Kevin Greene

Kevin Darwin Greene (July 31, 1962 – December 21, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end and linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1985 through 1999.

Greene was born on July 31, 1962, in Schenectady, New York.

His father was a colonel in the army, making Greene an army brat.

He began playing football on military bases.

The Greene family moved to different bases and spent three years in Mannheim, Germany before they settled in Granite City, Illinois, in 1976.

Greene played football, basketball, and was a high jumper for the track team at Granite City High School.

He graduated in 1980 and was inducted into the Granite City Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

After graduating from high school, Greene enrolled at Auburn University and entered into the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) basic training for the United States National Guard at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama.

He attempted to walk-on to the Auburn Tigers in college football as a punter in 1980.

He tried out again in 1983, and made the team.

Jeff Fisher became the new defensive coordinator and switched the Rams to a 4–3 defense, a system Greene was unfamiliar with, after playing in a 3–4 defense since 1983.

Although he had compiled 46 sacks during the previous three seasons, Greene was moved from left outside linebacker in a 3–4 to right defensive end in a 4–3.

After five games Greene was moved to left linebacker for a month and a half and then due to injuries he was moved to left defensive end for the remainder of the seasons.

In all, he started five games at right defensive end, five games at left linebacker and six games at left defensive end and even though he had a career-high in tackles for loss (8) he ended the year with only 3 sacks—his lowest total, by far, since his rookie season.

In 1984 he won the Zeke Smith Award as Defensive Player of the Year.

He had 69 career tackles as an outside linebacker and 11 sacks his senior year where he led the Southeastern Conference and won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1984.

Greene earned a degree in criminal justice at Auburn.

He completed ROTC while at Auburn and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Alabama Army National Guard.

After playing his first year in the NFL, during the off season, he graduated from the RC-1-86 Armor Officer Basic Course at Fort Knox.

During his military career, he earned the rank of captain and completed airborne training at Fort Benning to become a paratrooper.

The Birmingham Stallions selected Greene in the 1985 United States Football League Territorial Draft.

He was later selected by the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League in the fifth round (113th overall) of the 1985 NFL draft.

From 1985 through 1987, Greene played on left defensive end in the Rams nickel defense and was second on the team in sacks in both 1986 and 1987.

His first sack came in 1985, in a playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys, and it was in the defensive end role that the sack came.

In 1988, Greene became the starting left outside linebacker in the Rams base defense that was enhanced by defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur's Eagle 5-Linebacker defense which he used extensively from 1988 to 1990.

In 1988, Greene led the Rams with 16 1⁄2 sacks which was second overall in the NFL behind Reggie White.

That total included 4 1⁄2 sacks against the San Francisco 49ers' Joe Montana in a key late-season game that the Rams had to win in order to make the playoffs, which they did.

In 1989, Greene made both the First and Second All-Pro Team and was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time with his second consecutive season of 161⁄2 sacks (4th in the NFL).

He had 160 sacks in his career, which ranks third among NFL career sack leaders, and he was voted to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.

Greene signed a three-year $2.5 million contract with the Rams prior to the 1990 season.

His 13 sacks (tied for sixth in the NFL) in 1990 gave him 46 sacks for that three-year period, the most of any player in the NFL for that span.

In 1991, the Rams changed defenses and defensive coordinators.

The entire Rams' coaching staff was released after the 1991 season.

In 1992, the Rams hired Chuck Knox as head coach.

The Rams remained a 4–3 defensive team under defensive coordinator George Dyer, and Greene continued to play left outside linebacker.

His production returned as he led his team in both tackles and sacks.

He was later an outside linebackers coach for the Green Bay Packers from 2009 through 2013 and the New York Jets from 2017 through 2018.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

Greene played college football for the Auburn Tigers.

He was a three-time All-Pro during his NFL playing career and was twice the league leader in sacks.