Jon Runyan

Jon Runyan: the NFL's meanest player of all-time

Ever since we started this blog a few months back I have been waiting to do this post. I have to admit that I have a certain obsession with really mean athletes. Whether they are mediocre or not, there is something terrific about a guy who is just a straight up mean dude when it comes to his play on the field or his interaction with the media and fans off the field. There are even certain degrees of meaness I will attribute to an athlete depending on his reputation, and whether or not he is someone you simply wouldn’t want to mess with or the type of guy you would straight up run away from if you saw him walking toward you. An example of the former (the kind of guy you don’t mess with) would be Jim Everett. Everyone saw what he did to Jim Rome and it was awesome. But if there is one mediocre athlete on the face of this planet who I am afraid of and would literally cross the street if I saw him near me is Big ‘Ol Jon Runyan. No Joke. This guy is an absolute nightmare and was unequivocally the most feared and hated player in the NFL during his 13 year career. Perhaps one of the reasons why he is so tough and mean is because Runyan hails from Flint Michagan, or as Blake proudly refers to it, “God’s country.” In addition to being a monster on the gridiron, Runyan was also an all-state basketball center and a two-time Michigan shot-put champion.

Jon Runyan, who stands 6’7 and weighs in at 330 pounds, played offensive tackle (predominantly at right tackle) during his career and was regarded as one of the league’s premier run-blockers. He was taken in the fourth round of the 1996 NFL by the Houston Oilers. As of 2009, Big Jon was the last active player in the NFL to have played for the Oilers franchise before it moved to Tennessee. Runyan was one of the stalwart offensive lineman (along with Hall of Fame lineman Bruce Matthews) on the 1999 Titans team that made it to the super bowl. Despite losing the super bowl to the St. Louis Rams, Runyan was selected to the second-team AP all-pro team that season.

In 2000, Runyan signed a six-year $30 million dollar contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, making him the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history at the time. When he was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, Runyan bought a 23-acre farm in nearby New Jersey. When a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter came calling and asked him what he planned to do with the cows on his land, Runyan replied: “I’m going to raise them as beef cows and have them slaughtered.” There is no doubt in my mind that Jon did the slaughtering himself.

Although Runyan was a highly valued player, he only made it to one pro-bowl in his entire career (2002). Some have argued that Runyan’s lack of pro-bowl selections is the result of him being regarded as a dirty player. But the best part is that Runyan doesn’t deny it. He admits to being a “dirty” player, the kind of guy who will do something to hurt his opponent if it gives his team a better chance to win. Not only is he mean, but Jon Runyan is also one tough dude. He played half of the 2007 season with a broken tailbone. Because of his toughness and outright meanness, Runyan helped lead the Eagles to 6 NFC conference championship games. A few other honors he has received include being named to the 2001 All-Madden team and was selected as the Eagles 2005 offenive player of the year. This last award doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I’m sure he bullied at least 4 or 5 people into giving him the recognition he felt he deserved.

Besides being tough, nasty and mean, Runyan was as durable as anyone, and as of 2008 he held the second longest streak in the NFL of having started 213 consecutive regular season games (behind Brett Favre). Moreover, a 2008 poll revealed that getting blocked by Runyan on a screen pass was the scariest thing one could experience while playing in the NFL. Just imagine what it was like to have to block someone who is 6’7, 300 pounds and wants nothing more than to hurt you and have you in extreme physical, pyschological and emotional pain. Every year NFL players vote on the meanest, nastiest and dirtiest players in the league, and Runyan ranked near the top of that list in every single season that he played.

There is a part of me that is afraid to publish this post, because it may upset Jon Runyan if he ever comes across it. It’s even hard for me to characterize Big Jon as a mediocre athlete because there aren’t any statistical categories that can quantify an offensive lineman’s production. But only 1 pro-bowl in 13 seasons despite having a big reputation as a mean guy is mediocre no matter how you write it up.