One of the great ambassadors for the game has passed. David "Deacon" Jones died of natural causes Monday night. 74 seems too young to die of natural causes. It's always too soon. Jones was one of the first great, pass-rushing defensive ends. The kind that we see throughout the league today are made from something close to the mold that Deacon Jones broke. No one has ever quite played the position as well. He coined the term "sacking the quarterback. "The sack" was his. He was twice the defensive player of the year. He was chosen as the best defensive end for the 75th Anniversary of the NFL. He was "the Secretary of Defense."
Perhaps more than any other Hall of Fame player, Deacon Jones took the time to talk with each new generation of football players. He was "football past" and welcomed football's future. His stories were classics as soon as words left his mouth. He was part of nearly every televised discussion of the game that I can recall. If players were talking about the history of the game, he was one of those players. He was at every Hall of Fame induction. There aren't too many greats that make it back to Canton very often. He did. Like few football players before or since, Deacon Jones had the respect and admiration of everyone around the game. There's a huge hole in football right now.
"I wouldn't want to be a lawyer, I wouldn't want to be a doctor, I wouldn't want to be the President of the United States. I was destined-just like Ray Charles was born to sing the blues-Deacon was born to rush quarterbacks."
-David "Deacon" Jones
There's some quarterbacks running from Jones once again.
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