Photo by Dale Zanine, USA Today
Cal Football: Which Golden Bears Have Forged the Greatest NFL Careers?
The COVID-19 pandemic left us without sports altogether through much of the spring and summer. The Pac-12 Conference remains shut down, but pro sports are a different story.
With the start of the NFL season this week, the three major pro sports are experiencing an unprecedented overlap in their schedules. Typically, the NBA doesn’t begin until mid-October, just a week or so before the World Series ends.
Now, with adjustments to both the basketball and baseball calendars due to the pandemic, we will be treated to a one-month stretch where all three major pro sports are playing, and two of them will be crowning their champion.
To celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime anomaly, we are presenting our all-time Cal professional all-star teams in all three sports. Jake Curtis and I rated players according to their performance as pros.
First up, football.
Cal’s All-NFL Team
OFFENSE
— Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers. Cal has plenty of qualified players at this position. Steve Bartkowski was the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick in 1975 and had a very productive career. Craig Morton played in Super Bowls with two different teams, while Joe Kapp and Jared Goff each got there once. But Rodgers is the clear winner. In his 13th season after becoming the Packers' starter in 2008, Rodgers is a Super Bowl champion, a two-time league MVP and an eight-time Pro Bowl selection. Rodgers is the career leader in pass efficiency, and still going strong at age 36.
— Running back: Marshawn Lynch. Elusive and powerful, “Beast Mode” assembled six seasons of at least 1,000 rushing yards, including 1,590 yards in 2012 during a four-year stretch where he averaged 1,339 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was remarkably durable for a running back, playing from 2007 into 2019. Lynch and the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII following the 2013 season. He made the NFL’s Team of the 2000s and finished his career with 10,413 rushing yards and 94 total touchdowns. His game-clinching, 67-yard “Beast Quake” touchdown run against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints in the 2010-11 playoffs, during which he broke nine tackles, was selected by the NFL as the greatest run in league history.
— Running back: Chuck Muncie. After finishing as runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting as a Cal senior, Muncie played nine seasons with the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers through 1984. A load for defenses at 6-foot-3, 227 pounds, he accumulated more than 9,000 career yards rushing and receiving and scored 74 touchdowns. In 1981, one of his three Pro Bowl seasons, he ran for 1,144 yards and 19 TDs. He completed four passes in his career, all of them for touchdowns. Muncie was plagued by drug problems and eventually spent the in federal prison for attempting to sell cocaine to a friend. Upon his release, Muncie trend his life around and became a counselor for at-risk youth. He died of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 60.
— Wide receiver: Keenan Allen. Not everyone has applauded the Chargers’ move from San Diego to Los Angeles, but the new work address has suited Allen well. In three seasons since the change, Allen has totaled 303 receptions for 3,788 yards and 18 touchdowns. Regarded as an elite “possession” receiver, Allen, 28, recently was rewarded with a four-year, $80 million contract extension. Beginning his eighth season -- all with the Chargers -- Allen earns $20 million per year, making him the NFL’s second-highest paid receiver.
— Wide receiver: DeSean Jackson. His Fourth of July social media fiasco notwithstanding, Jackson is a premier receiver. A three-time Pro Bowl pick, he is beginning his 13th NFL season at the age of 33. Jackson has 598 career catches for 10,420 yards with 63 total touchdowns (including four each on rushes and punt returns). His 17.4 career yards-per-catch average is the highest among active players.
— Wide receiver: Wesley Walker. One of the greatest deep-threat receivers in pro football history, Walker played his entire 13-year career with the New York Jets before retiring in 1989. He caught 483 passes for 8,306 yards and 71 touchdowns. His 19.0 yards-per-catch career average is one of the best ever and was fueled by eight seasons in which he produced at least 20 yards per reception. How fast was Walker? He ran the anchor leg on Cal’s 4x100 relay team that ran 39.14 seconds, a school record that remains on the books after more than 45 years.
