Washington Redskins: 15 best free agent acquisitions of all-time

Excellence and longevity. These are the hallmarks of a Pro Football Hall of Famer. To set the standard for the rest of the league, for a length of time that is anything but standard.

Dave Butz is not a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He will never be. But if the criteria for entering the Hall of Fame stops at the combination of excellence and longevity, then Butz is the next best thing.

The Redskins signed Butz through free agency, but his free agent dilemma was a peculiar one. Butz was selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft by the then-St. Louis Cardinals. He was supposed to play out his rookie contract with the Cardinals, at the very least.

But an unforeseen error in Butz’s contract language caused him to become available as a free agent after just two years on the Mississippi River. The Redskins scooped him up, for a price of two first-round picks and an additional second-rounder.

They would later learn that such a price, to pay for Dave Butz, was far too cheap.

Butz played in over 200 games over the course of his career with the Redskins, starting 180 of them as the team’s premier defensive tackle. He played in three Super Bowls and won two.

In 1983, he was recognized as an NFL All-Pro with 11.5 sacks on the season. Butz made it onto our Top 30 Greatest Redskins list, coming in at No. 28. He’s a reminder that once upon a time, the Redskins were the league’s team to beat in March.