Abdul Salaam, an unassuming but important member of the ferocious Jets defensive line, known as the New York Sack Exchange, that preyed on quarterbacks in the 1980s, died on Tuesday in Cincinnati. He was 71.
His wife, Debbie, said he died in a hospital from multiple illnesses.
The Sack Exchange represented a high point in the Jets’ fraught history. Mark Gastineau and Joe Klecko, terrifying edge rushers who chased down and tackled quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage, were the stars of the foursome. Salaam and Marty Lyons were the run stoppers.
“The unsung heroes — me and Marty Lyons, the defensive tackles,” Salaam told The New York Times in 1983.