Who Are The Tallest Players In The NFL?

The NFL is well known for having some of the biggest and strongest athletes in the world, like 374 lbs offensive tackle Michael Jasper or Justin Ernest who in 1999 bench pressed 225 lbs 51 times during his combine. 

Size, strength and speed are key components to a successful NFL player - the bigger, the stronger and the faster the player is, the more they add to their team. Height on the other hand isn't always a pre-requisite to NFL success, just ask Doug Flutie or 5' 5" Trindon Holliday.

However, there are quite a few players who could be found on the NBA courts and not look out of place, height wise.

We take a look at the tallest players to play in the NFL and break down the tallest by positions.

The Tallest Player To Play In The NFL

The record for the tallest player in the NFL is 7 foot tall with the honor going to Oakland Raiders tackle Richard Sligh. After being drafted in 1967, Sligh played a total of eight games with the Raiders during the 1967 season. He never played another down after but was a reserve for the 1968 Raiders - a team that eventually lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II.

Much like Richard Sligh, the defensive tackle position is where you will find most of the tallest men in the game. Since 1990, there have been a total of seven 6' 9" players to play the tackle position in the NFL.

Below are details on each of the seven tackles:

The award for the biggest and tallest player to play in the NFL goes to eleven-time Pro Bowl selection Jonathan Ogden who at 6' 9" and 345 lbs is the tallest and heaviest player to play the game.

Tallest Players By Position

It isn't too surprising that the tallest player are found along the line of scrimmage must like the heaviest players are found there as well. We decided to look at the other positions in the game to see who were the tallest players to play at each position.

Here is the full list of tallest players by position:

Notes:

• At 6' 8" WR Wes Lyons is 13 inches or over a foot taller than Trindon Holliday, the shortest player to play the position.
   
• James Atkins, who at 5' 8" is the shortest Tackle in history and is over a foot shorter than the tallest players to play the position.
   
• 10 inches is the difference between tallest QBs Dan McGwire and Matt Blundin and the shortest QB to play Doug Flutie (5' 10").

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