Shifting conditions certainly played a role in the selection of the all-time defensive backs. Rules changes have steadily opened up the passing game, but that puts the most recent defenders at a real disadvantage. Nobody playing now could get away with the physical style of cornerbacks Dick "Night Train" Lane or Mel Blount. In fact, Blount's play was so physical and so effective that the rule put in place before the 1978 season prohibiting contact with a receiver beyond 5 yards became known as the Mel Blount rule. The game changed practically overnight into an aerial show and it has only opened up even more since then. The result: Of the seven cornerbacks selected to the team, only three -- Darrell Green, Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson -- played into the 2000s, and none past 2005 (Sanders). And, not surprisingly, the three unanimous selections at cornerback -- Blount, Lane and Mike Haynes -- played before the current offensive explosion. Lane's career, in fact, stood out because he had 68 interceptions in 14 seasons that ended in 1965, well before the NFL was fully a pass-first league.