In a move very few, if any, cornerbacks have done, Asante Samuel has questioned Darrell Green being one of the great cornerbacks the NFL has ever seen. The first glaring thing that Samuel gets wrong is that Green played 20 years on the same team, not 19.
With all do respect can someone explain to me why Darrell Green is considered a great? He played 19 years and was mostly a nickel back. 54 INT’s in 19 years. Talk to me????
— Asante Samuel (@pick_six22) July 4, 2020
First, evidence that Samuel might not have seen is Green running down Tony Dorsett in his first game in the NFL. Something that no NFL player had been able to do once Dorsett hit the open field.
Second, if he chose to sit down and watch film of Green, he would notice that Green was a true lock down corner that quarterbacks would try to avoid as much as possible.
Third, the NFL was different across the three decades that Green played. There was not as much passing and motion offense that we see in today’s game. Green’s game is one of the few that would translate from the 80’s to today.
Something that we have seen from younger players today is the understanding of what the great players have done in the past. That includes them admitting they’ve watched film in addition to the highlights YouTube can provide. Seems like something that Samuels should do more of before questioning decades of NFL historians, media, and those that played against Green.
