95 #DaysToFootball

Like yesterday, the 95 list features one Hall of Fame member and one active AFC East defensive lineman:

5. Tim Bowens, DT
1994-2004 (Miami); Two Pro Bowls; 1994 Defensive Rookie of the Year; 296 career tackles

(David Duprey/Associated Press)

When I was a student at Samford, our football team had an offensive assistant coach named Tim Bowens. Until somewhat recently I mostly assumed he and the former Miami defensive lineman who shares his name were the same person. I have since figured out that the Bowens I was acquainted with was earning all-academic honors as a receiver at the University of Alabama at the time the latter earned his first Pro Bowl berth as a member of the Dolphins. Tim Bowens the defensive tackle burst onto the scene in 1994 and spent a decade anchoring a defensive line that could never quite get Dan Marino back to the Super Bowl during the twilight of his career.

4. Michael Carter, DT
1984-1992 (San Francisco); Three Pro Bowls; One First-Team All-Pro; Three Super Bowl championships

(George Rose/Getty)

A rookie during the 49ers' second Super Bowl run, 1984 Olympic shot put silver medalist Michael Carter was in the prime of his career during San Francisco's back-to-back championship campaigns at the end of the 1980s. The nose tackle started all 16 games just once in his career; the 1988 season saw him start not just the entire regular season but all three of the 49ers playoff games. The Pro Bowler was a key contributor for the Super Bowl XXIII champions; when the Niners repeated in 1989, Carter played just roughly half the season. After Carter retired following the 1992 season, his 49ers were able to win just one more championship.

3. Kyle Williams, DT
2006-Present (Buffalo); Five Pro Bowls; 345 career tackles

(Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)

The first three years of fifth-round draft pick Kyle Williams' career did not draw much attention to the LSU product, but he was productive enough to warrant a three-year contract extension with the Bills. From 2009 on, Williams has cemented his place as one of the NFL's best defensive linemen in the first half of this decade. While he has yet to play in a postseason game as a member of the woeful Buffalo Bills, Williams earned the recognition of his peers in 2014 and 2015 as one of the league's best 100 players. Coming off a fifth Pro Bowl season last year, Williams will celebrate his 34th birthday next week and is entering what are likely the final few years of his career.

2. Greg Lloyd, LB
1988-1998 (Pittsburgh, Carolina); Five Pro Bowls; Three First-Team All-Pro; 707 career tackles



Through the first half of the 1990s, only a few linebackers could claim to be as good or better than Greg Lloyd. The outside linebacker was a giant reason the Steelers reached Super Bowl XXX after the 1995 season, his final of three straight All-Pro and five straight Pro Bowl seasons. In the 1995 campaign Lloyd tied career highs for interceptions (3) and forced fumbles (6), also recording six and a half regular season sacks and an additional two sacks in Pittsburgh's postseason run. Lloyd's dominance ended after the Steelers' 27-17 loss to Dallas in the championship contest; his 1996 season barely existed as he only played one game thanks to a knee injury. His career ended with a solid 1998 campaign as a member of the Carolina Panthers. Lloyd's son, also a linebacker named Greg, played two games with the Bills in 2012 but could not live up to the father's football success.

1. Richard Dent, DE
1983-1995, 1997 (Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia); Four Pro Bowls; One First-Team All-Pro; Super Bowl XX MVP; Pro Football HOF class of 2011; 131 career sacks

(Paul Spinelli/Associated Press)

Nicknamed "The Colonel," former Tennessee State Tiger Richard Dent was arguably the best defensive player on the best defensive team in NFL history. In the historic 1985 Bears season, Dent sacked the quarterback 14 more times than Defensive Player of the Year Mike Singletary, forced more fumbles, and intercepted the ball twice compared to Singletary's one pick. Dent's dominance continued straight through the Super Bowl, in which he put up another sack and a half and forced two more fumbles en route to being named the game's MVP. After a decade in the Midway, Dent earned a second ring while playing sparingly in the 49ers' 1994 championship season. After a somewhat successful 1996 wearing 96 in Indy, Dent returned to 95 for one more season. In his final year, the 2011 Hall of Fame inductee contributed four and a half sacks in 15 games with the Eagles.