5 greatest undrafted free agents in Pittsburgh Steelers history

Jack Butler

Jack Butler is one of those Steelers who played so long ago that most people alive do not know who he is and have never seen him play. There is just not much footage available  Plus, despite his talent, he played for some horrible Steelers teams yet still leads the Steelers in interceptions among undrafted free agents and only falls behind Mel Blount all-time in interceptions.

That says a lot right there. Considering he played between 1951-1959 when the NFL was still predominately a run-oriented league. Also more fascinating is that Jack Butler still leads the NFL in interceptions for having a career of no more than 104 games. The next closest player is Fred Williamson, who only played 104 games and played for Kansas City, Oakland, and the Steelers only managed 36.

Comparatively, Butler had 5.77 interceptions per season; the only other player in the NFL close to that is Emlen Tunnel, who has the 2nd most interceptions in NFL history and only averaged 5364 picks per season.

When you look at all players drafted or not, Butler falls in the top 30 players to have 52 or more interceptions, of which only six began their career after 1989.

While being a great defensive back and one who should have gone to the Hall of Fame much earlier, they finally enshrined him in 2012.