Is troy polamalu the best safety in the 2000s of the nfl?
October 10, 2025
Is troy polamalu the best safety in the 2000s of the nfl?
20 comments
Him or Ed Reed. Only two answers I’ll accept.
Yes.
I guess Reed was the better ball hawk. Troy’s game was unique though, no one played the position like he did.
IMO, Troy was usually the most outstanding player on the field during his career.
Troy polamalu had higher highs, Reed was more consistent
If anybody tells you anybody else, they’re lying out their ass
And the Steelers have always loved our high highs.
Who cares about “best” there are two spots and everyone knows who they are
Troy and ed above all
A lot of other *really* good safeties played in that time frame. Brian Dawkins, John Lynch, Rodney Harrison, Bob Sanders all come to mind. That said just to say its either Troy or Ed Reed and it isnt close. The fact that those two can stand out so clearly even among all the others just says how fucking special they were.
Im obviously biased towards Troy, and the big difference for me was you just never knew where or what he was going to do. Reed might be the best center field style safety ever but it was at least kind of predictable, you knew he was back there lurking. Troy on the other hand could be anywhere at seemingly any time. Will he drop back into coverage? Will he rush? Why is he over there?? The plays he made just didnt have any explanation
Somebody ask Pat McAffee what he thinks.
Ed made quarterbacks lose sleep.
Troy made entire offenses lose sleep.
Troy and Ed. Not even just the 2000’s either, all time. They’re too different to say one over the other as well.
Also, you kids got their positions wrong in the video.
It’s troy or ed. They really had different skill sets (and positions) though
During Troy’s career, the team won 2/3 of their games with him in the lineup, and barely half when he wasn’t. That’s with a great supporting cast too.
It annoys me that Troy gets disrespected by a lot of modern NFL fans because he didn’t really accumulate a huge amount of total DB stats. You’ll commonly see people rank Ed Reed way above him and compare him to Dawkins and others. Troy and Reed were both so obviously ahead of the rest of the field. Troy in his peak was more of a game changer than Ed Reed and did things Reed could never do. At worst you can safely say Reed is the best FS and Troy the best SS. Personally if I had to choose one at their absolute best I’d go Troy and it wouldn’t be that tough of a choice.
Ed Reed was a natural free safety, and one of the best of all time (it’s a very reasonable argument to say he IS the greatest FS of all time).
Troy Polamalu was not a natural strong safety the way Ed Reed was a natural free safety. Troy was more of a natural football player that the Steelers simply *put* at SS because he sort of fit there better than anywhere else. And yeah, he paired really great with Ryan Clark, and did all sorts of amazing SS things that there are plenty of highlights of, and you can watch them all day. But there was more stuff than made the highlight reels that caused victory.
He would flex EVERYWHERE. DB spots, sure. But also LB or even DE. Heck, I’m pretty sure I remember him even hanging out next to the NT before the snap. QBs couldn’t even figure out what side of the field he was playing, let alone what position or defensive responsibilities.
Then the plays he would make, my gosh. Again, yes, the normal safety stuff. And the highlight reel plays (oh, that INT vs the Chargers – prettiest INT in NFL history). But one of my favorites, I can’t remember what game it was, but the offense executed perfectly and ended up with not one but TWO free pulling OLs on the sideline in front of the RB. Nobody but Troy between them (around midfield) and the end zone. Troy SPLITS the pulling linemen by slicing between them and tackles the RB. It was like a bloody magic trick. I still don’t know how he did it.
It was stuff like that that set Troy apart. Even he himself would say there were more athletic safeties in the league as his contemporaries (i believe he cited Adrian Wilson a few times), but athleticism alone couldn’t pull off what Troy could do.
Legion of boom had two good ones.
Pains to say but Ed might have been overall better. The guy did return punts.
Troy was a ball hawk, but played in a very unique system. Reed could probably have made a bigger impact regardless of a scheme.
Have to separate free safety from strong safety in which case I’d say polamalu was the best strong safety and ed reed the best free safety.
