The offensive line is oftentimes unheralded. The center position, in particular, does not get the recognition it deserves. As a matter of fact, only diehards would be able to identify the majority of the list of the best NFL centers of all time.
But who would make up the list of the best NFL centers? Let’s break it down and look at the best football centers of all time and the impact that they had on their careers. You may recognize a few names and learn a few more along the way.
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Best NFL Centers of All Time
The list of the NFL’s best centers of all time was a tough one to compile. After all, centers don’t really have stats in the way that skill and defensive players do. Many were not around to watch some of these guys when they were at their peak.
Still, with a little bit of digging, it was possible to find the best NFL centers of all time. There will be names that have made an impact who will ultimately be left off. But at the heart of it, you will see why the offenses that they led wound up being as successful as they once were.
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1. Jim Otto
Otto is perhaps the standard when talking about the best centers in NFL history. Otto was so good that he made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in just his first year of eligibility.
Despite being undersized at the start of his AFL career, Otto would bulk up to about 255 pounds while also improving his durability.
He was so durable, in fact, that he would suit up for an incredible 210 straight regular season games. He never once missed a game due to injury and was one of just 20 players to play during the entirety of the 10-year existence of the AFL. Of those 20, he is just one of three to play in every single one of his team’s AFL games.
During his 10 years in the AFL, he made the first-team All-AFL team every time. He would also pickup three straight Pro Bowl nominations upon the move to the NFL. He was a major reason why the Raiders led the league in points three years running and won seven divisional championships in eight years. Otto was a force and set the standard for offensive linemen.
2. Mike Webster
The original “Iron Mike”, Webster was the captain of one of the most dominant offensive lines ever. A fifth round pick in 1974, Webster originally backed up starting center Ray Mansfield for two years before taking over the starting job in 1976.
From there, he would go on to play a whopping 150 straight games, serving as a captain for the Steelers for the better part of a decade. What really solidified his place on the list of the best centers in NFL history was his accomplishments.
Webster would finish his career with an impressive nine Pro Bowl selections and seven first-team All-Pro selections. But what he is likely most proud of is the four Super Bowl victories (1975, 1976, 1979, 1980) as a member of the dominant Steelers dynasty.
3. Dwight Stephenson
The Miami Dolphins had one of the most dominant offenses in NFL history in the 1980s. While many remember Dan Marino and Mark Duper, those who experienced it remember the force that the offensive line was. That is thanks in large part to the efforts of Stephenson.
Those Dolphins teams may not have been able to capture a Super Bowl, but they did manage an impressive feat that no other team has done. Starting in 1982, the Dolphins would give up the fewest sacks in the NFL for a record-setting six straight years. Stephenson was a major reason for that, cementing his status as one of the best football centers of all time in just eight short years.
The second round pick out of Alabama became a star almost immediately. From 1983-1987, he would be nominated for both the Pro Bowl as well as the first-team All-Pros. If that weren’t impressive enough, Stephenson would get the nod as the AFC Offensive Lineman of the Year five times from the NFLPA, his peers.
Stephenson had an impressive streak of 80 straight starts which was only broken due to the 1987 players’ strike. Though the Dolphins of the 1980s are often relegated due to the lack of a Super Bowl win, Stephenson helped lead them to AFC title games in 1982, 1984, and 1985 along with appearances in Super Bowls XVII and XIX.
4. Mel Hein
“Old Indestructible” gives you a pretty good indication of why Hein makes the list of the best NFL centers of all time. He also played center at a time where it was commonplace for players to play on both sides of the ball, laying earth shattering hits as a linebacker.
Hein spent 15 years with the Giants and consistently demonstrated why he was so dominant.
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He would earn first-team All-NFL honors eight straight years, running from 1933-1940. Even more impressively, he is both the first and last offensive lineman to win NFL MVP honors.
Rounding out Hein’s impressive career is the fact that he and the Giants made a whopping seven NFL Championship games in 10 years. They would win it all in 1934 and 1938, cementing Hein’s legacy as one of the very best.
5. Chuck Bednarik
“Concrete Charlie” was one of the great early NFLers. The multi-sport athlete excelled not only at center, but linebacker and sometimes punter as well. During his 14-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles, Bednarik became the standard bearer.
Quick side note: he actually has a trophy named after him given to the best collegiate defensive player. That just goes to show that he was not only a Hall of Fame talent at center, but on the defensive side of the ball, too.
