Which NFL players, if they retired this year, would be in the Hall of Fame?
Take out the obvious ones: Farve, Peyton, Moss, Brady, Tony Gonzalez,
Possibly contentious: Tomlinson
My personal votes:
Michael Vick: the dude ran for 1k yards. 1k yards!! As far as I know, he’s the greatest running QB of all time.
Ben Rothlisberger: to prove a point one time, I cut and pasted his NFL records to a message board from Wikipedia…it didn’t fit in the window.
Jason Elam and Adam Vinatieri: not likely, but I like them.
Marvin Harrison: He’s on lots of the all-time lists, but not on the top of them.
Casey Hampton: If he gets in, it would be on (a well-deserved) reputation, rather than stats, vote. Widely considered to be the best 3-4 nose tackle today, 2 SB rings.
I have a better shot at making the NFL Hall of Fame than Michael Vick does. I never played in the league, but then again, I never ran a dog fighting operation.
Tomlinson is a lock. He was the best RB in the league for at least half a decade. Marvin Harrison is also a lock.
Other “hit by a freight train tomorrow” sure things:
Ray Lewis
Brain Urlacher
Terrell Owens
Champ Bailey
Orlando Pace
That’s all I can think of at the moment. There are a lot of guys who are probables (Walter Jones), or who can become locks if they stay healthy and competent for another few years (Ed Reed). And I’m sure I’m forgetting some really obvious names.
I think two of the most interesting candidates would be Donovan McNabb and Kurt Warner. McNabb’s been consistently successful, and without much help at wideout, but I don’t think he is viewed as one of the very best QBs by anyone, and Warner’s had great stats but also has a New York-shaped hole in the middle of his career.
Vick would not get in in a million billion years. He had a couple of very impressive seasons, but between the enormous dogfighting scandal, his other, now-forgotten embarrassments (Ron Mexico, anybody?), and the fact that his Falcons teams were not that successful overall would keep him out. Flashes of brilliance are not enough. He may be a starting QB again next year, but I’m guessing he is not going to be on a good team and putting up crazy stats.
First off, they need to be retired for 5 years. I think technically, retiring now would be the same as retiring at the end of the year and they would be the class of 2015, not 2013.
There is no scenario where Tomlinson is remotely contentious. He’s a lead pipe lock.
So what? QBs are paid to throw the ball and win games. This is like voting a WR to the Hall because he ran the reverse better than anyone else.
He shouldn’t get in based on numbers, but Bradshaw got in too. Ben wouldn’t get in if he quit now, but if he plays the same way for 5+ more years he’s a lock. As it stands I don’t think he’s been nearly good enough to get the Gale Sayers treatment.
No kickers. They probably are the most deserving though, of the two Vinatieri is more likely because of the playoff kicks.
See Tomlinson.
Widely considered? Really? He may get in, Steelers get an inordinate amount of love and Super Bowls matter, but I highly doubt he exceeds the credentials of about 5 or 6 other guys there. Hell, Wilfork and Shaun Rogers probably rank higher. For as good as the Steelers D is they haven’t ever really been singular like the '85 Bears, '01 Ravens or '02 Bucs and Hampton probably isn’t even the 3rd most notable player on that squad.
There’s quite a few Defensive guys who’d be locks. Lewis, Urlacher, Ed Reed, Champ Bailey, Dwight Freeney, Darren Sharper, Jared Allen maybe, Jason Taylor for starters, Polamalu is getting close but probably needs more time.
There are a bunch of OLs that would get in too. Steve Hutchinson, Orlando Pace, Jeff Saturday off the top of my head. Antonio Gates probably is a lock too.
Agree on Hutchinson and Saturday. Taylor is a “probably” and Sharper is a “maybe.” Freeney and Jared Allen need at least a few more seasons (and Freeney will get dinged for not playing the run).
Gates is interesting. Of course if he puts in a few more good seasons he’s a lock, but is he in if he wakes up dead tomorrow? Hmmm. Yeah, probably.
Vick added a dimension to the game. he was fun to watch. He also lost a lot.
His career is short. He would have to flesh it out in his comeback ,but that is not happening. He has been a place filler.
Absolutely. Even if you were to set aside the off-the-field issues, he hasn’t been good enough, for nearly long enough, to merit even serious consideration.
Yes, he may well be the best running QB in NFL history…but that’s only one dimension of what a QB does (and most would argue that it’s of secondary importance). His career passer rating is only 75.5. He’s never completed more than 55% of his passes, in an era where anything under 60% really isn’t acceptable. And, before his legal troubles, he only played in 4 full seasons, plus parts of two others.
Vick has a career winning percentage of .588, which is really impressive considering he was a #1 overall draft pick and went to a team that not only had a crappy record when he arrived but also shipped picks to move up and get him. Vick was a lot of things, but saying he “lost a lot” is just false.
ETA: The guys Wiki page is totally nuts, just tons of stuff there.
I’m an Eagles fan, and as big a McNabb supporter as there is, and I don’t think he belongs in the Hall. If he wins a ring, he would probably get in.
I honestly don’t understand how anyone could leave Warner out. I can’t fathom it. Okay, yeah I can. That four year hole is pretty bad, but a lot of it was injuries. Personally, I give him even more credit for coming back from it and being so effective now. Either way, he’s a two-time MVP and a Super Bowl MVP. Tough to leave him out.
I think a Brian Dawkins has a shot as the leader of a defense with a good reputation for a decade. Even aside from that association, he was a top guy at his position for close to a decade too. He’s the only one I come up with that hasn’t yet been mentioned.
Wow, TO only holds one record and no rings. I could have sworn he won one with the 49’ers.
One thing I’m noticing about this thread: there appears to be a consensus that if you have stats or rings, you deserve to go into the HOF. Ben has both, so the what’s the issue?
We should name them:
The Marino rule: If a player holds multiple all-time records but no rings, they deserve to go into the hall.
The Montana Rule: If a player holds 3 or more rings, but mediocre stats, they deserve to go into the hall.