89 #DaysToFootball

Today we move into the numbers currently reserved for pass-catchers, but two Hall of Fame defenders grace the list as well:

5. Dave Robinson, LB
1963-1974 (Green Bay, Washington); Three Pro Bowls; One First-Team All-Pro; NFL All-60s Team; Pro Football HOF class of 2013; 27 career interceptions

(Vernon Biever/Getty)

Selected 14th overall by the two-time defending league champions in 1963, Dave Robinson was expected to help Green Bay pull off the first three-peat in NFL history. While it didn't happen in his rookie season, the Penn State product was a key part of all three Packers championship teams later that decade. Robinson's lone all-pro season came in 1967, the year of Green Bay's third straight title and second Super Bowl victory. The linebacker recorded multiple picks in nine of his 12 NFL seasons; his lone return touchdown came in a 1973 Washington victory over the Giants. Robinson waited almost four decades after his retirement to enter the Hall of Fame; along with Curley Culp he was one of the two senior inductees for the 2013 class.

4. Otis Taylor, WR
1965-1975 (Kansas City); Three Pro Bowls; Two First-Team All-Pro; 7,306 career receiving yards




Otis Taylor was a second-year pro when his Chiefs met Robinson's Packers in the first AFL-NFL World Championship game. In the first Super Bowl Taylor caught four passes but failed to reach the end zone as the Chiefs lost the 35-10 contest. Three years later, Taylor recorded Super Bowl IV's only touchdown reception, a 46-yarder from MVP Len Dawson to secure a 23-7 upset victory over the Vikings. One of the best wideouts of his era, Taylor twice recorded over 1,000 receiving yards in a season. His best season was the 1966 campaign that ended in Super Bowl I defeat; Taylor accounted for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns, adding a postseason score in the AFL championship game against Buffalo. The Prairie View A&M alum led the league with 1,110 receiving yards in his second all-pro season of 1971. Taylor earned a spot in the Chiefs Hall of Fame after his retirement.

3. Nat Moore, WR
1974-1986 (Miami); One Pro Bowl; One First-Team All-Pro; 74 career receiving touchdowns



Like Robinson, Nat Moore also spent his rookie season as a member of a two-time defending league champ. Also like Robinson's Packers, Moore's Dolphins failed to earn a third-straight title in 1974. Bridging the decade-long gap in Miami between Super Bowl VIII victory and the start of the Dan Marino era, Moore was the Dolphins' leading pass catcher from 1974-1979. 1977 was Moore's lone all-pro season; the Tallahassee native led the league with 12 touchdown receptions and added another score on the ground. His production, which had dropped from 840 yards in 1979 to eight total catches in 1982, saw a resurgence after the Dolphins drafted Marino in 1983. In their first three years together, Marino and Moore connected for an average of 611 yards and six scores per season. The 1984 Man of the Year scored a touchdown in that year's AFC Championship game, which helped the Dolphins reach their second Super Bowl in three seasons. Moore joined the Miami Dolphins Honor Roll in 1999.

2. Steve Smith, WR
2001-2016 (Carolina, Baltimore); Five Pro Bowls; Two First-Team All-Pro; 2005 Comeback Player of the Year; 14,731 career receiving yards

(Bob Leverone/Associated Press)

When Steve Smith retired at the end of last season, he did so with more receiving yards than all but six players to have ever caught an NFL football. Early on, however, Smith's place in football history was in jeopardy. He reached the Pro Bowl in his rookie season as a kick returner for the 1-15 Panthers, his only postseason accolade before he broke his leg in the 2004 season opener. Any doubt as to whether Smith could still be an elite receiver was shattered in 2005. The fifth-year Panther had the best year of his career in his Comeback Player of the Year season, leading the league with 103 receptions, 1,563 receiving yards and 13 total touchdowns. In that year's NFC championship game, Smith returned a punt for a touchdown during a 34-14 loss to Seattle. The Utah alum spent the last four seasons of his 16-year NFL career in Baltimore; his final of eight 1,000-yard seasons came with the Ravens in 2014.

1. Gino Marchetti, DE
1956-1966 (Colts); Nine Pro Bowls; Seven First-Team All-Pro; NFL All-50s Team; Pro Football HOF class of 1972

(Hy Peskin/Sports Illustrated)

To beat Baltimore in the 1950s, offenses across the league had to find a way to contain explosive defensive end Gino Marchetti. An inaugural member of the current Colts franchise in 1953, Marchetti spent his first four NFL seasons - including his first two Pro Bowls - donning the number 75. After making the switch to 89, the San Francisco product went nine seasons without missing a game. He finished each of those nine seasons as a member of the Pro Bowl team. Marchetti was an all-pro in both of Baltimore's back-to-back championship seasons; he recorded a sack in the team's 1958 overtime championship win over the Giants. A Hall of Fame inductee in his very first year of eligibility, the 90-year-old and World War II vet currently resides in Philadelphia. No member of the Colts franchise has worn the number 89 in the past 50 years, in honor of Gino's still-remembered career.