The Green Bay Packers will kickoff their 2023 season 76 days from now against the Chicago Bears. In celebration of a new era of Packers football and in anticipation for the upcoming season, Wisconsin Sports Heroics will present the top 100 players in franchise history in the 100 days leading up to the start of the regular season. Our rankings are based on Pro Football References Approximate Value stat, which gives a numeric value to each season a player plays in.
Green Bay Packers Greatest Player #76: Bill Forester
I have spoken in previous articles in this series that the AV stat is flawed in that it only tracks data back to 1960. How else does Paul Hornung end up so low on this list? The same is true for today’s featured player, linebacker Bill “Bubba” Forester.
Forester comes in 76th in Packers history with an AV of 52. The thing is, that total is from his final four seasons in the NFL. He played for Green Bay for 11 seasons, starting in 1953 when the team drafted him in third round (31st overall pick) in the NFL Draft.
From 1960-1962, Forester was a three-time First Team All Pro and three-time Pro Bowl selection. He also made the Pro Bowl in 1959. His AV’s in his last four seasons were 12, 12, 18, and 10.
Despite making the Pro Bowl and being named a First Team All Pro late in his career, Forester enjoyed immense success early on too. For example, in 1957, he was responsible for eight total takeaways on defense. Forester had four interceptions that season to go with four fumble recoveries.
Perhaps it is no surprise that Forester’s accolades coincided with the arrival of Vince Lombardi as Green Bay’s head coach. Winning tends to give players much more attention from voters than they would get on losing teams.
Forester retired after the 1963 season, having won two NFL Championships with Lombardi and the Packers. He returned to his hometown of Dallas, Texas where he ran a sporting goods business for many years. Forester passed away in 2007 at the age of 74.
Green Bay Packers Greatest Players List
- #100- Daryn Colledge
- #99- Mike Butler
- #98- Bernardo Harris
- #97- Tyrone Williams
- #96- Dick Himes
- #95- Mason Crosby
- #94- Mike McCoy
- #93- Gilbert Brown
- #92- Ryan Pickett
- #91- Ron Kostelnik
- #90- Earl Dotson
- #89- Paul Hornung
- #88- Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila
- #87- Robert Brooks
- #86- Ken Bowman
- #85- Edgar Bennett
- #84- Jesse Whittenton
- #83- Tim Harris
- #82- Gerry Ellis
- #81- Jim Carter
- #80- Willie Buchanon
- #79- James Jones
- #78- Al Harris
- #77- Santana Dotson
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