A Pro Football Hall of Fame clincher slipped through Suh’s fingers, but Husker pioneer Lewellen should be reconsidered for Canton
There’s a fine but razor-sharp line that keeps the vast majority of players from the highest levels of success in the National Football League. Few ever cross it, but that’s no shame; to even approach that line is a sure sign you’re in the athletic stratosphere.
To simply make the 53-man roster on any NFL team means you’ve earned your place among the best. To keep climbing, you’ve got to start standing out among the best. One of the finest Nebraska Cornhuskers to ever wear the scarlet and cream is nearing the pinnacle of NFL accomplishment but may not have quite enough support to push his way to the summit.
Had the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl on Sunday, Ndamukong Suh would’ve been on the verge of becoming the fourth Husker (Guy Chamberlin, Bob Brown and Will Shields) to enter both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame. His body of work for the Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Eagles is impressive, but opinions are mixed about his worthiness for the league’s highest honor.
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Obviously, Suh will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in the not-too-distant future. Even if you lay aside his Outland, Lombardi, Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik awards, he’s the only NCAA defender ever to be named Associated Press Player of the Year, but it’s still a matter of conjecture whether he’ll ever be enshrined by the NFL. A dominating performance and a win over Kansas City might have put him over the top, but he, like the rest of the Eagles’ defensive line, was nondescript at best against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, whose 38-35 win denied Suh his second Super Bowl ring.
Like most defensive tackles, Suh doesn’t pile up stats and sacks. His best season sack total in the NFL is 10, which came in 2010, his rookie campaign at Detroit. On the other hand, he’s among the most durable and dependable players in the NFL, making 191 starts thus far, 10th all time among DTs. He’s a three-time first-team All-Pro, and he was selected to the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team.
Playing for five different teams won’t help his chances for Canton, although his reputation as a dirty player early in his NFL career is his biggest obstacle. Suh was born in the wrong era; he would have fit in supremely with 1960s icons Sam Huff, Ray Nitschke and Dick Butkus. Suh’s reputation has settled down quite a bit (although frankly, being known as the nemesis of Aaron Rodgers might actually win him some votes down the line). Still, I can’t help but think Suh just missed his best single-game opportunity to solidify his chances for enshrinement in Canton. A second Super Bowl ring could have made the difference. Yeah, one game can mean that much to a player’s legacy. So since I’m partial to Kansas City sports teams, I was conflicted about who I wanted to win.
Meanwhile, on Feb. 16, Kansas City’s Major League Baseball franchise just made a move that illustrates just how fickle fate can be, announcing that Ned Yost has been selected to the Royals Hall of Fame. Throughout 2013 and into the summer of 2014, when they contended strongly for the American League Central title, I was astounded by how many Royals fans were loudly calling for Yost to be fired as manager. Even when they eased into the playoffs, I sensed that his seat was hot.
I sometimes wonder what would have become of Yost had the Royals failed to come from behind and win that wild 2014 American League Wild Card Game over the Oakland A’s. I think there’s almost a 50/50 chance he would have been canned for a controversial pitching move he made in that game. That’s evidence of how thin the margin can be between not only victory and defeat, but between achieving great honors and washing out. The following year, Yost and the Royals won the World Series, and by the time he retired after the 2019 season, Yost had won a whopping 277 more games than any other Royals manager.
Returning to ex-Huskers and football, I’m not yet convinced that Suh has earned a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but I’d go to bat for Verne Lewellen. For those who’ve never heard of him, Lewellen was born in Seward County and was a four-sport star for Lincoln High. At NU, he played quarterback, which back in those grind-it-out days was not as important as his role as punter. Lewellen largely determined his team’s field position, which in the 1920s was more vital than now.
He played a significant role in the Huskers’ back-to-back victories over Knute Rockne’s 1922 and 1923 Notre Dame teams, which featured the “Four Horsemen” backfield. From 1918-23, Rockne’s Irish teams lost only three games. Two of those losses were to Nebraska teams Lewellen played on.
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Lewellen made some memories in college, but his accomplishments at the professional level were far greater. As a member of the Green Bay Packers from 1924 to 1932, Lewellen was a four-time first-team All-Pro and played on three NFL championship teams. The Packers were 79-26-10 over Lewellen’s nine seasons.
Longtime Packers historian Cliff Christl recently said of Lewellen, “I think his absence from Canton is the biggest travesty of all. I'm convinced through my research he was the most valuable player on the Packers when they won three straight NFL titles from 1929-31 – something no other team other than the Lombardi Packers has done – and also ranks somewhere up there behind Tom Brady as the most dominant performer on a multi-championship team.”
Lewellen, who died in 1980, will never be considered for the College Football Hall, and he has no further opportunity to make a statement on the big stage, but he deserves to be voted into the Pro Football Hall by the Seniors Committee. Suh hopefully will get at least one more try (it would be his fourth) at the Super Bowl.
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