The end of a Hall of Fame career is not always glorious. In fact, it often involves an iconic athlete playing out the string in an unfamiliar place for an unfamiliar team. Think Johnny Unitas with the San
Diego Chargers or Brett Favre with the Minnesota Vikings. Think Emmitt Smith with the Arizona Cardinals. Think Randy Moss with the Tennessee Titans or Julio Jones with the Tennessee Titans or DeAndre Hopkins with the Tennessee Titans or Andre Johnson with the Tennessee Titans.
Or think Reggie White with the Carolina Panthers, the Packers’ opponent for this week. As far as NFL defenders, it doesn’t get much more legendary than White, who excelled with two franchises, first with the Philadelphia Eagles and then, of course, with the Green Bay Packers.
White recorded 68.5 sacks over six seasons with the Packers, winning Super Bowl XXXI in 1996, but called it quits after the 1998 season, spending the year out of football in 1999.
But in the summer of 2000, rumors began to percolate that White was amenable to a return to the NFL. Even though he’d be returning for his age 39 season, White had no shortage of suitors. Philadelphia and Seattle led the early charge in the White sweepstakes, and both made immediate sense, given White’s connections to both teams. Philadelphia was where his NFL career began (though not his pro football career, which launched with the USFL’s Memphis Showboats), and by 2000, Andy Reid was the head coach of the Eagles. Reid, of course, had crossed paths with White in Green Bay.
In Seattle, meanwhile, Mike Holmgren was calling the shots, and although White had never played for Seattle, Holmgren obviously represented a pretty strong tie for White. Holmgren had played a role in recruiting White to Green Bay, and seemed poised to do the same thing for White in Seattle.
In addition, the Tennessee Titans, relatively recently relocated from Houston, were contenders. White was originally from Tennessee, and it was thought that the Titans might thus have an inside track at landing the unexpected free agent. Fresh off a Super Bowl appearance, White would have been an interesting addition to an already strong defense.
But in the end, it was the Carolina Panthers that sealed the deal, signing White to a frankly ridiculous five-year, $20 million deal. Reports out of Tennessee suggested the Titans were only interested in offering White around $700,000. I think it’s clear why White landed where he did.
White brought instant credibility to the Panthers’ defense, and how could he not? It’s not every day you get a chance to sign a living legend. And more importantly, he performed. Maybe not quite to the level you’d expect for the contract he signed, but he played pretty well for a guy who turned 39 during the season who’d sat the previous year out. Appearing in all 16 games, White recorded 5.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, and forced a fumble. The Panthers finished the year ranked 12th in scoring defense, though their team sack total dropped from 35 in 1999 to just 27 in 2000.
But White’s one-year sojourn to Carolina did have done unusual bright spot: a victory over the Green Bay Packers.
Under the guidance of first-year head coach Mike Sherman, the Packers traveled to meet the Panthers on Monday Night Football in Week 13 of the 2000 season, and promptly got wrecked. The Panthers took the opening kickoff and marched down for a touchdown, the Packers went three and out, and the Panthers went back down and scored again. Just like that, it was 14-0 and the tone for the game was set. The Packers later tied it up, but the Panthers poured it on in the second half and pulled away for a 31-14 victory.
White was, however, essentially a non-factor. He didn’t record a sack or a tackle, despite starting at defensive end. In fact, White’s meaningful contributions to the Panthers were all but over. By the time he played against the Packers, he’d already logged every sack he’d make with the Panthers, and would only manage two more tackles over the final four games of the season before calling it quits for a second time.
