When you are an NFL franchise, it can be difficult to pick out your top four best players to have ever suited up for your organization.
When you are the Pittsburgh Steelers, that task is dang near impossible.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have 32 former members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and 49 members in the Hall of Honor. They are tied with the New England Patriots with six Super Bowl Championships and have had a host of incredible players don the Black and Gold over the years. Whether it be “Mean” Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw in the 70s, Rod Woodson or Dermontti Dawson in the 90s, or Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu in the last decade, Pittsburgh has a long list of players deserving of such an honor.
That’s the task former Steelers CB Bryant McFadden put on Hall of Fame DB Donnie Shell when the latter appeared on the All Things Covered podcast as a guest, asking Shell to name his Mount Rushmore of all-time Steelers greats. Shell stuck with the guys he knew best, albeit leaving off some notable names from a group that won four Super Bowls in the 70s.
Shell named DL Joe Greene, LB Jack Lambert, and WRs Lynn Swann and John Stallworth to his Mount Rushmore of top four Steelers players of all-time.
As mentioned above, there is nothing wrong with the names that Shell chose for his Mount Rushmore of Steelers all-time greats. All four players he chose are in the Hall of Fame with multiple Pro Bowls and first-team All-Pros accolades on their respective resumes. All four played on the Steelers’ dynasty of the 70s and won four Super Bowls, taking Pittsburgh from obscurity to the real America’s team.
However, many would object to the likes of Swann and Stallworth making up the final two spots on the list given the nature of the wide receiver position back in the 70s as well as the other names that could be mentioned. Swann never went over 1,000 yards in a season and only played nine seasons while QB Terry Bradshaw owned every passing record in team history until Ben Roethlisberger broke them decades later. The same is the case for RB Franco Harris whose franchise rushing record still stands as well as CB Mel Blount, who still owns the team’s all-time interception record.
All of these names were left off Shell’s list, including himself as well as notable names like Polamalu, Woodson, James Harrison, Mike Webster, and more. Shell is entitled to his own opinion, and he knows the guys he played with better than most fans who may have a differing opinion. His selections just go to show how difficult picking Pittsburgh’s top four players of all-time can be for one of the NFL’s most lustrous franchises.
