The Crane Pool Forum

Posted: **Wed May 31, 2023 10:35 pm**

Freeman McNeil	Jeff Lageman

RB	DE–LB
1981–1992	1989–1994
First-Team All-Pro (1982). Three-time Pro-Bowler (1982, 1984–1985). NFL rushing leader (1982). Jets Ring of Honor. Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame (2005). Retired with highest rushing total (now second) in team history.	Second-team All-Pro (1991). Pro-Football Writers Association All-Rookie Team (1989). Fifteenth all- time in sacks by a Jet.
Danced with my mother at the wedding of Anne Marie Rozelle.	Was picked 14th overall by the Jets in the 1989 NFL draft, prompting ESPN's Mel Kiper to state that the Jets "don't know what they're doing." "Even though I laugh about it now, when I was younger I certainly wanted to rip Mel Kiper's head off and do things to him that most people wouldn't want to think about," Lagemean would later say. "But now that I'm older, it's not a big deal."

Posted: **Thu Jun 01, 2023 8:42 am**

I picked McNeil, but Jeff's comment about Kiper made me laugh.
About that dance. Who asked who to dance? We need details.
Later

Posted: **Thu Jun 01, 2023 1:51 pm**

I dunno. My dad was in charge of security for The Regency Hotel at the time. I don't think the wedding was at the hotel, but perhaps in the northern suburbs. Rozelle may have met him at the hotel, liked him, and asked him to take charge of security at the wedding offsite.

I think it's something like that, but he also got enjoy the wedding as a guest and bring my mom. McNeil sat at their table, and I think Dad said he was the only player on the guest list, or perhaps the only active player. Rozelle apparently really thought highly of him.

This matchup seem like a bigger mismatch than Namath/Wilson.

The Crane Pool Forum

All-Time Greatest Jet: Freeman McNeil vs. Jeff Lageman

All-Time Greatest Jet: Freeman McNeil vs. Jeff Lageman

Re: All-Time Greatest Jet: Freeman McNeil vs. Jeff Lageman

Re: All-Time Greatest Jet: Freeman McNeil vs. Jeff Lageman