Building A GGN All Time Jets Team: Interior Offensive Line

We have the 35th position filled on the GGN All Time Jets Team. The winner of the sixth and final vote at Interior Offensive Line is: Jim Sweeney!

Jim Sweeney had a long and productive career in the NFL. Sweeney played a remarkable 16 years, from 1984 through 1999, the first 11 years of which he spent with the Jets. Sweeney was a versatile player, starting his career at guard, moving to tackle for two years, before settling in for a long run at center. He was named to the 1984 NFL All Rookie Team and played in 228 games in his career, 111th on the all time list. Sweeney was part of an extraordinary 51 year run at center for the Jets. Starting with John Schmitt in 1966 and winding through Joe Fields, Jim Sweeney, Kevin Mawae, and finally Nick Mangold, the Jets had a superb player at center for 46 out of 51 years from 1966 through 2016. There is little doubt center is the position at which the Jets have been best represented in the history of the franchise.

From now until mid July I’ll be putting up a daily poll asking GGN to vote on the best Jets players of all time. The idea here is to build a 55 man roster of the best players ever to wear the Green and White. The roster will consist of 26 offensive players, 26 defensive players, and three special team players.

OFFENSE

Quarterback: 3

Wide Receiver: 6

Running Back: 4

Tight End: 3

OFFENSIVE TACKLE: 4

INTERIOR OFFENSIVE LINE

KEVIN MAWAE

NICK MANGOLD

RANDY RASMUSSEN

JOE FIELDS

DAVE HERMAN

JIM SWEENEY

DEFENSE

SAFETY

JAMAL ADAMS

VICTOR GREEN

KERRY RHODES

ERIK MCMILLAN

CORNERBACK

DARRELLE REVIS

AARON GLENN

JAMES HASTY

ANTONIO CROMARTIE

JOHNNY SAMPLE

BOBBY JACKSON

LINEBACKER

DAVID HARRIS

LARRY GRANTHAM

MARVIN JONES

LANCE MEHL

KYLE CLIFTON

GREG BUTTLE

EDGE

MARK GASTINEAU

JOHN ABRAHAM

GERRY PHILBIN

SHAUN ELLIS

MO LEWIS

INTERIOR DEFENSIVE LINE

JOE KLECKO

MARTY LYONS

DAMON HARRISON

JOHN ELLIOTT

ABDUL SALAAM

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker

PAT LEAHY

Punter

TOM TUPA

Returner

LEON WASHINGTON

Every day I will be putting up a poll at one position. The choices will be limited to players who were on the Jets roster for at least three seasons. I will not be including players who were great for other teams but not great for the Jets (for example, guys like Matt Forte or LaDainian Tomlinson will not be included in the polls, though both those guys would be excluded for not meeting the three year rule as well). Each day we will close the previous day’s poll and the candidate with the most votes will be added to the GGN All Time Jets Team. In the event of a tie vote both players will be added to the team.

In the event I have made an egregious omission and a name you think should be on the poll is not there you can write in candidates in the comments section. If a player gets support in the comments section I’ll add him to the next day’s poll.

So let’s get to it. Today we vote on the first spot at the offensive tackle position. Who will it be? Vote early, vote often, and let’s hear who you think are the best players ever to have played for the New York Jets.