Where does/will Ray Lewis rank amongst the greatest linebackers ever?

[Vince]

SMH at the Seau hate.

He was a murderer on the field...HOF no doubt.

[z Revis]

Quote: Originally Posted by mKoz26

Lol @ Juniou Seau. Big reach there.

You must've not watched football back when Seau was in his prime.

[Aggies7]

Ill say Top 5.

[Gibbz]

Top 3, IMO. I'd put him slightly behind LT but ahead of Butkus.

[elgreazy1]

If you're talking about MLB's, I'd say he's definitely top 5 material... maybe even top 3, but if you say "all LB's" he's probably still in the top 5-10 still.

[Dice]

I've never seen Butkas play but I would say that Lewis is probably the best MLB I've seen play. Singletary and Seau where the other two great MLB I've seen play. Singletary might have been smarter than Lewis BUT not by much. What makes Lewis better is that he was much more gifted physically than Singletary. If Singletary had the size and ability of Lewis then we would be disscussing on why Singletary is the best MLB ever to play the game. As for Seau, the only thing Seau has on Lewis is speed. Everything else, Lewis beats him hands down.

Now as far as overall LB, Lawrence Taylor is still the best LB I've seen play. Lewis remains second. What makes Taylor better was he was better at taking over games than Lewis. Taylor in his prime was a freak athletically. He was no doubt a great pass rushers BUT he was excellent in coverage and he could stuff the run. There hasn't been many LB who were great in pass rush, coverage and against the run. There might have been a few who were good in all three BUT Taylor was great. Lewis is great against the run but only good in pass rushing and maybe great in coverage. Taylor was still better than Lewis in pass coverage.

[JBH3]

He's a top5 MLB...arguably top3.

[deaduck]

Ray's in my top three but I wouldn't try and support it with tackling stats, which as discussed elsewhere in this forum is subjective. Not to mention the true value of a MLB is never in solo acheivements but in support of every other player/level on the D.

There are no stats for a MLB dropping back in coverage and taking away a crossing route underneath. No stat for shedding a pulling guard and forcing a play outside and so on. You just got to watch them to judge them. It's why, in my opinion, every generation feels the need to redifine who's best based on who they ACTUALLY saw. It's not so much disrespect as misinformation.