HOUSTON — Richmond Webb was the ninth name called during the 1990 NFL draft. The 6’6 tackle from Texas A&M was selected by the Miami Dolphins and was given the assignment to protect Dan Marino’s blindside. Webb handled the pressure well and throughout his 13 seasons, he became one of the best left tackles in football. The lasting question that still surrounds him is, why haven’t the Pro Football Hall of Fame called him yet? A question that Webb has learned to allow the process to run its course. Patiently waiting what seems to be the inevitable. Webb is a two-time all pro, seven time Pro Bowler, he was on the All-Rookie Team, and he was named to the NFL 1990’s All-Decade Team.
Richmond Webb explains to Zenger News how he’s coped with the Hall of Fame snubs, talks about his career, and much more.
Zenger: It’s an honor, big man. How is everything going?
Webb: Everything is going good, Percy.
Zenger: I see all this crawfish, gumbo, and boudin you post… you must have some Louisiana roots?
Webb: (Laughing). Every time I’ve been to New Orleans, I’ve always had a good time. The food, the people, experience, it’s always a good place to visit. I should be coming back soon because I really love New Orleans. Brother, I’m in Houston, so you know we steal a lot from our next door neighbors. They put that taste on my tongue, and I gotta keep going with it.
Zenger: It bothers me that you are not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You seem to take it all in stride. How do you not let the frustration of not receiving that phone call yet bother you?
Webb: I rest in the fact that I know I’m deserving of it. For some reason it takes some people longer than others to actually get in there. One of the good things is, Jason Taylor went in there about 5 years ago and he gave me a shout out. I actually have another teammate going in, Zach Thomas is in this year’s class. Hopefully, he gives me a shout out, but if not, I’m going to go and celebrate and be happy for him. One of my Cincinnati Bengals teammates almost made it to the finals last year, Willie Anderson. He was the opposite tackle. He is deserving of it. There’s a lot of people deserving and I don’t understand the full process. People will say, you know what you’ve done, your record speaks for itself. But I can’t control it, so I don’t worry about it. It’ll drive you crazy. When you can’t control something, you should never get pissed off. I rest in the fact that I think it will happen, but I’m patient. I just keep going. I don’t lose no sleep over it.
Zenger: I won’t say any names, but when you see guys inducted who you feel and, in some cases, know you were more deserving, does that sting a little bit?
Webb: I try not to get caught up in that. I think that’s what frustrates some people. You will look at the comparisons of stats… I’ll give you an example, I won’t use myself, but Zach Thomas, him and [Brian] Urlacher stats were similar and I think it helped his case when Urlacher went in. It doesn’t seem fair that a guy gets in before you, but you can’t control that. I always believe in letting other people be your voice and make that argument for you. If you make it for yourself, they’ll say, I’m being selfish or I just want to be in there, not knowing that you’re actually worthy of it. That’s just the way I approach it.
Zenger: It was agonizing watching Drew Pearson be let down for so many years, and he was deserving, but I can respect the fact that you don’t publicly show your frustrations.
Webb: I think the bad thing about Drew Pearson was… I grew up in Dallas, huge Cowboys fan. When I was a kid, those were the guys I was watching. I knew his career very well. The year before it sounded like they were telling him he was going to be in the previous year, so he had all these people at his house and he didn’t make it in. And you just don’t do people like that. So, he was like, ya’ll got me, it won’t happen again. They put him in the following year, but you don’t lead anyone on because then it’s like a slap in the face. They didn’t handle that very well at all.
Zenger: My favorite quarterback of all-time is Dan Marino. You were responsible for his blindside. What was it like protecting Dan and making the left tackle position a prestigious position to play?
