All-time Steeler great Alan Faneca has decided to call it career. The Steelers’ first round pick in 1998 out of LSU, Faneca was the best player on the Steelers’ offensive line for a decade, highlighted with a Superbowl championship in 2005 (Max Starks is the only remaining player from the 2005 starting line).
Faneca is regarded as one of the best pulling guards in NFL History and paved the way for much of Jerome Bettis’ legendary career. The block he threw in the Superbowl to spring Willie Parker for 75 yards is the kind of play Faneca is all about.
When Ken Whisenhunt was passed over for the Steelers’ head coaching job and he went to Arizona (with offensive line coach, Russ Grimm), Faneca decided to sign with the New York Jets for a metric ton of hundred dollar bills. Two seasons later, he joined the Whizard of AZ and played his final season with the Cardinals.
Alan Faneca will be remembered as one of the greatest offensive linemen in Steelers history, and although he plays a media-unfriendly position, we all hope to see him in the Hall of Fame someday.
Cheers, Alan. Congratulations on a great career.