— Tight end: Tony Gonzalez. A two-sport star at Cal, Gonzalez chose wisely when he entered the NFL draft. He became the most prolific tight end in NFL history, and one of the game’s greatest pass catchers at any position. His gaudy totals: 1,325 receptions (No. 3 all-time), 15,127 yds (No. 6), 111 touchdown catches (No. 8). He caught at least 70 passes in 14 different seasons. A 17-year pro through 2013, he was a 14-time Pro Bowl section, a six-time first-team All-Pro and a Hall of Famer.
— Center: Alex Mack. Beginning his fifth season with the Atlanta Falcons, Mack has started all 165 games of his 11-year NFL career. He earned a spot on the Decade of the 2010s team after collecting five Pro Bowl nods. Mack gets the call here over Jeremy Newberry, a two-time Pro Bowl pick who started 107 games in his eight-year career.
— Guard: Ed White. One of the most accomplished guards in NFL history, White played 241 games, starting 210 times, over 17 seasons with the Vikings and Chargers, from 1969 through ’85. He helped protect Kapp on Minnesota’s 1969 Super Bowl team and he was a four-time Pro Bowl selection. White was voted one of the 50 Greatest Vikings and is a member of the Chargers Hall of Fame. Retired Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts has actively campaigned for White’s inclusion in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He coached at both the NFL and college level after retiring, including at Cal, and now, at age 73, is a successful artist.
— Guard: Todd Steussie. A starter in all 154 games his first 10 seasons in the NFL, Steussie was primarily a left tackle. And he was a very good one, three times a Pro Bowl pick. He played 213 career games through 2007, but we’ve moved him over to guard to fill a need, and he was versatile enough to start 21 times at the position over his final two seasons with the St. Louis Rams.
— Right tackle: Mitchell Schwartz. Now in his ninth season, Schwartz is coming off a Super Bowl victory with the Kansas City Chiefs. He has started all 129 games of his career and has earned first- or second-team all-conference honors each of the past five years. Schwartz was a first-team All-Pro pick in 2018.
— Left tackle: Tarik Glenn. As chief protector of quarterback Peyton Manning’s back side, Glenn started all 154 games of his 10-year career, 138 of them at the critical left tackle spot. He went out at the top of his game, earning Pro Bowl nods his final three seasons and winning a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts after the 2006 campaign, then retiring.
— Placekicker: Ryan Longwell. The 18th-highest scoring player in NFL history, Longwell played 15 seasons with the Packers and Vikings. He scored at least 100 points in 11 of those seasons and retired after the 2011 campaign having totaled 1,687 points. He made 361 field goals and converted 98.5 percent of his PAT tries. In 2006, he threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Richard Owens on a fake field-goal try vs. the Carolina Panthers.
DEFENSE
Because of the paucity of standout linemen and an abundance of great linebackers from Cal, we arranged our all-Cal defense in a 3-4 alignment
— Defensive line: Lee Artoe. Considered one of the dirtiest players ever to put on an NFL uniform, Artoe played during the rough decade of the 1940s, when helmets had no facemasks. He was extremely near-sighted, which gave him an excuse for his late hits. But he was also talented. He was starter on the Chicago Bears’ 1940 and 1941 championship teams, was named to the Pro Bowl three times and was a first-team All-Pro in 1942. He missed the 1943 and 1944 seasons while in the Navy, then got ejected for punching a player on the first play of his first game back. He began his college career at Santa Clara University before transferring and becoming an All-American at Cal despite being too busy working in the oilfields to attend practice.
— Defensive line: Andre Carter. A true gentleman who acted older than his years while at Cal, Carter was the seventh overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft. He started 147 NFL games for four teams and recorded 80.5 career sacks, getting double-digit sack totals in four seasons. Carter was named to the Pro Bowl at the age of 32 in 2011, when he had 10 sacks, 23 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles.
— Defensive line: Cameron Jordan. One of the best defensive ends in the game today, Jordan has 87 career sacks, which ranks 10 among active players. It includes 15.5 sacks last season when he was named to the Pro Bowl for the third year in a row and the fifth time overall in his first nine NFL seasons. Jordan has never missed a game while playing his entire career with the New Orleans Saints. He played the final four games last season after suffering a core injury in which an adductor muscle was separated from the bone, requiring offseason surgery.
