The 25 Coolest ‘Football Guys’ Of The 1980s

With football season picking up, here we are counting down the 25 coolest football guys of the 1980s.

It was a golden era for the NFL full of quarterbacks with effortless style and running backs with swagger. Defensive stars throughout the league were some of the most feared men on planet earth with muscles the size of Mt. Rushmore. Mustaches were rampant in the best of ways.

While there are certainly dozens of NFL stars from the 1980s that could make the cut, we had to whittle it down to 25 for this list…

The 25 Coolest ‘Football Guys’ Of The 1980s

First up! The same man featured at the top of this article.

Eric Dickerson

A member of the College and Professional Football Halls of Fame, Eric Dickerson went from being an SMU legend to the NFL Rookie of the Year. He led the league in rushing in 4 seasons and looked as stylish as humanly possible along the way.

Dickerson wore his iconic goggles due to myopia and made them look better than anyone else in the game. One of the all time greats, he has been voted one of the 100 best NFL players of all time. All that and he had endless drip.

Bo Jackson

As far as I’m concerned, Bo Jackson was the coolest athlete in any sport during that era. Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson had every kid in America repeating the phrase “Bo Knows” after the geniuses at Nike cooked up that campaign. And as a multi-sport professional athlete, he embodied everything every kid dreaming of the future could imagine.

Then there are the Bo Jackson stories. His 30 for 30 is WILD. There is quite literally nothing Bo Jackson couldn’t do.

Lawrence Taylor

A member of the ‘Big Blue Wrecking Crew,’ 2-time Super Bowl champion Lawrence Taylor had more swagger than 99.9% of the guys on the field in his day. The 1986 NFL MVP would later defeat Bam Bam Bigelow in the WrestleMania XI main event.

He appeared in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday, The Sopranos, The Waterboy and for a while was a fixture in pop culture until his arrest in 2010 and subsequent fall from grace in the public eye.

John Elway

John Elway, one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time, was starting to emerge as that dude in the 1980s.

Elway made the NFL Pro Bowl in 1986, 87, and 89 all while the Denver Broncos were emerging as one of the most popular NFL teams in the country, due in no small part to Starter jackets, and John Elway was the face of that franchise.

Coolest ‘Football Guys’ Of The 1980s: Walter Payton

Where do you even begin with Walter Payton?! He is one of the 3 greatest running backs of all time. A Super Bowl champion. NFL MVP Award winner. 1977 Man of the Year award winner and they renamed the award after him because he was such an incredible guy.

Every kid in Chicago idolized Walter Payton. Any kid that wanted to play football wanted to run the ball like him. He was the coolest of the cool.

William ‘The Fridge’ Perry

William Perry had the coolest nickname in the game during his era, ‘The Refrigerator,’ and he had the prowess to back it up after winning Super Bowl XX with the Chicago Bears. In the years before his NFL days, he was able to pull off 360-dunks and ran a sub-12 second 100-meter at 295-pounds. Unreal.

Well known for the Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle, he also appeared in a ‘Together’ PSA, and had his own G.I. Joe figurine. The Refrigerator was EVERYWHERE in the 1980s.

Reggie White

Reggie White was a beast of a man both on and off the field. He was another pure physical embodiment of the term ‘football guy.’ Everyone of his peers respected Reggie White as that dude who both talked the talk and walked the walk. He was also an ordained minister!

The ‘Minister of Defense’ nickname is, in my humble opinion, the best nickname of the 1980s. He also had longevity, winning the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1987 and then again eleven years later in 1998.

Earl Campbell

Everything about ‘Earl Campbell’ screams ‘football guy’ from his build to his demeanor. He was the #1 overall pick in the 1978 NFL Draft and went on to become one of the greatest running backs in league history, also winning the 1979 NFL MVP Award. He was inducted into Football Hall of Fame in 1991 and some say he was such a beast of a man that he could have gone straight from high school to the NFL.

