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 t ...

s based on their performance in the 1968 AFL 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 gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(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, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) are included.

Selectors

Teams were selected by several publications and wire services: the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

(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 new ...

(NEA), the

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

(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, Illin ...

(PFW), the Pro Football Writers of America (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 ...

(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 ce ...

(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, Gene Hickerson, Deacon Jones, Leroy Kelly,

Bob Lilly Robert Lewis Lilly (born July 26, 1939), nicknamed "Mr. Cowboy", is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college footb ...

, Billy Lothridge, John Mackey, Ralph Neely,

Merlin Olsen Merlin Jay Olsen (; September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010) was an American professional 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 Nationa ...

, Gale Sayers 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 wide receiver who played for the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL), and the Dal ...

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe", is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seaso ...

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