— Linebacker: Ken Harvey. Harvey racked up 89 sacks in his 11-year NFL career and was named to the Pro Bowl four times while playing in Phoenix and Washington. He later became a writer and businessman, completing his unlikely success story. He had dropped out of high school in 11 grade, flipped burgers for a while, returned to high school, graduated, attended Laney (Junior) College in Oakland then transferred to Cal and became the 12 overall pick in the 1988 NFL draft.
—Linebacker: Les Richter. Quite possibly the best football player ever to come out of Cal, Richter is one of two former Golden Bears who are in the Pro Hall of Fame (Tony Gonzalez is the other). We considered putting Richter on our defensive line because he played middle guard for two seasons, earning first-team All-Pro status in one of them. But he will always be known as a linebacker and was named to the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine NFL seasons. Richter was the No. 2 overall selection in the 1952 NFL draft, and on June 12, 1952, the Los Angeles Rams shipped 11 players to the Dallas Texans for the rights to Richter in what was the biggest trade in league history to that point.
— Linebacker: Hardy Nickerson. Nickerson started 208 regular-season and playoff games in his 16-year NFL career, was named to the Pro Bowl five times and was a first-team All-Pro selection twice (1993, 1997). He led the league in combined tackles in 1993, when he had 214, and had more than 100 tackles eight times. Nickerson had 1,586 career tackles, which ranks eighth alltime, and he was 37 years old in his final NFL season in 2002 when he started 14 games for the Packers. Nickerson has been a pro and college coach since his retirement as a player. He was defensive coordinator at Illinois before announcing his resignation in October 2018 for health reasons.
— Linebacker: Matt Hazeltine. Hazeltine edged out Ron Rivera, Gary Plummer and Bob Swenson for the final linebacker spot in our 3-4 alignment. Hazeltine played 15 NFL seasons through 1970, all but one with the San Francisco 49ers, and he was named to the Pro Bowl twice (1962, 1964). He died in 1987 at the age of 53 after suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Three other former 49ers -- Bob Waters, Gary Lewis and Dwight Clark – died from the same disease.
— Defensive back: Nnamdi Asomugha. Asomugha played free safety at Cal before transitioning to cornerback in the NFL, where he became one of the league’s best cover corners. He was not an immediate star, not becoming a regular starter until his third NFL season, but he was named to the Pro Bowl three times and a first-team All-Pro selection twice (2008, 2010). Since retiring from football he has become an actor, appearing in several movies and TV productions, and is active in community service.
— Defensive back: Deltha O’Neal. A first-round selection after being named the Pac-10 defensive player of the year, O’Neal finished his nine-year NFL career with 34 interceptions, including nine in 2001 and a league-leading 10 in 2005. He was named to the Pro Bowl in both those seasons. O’Neal was also an outstanding kick-returner. O’Neal started his Cal career as a running back before being switched to cornerback as a junior. In 1999, he led Cal in scoring despite not playing a down on offense, scoring 36 points on interception returns and kick returns.
— Defensive back: Thomas DeCoud. DeCoud played just seven NFL seasons as a free safety, but recorded 15 career interceptions, including six in 2002 when he was named to the Pro Bowl. He later became a personal trainer.
— Defensive back: Chris Conte. We opted not to include Herm Edwards in out All-Cal secondary because he played his final college season at San Diego State after spending two seasons at Cal. Conte, who played his entire college career at Cal, started 93 NFL games and collected 14 interceptions in his eight pro seasons at both free and strong safety. While with Tampa Bay, he played the third game of 2018 season with a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his knee. He re-injured his knee in that game and never played again.
— Punter: Bryan Anger. You can flip a coin between the Texans’ Anger and retired punter Nick Harris as the selection for the All-Cal punter. We chose Anger because his career average (46.2 yards per attempt) is better than Harris’ average (42.4) and because Anger led the league in punting average in 2014 at 47.5.
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*** MONDAY: Cal's All-MLB team
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*** It's worth remembering just how good a basketball prospect Tony Gonzalez was:
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Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
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