Atlanta Falcons all-time great passes away at the age of 77

If there is one thing the Atlanta Falcons have not been known for during their history, it is having dominant pass rushers. In their 50 plus years of being a team, they have struggled to find dominant sack artists.

However, they have had a couple through the years, and sadly the best pass rusher in their history has passed away at the age of 77 on Friday night.

Falcons Hall of Fame pass rusher, Claude Humprey, passes away

Claude Humprey should be the first pass rusher you think of when you are going through the history of the Falcons, he is the greatest pass rusher to suit up as a Falcon.

Sadly, on Friday night he passed away. He will always be remembered as an all-time great player in the NFL.

He played ten seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and finished his career with the Philadelphia Eagles for two seasons.

When you look up who leads the Falcons in all-time sacks, Claude is not the official leader. Sacks were not recorded as an official stat until 1982, which was the season after Humprey retired. Therefore, in the official NFL books, Claude is not the franchise leader, unfortunately.

However, Pro Football Reference has recently updated its books to include sack numbers prior to 1982.

And as you can guess, Claude Humphrey is the leader in career sacks for the Atlanta Falcons.

He recorded a total of 99.5 sacks during his time as a Falcon, making him the leader by a wide margin. Second, on the list is John Abraham who has 31 fewer sacks.

That goes to show you what kind of player Humphrey was, and he honestly does not get enough recognition when you think about Atlanta’s history. He is one of the best players in franchise history, and you could make an argument for him being one of the three best players in team history.

This is a sad loss for everyone who knows what kind of person and player Humphrey was.