re: Who are the 5 best NFL defensive players of the last 30 years?

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It’s hard to compare players from different eras, and would be unfair to those guys to compare the type of athlete Urlacher was to them

He covered, he rushed the passer, he went sideline to sideline. He was just a rare species that even the generational LBs of his era had trouble living up to. So those older guys really don’t stand a chance, but yes, they were great when the game was much different

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While all that is true. It can be argued that Butkus was better relative to his era than Urlacher was relative to his.

You said Urlacher might be the best LB in NFL history. But if you asked people who know football and football history, many (perhaps most) would say that he wasn’t even the best in Bear history, Butkus was.

Regardless, I agree they are both all time greats.