His name will be forever linked to the NFL

Welcome to the fifth annual Outsider Inbox and thank you to everyone who has participated so far. We received hundreds of submissions over the past few days and did our best to include as many entries as we possibly (and reasonably) could. With that said, let’s get this thing started…

1. Who is on your NFL Mt. Rushmore?

Derek from Eau Claire, WI

Pete Rozelle for having the vision of league and growing the NFL into America’s pastime, Vince Lombardi for being the most iconic person of the league’s most iconic franchise, Lawrence Taylor because the dude’s a beast and as much as it pains me to pen this…Tom…nah, I can’t do it.

Vince from Sioux Falls, SD

Mt. Rushmore: 1) Brett Favre 2) Aaron Rodgers 3) Donald Driver 4) Reggie White 5) Clay Matthews. (Editor’s note: Um, Vince from South Dakota? Are you sure about five?)

Although Mt. Rushmore wasn’t created until the 1900s, it contains the faces of three founders of our nation and one who came along 130 years later. My Mt. Rushmore also includes founders of the game we love. Some would argue for modern-day players with huge stats, but those players and their salaries wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for those who forged the game we love: Jim Thorpe, George Halas, Bronco Nagurski and Don Hutson. Tough men and Hall of Famers all.

Too many ways to look at this, so I provided a few categorized lists: Legends/founders: Curly Lambeau, George Halas, Lamar Hunt, Al Davis. Early players: Don Hutson, Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Bronco Nagurski. Coaches: Lombardi, Don Shula, Bill Belichick, Bill Walsh. QBs: Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, John Elway. Non-QBs: Jerry Rice, Barry Sanders, Walter Peyton, Earl Campbell. Overall, I’ll take the Packers from the list: Lambeau, Lombardi, Hutson, Rodgers.

My NFL Mount Rushmore has to start with George Halas as an original founding father, he served as player, coach, and owner. Don Hutson was a superstar receiver whose TD record stood for almost 50 years. Pete Rozelle led the league to…