One of the lesser-known members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2011 will be Chris Hanburger, a Redskins linebacker who played for the team from 1965 to 1978. But by praise, if not by statistics, Hanburger belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Hanburger had a reputation for making heady plays and disrupting offenses, using his speed to get to plays that his instincts helped him sniff out. He was praised by John Hannah as "the smartest player in the league."
Hanburger also had a reputation for playing a bit harder than everyone else, despite his size, as alluded to by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio on Twitter:
Chris Hanburger would have been fined $10 million dollars over the course of his career, if he played now.
Hanburger's signature move? A clothesline tackle that helped him earn the nicknames "The Hangman" and "The Hammer," and one the 2011 NFL would certainly frown on. But it worked well enough during his career for Hanburger to be named to nine Pro Bowls, and that career was enough to get him elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame via a veterans committee selection.
Check out the rest of this StoryStream for more on the Class of 2011.