15 Dirtiest Players Of The 2015 NFL Season

By Jacob Kornhauser

Part of the excitement of the NFL is watching huge grown men hit each other at full speed, but when a line is crossed it becomes dangerous and nobody likes to see players get seriously injured. These 15 players put others in harm’s way with dirty play.

15 Dirtiest Players Of The 2015 NFL Season

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LB Clay Matthews - Green Bay Packers — Matthews isn't as infamous for being a dirty player as some of the other players on this list, but that's because he's sneaky about it. He will hit the quarterback late, dive low on ball carriers and wrap up high. He hasn't had a huge incident, but he has had several small ones that have added up.

S Michael Griffin - Tennessee Titans — It seems like there are a lot of dirty safeties in the NFL just out of the nature of the position. You have to launch your body to stop ball carriers and pass catchers, but Griffin tends to take it too far sometimes. He isn't afraid to spear opposing players or go down and hit helmet to helmet. Like it or not, he has to learn to play by the NFL's new rules, which require you to hit with your head up.

CB Captain Munnerlyn - Minnesota Vikings — Munnerlyn has always taken cheap shots, but he took it to a whole new level in Minnesota this past year. As one of the leaders in the secondary, he took it upon himself to try to intimidate opposing players with big hits. Most of the time, it did the job and he blew up plays. Every now and then, though, he would lay a dirty hit, which helped fuel his reputation as a dirty player.

S Bernard Pollard - Tennessee Titans — Pollard is one of the most infamous dirty players in the game, but now that he's on the downturn of his career, he doesn't have as many chances to be dirty. He's a step late on plays he used to blow up, but that doesn't mean he still doesn't take cheap shots. Until the end of his career, he will hit guys late and upset opposing players and fans.

CB Adam "Pacman" Jones - Cincinnati Bengals — Pacman is infamous for multiple reasons, but the dirty part of his game came out again this season in the playoffs. He was in on a dirty hit that knocked out star receiver Antonio Brown in the wild card round, which was bad enough. What he had to say about the incident was even worse. He suggested that Brown was acting when he went down with an injury, even though he clearly was knocked unconscious. Now, that's a total lack of class.

S Dashon Goldson - Washington Redskins — Goldson is one of the best safeties in the game, but he's also one of the dirtiest. In fact, part of what makes him so good is the fact that he lays late hits from time to time. Other players are scared they're going to get hit late. Of course, he's also extremely talented and his ball skills are extremely good for someone who plays his position.

OG Richie Incognito - Buffalo Bills — Incognito has had a well-documented, controversial career and a lot of that has to do with his attitude. He tends not to follow the rules and that includes rules on the field. Whether it be chop blocks, late hits, or other dirty plays, Incognito likes to be at the center of controversy and that's almost exclusively because of his dirty play.

LB Terrell Suggs - Baltimore Ravens — Suggs is a savvy veteran and one of the best linebackers of his generation, but he still plays defense old school sometimes. Of course, he can't legally do that anymore, as the NFL has changed plenty of rules to protect offensive players. Suggs doesn't seem to care much and he still will hit helmet to helmet and hit late in order to shake things up.

WR Odell Beckham Jr. - New York Giants — Beckham Jr. showed his true colors this year when the Giants took on the Panthers. He was frustrated all afternoon by All-Pro cornerback Josh Norman and that frustration boiled over. He got into several scuffles with Carolina players and eventually went head hunting on Norman, which got him suspended for a game. That game may have set the image we see Beckham Jr. as for a long time.

DT Nick Fairley - Detroit Lions — The Lions' defensive line as a whole is relatively dirty, but nobody is dirtier than Fairley (now that Ndamukong Suh left). The gigantic defensive tackle is extremely talented and gets to the quarterback in a hurry, but when he doesn't, he puts hits on signal callers anyway. All the time, he puts opposing quarterbacks at risk by jumping all over them after the throw and landing on their throwing shoulders.

CB Brandon Browner - New Orleans Saints — Everywhere Browner has been, he has laid cheap shot after cheap shot. His huge frame as a cornerback makes him an imposing specimen, so perhaps he tries to use that to his advantage. Whatever the case may be, he often goes helmet to helmet, which only puts himself and others in harm's way.

LB James Harrison - Pittsburgh Steelers — Harrison is nearing the end of his career, but he's never embraced the new way NFL teams are required to play defense. It's almost a guarantee he will never abide by those new rules, which means he will continue to lay out defenseless receivers and hit quarterbacks late. He doesn't seem like a bad person, but he's a dangerous human being on a football field.

S Brandon Meriweather - New York Giants — The worst thing about Meriweather is that he doesn't try to be a dirty player, but he is one anyway. It seems like he's never learned how to properly tackle, because he hits with his head down all the time. That has led to tons of helmet-to-helmet hits and subsequent fines. At this point in his career, he probably will never change his ways and that's not good news for opposing wide receivers.

LB Vontaze Burfict — Burfict probably laid the most controversial hit of this season when he knocked Antonio Brown out cold in the wild card round of the playoffs. He viciously launched himself into Brown, who was defenseless, and ended up costing the Bengals their season. He still denies he did anything wrong, but the hit was absolutely uncalled for.

DT Ndamukong Suh — The Dolphins had a down year this season, so Suh wasn't in the news as much, but he still was a dirty player in 2015. He's just a player who plays to the echo of the whistle, which puts other players at risk. Nobody outside of Miami is a huge fan of the freak athlete, and his constant cheap shots are the reason why.

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