Detroit Lions Top 50: #34-30

33. Eddie Murray, K, 1980-1991

The Lions have certainly had at least one position that has been reliable over recent years — the kicker position. Prior to the days of  #4  splitting the uprights in the Motor City, kicker Eddie Murray was the guy the Lions could count on.

“Steady” Eddie joined the Lions in 1980 as a seventh round draft pick out of the University of Tulane.

As a Detroit Lion in the 1983 NFC Divisional Playoff at San Francisco, with the Lions trailing 24-23 with 11 seconds left in the game, Murray, having earlier made a 54-yard field goal, narrowly missed a 43-yard attempt. Ten years later as a Dallas Cowboy Murray made a game winning field goal in overtime in the regular season finale against the New York Giants, which determined the NFC East Title and NFC home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Murray is the sixteenth highest scorer overall in NFL history.

Murray was a great kicker in his own right, and while he doesn’t compare to the thunder-footed superhuman that is Jason Hanson, he comes in second in basically every single meaningful category for kickers in Lions history.