The Falcons in Canton

The first great Falcon and still the only Hall of Famer who spent the bulk of his career in Atlanta. Defensive rookie of the year in 1968, six Pro Bowls here, and the edge of the 1977 Grits Blitz, the defense that gave up 129 points in 14 games and still holds the record. Canton took 33 years to call.

Five seasons, and the most watchable player the franchise has had. He returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown in his first NFL game, played outfield for the Braves in the same week more than once, and left for San Francisco in 1994. Atlanta got the years when nobody could throw at him.

Four hundred and nine catches in five Atlanta seasons, at an age when tight ends are usually done. He was the safety valve on the 2012 team that went 13-3 and came up a play short of the Super Bowl, and he retired here rather than chase a ring somewhere else.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer, in two separate stints a decade apart. The one everyone remembers is the 38-yarder in overtime in Minnesota that sent the 1998 team to the Super Bowl, kicked in a building where nobody expected Atlanta to win.

Two seasons, one of them historic. On a Thursday night in September 2014 he took a punt back against Tampa Bay and passed Deion Sanders for the most return touchdowns in NFL history. The best return man who ever lived set the record in a Falcons uniform, which deserves a wall somewhere in the building.

Atlanta drafted him in the second round, played him four times, and got two interceptions and no completions for the trouble. Then they traded him to Green Bay for a first-round pick. It is the worst trade in franchise history and the reason his name is on this list at all.

One season, at 36, on the team that went to Super Bowl LI. He was brought in to rush the passer on obvious downs and did exactly that, which is why a player with 125.5 career sacks appears here with a single year in the column.

Two seasons in Atlanta in the middle of a career that ended with 150.5 sacks, one of the five highest totals in NFL history. He arrived from Minnesota at 33, gave the Falcons the best pass rush they had that decade, and went to San Francisco and back to Minnesota to finish.

The last stop of a Hall of Fame career, one year after the same kind of one-season cameo with the Raiders. He appears on both of our Hall of Fame pages, a year apart, which tells you what these lists are made of.

The expansion Falcons' second season, and the first name on the roster anyone outside Georgia knew, arriving from Philadelphia by way of Dallas and Los Angeles. He gave a one-win team a year of his prime, then moved on to Cleveland. Canton called 31 years later.

Scouted for the Falcons in their first years, before building the rosters that took Miami, Washington and San Diego to seven Super Bowls between them. Atlanta had him early and did not keep him, which is its own kind of franchise history.