Page 4 - Bud Carson News Today

Here are some of the NFL (or AFL) defensive greats whose quality careers have, to some degree, slipped through the cracks. No Hall of Famers or one-year wonders here, just high-end performers who were among their eras best. 

Many Super Bowl celebrations have occurred after the assembly of a dominant defense. Even when elite defenses did not produce a title, they have often defined an era for a franchise.

Cliff Branch finally standing on the doorstep of the Hall of Fame.

THE FLATS – Jack Thompson, who spent more than 50 years serving Georgia Tech athletics from his days as a football recruiter to leading the Yellow Jackets’ fundraising efforts, has passed away at the age of 84. In his career with Georgia Tech Athletics, Jack Thompson made an indelible mark, first as a football recruiter who touched the lives of many of the Yellow Jackets who passed through the program in the 1960s and 1970s, but more importantly as a fundraiser in the Alexander-Tharpe Fund...

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- A look at whats happening around the New York Jets: 1. Money to burn: Once again, the Jets are rolling in an abundance of salary-cap space as they head into post-June 1 free agency. The question is, will they actually use it to improve the roster? They rank second in cap space with $25 million, according to Over the Cap, but that doesnt include a $2.8 million savings for reworking guard Alex Lewis contract. They still have to sign their top four draft picks, which will eat...

Labriola on grades, draft as theater, 1974 May 07, 2021 at 06:53 AM Ready or not, here it comes: • Finally, mock draft season is over, but the bad news accompaniment to that good news is its now grading the draft season. Mock drafts may be pointless, but putting a grade on a teams draft 15 minutes after its over adds a layer of meaningless to the pointlessness. • What makes these somewhat humorous is the same people who do the mock drafts then come back with...

Lets get to it: GRAHAM ANDERSON FROM PLYMOUTH, UK: Could you please remind us of the story where the Steelers forfeited a draft pick because Mr. Dan Rooney had made an agreement with a player that turned out to be against the rules? ANSWER: The players name was Will Wolford, and the Steelers signed him as an unrestricted free agent during the 1996 offseason. Wolford had been a left tackle during his career with Buffalo and then Indianapolis, but the Steelers told him they were signing him to pl...

The Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns’ divisional-round playoff game kicked off without a hitch, but NFL fans trying to tune into the game on CBS were in a world of trouble.

Labriola on a happy New Year Jan 01, 2021 at 07:00 AM Ready or not, here it comes: • Did you ever celebrate New Years Eve in an airport? This is a story about the time the Pittsburgh Steelers traveling party was walking through the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport when the ball dropped and ended the 1980s. • It all began nine months earlier in the glorified boiler room that passed for an NFL weight room the Steelers used during their days at Three Ri...

BLOWING ROCK — We are approaching the end of an unusual football season, so why not reflect for a while on the life of an unusual man not just in college football, but all of college athletics? It is one of those inspiring stories of accomplishment that you hope can rub off on you, even if just a little bit. A lot of people have met him, but only a relative few know his story. How did a newly turned octogenarian who grew up in Morganton end up with Blowing Rock as a permanent residence? We...