20 comments
Him or Ed Reed. Only two answers I’ll accept.
Yes.
I guess Reed was the better ball hawk. Troy’s game was unique though, no one played the position like he did.
IMO, Troy was usually the most outstanding player on the field during his career.
Troy polamalu had higher highs, Reed was more consistent
If anybody tells you anybody else, they’re lying out their ass
And the Steelers have always loved our high highs.
Who cares about “best” there are two spots and everyone knows who they are
Troy and ed above all
A lot of other *really* good safeties played in that time frame. Brian Dawkins, John Lynch, Rodney Harrison, Bob Sanders all come to mind. That said just to say its either Troy or Ed Reed and it isnt close. The fact that those two can stand out so clearly even among all the others just says how fucking special they were.
Im obviously biased towards Troy, and the big difference for me was you just never knew where or what he was going to do. Reed might be the best center field style safety ever but it was at least kind of predictable, you knew he was back there lurking. Troy on the other hand could be anywhere at seemingly any time. Will he drop back into coverage? Will he rush? Why is he over there?? The plays he made just didnt have any explanation
Somebody ask Pat McAffee what he thinks.
Ed made quarterbacks lose sleep.
Troy made entire offenses lose sleep.
Troy and Ed. Not even just the 2000’s either, all time. They’re too different to say one over the other as well.
Also, you kids got their positions wrong in the video.
It’s troy or ed. They really had different skill sets (and positions) though
During Troy’s career, the team won 2/3 of their games with him in the lineup, and barely half when he wasn’t. That’s with a great supporting cast too.
Ummm dawkins
https://i.redd.it/y1yt3vletduf1.gif
More like all- time
Yes.
It annoys me that Troy gets disrespected by a lot of modern NFL fans because he didn’t really accumulate a huge amount of total DB stats. You’ll commonly see people rank Ed Reed way above him and compare him to Dawkins and others. Troy and Reed were both so obviously ahead of the rest of the field. Troy in his peak was more of a game changer than Ed Reed and did things Reed could never do. At worst you can safely say Reed is the best FS and Troy the best SS. Personally if I had to choose one at their absolute best I’d go Troy and it wouldn’t be that tough of a choice.
Ed Reed was a natural free safety, and one of the best of all time (it’s a very reasonable argument to say he IS the greatest FS of all time).
Troy Polamalu was not a natural strong safety the way Ed Reed was a natural free safety. Troy was more of a natural football player that the Steelers simply *put* at SS because he sort of fit there better than anywhere else. And yeah, he paired really great with Ryan Clark, and did all sorts of amazing SS things that there are plenty of highlights of, and you can watch them all day. But there was more stuff than made the highlight reels that caused victory.
He would flex EVERYWHERE. DB spots, sure. But also LB or even DE. Heck, I’m pretty sure I remember him even hanging out next to the NT before the snap. QBs couldn’t even figure out what side of the field he was playing, let alone what position or defensive responsibilities.
Then the plays he would make, my gosh. Again, yes, the normal safety stuff. And the highlight reel plays (oh, that INT vs the Chargers – prettiest INT in NFL history). But one of my favorites, I can’t remember what game it was, but the offense executed perfectly and ended up with not one but TWO free pulling OLs on the sideline in front of the RB. Nobody but Troy between them (around midfield) and the end zone. Troy SPLITS the pulling linemen by slicing between them and tackles the RB. It was like a bloody magic trick. I still don’t know how he did it.
It was stuff like that that set Troy apart. Even he himself would say there were more athletic safeties in the league as his contemporaries (i believe he cited Adrian Wilson a few times), but athleticism alone couldn’t pull off what Troy could do.
Legion of boom had two good ones.
Pains to say but Ed might have been overall better. The guy did return punts.
Troy was a ball hawk, but played in a very unique system. Reed could probably have made a bigger impact regardless of a scheme.
Have to separate free safety from strong safety in which case I’d say polamalu was the best strong safety and ed reed the best free safety.