There are many sports debates...most will argue too many sports debates. And most of them are ridiculous and completely tiring. But there's one thing I will never debate with anyone -- Lawrence Taylor is the greatest football player to ever come out of UNC.
That's indisputable. Julius Peppers is great, maybe among the top 10 pure athletes of his time. Jeff Saturday and Harris Barton were offensive line stalwarts in the league.
But LT? C'mon man. There's no one close.
That's why it was no surprise that Taylor was named the greatest No. 2 overall pick in NFL draft history. The list, compiled by ESPN NFL writer Ben Solak, rightfully acknowledges Taylor as the greatest defensive player in NFL history.
I feel like I can speak definitively about Taylor's dominance because I lived to see damn near every snap of it. As a native New Yorker born in 1976, my first real memory of Taylor was a pick six on Thanksgiving against the Lions in 1982.
Lawrence Taylor is an all time favorite. He had great speed and strength, but also great hands. This pick six never gets old. pic.twitter.com/6W2RkuFvil
— Art G (@artthethird56) May 7, 2024
Look at the hands. Look at the breakaway speed. Linebackers did not run like THAT in 1982. LT was different. His NFL MVP season in 1986 - one of two defensive players to win the award - included a pick six against Joe Montana in the NFC Divisional playoff game (won 49-3 by the Giants).
Jim Burt destroys #49ers quarterback Joe Montana.
— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) January 4, 2025
Lawrence Taylor collects the errant pass and takes it 34 yards to the house in the #Giants' 49-3 rout of San Francisco in the 1986 NFC Divisional.
January 4, 1987 pic.twitter.com/b4ruzMUx6G
At UNC, Taylor was a Unanimous All-American in 1980 and the stories about the NFL scouts and personnel that watched him in Carolina blue are well documented in a great story by Dan Duggan of The Athletic.
As a pro, Taylor won two Super Bowls and accumulated 142 sacks in 13 seasons. He was a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a 10x NFL All-Pro (eight times on the first-team) and a member of the NFL's 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time teams. Taylor was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
Now this is a post about Taylor as a football player, so I won't get into much detail about some of his off-the-field issues. The fact is that Taylor is a very flawed man off the field, but on the field he was arguably the perfect NFL player.
And is he the best No. 2 overall draft pick in NFL history? Damn right he is.