Dick Butkus
The thing that jumped out when you watched Butkus play live or marveled at his highlights, is that the player he tackled always went backwards after contact. There were no drag-down tackles. There was Butkus striking a ball carrier, and that ball carrier’s momentum instantly being reversed.
Butkus played just nine seasons on mostly bad Bears teams from 1965-73, before knee injuries forced an early end to a brilliant career. Those Bears teams were uninspiring, but not unwatchable, if only because of the controlled violence that Butkus imposed upon his opponents, even toward the end, when he was limping noticeably after multiple knee surgeries.