To be a great NFL linebacker, you need size, speed, intelligence, and the ability to make the offense feel your presence whenever they dare enter your space. Linebackers hold the entire defense together and have the most varied roles on defense by far. Some guys get in the backfield every single play, while others are running with the offense's most dangerous skill players in coverage. A linebacker's job is constantly changing and critical to any defense's success, which makes watching them play so much fun. Here are the ten best NFL linebackers of all time, ranked.

10. Ted Hendricks

Ted Hendricks had two distinct excellent eras in his career. In the first, he came into the league with a Baltimore Colts squad on the heels of an upset Super Bowl loss. In his first six seasons (including one in Green Bay), Hendricks anchored the center of the field and helped get the Colts over the hump with a Super Bowl V win. During those years, he was a three-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time first-team All-Pro. Then he joined the Raiders. Across nine years in Oakland and Los Angeles, Hendricks pulled the strings for a defense that brought the franchise their first three titles. During his career, Hendricks made a living in backfields, disrupting all kinds of plays, including a whopping 25 blocked PATs and field goals.

9. Junior Seau

Unfortunately, much discussion around Junior Seau's life and career is centered around Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and its impacts on former football players. However, he was undoubtedly an impressive player. Seau spent 20 years in the league, his most outstanding with the San Diego Chargers. Across the 1990s and early 2000s, Seau was a force of nature on the field, playing the game with an unmatched intensity. He earned 12 Pro Bowls and six All-Pro selections. He won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 1994 and was selected to the 1990s Hall of Fame All-Decade team.

8. Jack Ham

Across a 12-year career, Jack Ham helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers and Steel Curtain defense to four Super Bowl titles. Along the way earning eight Pro Bowls and six All-Pro selections. Ham was always around the play, whether blitzing off the edge, dropping back into coverage, or stuffing the run. He had a knack for making big plays at critical times. He'd rack up 32 interceptions throughout his career (third-most by an LB). Ham was an incredibly versatile weapon that allowed his teammates to do what they did best. While simultaneously providing the answer for anything teams tried to do to avoid fighting the Steel Curtain on their terms.

7. Luke Keuchly 

The best linebacker of a generation and the most beloved Carolina Panthers player of all time, Luke Keuchly's impact was immeasurable despite his shorter NFL career. Keuchly could fly around the field, make any play in the open area or coverage, and had a nose for the ball. “Captain America” captained the Panthers' defense during their 15-1 2015 regular season and Super Bowl run. Keuchly was widely regarded as one of the most intelligent players in the league. He came into the league and immediately made an impact. He won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2012, and was a Pro Bowl selection every year after, including his 2013 Defensive Player of the Year campaign.

6. Derrick Brooks

Derrick Brooks was the standout player on the stifling Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense of the early 2000s that won the franchise's first Super Bowl title in 2002-03. In the 14 years he played in the NFL, Brooks earned 11 Pro Bowl selections and five selections to the All-Pro team. In the Super Bowl year, Brooks won DPoY and finished fourth in NFL MVP award voting. Brooks was incredible in coverage and impossible to get past in the open field. His athleticism allowed a fearsome Tampa front four to get after the quarterback while he could help the secondary behind blanketing other teams' passing. Not to mention living behind the line of scrimmage in the run game.

5. Jack Lambert

Amazingly, Jack Ham wasn't even the best linebacker, let alone the best “Jack” on the 1970s Steelers, but Jack Lambert was the central anchor of the Steel Curtain. He was a member of the legendary 1974 draft class. Lambert stepped into the team and won Rookie of the Year on the way to a Super Bowl IX win. In 1976 he won DPoY and finished second in MVP voting. All while leading the team to the most incredible nine-game stretch of defense ever played. Lambert was the heart of the Steel Curtain, punishing ball carriers and receivers who dared enter his space, and had a nose for the ball to match. In that same 1976 season, he finished with eight fumble recoveries, second-most ever by a defender. The Steel Curtain was incredible from top to bottom, but Lambert held it all together from the middle.

4. Dick Butkus

Dick Butkus might also have the best list of nicknames of all time to match. Although he largely toiled in obscurity with Gale Sayers on some bad Chicago Bears teams that never sniffed the playoffs, Butkus still made his mark on the league. He finished top five in MVP voting for four consecutive years from 1967-70. He had a nose for the ball, especially pouncing on fumbles. Butkus developed a fearsome reputation in the middle of the field, putting the fear of God into runningbacks and linemen alike. Everyone on the offense had to be aware of where he was to ensure he didn't single-handedly ruin their day.

3. Mike Singletary

Mike Singletary is the heir to Dick Butkus in the center of the Chicago Bears defense. Singletary led the Bears to their only Super Bowl win. He was the heart and soul of the best defenses ever. He may not have done any one thing on the field better than his peers on this list. However, he understood the game and had leadership skills beyond nearly any other person in NFL history. During the legendary 1985 Bears season, Singletary won his first of two DPoY awards. Stars surrounded Singletary, but more than any other middle linebacker, he led in a way that empowered the players around him to reach their potential. Singletary was a perennial Pro Bowl and All-Pro player during the 1980s and is undoubtedly one of the best to do it.

2. Ray Lewis

Ray Lewis is the Baltimore Ravens. Drafted into the NFL in 1996, Lewis came into the league when the Ravens did and never looked back. The most feared presence in the middle of the field ever, Lewis did it all. He could cover, stuff the run, take the ball away, and hit. Lewis led the Ravens to two Super Bowl titles, including winning Super Bowl XXXV MVP. He'd win two DPoY awards, be selected to the Pro Bowl 12 times, and an All-Pro seven times. During that 2000 Super Bowl-winning season, Lewis may have put together the most impressive defensive season ever. He won DPoY, the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl MVP, and finished fifth in MVP voting. Lewis was an unbelievable player and maybe even a better leader. Every team he was on, he embodied, and the defense around him would run through a wall for him.

1. Lawrence Taylor

Is there any other player that could have ended up in the top spot? Taylor was the first (and only besides JJ Watt and Aaron Donald) player to win DPoY three times. He was a singular force off the edge, terrorizing quarterbacks. At the same time, he was so fast and big he could drop back in coverage, with blanket running backs and tight ends looking to catch passes. Taylor won league MVP in 1986 after finishing with 20.5 sacks, one of only two defensive players ever to do so. He helped lead the New York Giants to two Super Bowl wins in the 1980s. For many people, Taylor would cement himself as the greatest player of all time.