The tackling machine, big, strong, durable, smart, a 3 down LBer....one of my favorite Jets of all time, just got his jersey a few months ago....
I remember when the Jets drafted Marvin Jones and Bruce Coslet said he wasn't going up against chopped liver. Kyle was much better than chopped liver, a great pro.
Vastly underrated linebacker. The guy was always around the ball. Never had to leave the field. David Harris paid homage to him today.
When he used to get announced running out of the tunnel: "Kiiiiiiiiiyaaaallllllllllll Kallllllllllifffffffffffton!" I'm must trying to give a written audio, but you were there, and you know what I'm talking about. What happened to the countdown thread? Where we at?
Kyle was a Pro's pro, supersmart, was always in the right spot, probably the surest tackler we ever had....the Countdown thread is there we are up to my favorite Jet, Lou Piccone 89
Kyle Clifton was no Stan Blinka---------> lol That said very solid player , always around the ball, excellent tackler and sadly he played on many crappy teams !
Ah, memories of Stan Blinka. I can still see rookie NYG RB Rodney Hampton #27 out of Georgia making a complete milkshake out of Stan in their preseason tilt - totally faked him out of his jock. Don't want to rain on the KCiffton parade but this solid albeit poor man's Zack Thomas (both came out of TCU) reminds me of one of the Jets' worst drafts (1984); one that would have had me completely cleaning house afterwards if I were Leon Hess. Jets grabbed Clifton in the 3rd out of TCU, a nice pick at that spot. They also had two 1st round picks and two early 2nd round picks. They wanted a linebacker? They had "greatest Florida Gator team" LB Wilber Marshall staring them in the face. The Jets pick? Russell Carter: BUST. With their second 1st round pick: Ron Farout: MAJOR BUST. With their first of two 2nd round picks: Jim Sweeny out of Pitt - nice player. Only problem was the pick right after Sweeny: Boomer Esiason. With their second of two 2nd round picks? The immortal Glenn Dennison: BUST. Round 3: Clifton. Round 4: Bobby Bell, LB. Only problem was he wasn't the "other" Bobby Bell. Some role player pick ups after that (Tony Paige, Harry Hamilton) but overall a GM/scouting staff fireable mess. Sorry for the sidetracking - end of rant.
I respect your opinion Joe, but Kyle was better than solid, should have been a multiple pro bowler if he played for a team the NFL didn't hate
It was awesome to see David Harris honor Kyle Clifton with words of praise but David Harris was never going to break Clifton's total tackles record as a Jet to begin with. Ever. Harris finished with 1,142 combined tackles during his career (playoffs included). Clifton finished with 1,483 combined tackles during his career (regular season alone). That's a differental of 341 combined tackles. David The Hitman Harris really never even had a chance to break Kyle Clifton's record. Not unless he played for another 4-5 seasons that is.
I was in grad school at SMU when Eric Dickerson, Craig James, Russell Carter, & Michael Carter were there and they won the National Championship. Carter was a stud in college. I was elated when the Jets drafted him, then shocked when he turned out to be a bust. The only thing I can think of is that he just didn't love the game, but played it more for the fame and adulation. I think he may have liked to party too much as well.
