Pittsburgh Steelers legend, Greg Lloyd joined the XL Primetime show in Jacksonville, Florida Wednesday on 1010 AM/92.5 FM. The show features former Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguar, Leon Searcy, who was able to spend a few minutes with Lloyd in between holes on the golf course.
After exchanging pleasantries, Searcy shared his welcome to the NFL moment courtesy of Lloyd:
“I remember being a rookie with the Steelers right, and I was on the scout team. Now the Steelers were upset with me because I held out of camp, so they had me on the scout team. They had me playing left guard, out of position by the way and Greg Lloyd is on my side of the ball, and I don’t know if you were standing up or backwards, so I came at Greg Lloyd full speed, and we hit each other, and Greg didn’t move. That troubled me a little bit, 'cause in college when I hit somebody, they moved.”
Searcy goes on:
“What are you staring at, rookie? Get your a** back in the huddle.”
Searcy asked Lloyd if he remembered the incident and Lloyd responded:
"I vaguely remember that. We always had stuff for rookies. I just wanted to find out if you had some dog in you. Don’t get me wrong, I felt it, but I wasn’t going to let you know I felt it. I mean you were pushing 3-what? He was 305, I was 225, that’s soaking wet and that’s in training camp.”
LATROBE, PA -JULY 18: Linebacker Greg Lloyd of the Pittsburgh Steelers wears a shirt imprinted with "I Wasn't Hired for My Disposition" as he walks on the field during summer training camp at St. Vincent College on July 18, 1993 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Lloyd, who had the reputation as the toughest and maybe the most feared linebacker of his era, pointed out that he played a physical, intimidating style, despite being undersized. Fans of the Steelers of the era who saw him play know how quickly he could change a game and the sheer fear he instilled in opposing offenses. Outside of Jack Lambert and it is very close, Lloyd might be the scariest Steelers defender of all-time. That is high praise indeed for a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Joe Cowart, long-time Jacksonville sports radio fixture asked Lloyd how an undersized linebacker like him could be so successful:
"I’m going to be honest with you, I played with a chip on my shoulder. I came out of an HBCU, and I thought I had all the stats to be a first round draft choice. They drafted me in the sixth round, everybody knows Tom Brady’s story. I’m not Tom Brady but when I came into the league, I was that guy. You know all these guys coming into the league, first round draft choices making millions of dollars, they were a bust, a bum, they are garbage.My thing was I got to keep being able to play, but I got to make these people understand that you didn’t just draft me in the sixth round and got lucky, I was a player. My main objective was just outworking people."
Much is made of the chip that Brady plays with, but it is interesting to hear Lloyd comment on how much his draft position offended and drove him. Lloyd was part of the last great Chuck Noll/Dick Haley draft in 1987 that set up Bill Cowher’s early success with the Steelers. They selected Rod Woodson, a future Hall of Famer in the first round and then in consecutive rounds, took three future defensive All-Pro players in succession Thomas Everett, Hardy Nickerson and Lloyd. Dick LeBeau loved Lloyd and was famously quoted that he was the one player in all his years, that “if he had to start a defense, he would pick first.”
“Greg had a no-nonsense approach, which seemed to permeate the rest of the group.” – Dick LeBeau
Lloyd’s reaction to being undersized and picked low in the draft gives insight into why he may have had the no nonsense that LeBeau loved about him. Lloyd was pigeonholed by some who faced him as a dirty player, but his attitude stemmed from a deep seeded belief he had to prove himself on every play.
Lloyd made 5 Pro Bowls, 3 All-Pro teams and was the UPI 1994 Defensive Player of the Year. He has never been a finalist for the Hall of Fame despite the five years of dominance from 1991 to 1995 that was cut short by injury in 1996. Lloyd returned to play two more seasons, but was a shell of his former self during that period. Tony Boselli and Terrell Davis, who were contemporaries of Lloyd, both have been inducted into the Hall of Fame and it is time that Lloyd gets a similar push to have his case heard.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Does hearing the Searcy story give you some insight into Lloyd’s psyche as a player? Please comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
