Fullback Larry Centers enjoyed a 14-year career punctuated by a Super Bowl ring with the 2003 Patriots. His most notable work may have come with the Cardinals in the 90s, but his second half was still solid.
A former fifth-round Phoenix Cardinals pick out of Stephen F. Austin, Centers ascended to rare heights as the club’s starting fullback. In 1995 and ’96, he combined to catch 200 passes. His ’95 season — 101 receptions and 962 receiving yards — still stacks up incredibly well historically. At the time, Centers became the first running back to record 100 catches in a season and was among the first 15 players at any position to do so. While 101 receptions now ranks tied for 70th in NFL single-season history, only one running back (Matt Forte) appears higher on that list.
On this date in 1999, Centers officially moved on to the second team of his NFL career, joining Washington on a modest one-year pact. Centers wound up being part of Washington’s first Joe Gibbs-less team to reach the divisional round of the playoffs since 1976. He didn’t match those lofty standards, but he was a consistent receiving threat. In 1999, Centers delivered 544 air yards on 69 catches. One of those — a 33-yard touchdown grab from Brad Johnson to secure an overtime win over the 49ers — clinched Washington’s first NFC East title since its 1991 Super Bowl season. Under Norv Turner, they edged the Lions before falling to the Bucs in the next round.
Washington re-signed Centers for one year and $6MM in 2000 — for perspective, only three fullbacks make more than $3MM per year today — and his production that year still ranks atop team record books. Centers caught 81 passes in his second Washington season; still a team standard for running backs 20+ years later.
Centers parlayed that late-career success into a 2001 deal with the Bills, when he earned his third Pro Bowl nod. He capped his long, and sometimes underappreciated, career with the Pats in 2003, scoring his first ever Super Bowl ring.
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