullback, especially in short yardage or goal line situations.

Two players who played an unusual combination of positions were the Dallas Cowboys’ Danny White and the Cincinnati Bengals’ Pat McInally. Danny White was the backup Quarterback behind Roger Staubach for the early part of his career, getting a chance as the starter later on after Staubach retired. For most of White’s career he was listed on the roster as Quarterback-Punter. While he didn’t play Punter specifically as a gimmick, having their backup Quarterback line up at Punter allowed the Cowboys to frequently run fake punt plays, and also forced the receiving teams to guard against fake punts which hurt their ability to setup a good return. Pat McInally spent most of his career listed as Punter-Wide Receiver on the Bengals roster. McInally had good punting skills and as his career went on he played less and less at Wide Receiver, but that didn’t make him change his jersey number. It was rather odd seeing a Punter wearing the number 87 on his jersey.

The history of players playing more than their usual position is long and varied in the National Football League, but the Quarterback-Punter and Punter-Wide Receiver combinations will stick out in football fans minds for quite awhile.

What If There Were No Baltimore Ravens?

When attendance and stadium issues forced the 1994 Los Angeles Rams to contemplate relocating their franchise, one of the first options considered was a move to Baltimore. Baltimore had lost the Colts ten years earlier in 1984 and was hungry for professional football. Ultimately, the Rams decided on moving to St. Louis, another city that had lost their pro football franchise when the Cardinals had moved to Phoenix years earlier.

What would’ve been different had the Rams decided Baltimore was the place for them? Art Modell had moved his Cleveland Browns to Baltimore after having stadium issues in Cleveland, but if the Rams were already there then that move wouldn’t have happened. Would the Browns have moved to St. Louis if that were an option? If not and the Browns had stayed in Cleveland then there would have been no need for a replacement franchise awarded to Cleveland. The Houston Texans franchise was justified because the NFL likes to add teams in pairs to keep the number of teams even. If there was no team added to Cleveland because the Browns had not moved, then would Houston have been given a team? If so, then with Cleveland not getting a replacement franchise who would’ve gotten the second team awarded to balance out the addition of Houston? Maybe St. Louis would’ve gotten an expansion franchise, or maybe it would’ve gone to Los Angeles.

Its always interesting to see how one move or circumstance affects everything around it. The NFL could look a lot different if the Rams had chosen Baltimore over St. Louis.