Alabama football: 15 greatest Crimson Tide NFL careers ever

Greatest Alabama football career No. 2: John Hannah

Twice an All-American while at Alabama in the early ’70s, John Hannah was one of the finest offensive linemen in the NFL and was pretty good while playing with the Crimson Tide too.

The 4th pick of the 1973 NFL Draft, he’d spend his entire 13-year career on the line of the New England Patriots and would have himself quite the career. It’s really hard to properly exemplify the success of offensive linemen, but Hannah did more than enough to stand out.

The Patriots’ starting left guard for most of those thirteen years, Hannah was named First Team All-Pro seven times and made nine trips to the Pro Bowl. He was a consistent force on that Patriots’ line, and protected numerous quarterbacks across his career. He also played in a loss to the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX, the final game of his career.

Hannah played his role well on the offensive line and all those Pro Bowls and other honors prove his real worth to the Patriots. When you look at the deeper metrics, he really did have an important role not only for the Patriots but as one of the league’s best linemen in history.

He made his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot addition, the bow at the end of an explosive career with the Patriots. Hannah was perhaps the greatest lineman to ever play at Alabama and certainly carved out his role in Patriots’ history as well.