5 NFL players with the most Super Bowl appearances
The Super Bowl is the pinnacle for NFL players, coaches and management. Not many players are fortunate enough to play in one Super Bowl, let alone multiple championship games.
In NFL history, only a select few players have played in the most-watched sports game on the planet on multiple occasions.
Some have won numerous championship rings, while others have tasted defeat on the grandest stage more than once. On that note, let's take a look at the five NFL players with the most Super Bowl appearances.
#1 Tom Brady, Quarterback - 10 Super Bowl appearances
Arguably the greatest NFL player of all time, Tom Brady leads the way with an unbelievable ten Super Bowl appearances. Who would’ve thought that the quarterback, drafted 199th overall in round 6 of the 2000 NFL Draft, would feature in ten Super Bowls?
Brady has won seven Super Bowl rings, six with the New England Patriots and one with his current team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The now 43-year-old QB is a five-time Super Bowl MVP and holds multiple other Super Bowl accolades as well.
Incredibly, Tom Brady has more championship wins than every NFL franchise. The GOAT rightly sits alone at the top of this list.
#2 Stephen Gostkowski, Kicker - 6 Super Bowl appearances
From the greatest player ever to play the game to a simple old kicker. Brady's longtime teammate Stephen Gostkowski has appeared in six Super Bowls in his NFL career.
A 2006 fourth-round NFL draft pick by the Patriots, Gostkowski won three Super Bowls as a member of the New England franchise.
The kicker lost his first two Super Bowls, both against the New York Giants, before the Pats won Super Bowl XLIX against the Seahawks, thanks to THAT Malcolm Butler interception.
Gostkowski’s biggest moment in a Super Bowl came against the LA Rams at Super Bowl LII, when he kicked a late field goal to ensure victory for the Pats.
#3 Mike Lodish, Nose Tackle - 6 Super Bowl appearances
Mike Lodish, a 6' 3", 270-pound nose tackle, played 11 seasons in the National Football League.
He appeared in six Super Bowls, winning two with the Denver Broncos. Lodish was a member of the infamous Buffalo Bills team in the 90s that lost four straight Super Bowls.
Luck would eventually come his way with back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1997 and 1998 on the John Eway-led Broncos teams. Lodish made 150 tackles and eight and a half sacks and scored one touchdown in his NFL career.
#4 Cornelius Bennett, Linebacker - 5 Super Bowl appearances
While this list is full of NFL champions, one player, unfortunately, did not win any of the Super Bowls he played in.
Cornelius Bennett appeared in five Super Bowls and lost all of them. Like Mike Lodish, he was a defensive back in the Buffalo Bills team in the early 90s that lost four consecutive Super Bowls.
He would make one more NFL championship game in his career, the 1998 Super Bowl, as a member of the Atlanta Falcons. Ironically, he would lose to former Bills teammate Mike Lodish’s Denver Broncos.
Bennett is a five-time Pro Bowler and was the second pick in the 1987 NFL Draft.
#5 John Elway, Quarterback - 5 NFL Super Bowls
Another player who had to play in multiple NFL championship games before finally winning one is Denver Broncos legend John Elway.
Elway led the Broncos to three Super Bowls in the 1980s, losing them all. It looked like he would go down as the greatest quarterback in NFL history never to win a Super Bowl.
However, he was able to use all his experience to get the Broncos to Super Bowl XXXII against the Green Bay Packers, where Elway finally won the big one. Denver would go on to repeat as NFL champions in 1998.
John Elway retired after winning his second consecutive Super Bowl, capping off a Hall of Fame career.
Notable mentions
New England defensive back Teddy Bruschi played in five Super Bowls.
Dallas Cowboys star DE Charles Haley appeared in five Super Bowls.
Patriots offensive tackle Matt Light played in five Super Bowls.
Bills Guard Glenn Parker featured in five Super Bowls.