The Logical Cowboy: 'How GOOD Was Randy 'The Manster' White Really?'

Source:The Logical Cowboy- with a profile of Dallas Cowboys DT Randy White.

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From The Logical Cowboy

This is a follow piece that I wrote about Randy White from back in 2017, on The New Democrat.

I just want to correct what sounds like a minor point that the narrator of this video made, but is actually pretty important when you are talking about the the greatness of Randy White, because it goes to why he was so good and almost un-blockable for about a 10 year period in the NFL, from 1976-85.

When Randy White was drafted in 1975 as a linebacker by the Dallas Cowboys, he was already 6'4, 265 pounds, benched 450 pounds, ran a 9.6 100 and ran a 4.6. If that's undersize for a 1970s NFL linebacker, then both Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain were too short to play the center position in the NBA and Dallas is a small city, Texas Stadium was too small for the NFL, and Texas is one of the smallest states, at least in the Southwest. 

By 1977, Randy White is playing DT full-time and becomes the best all around defensive lineman, at least in the second half of the 1970s and perhaps the entire NFL in the 1980s. You could argue Randy White or Howie Long from the Los Angeles Raiders as the best all around defensive lineman in the NFL, at least in the 1980s. 

Back in the 1970s, if you were 265 pounds, you were considered to be a normal, if not good sized NFL offensive lineman. And again., White starts off at outside linebacker, before Tom Landry moves him to DT full-time in 1977. 

By the early or mid 1980s, When Randy was probably the best all around defensive lineman, certainly defensive tackle in the NFL, he was 270-275 and still had the same upper body strength, as well as the same speed and quickness, at least for a NFL defensive lineman. 

So we're talking about an NFL defensive lineman. who was simply to quick, too strong, and too big, for most if not any offensive lineman, (Gene Upshaw from the Oakland Raiders and John Hannah from the New England Patriots, being exceptions to that) to be able to block one-on-one in the 1970s. (Russ Grimm from the Washington Redskins being an exception to that in the 1980s) Which is why he was such a damn good defensive tackle in the NFL, because he was simply un-blockable, at least one-on-one,  for reasons that I gave out, during the period that he played. 

You can also see this post on WordPress.