Webb: When I came out, [Anthony] Munoz was the standard for left tackle. I had the opportunity to meet him and play with him in the Pro Bowl, great guy. Another guy I looked up to was a right tackle, Jackie Slater played like 18-19 years, so to see somebody do it at that high of a level all the time was truly amazing. Meeting Dan, it’s like you’re watching somebody on TV and next thing you know, you’re in the hole with him. It was a surreal moment. The thing I can appreciate about Dan, Mark Duper, Mark Clayton was that I just watched those guys, I watched how they practiced and how they prepared during the week. Without them having to say a lot, you just had to be observant and watch it and how they carried themselves, that taught me how to be a professional and take my job serious. I was always a guy that never wanted to be the weak link.
Coming in as a first rounder, one of the things that helped me, I had a great line coach, John Sandusky. I think I missed a week of training camp, maybe a little bit more. It’s so important to get in there because of the installation of the offense. I think that’s where a lot of guys get labeled as a bust. They’ll hold out the majority of the preseason, by the time they come in, they don’t know the offense. So, they get left behind. And then the media will label him as a bust. It’s tremendous pressure anytime you’re a first rounder because you want to prove you’re worthy of that selection. With all of the things surrounding me, getting in camp early and having the right attitude, that really set me on the right track. If it ain’t broke I didn’t fix it. I said, if these guys work like this, I’m going to continue to work like this.
Zenger: You guys were a team that threw the ball around a lot in the era of running backs carrying the ball 30 times a game. In your opinion, has this new spread offense, 4-5 receiver sets changed the tackle position drastically?
Webb: I think teams are throwing the football a lot more kind of like what we did. At the time, we got criticized because they said we couldn’t run the football. That wasn’t the case, we had Dan Marino. And he was so prolific and so efficient at throwing the football, that’s what we did. Does the offensive line want to run the football, of course we did, but they don’t cater to the offense around you. They cater it around the quarterback. A lot of times we took criticism for that. You call the play and I’m going to run it. But you see that a lot more. When I came into the league, running back was considered the value position. Now, it’s wide receiver because of what you just said, you have 4 and 5 receiver sets. The game has changed and evolved; I think we were just ahead of our time. The fullback position is almost obsolete because now, they will use a tight end.
Zenger: Do you have your favorite players to watch these days?
Webb: Of course, I watch the Dolphins. This past year with Coach McDaniel, actually making it to the playoffs was a huge accomplishment because it had been so long. I’ll watch a game as long as it’s a good matchup. I can appreciate watching a team like the Eagles because their offensive line wasn’t no joke. I tell people all the time, no matter if it’s offense or defense, the game is won up front in the trenches. They proved my point. They had a great year.
Zenger: Who gave you the best advice during your playing career?
Webb: I would say it was Coach Shuler. I’ll tell you what happened. I went through my rookie year, and didn’t get hurt, played all the snaps, everything went perfect. We were playing in Tokyo my second year, and I hurt my knee, particularly tore my PCL, so I missed the first two weeks of the regular season. I was trying to get back right, and I wasn’t 100%. I could tell I was not the way I was before the injury. In your mind you’re saying, I can’t do what I used to, but I gotta try to figure out a way.
I remember Coach Shuler called me to his office, which wasn’t a good thing. He said, “What’s this you’re putting in the paper about you’re not healthy?” I said, “Coach, I’m not healthy.” He said, “Nobody cares about that. You gotta find a way to get the job done. Everybody plays with bumps and bruises.” I walked out of his office and I was pissed off because he had just chewed me out. He chewed me out, but it was what I needed at the time. I thought about what he said, people really don’t care. If I’m playing against the Saints next week, they’re not going to say, Richmond’s knee is a little sore, so we’re going to go a little easy on him. They going to send everything they got because they want to find the weak link. It just taught me… and in no way am I saying you play injured, but even though you’re not 100%, you deal with things and if you can go out there and play at a high level you just mentally focus in, get your job done, until you can work your way back to where you were. And that was the best advice that I received because it changed the way I approached the game. I wasn’t always going to feel the best, but that defensive lineman don’t care nothing about that. He’s going to try and tear my head off. That was my second year and it carried me for another 11 years. When you get wisdom, sometimes you gotta just hold on to it and that’s what I did.