‘The Tyler Rose’ as he came to be known led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 1980 to kick off the decade, while built like an absolute mountain of a man at 5’11” and 232 pounds. Coming out of the University of Texas-Austin, everyone in the Lone Star State thought he was the baddest dude around, and he was.

Deion Sanders

Deion Sanders just barely made this list because he only entered the NFL for his rookie season with the Atlanta Falcons in 1989. That said, he was already one of the most high-profile football stars in the country thanks to his time at Florida State University with legendary head coach Bobby Bowden.

Neon Deion came into the league and stole the spotlight. He was also a dual sport athlete like Bo Jackson which had every kid in America wanting to be like him.

Jerry Rice

If you were playing catch with your brothers or friends from the neighborhood and lining up at wide receiver then there was only one WR you wanted to be: Jerry Rice. The greatest of all-time.

I was never a San Francisco 49ers fan due to growing up on the literal opposite corner of the country but man, I loved Jerry as a kid. Everyone did. He didn’t necessarily exude the sauce like some NFL stars but he was the prototypical ‘football guy’ who could not and would not be stopped by anyone.

Joe Montana

With 4 Super Bowl wins and 3 Super Bowl MVPs, Joe Montana was the most clutch football guy in the game during his era. His nickname was literally ‘Joe Cool’ like the camel.

How could it possibly get cooler than that?

Coolest ‘Football Guys’ Of The 1980s: Billy ‘White Shoes’ Johnson

Considered to be one of the most electrifying players of his era, Billy ‘White Shoes’ Johnson was another wide receiver who had the sauce. He is often credited as being the dude who invented modern touchdown celebrations.

That didn’t go over well with everyone of course but he changed the game with his loud personality and boisterous ‘football guy’ presence. It is a shame more wide receivers don’t try and emulate his style these days.

Dan Marino

Dan Marino, iconic ‘Football Guy,’ had an absolute rocket of an arm. He was the face of the Miami Dolphins franchise and in 1984 swept the awards, winning the NFL MVP Award, Offensive Player of the Year Award, and the Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Marino led the league in passing yards 5x and later had that cameo in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective which was just a testament to how Dan was part of pop culture and someone bigger than just the game of football… Then there was the entire city of Miami behind him. Miami as a city PEAKED in the 1980s with the disco and party boom and Marino was one of the faces of all that partying.

Bruce Smith

Drafted #1 overall out of Virginia Tech in the 1985 NFL Draft, Bruce Smith is another player who had a legendary nickname: ‘The Sack Man.’

Bruce Smith was considered a ‘Silent Assassin’ by his peers and the NFL media. And that was a great thing because he had this indecipherable aura of greatness at everything he did. The dude was putting up double digits in sacks in the late 80s and one of the coolest, most feared men in the league.

Warren Moon

Warren Moon had it all. His throwing motion was as smooth as Kerrygold Butter and he could throw a football over them there mountains just like Uncle Rico.

He was fire and ice, with the ability to manipulate opposing defenses with his effortless play or overpower them. Also the fact that he came over from the CFL in Canada after winning their Grey Cup 5 times made him this unknown commodity of cool.

Jim Kelly

Did Jim Kelly look like the coolest quarterback in the league? Not necessarily. In fact, to me he just looks like Eli Manning’s older cousin. But to football fans in the 1980s, Jim Kelly was one of the coolest guys around.

Kelly had is own offense name, the ‘K-Gun Offense,’ and was absolutely electric with the Buffalo Bills after leaving the Houston Gamblers. Like the 49ers, Dolphins, and Broncos, Jim Kelly’s Buffalo Bills were a team you couldn’t afford to miss on TV and he was the face of all that.

Coolest ‘Football Guys’ Of The 1980s: Ronnie Lott

That dude Ronnie Lott was a killer on the field. A 4x Super Bowl champion with the San Francisco 49ers, he is a member of the Football Hall of Fame, the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team, and if all that isn’t cool enough… Well, he once had the tip of his pinky finger amputated just so he could keep playing.

