Every year NFL teams decide to move on from veteran players no longer as valuable as their names would suggest, and every year veteran players try to prove to new teams that they are still worthy of being on the field. In 2015, the NFL landscape will change once again, and this year we’ll see some all-time greats and some classy players who will always be identified as one of their team’s best finding new homes inside and outside of the game.

When a team’s history has legends like Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas, or Mean Joe Greene it’s pretty difficult to become a player those franchise’s fans will never forget. This year the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers will both let those kind of players walk away.

While Troy Polamalu may still be on the Steelers roster, league wide speculation is that the team is hoping Polamalu will retire so that they’re not forced to cut the all-time great safety. Polamalu could probably provide some value for an NFL team, but one has to wonder if he’d be better off riding into the sunset with his iconic hair blowing in the wind instead of play a couple more years of less than stellar football.

What made Polamalu great was his ability to fly around the football field with reckless abandon, which is something his aging body won’t allow him to do any longer. While the Steelers have always had star players, it’s a team that has always seemingly won with grit instead of flash, and Troy Polamalu may have embodied that as much as any player in Steelers’ history. Despite his flowing locks and exciting play landing Polamalu endorsement deals rarely seen from a player at the safety position, his play on the field was as gritty as the city of Pittsburgh.

The Colts would probably have preferred Reggie Wayne hang up the cleats as well, but the veteran receiver says he’d still like to catch on with a team who has a chance to win for another year or two.  Wayne, like Polamalu is the kind of player every NFL team wants on their roster, but like Polamalu may not have enough left in the tank to do his career justice by staying on one.

Wayne is another example of how fortunate the Colts have been over the last two decades. The Colts being able to replace Marvin Harrison with Wayne is like….being able to replace Manning with Andrew Luck.

While Wayne’s stats were always impressive on the field, the Colts watched him become a leader off the field, and a guy who was always great for the locker room. While many players would complain about the beginning of training camp and the work that was to follow, Wayne always embraced the beginning of a new year of work with style.

Throughout his career, Wayne was famous for showing up at training camp by making a splash and sending a message. While his camp entrance was always good for a laugh, whether he was showing up in a dump truck and work helmet, or an Indy car and his Colts helmet, the message was always the same. “I’m here to work.”

While the Colts didn’t’ feel Wayne had enough left in the tank to continue his career in Indianapolis, they looked to another veteran wide out in the final stage of his career to replace him in on the outside. Like Wayne, Andre Johnson has displayed a workman like mentality that NFL fans, owner and coaches can’t help but appreciate.

Remember that amazing and fiery quote from Johnson? Of course you don’t. Johnson has never been about talk, and has instead let his play on the field speak for itself during his illustrious career, a rarity at the wide receiver position. At a position known for loudmouths and “divas,” Wayne and Johnson have made a career out of being the exact opposite.

That might be where the similarities end when it comes to Wayne and Johnson’s game. While Wayne benefited from playing alongside Manning and Luck through the entirety of his career, Johnson has seemingly caught passes from 100 different quarterbacks during his time with the Houston Texans. This opportunity to play with a great quarterback at the end of his career will likely have Johnson as motivated as the chance to win a ring.

Another class act decided that his run was over this offseason, and while Maurice Jones-Drew may not be as big of a name as Wayne or Johnson when it comes to the NFL, he may be as big as any name in the history of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Yes, the Jaguars have had players like Jimmy Smith, Mark Brunell, Fred Taylor and Tony Boselli who were actually part of some good football teams in Jacksonville, but Jones-Drew seemed to be the Jaguars franchise during his time there. Go ahead, name some of the greats to play alongside Jones-Drew.

For years it seemed what Jones-Drew would do on the football field was the only reason to watch the Jaguars play football, and it was the only reason you could think of when it came to why they actually might win. Despite the pounding he took and the losing he was a part of, Jones-Drew was always one of the most positive guys, and he never took shots at the franchise that rarely surrounded him with any help.

After doing what Wayne, Johnson and possibly Polamalu will try to do in 2015 a year ago, by trying to extend his career in Oakland, Jones-Drew has decided to call it a career. The bowling ball-shaped tailback we all grew to love showed us his heart in college when he added the Drew to the back of his jersey after his grandfather passed away after suffering a heart attack at one of Jones-Drew’s games. Jones continued to show us his heart through the years of taking a pounding for bad Jaguars teams, while rarely talking about needing help.

Jones-Drew will be a great loss for the NFL community, and within a couple of years or possibly months Polamalu, Wayne and Johnson will all follow him into retirement. The good news is, while some may constantly push the narrative of today’s selfish, trouble making athletes, many of the athletes continue to display the kind of class that made these veterans great off the field as well as on it. While you’re paying attention to the handful of guys getting in trouble, players across the league are making a difference without you knowing about it.

While the Steelers may lose some veteran leadership when Polamalu departs, it’s clear they’ll still have plenty of it as well. William Gay spoke to Football Insiders at a charity event about being one of the veterans in that Steelers locker room.

“It’s scary,” Gay told Football Insiders when asked about no longer being one of the young guys in the Steelers locker room. “Because once you become a leader, guys look up to you. I take on the challenge. Me being raised by guys like Ike Taylor, Deshea Townsend, so I know what to do, and I know how to teach it now.”

The NFL is still in good hands when guys like Jones-Drew, Wayne, Johnson and Polamalu walk away, but they’re an example of the impact that veterans like that have on their teammates.