Top five Atlanta Falcons Offensive Linemen in team history
By Adam Zippan
The Atlanta Falcons have a long, rich history of standout players on the offensive line. Let’s review and examine the top five Atlanta Falcons offensive linemen in team history.
There have been some excellent offensive linemen in Atlanta Falcons 54 year team history, which includes a mix of first-round picks and later round picks who had both surprising and solid careers.
Whitfield was the eighth overall first-round pick out of Standford in 1992. In his twelve-year Falcons career, he only missed one game, which is rare in today’s era. He was a Pro Bowler in 1998, which was the same year the Falcons went to the Super Bowl.
For the most part, he was a reliable and solid pass protector at left tackle. Whitfield came off the bench in his first 11 pro games with the Falcons before starting 167 total games for the team. He also became one of the better offensive linemen of his era.
Whitfield stayed mainly healthy throughout his entire career with the Falcons. He is third all-time in Falcons’ team history with 123 consecutive games started, only second to Mike Kenn who holds the team record at 251, followed by Todd McClure at 144.
On a side note – Whitfield felt as though he got shafted in the 1992 draft. The only team he visited and met with was Green Bay. The Falcons drafted him to his surprise, as he never spoke with them. He later indicated it worked out well as he had the opportunity to play with Deion Sanders and play on the first Falcons team to play in the Georgia Dome and play in a Super Bowl.