From 99-0, TeamFB7 is looking back on the greatest players in NFL history to don each jersey number. No ties allowed, tough decisions will be made — next is No. 86 and Buck Buchanan
At the center of one of the first great teams of the NFL’s Super Bowl era was one of the league’s all-time great defenses — and at the center of that was Buck Buchanan.
Junious “Buck” Buchanan, a defensive tackle out of Grambling College (now Grambling State University) generally listed at 6-foot-7, 270-pounds, was an especially towering presence in the league in 1960-70s, and his consistent dominance made him seem even larger than that.
Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame offensive lineman Gene Upshaw described Buchanan as 6-foot-8, 300 pounds and “the most feared” player he played against.
As the story goes, the Raiders drafted Upshaw in the first round of the 1967 draft specifically to find a hopeful solution to containing Buchanan on the rival Chiefs.
Upshaw proved to be one of the all-time great offensive linemen of that era, and yet he was the first to admit he had no answers against Buchanan.
“The first game I played for the Raiders was against Buck Buchanan — he killed me,” Upshaw once told NFL Films. “I mean, I don’t know how I ever survived. He just ate me up. I never will forget coming out of that game and saying, ‘My job for the rest of my career is to block this guy? I think the Raiders drafted the wrong player.”
The Impact of Buck Buchanan On The NFL
Even before he got to the NFL, Buchanan was a mythical presence on the football field.
“Buck Buchanan is a 285-pound meat grinder who is as conspicuous as an elephant climbing up the side of an anthill,” Grambling publicist Collie J. Nicholson wrote in 1962, as recounted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Buchanan had a major influence on professional football in a couple of ways.
He was selected with the first overall pick in the 1963 AFL Draft, before the AFL and NFL formally merged, making him the first African-American player (and first from a HBCU) selected No. 1 overall in AFL or NFL history.
For that, he’s largely credited with changing the way professional scouts considered prospects from smaller schools — hence the “Buck Buchanan Award” named in his honor and presented to the top defensive player at the NCAA’s FCS level each year.
And then he changed the game on the field as well.
“Buck Buchanan really kind of revolutionized the play of defensive tackles in professional football,” Hall of Fame Chiefs coach Hank Stram said. “In the early days, the tackles were the run-stoppers and the ends were the pass rushers. Well, Buck was 6-7 and weighed 300 pounds. He had the wingspan of a 747. As a result, offensive linemen had a terrible time trying to block him.”
Buchanan And The Kansas City Chiefs
Buchanan played on a Chiefs defense loaded with fellow future Hall of Famers, including defensive tackle Curley Culp, linebackers Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell, safety Johnny Robinson and cornerback Emmitt Thomas.
In 1966, Kansas City went 11-2-1 and lost the first Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers.
The Chiefs made it back three years later in Super Bowl IV, overpowering the Vikings 23-7 for the championship. That Kansas City defense led the AFL in allowing only 177 points in 14 games (with the next lowest total in the league being 242 points), gave up a league-low 225.9 yards per game and rolled through the postseason while beating the Jets 13-6, the Raiders 17-7 and then the Vikings in dominant fashion.
Overall, Buchanan played in six AFL All-Star Games and two Pro Bowls, earned first-team All-Pro honors four times and second-team honors two times. Much of his impact wasn’t reflected by stats at the time, with neither sacks nor batted passes officially tracked then, but Pro Football Reference unofficially credits him with 70 career sacks.
From 1963-75, Buck Buchanan missed just one game.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2019 he was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team, as one of seven defensive tackles selected.
As for the best to ever wear No. 86, honorable mention goes to longtime Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, who tallied 1,000 receptions for 12,083 yards and 85 TDs from 1998-2011, made four Pro Bowls, won two Super Bowls and was MVP of Super Bowl XL.
Greatest NFL Players By Number
99 | 98 | 97 | 96 | 95 | 94 | 93 | 92 | 91 | 90 | 89 | 88 | 87
