[Rain Man]

My gut reaction was Willie Lanier. The guy was pure violence, but with smarts.

However, thinking about it more, I voted for Bobby Bell. He was enough older that I barely saw him play, but he went into the Hall of Fame pretty quickly if I remember right, was apparently an amazing athlete, and did everything for the Chiefs - run, pass, even long snap. I've read that he could even be their emergency quarterback.

Of course, comparing Lanier and Bell is like asking whether Everest or K2 is a bigger mountain.

I adore Derrick Thomas too, but Lanier and Bell are legendary and played on a defense that now has four Hall of Famers and possibly five if Johnny Robinson ever gets in. Maybe that helps their cause, I don't know.

My theory was that Bell wouldn't get a lot of votes, but he and Lanier would split votes and the younger voters would carry DT to victory. So far, I'm wrong.