KIRKLAND – After making a living feeding on the Brett Favres, Steve Youngs and John Elways of the world, John Randle will one day be squeezed between them in football’s holiest shrine.
Arguments about whether Cortez Kennedy, Ricky Watters, Warren Moon and Kenny Easley belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame should cease long enough for fans to watch the one Seattle Seahawk who is guaranteed to be in Canton.
Randle put another impressive line on his Hall of Fame resume over the weekend, passing Lawrence Taylor and Leslie O’Neal for sixth place in career sacks (133). He is second all-time among active players (Bruce Smith, 195) and has more sacks than any defensive tackle in NFL history.
“John Randle is a special guy,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “Lawrence Taylor was about the best outside linebacker I have ever seen in my life. He was a tremendous player. And John should be recognized in that group of pass rushers.”
Statistically, Randle is one of the best pass rushers to ever play the game. The most amazing part is that he has spent most of his career rushing from the interior, where it is easier for opposing teams to double-team him. What Randle has done may well be more impressive than even the mighty LT, a former outside linebacker and current Hall of Famer.
“It’s harder to get the sacks from inside,” Randle said. “Not many guys can get them like that, year in and year out.”
When the Seahawks signed Randle to a five-year, $25 million contract prior to the 2001 season, many eyebrows were raised throughout the league. Randle was released by the Minnesota Vikings mainly because he refused to restructure his contract, but age was also a factor. There were whispers that his days as a legitimate pass rusher might be well behind him.
Now 35 years old, Randle has 19 sacks in a Seahawks uniform, including 11 during a Pro Bowl year in 2001. He was motivated by the talk of being washed up and has gone on to prove that he still has some gas in the tank.
“I’m fueled by so many things,” Randle said. “I wasn’t drafted, I didn’t fit in, I didn’t belong. You go from that to where you’re too old, you don’t need to be out there. I enjoy playing, and I’m still pushing myself.”
Because of his age, Randle has a reduced role this year. The Seahawks want him to concentrate more on pass rushing, so young players such as Rocky Bernard are in the rotation more on obvious running downs. Foreseeing less plays, and because he wanted to help ease strain on the Seahawks’ salary cap, Randle approached the team over the offseason and asked for a pay cut. Instead of $4 million in base salary, he will make “only” $2 million this year.
“That’s almost unheard of in today’s football,” Holmgren said of the voluntary pay cut. “I admired him before, but I thought that was about as unselfish a thing as I’ve ever seen in this day and age.”
The reduction has worked out, as Randle’s play hasn’t exactly been at a $4 million-a-year level. He and his linemates have been unable to provide consistent pressure on quarterbacks. His sack of Favre on Sunday was his first of the season, and he has just five tackles through four games.
“I’ve still got something to show, and there’s still an opportunity for me,” he said. “For right now, that’s more than enough for me.”
Randle has made an art out of running down opposing quarterbacks during his 14 NFL seasons. He has sacked 56 different quarterbacks along the way, ranging from Hall of Famers like Elway and Jim Kelly to guys like Cade McNown, Steve Walsh and Billy Joe Tolliver.
More than anyone, Favre has been at the bottom of a Randle sack. After Sunday’s sack, Randle has now taken down the longtime Packers quarterback 11.5 times.
“It’s kind of weird,” Randle said. “It’s almost like I can feel where he’s going.
“… I respect him, he respects me after years of battling. We both like having fun out there. We both know that when I play against him and he plays against me, we’re going to give it our all.”
Randle’s age and the fact that Green Bay might not be on the schedule for a few more years might mean that the defensive tackle has sacked Favre for the final time. But Randle isn’t giving any hints as to when his Hall-of-Fame career might finally come to an end.
“I come out here, play, wait to the end of the season, then look at where I’m at,” he said.
One day, that could well be on a podium in Canton, flanked by guys like Favre and Young.
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