Widely and appropriately regarded as being among the best to ever play the game, former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Mel Blount is perhaps best known as the guy who became synonymous with a rule change in the late 1970s that marked a seismic shift in the way defenses were allowed to cover players, thus marking the beginning of a stark shift in favor of the passing game.
Informally known as the ‘Mel Blount Rule’, its installation in 1978 prohibited defenders from making anything more than incidental contact with offensive players beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage, allowing receivers much more access to open spaces, and giving quarterbacks more open targets.