Is there anything that screams ‘football guy’ more than having a literal appendage amputated just to play more football?! Ronnie Lott, certified as that dude.

John Riggins

John Riggins aka ‘Riggo’ aka ‘Diesel’ was man enough to hold onto two fantastic nicknames. He was considered a penultimate ‘football guy’ for having crushing power as a fullback but also an appearance that a ton of NFL fans found relatable. A member of the NFL’s 1980s All Decade Team, John Riggins was so popular he has a street named after him in Kansas, a street which his former high school is located on.

But he was best known for what is simply called ‘The Run.’ His 43-yard touchdown on 4th-and-1 in Super Bowl XVII in 1983 is one of the coolest plays in NFL hstory.

Howie Long

Howie Long had that perfect combination of ‘Football Buy’ looks along with a face for TV. That proved to be true hence why he’s on our TV screens every week these days during the NFL season but it certainly helped elevate his profile during his NFL playing days.

He was the living embodiment of the Raiders’ reputation in the 1980s as being a punishingly aggressive team. The Raiders were the ‘cool kids’ of the NFL at the time. The dangerous squad. And he was the face of all that.

Randall Cunningham

There’s just something about Philadelphia Eagles players from the 1980s that exuded ‘Cool Football Guy’ aura and quarterback Randall Cunningham was certainly a part of that. He was a running back with an arm. Or a quarterback with wheels. The dude was Lamar Jackson before Lamar was ever born.

You know what’s cool? A quarterback rushing for 624 yards in a game. He did that. He also rushed for over 500 yards multiple times. The man was electric.

Dan Hampton

A member of the feared Chicago Bears defense, Dan Hampton had that ‘Football Guy’ coolness you simply didn’t want to test because he could put up and never had to shut up.

Nicknamed the ‘Danimal,’ you could easily envision the former Arkansas Razorback doing overhead presses with a keg at a party back in college. He was a Super Bowl XX champ, member of the 1980s All-Decade Team, and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Danimal had sauce.

Lee Roy Selmon

I’m just going to come out and say it: there are NOT enough parents naming their kids Lee Roy anymore. Lee Roy Selmon was an icon in Tampa Bay and the team’s very first NFL Draft pick, taken #1 overall in the 1976 NFL Draft, and the face of the franchise for years to come.

Rocking that Bucco Bruce on his helmet, Lee Roy Selmon was a certified unit of a man. If the train was coming through you wanted to get off the tracks or else you were about to get flattened.

Coolest ‘Football Guys’ Of The 1980s: Mel Blount

Another 4-time Super Bowl champion, Steelers cornerback Mel Blount was the player every modern cornerback in the league is modeled after. He was that dude. The NFL literally had to institute a rule change in 1978 to stop him (and others) from dominating wide receivers because he shut down everyone he faced. Mel Blount had the Steel Curtain aura. His quiet confidence were never to be tested.

Todd Christensen

If you were going to draw up a picture of ‘cool 1980s football guy’ based on nothing but characteristics alone you would inevitable draw a picture of Todd Christensen with his absolutely massive mustache and even bigger muscles.

He spent most of the 1980s with the Raiders and was one of the decade’s best tight ends. On a team full of huge personalities, Todd Christensen still managed to stand out. On top of all that, he was said to have regularly quoted scripture and literature from memory and had one of the sharpest minds the game has ever seen.

Mark Bavaro

Last but not least we have tight end Mark Bavaro. His nickname was ‘Dawg.’ You know who had that dawg in him before that was ever a phrase? Mark Bavaro did. The original Dawg.

Bavaro was a two-time Super Bowl champion, had hands like glue, and came out of Notre Dame in 1985 so he already had millions of fans before he ever even step foot in the NFL. Bavaro had a blue collar aura that fit perfectly with the New York Giants fans of that era.

READ NEXT: The 10 NFL QBs Who Played For The Most Different Teams During Their Career