Toughest Players in NFL History

Before the toughest players in NFL history can be discussed, we need to define the term. There’s no measure for toughness. It’s an intangible that comes in all shapes and sizes. It can’t be bottled, packaged or weighed. But you know it when you see it. You can even feel it sometimes.

Toughness is 24/7 reliability. Grace under pressure. Laser focus, no matter how big the moment. Supreme self-confidence. Ability to recover when punched in the gut. High pain threshold. Sweat and hard work.

Toughness is not cheap or dirty — here’s a look at the toughest NFL players of all time. 

Career: 12 years (1957-68)

Teams: Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns

Games played: 152

Games missed: 8

Tommy McDonald was the schoolboy who thumbed his nose at the bully. The 5-foot-9, 178-pound fireball of a flanker bounced off tacklers like a human Super Ball. His favorite route? A slant over the middle, of course.

Here’s more crazy: McDonald played without a face mask for virtually his entire career, the last player to do so.

But an image in the 1960 Championship Game said it all. After a frustrated Green Bay Packers defender shoved “Scooter” into a snowbank on a touchdown reception, he gleefully jumped to his feet, then raced to the bench like his hair was on fire.

Career: 10 years (1970-79)

Teams: Dallas Cowboys

Games played: 141

Game missed: 3

Free safeties were primarily cover guys back in the day. Not Cliff Harris, though. “Captain Crash” broke the mold with his two-way play at the position.

Harris spent his entire career in the 1970s and had at least two interceptions in each one of them. The All-Decade first-team selection welcomed contact, a mindset that translated well against the run and on special teams. He even wore kiddie-sized shoulder pads to improve speed and the force of hits.

Washington Redskins coach George Allen wasn’t far off when he likened Harris to a “rolling ball of butcher knives.”