This is a list of players named as

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

s based on their performance in the 1968

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

and NFL season. These lists provide a perspective into how players were judged against their peers by critics of their time. Players representing both the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) are included.

Selectors

Teams were selected by several publications and wire services: the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP), the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

(NEA), the

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

(NYDN),

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illinoi ...

(PFW), the

Pro Football Writers of America The Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), sometimes known as Pro Football Writers Association, is an organization that purports to be " heofficial voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve ...

(PFWA), the

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

(SN) and the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

(UPI). The PFWA selected a true "All-Pro" team which included players from ''both'' the NFL and AFL. The AP, NEA, Daily News and UPI selected one team for ''each'' league, which are referred to as "All-NFL" and "All-AFL" teams. Pro Football Weekly named both a unified All-Pro team as well as All-NFL and All-AFL teams representing each of the leagues individually. The Sporting News named a single All-AFL team and All-Conference teams representing each of the two NFL conferences. All of the publications named both first-team and second-team performers, with the exception of Pro Football Weekly and the Sporting News, which only selected only a first-team.

NFL All-Pros

Eleven NFL players were named to the first-team of every list presented here:

Lem Barney Lemuel Joseph Barney (September 8, 1945) is a former American football player. A native of Gulfport, Mississippi, he played college football at Jackson State from 1964 to 1966. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions of the National Football Leagu ...

Gene Hickerson Robert Gene Hickerson (February 15, 1935 – October 20, 2008) was an American Football offensive guard who played for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) in a fifteen-year career from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1973. Hickerso ...

Deacon Jones David D. "Deacon" Jones (December 9, 1938 – June 3, 2013) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins. H ...

Leroy Kelly Leroy Kelly (born May 20, 1942) is a former American football player. A Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, he played for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 to 1973. Career Kelly had attended Simon Gratz H ...

Bob Lilly Robert Lewis Lilly (born July 26, 1939), nicknamed "Mr. Cowboy", is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle. After playing college football for the TCU Horned Frogs, he played for the Dallas Cowboys of the Nat ...

Billy Lothridge William Lamar Lothridge (January 1, 1942 – February 23, 1996) was an American football Punter, Safety and Quarterback in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins. He play ...

, John Mackey,

Ralph Neely Ralph Eugene Neely (September 12, 1943 – January 5, 2022) was an American professional American football, football player who was an offensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL). He played 13 seasons and 172 ga ...

Merlin Olsen Merlin Jay Olsen (; September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010) was an American football player, announcer, and actor. For his entire 15-year professional football career he was a defensive tackle with the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football Le ...

Gale Sayers Gale Eugene Sayers (May 30, 1943September 23, 2020) was an American professional football player who was both a halfback and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). In a relatively brief but highly productive NFL career, Sa ...

and Larry Wilson. Note: only the Pro Football Writers and Sporting News teams include

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

players.

Key (NFL)

*AP = Associated Press All-NFL team *NEA = Newspaper Enterprise Association All-NFL team *NYDN = New York Daily News All-NFL team *PFW = Pro Football Weekly All-Pro team *PFW-NFL = Pro Football Weekly All-NFL team *PFWA = Pro Football Writers of America All-Pro team *SN = Sporting News All-Conference team *UPI = United Press International All-NFL team denotes a tie in balloting

AFL All-Pros

Three AFL players were named to the first-team of every list presented here:

Lance Alworth Lance Dwight Alworth (born August 3, 1940), nicknamed “Bambi”, is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) an ...

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college foot ...

and George Webster.

Key (AFL)

*AP = Associated Press All-AFL team *NEA = Newspaper Enterprise Association All-AFL team *NYDN = New York Daily News All-AFL team *PFW = Pro Football Weekly All-Pro team *PFW-AFL = Pro Football Weekly All-AFL team *PFWA = Pro Football Writers of America All-Pro team *SN = Sporting News All-AFL team *UPI = United Press International All-AFL team denotes a tie in balloting

References

NFL All-Pros from Pro-Football-Reference.com
{{All-AFL Team All-Pro Teams Allpro 1968 American Football League season