Packers: Top 10 Green Bay Packers not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Frank Winters, shown on a 1998 Upper Deck football card.

5. Frank Winters, C (1992-2002)

Frank Winters was Plan B in Green Bay.

OK, not exactly, but before the current era of salary caps and unrestricted free agency, there was a limited free agency system called “Plan B Free Agency,” that begin in 1989.

Teams could protect 37 players each season and protected free agents could not sign with another team without his old club getting the right of first refusal.

So that’s how Winters became the Packers’ Plan B in 1992 when he signed after two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Winters came to Green Bay and started 11 games at left guard in 1992 before moving to center in 1993.

He remained as the line’s anchor for the next 10 seasons before retiring following the 2002 campaign having started 141 games, 130 of them in the middle.

A Pro Bowler in 1996, Winters was originally drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1987 as a 10th-round pick out of Western Illinois. He also spent a season with the New York Giants and played 16 NFL seasons in all.

Nicknamed “Old Bag of Donuts,” Winters treasures his time with the Packers and the winning the team was able to accomplish.

“It was a great experience and it was a great honor to at least win one of the two (Super Bowls) we played in,” Winters told The Jersey Journal in 2014. “They were great players. The opportunity to win with them was a special experience. I was very fortunate to play 16 years in the league.”

Winters, now 51, was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame during the Summer of Favre in 2008.

Realistic Hall Chances: One Pro Bowl and one Super Bowl ring probably won’t get it done.

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