Welcome to part 6 of our study looking at the NFL All-Decade Teams. Today, we look at the 1970s.

Offense:

Position	Player	Team(s) played for	College	In Hall of Fame?
Quarterback	Terry Bradshaw	Pittsburgh Steelers	Louisiana Tech	Yes
	Ken Stabler	Oakland Raiders	Alabama	No
	Roger Staubach	Dallas Cowboys	Navy	Yes
Running back	Earl Campbell	Houston Oilers	Texas	Yes
	Franco Harris	Pittsburgh Steelers	Penn State	Yes
	Walter Payton	Chicago Bears	Jackson State	Yes
	O.J. Simpson	Buffalo Bills	USC	Yes
Wide receiver	Harold Carmichael	Philadelphia Eagles	Southern	No
	Drew Pearson	Dallas Cowboys	Tulsa	No
	Lynn Swann	Pittsburgh Steelers	USC	Yes
	Paul Warfield	Miami Dolphins	Ohio State	Yes
Tight end	Dave Casper	Oakland Raiders	Notre Dame	Yes
	Charlie Sanders	Detroit Lions	Minnesota	Yes
Tackle	Dan Dierdorf	St. Louis Cardinals	Michigan	Yes
	Art Shell	Oakland Raiders	University of Maryland Eastern Shore	Yes
	Rayfield Wright	Dallas Cowboys	Fort Valley State	Yes
	Ron Yary	Minnesota Vikings	USC	Yes
Guard	Joe DeLamielleure	Buffalo Bills	Michigan State	Yes
	John Hannah	New England Patriots	Alabama	Yes
	Larry Little	Miami Dolphins	Bethune-Cookman	Yes
	Gene Upshaw	Oakland Raiders	Texas A&M-Kingsville	Yes
Center	Jim Langer	Miami Dolphins	South Dakota State	Yes
	Mike Webster	Pittsburgh Steelers	Wisconsin	Yes

Defense:

Position	Player	Team(s) played for	College	In Hall of Fame?
Defensive end	Carl Eller	Minnesota VikingsSeattle Seahawks	Minnesota	Yes
	L.C. Greenwood	Pittsburgh Steelers	Alabama A&M	No
	Harvey Martin	Dallas Cowboys	East Texas State	No
	Jack Youngblood	Los Angeles Rams	Florida	Yes
Defensive tackle	Joe Greene	Pittsburgh Steelers	North Texas State	Yes
	Bob Lilly	Dallas Cowboys	Texas Christian	Yes
	Merlin Olsen	Los Angeles Rams	Utah State	Yes
	Alan Page	Minnesota Vikings	Notre Dame	Yes
Linebacker	Bobby Bell	Kansas City Chiefs	Minnesota	Yes
	Robert Brazile	Houston Oilers	Jackson State	No
	Dick Butkus	Chicago Bears	Illinois	Yes
	Jack Ham	Pittsburgh Steelers	Penn State	Yes
	Ted Hendricks	Baltimore ColtsGreen Bay PackersOakland Raiders	Miami	Yes
	Jack Lambert	Pittsburgh Steelers	Kent State	Yes
Cornerback	Willie Brown	Oakland Raiders	Grambling State	Yes
	Jimmy Johnson	San Francisco 49ers	UCLA	Yes
	Roger Wehrli	St. Louis Cardinals	Missouri	Yes
	Louis Wright	Denver Broncos	Bakersfield JCSan Jose StateArizona State	No
Safety	Dick Anderson	Miami Dolphins	Colorado	No
	Cliff Harris	Dallas Cowboys	Ouachita Baptist	No
	Ken Houston	Houston OilersWashington Redskins	Prairie View A&M	Yes
	Larry Wilson	St. Louis Cardinals	Utah	Yes

Special Teams:

Position	Player	Team(s) played for	College	Hall of Famer
Kicker	Jim Bakken	St. Louis Cardinals	Wisconsin	No
Kicker	Garo Yepremian	Miami Dolphins	None	No
Punter	Ray Guy	Oakland Raiders	Southern Mississippi	No

As far as make-up of the 1970s NFL All-Decade Team, the two teams that have the most players represented are the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders with seven each. After that the next highest contributions are made by the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys with five players each. Eleven teams each contributed one player to the 1970s NFL All-Decade Team and a total of twenty teams are represented.

Besides the normal colleges represented, there are also some lesser known schools. The University of Tulsa, Fort Valley State, Bethune-Cookman, Bakersfield Junior College, Ouachita Baptist College and Prairie View State University all sent alumni to the 1970s NFL All-Decade Team. Another small college, Jackson State University, actually has two representatives on the team. Five other colleges had two players each make the team: Alabama, Penn State, USC, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin. The college with the most alumni on the 1970s NFL All-Decade Team is the University of Minnesota with three.

As we stated before, what prompted this look at the NFL’s All-Decade Team was the question as to how many players have made the All-Decade Team, meaning they’ve been a great player for roughly a decade if not more, but failed to make it into the Hall-of-Fame.

1970s All Decade Team Players Who Didn’t Make It Into The Hall Of FameKen Stabler – Quarterback – Oakland Raiders
Harold Carmichael – Wide Receiver – Philadelphia Eagles
Drew Pearson – Wide Receiver – Dallas Cowboys
L.C. Greenwood – Defensive End – Pittsburgh Steelers
Harvey Martin – Defensive End – Dallas Cowboys
Robert Brazile – Linebacker – Houston Oilers
Louis Wright – Cornerback – Denver Broncos
Dick Anderson – Safety – Miami Dolphins
Cliff Harris – Safety – Dallas Cowboys
Jim Bakken – Kicker – St. Louis Cardinals
Garo Yepremian – Kicker – Miami Dolphins
Ray Guy – Punter – Oakland Raiders

Players selected: 48
Players not in Hall of Fame: 12
25% of 1970s All Decade team are not in the Hall of Fame

Other chapters in this study:
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1920s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1930s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1940s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1950s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1960s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1970s