Al Wilson Retires

Al Wilson punished defenders for eight seasons for the Denver Broncos.

I wanted to make some room on SportRoids to give a shout out for the recently announced retiree Al Wilson. For those of you unfamiliar with him, Al Wilson was the starting middle linebacker for the Denver Broncos from 1999 through 2006. Out of a possible 128 regular season games, Wilson only missed three of them, and ended up as the starter in 120.

Al Wilson will be remembered by NFL fans as one of the greatest sideline-to-sideline middle linebackers of the league, and by Broncos faithful as one of the greatest defensive player in Denver history. During eight seasons playing in the National Football League, he managed to make the pro bowl five out of eight. The greatest thing about him was that he proved his worth by being an all-around defensive player by posting stats in all the significant categories, as opposed to being a standout in one or two.

Al Wilson, great sportsman, helps up Tom Brady after sacking him.

As a pass rusher, Wilson averaged around three sacks per season for his career. As a coverage man, when he didn’t get one of his five career interceptions, he averaged 6.8 pass deflections per year. As a playmaker Wilson averaged a forced fumble per season, and as a sure tackler, averaged 70 solos, 19.9 assisted, for a total of 89.9 per campaign.

Aside from his renaissance man-like statistics, Al was one of the more recognizable emotional defensive leaders of the NFL, and will undoubtedly be missed. He was only 31 years old when he suffered his inevitably career-ending injury on December 3^rd.

AL WILSON, SPORTSROIDS SALUTES YOU!