Bednarik would go on to make eight Pro Bowls, 10 first-team All-Pro teams, and win a pair of NFL championships with the Eagles. He has been on the 50th, 75th, and 100th anniversary all-time teams for the NFL as well.
6. Dermontti Dawson
The Steelers have had a penchant for finding talented lineman. Dawson, a second round pick from Kentucky in 1989, would be another addition to that list. He was a staple of a generally dominant Steeler offensive line from day one in the Steel City.
For 13 years, Dawson was easily one of the best NFL centers. He would pick up seven straight nominations to the Pro Bowl during a time when the game still meant something to fans and players alike. If that weren’t enough, he added another six first-team All-Pro nomination as well.
If there is one knock on his career, it is that Dawson never won a Super Bowl with the Steelers. He did help lead the way there in 1995, their first appearance in the Big Game since 1979. As one of the best centers in NFL history, he helped pave the way to league-leading rushing attacks in 1994 and 1997.
Dawson was a staple for the Steelers for nearly 15 years. He left the league as second all-time in consecutive games played in franchise history, suiting up for 170 in a row. Dawson will be remembered by Steeler faithful as a catalyst to a feared rushing attack during the 1990s.
7. Clyde Turner
Nicknamed “bulldog”, Clyde Turner carved out a path for himself beginning in college. Long before he was one of the best centers of all time in the NFL, he was a serious collegiate standout. So much so that George Richards, owner of the Detroit Lions, paid for his dental work and asked him to publicly announce that he wouldn’t play football, all so that other teams wouldn’t pick him.
Richards’ plan didn’t work, and the Lions were fined for tampering. This allowed the Bears to get Turner with the seventh pick overall in the 1940 NFL Draft. It turned out to be a great move for both, with Turner playing both center and linebacker. His outstanding play would lead to a quartet of NFL Championships in Chicago between 1940 and 1946.
In his 13 seasons in the Windy City, Turner was the definition of a standout. He would earn a pair of Pro Bowl nominations as well as a whopping eight first-team All-Pro selections. Crazy enough, he was also the NFL leader in interceptions in 1942 with eight while putting out some of the most brutal blocks of the era. There aren’t many like Turner and for that reason he goes down as one of the greatest NFL centers of all time.
8. Jim Ringo
On the list of the best all time anything, you are gong to find more than a few Green Bay Packers. For 10 years, Ringo defied limitations and paved his way to becoming one of the best NFL centers of all time. His path there is certainly one to be chronicled.
Ringo nearly quit football permanently as a rookie. He was just 211 pounds there, figuring he was too small and had no shot at the starting center position. Though he was undersized, he possessed everything else needed to be one of the greatest NFL centers of all time.
Ringo excelled because he had a sharp football IQ and the speed needed to beat opponents to the point of attack. Playing with the Packers for 10 years and the Philadelphia Eagles another four, Ringo earned his way to a whopping 10 Pro Bowl selections.
On top of that, he made seven first-team All-Pro teams and was the central point of a dominant Packers offense that won the 1961 and 1962 NFL Championship.
Ringo did it all in terms of offensive line play for the Packers. Experts estimate that he handled the ball more than 12,000 times over the course of his career. And he did so with precision and intelligence all the way through.
9. George Trafton
Trafton was a star before being a football star was much of an accomplishment. He played for 11 years, missing 1922 to be an assistant coach for Northwestern University. He would return to the NFL with the Bears in 1923, helping establish the franchise’s early dominance.
Trafton would earn a pair of first-team All-Pro nods as well as one for the second team. He is listed among the 100 greatest Chicago Bears of all time and became one of the first centers in the history of the game to center the football using only one hand.
A trendsetter in the early days of the game, Trafton will be remembered by the Bears for a long time to come.
10. Kevin Mawae
For more than a decade, Mawae was one of the most dominant centers in the NFL. Mawae began as a second round pick to the Seattle Seahawks in 1994 out of Louisville. He initially began as a right guard, playing 14 games of his rookie season and earning first-team All-Rookie honors from the Pro Football Writers Association. He would help pave the way for Pro Bowl running back Chris Warren from the guard position again in 1995.
In 1996, Mawae would get moved to the center and never looked back. The following season, he signed as a free agent with the New York Jets and his career took off. He helped lead the Jets to one of the best offenses in the game, playing 177 straight games until he suffered a triceps injury in October 2005.
Mawae would prove that he wasn’t finished, making another pair of Pro Bowls, totaling eight, with the Tennessee Titans. He would enter Canton as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019, cementing himself among the best centers of all time in the NFL.
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