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Not a single vote for Edgerrin James yet? His numbers are pretty darn good for a RB.
Not really he had one All Pro his whole career and he benefitted from playing with Peyton Manning for a good portion of his career. How many years did you hear James be referred to as one of the best running backs in the league hardly ever.
Not really he had one All Pro his whole career and he benefitted from playing with Peyton Manning for a good portion of his career. How many years did you hear James be referred to as one of the best running backs in the league hardly ever.
I think that is a poor argument against James. Does anyone ever penalize Emmit Smith for playing with possibly the best offensive line ever? How many years does one need to be called one of the best running backs in the league to qualify for the HOF? That is extremely arbitrary.
Not really he had one All Pro his whole career and he benefitted from playing with Peyton Manning for a good portion of his career. How many years did you hear James be referred to as one of the best running backs in the league hardly ever.
Agreed with Bill on what he had to say.
Also, if you gain enough yards, it won’t matter how many seasons you were considered the best RB. Those who reach 12,000 career rushing yards have historically been assured of HoF induction regardless. And that includes Jerome Bettis, who never once could have been considered the best RB in the NFL, and Curtis Martin, who conceivably could have been considered such only once (2004). James could potentially have been considered the best twice (1999, 2000) and he got past the 12K mark. He’s not a first ballot type, but he’s getting in and I think deservedly so.
While looking at stats for Edgerin James I found another RB that should be considered for the HOF. Tiki Barber. His career numbers are solid. And he had a five year stretch from 2002 to 2006 that would be good enough to rival any player.
While looking at stats for Edgerin James I found another RB that should be considered for the HOF. Tiki Barber. His career numbers are solid. And he had a five year stretch from 2002 to 2006 that would be good enough to rival any player.
Barber is a better player than people realize, agreed. The thing that hurts his case most is ending up with 10,449 career rushing yards and then retiring a little early. James finished with 12,246 rushing yards (and in 148 career games vs. 154 for Barber). Had Barber played a couple more seasons, he probably would have a strong HoF case. Barber was the better receiver, but James was no slouch himself. Problem is, Barber’s career is just short enough that he looks a lot like Ricky Watters:
and Watters isn’t seen as a serious HoF candidate. There’s a lot of competition in this area, especially when there are players with career rushing yard totals like:
Fred Taylor: 11,695
Steven Jackson: 11,438
Corey Dillon: 11,241
Warrick Dunn: 10,967
Watters: 10,643
Jamal Lewis: 10,607
Thomas Lewis: 10,591
Eddie George: 10,441
Ricky Williams: 10,009
none of whom will likely get elected. In this company, it’s tough for Barber to stand out. James’s reaching 12,246 here really makes him stand out, and that should be enough.
Only Fred Taylor is in the ball park of Tiki at 4.62 All the others are far behind.
He's also only one of three from that list of nine players that has 15,000+ yards from scrimmage. He has the most, including more than Edgerin James and in far fewer games started and played.
Only 12 players in the history of the NFL have ever reached 16,000 yards from scrimmage. Ten out of the 12 are in the HOF. The other two are T.O. and Frank Gore. T.O will get in sooner rather than later. Gore doesn't really 'feel" like a HOFer. Probably because he's never really had even one season where he was considered the best RB in the league. His best season by far, 2006, was unfortunately overshadowed my LT's 28 TD's and Gore was one of five RB's to go over 2000 scrimmage yards that year.
Most years it would have been an all-pro year for any RB but not that year. For the most part Gore has plodded along season after season picking up 11,000-12,000 yards rushing. He's been as consistent as they come. His career 4.3 ypc is also nothing to sneeze about considering it's still at 4.3 even after three straight seasons at the ages of 32, 33, and 34 picking up only 3.7, 3.9 and 3.7 ypc respectively. So I'd say even though he doesn't feel like a HOFer Gore is easily in. He not only passed the 16,000 scrimmage yard mark, he blew the doors off of it with 17,698 yards from scrimmage. Gore should be the gold standard for RB's who played a long time and were consistently good but rarely great. It's a shame that a joke of a HOFer like Jerome Bettis made it in. Both Gore and Bettis played 13 seasons. One has terrible numbers and the other has pretty good numbers.
Now 15,000+ scrimmage yards has only been achieved 24 times in the NFL. Of the 12 players who have beetween 15,000 and 15,999 scrimmage yards only three are currently in the HOF: Erik Dickerson, Tim Brown and errr, Jerome Bettis Really makes my blood boil every time I think of the fact that guy is in the HOF. Of the remaining nine players Tony G, Fitzgerald and Moss are locks to make it in. So that leaves you with 50% of the players to make it in with 15,000 scrimmage yards. Edge, Issace Bruce, Dunn, Steven Jackson, Steve Smith and Tiki will probably be in the discussion for quite a while but that is definitely a log jam of good players right there. Tiki likely has the best case to be in the HOF over the aforementioned group of six. He has more scrimmage yards then the others. Had a higher ypc then the three other RB's and was IMO one of the leagues very best at his position for more years then the other five.
Projecting things out it looks like Fitzgerald and McCoy could be our next players to reach the 16,000 scrimmage yard milestone. If Fitzgerald comes back for another season next year he should easily hit the mark. McCoy could hit in two more productive years. Or three years if his production tails off.
Matt Forte won't make it. He's only about 1500 yards shy but even if he comes back for two more seasons which seems unlikely, he's going to have a hard time putting up 750 yards per season I think based on his recent health and production.
Adrian Peterson is about 1700 yards shy. He only had 600 scrimmage yards this last season.
Next on the current active players list are six players that won't come close to sniffing 16,000 scrimmage yards: Whitten, Marshall, Lynch, Chris Johnson, Gates and Jamall Charles.
Then you get to Antonio Brown and Julio Jones. They each have about 6 and 7 thousand yards to go respectably. With as good as they are I think they will have a shot if they keep it up.
Which team (excluding late comers Atlanta (66), Cincinnati (68), Carolina (95) and Baltimore (96)) is tied with the least number (3) of personnel in the HOF with Philadelphia, New Orleans/Tampa (also late comers) since the establishment of the AFL in 1960?
answer:
Spoiler
New England Patriots: John Hannah, Mike Haynes, Andre Tippett
hint:
Spoiler
Nick Buoniconti also played with them but not quite as long as he did for Miami
Wheeeee! I got it right! Wow! Nick Buoniconti, a blast from the past.
As always the offensive linemen are generally the last position thought of when it comes to going into the Hall Of Fame. And it's reflected in the voting here. The combined total of votes for Tony Boselli, Kevin Mawae, Joe Jacoby, Alan Faneca, and Steve Hutchinson are 23. Randy Moss, Ray Lewis, and Terrell Owens has more than that. Well, here are the stats:
Alan Faneca-9 time pro bowler-6 time all pro first team, 2 time all pro second team
Steve Hutchinson-7 time pro bowler, 5 time all pro first team, 2 time all pro second team
Kevin Mawae-8 time pro bowler, 7 time all pro first team, 1 time all pro second team
Joe Jacoby-4 time pro bowler, 3 time all pro first team, 1 time all pro second team
Tony Boselli-5 time pro bowler, 3 time all pro first team
If you go strictly by numbers, Faneca has the edge, then Mawae, then Hutchinson. Joe Jacoby is in a bad spot here because his numbers are less than the above three. But when I think of that great Redskin line, I think of Jacoby first. I also think of him winning 3 super bowls. I was surprised when he showed 4/3/1. Ditto for Tony Boselli with a 5/3, what is really hurting him was only playing six years in the league. Yes, stats do show him as a member of the Houston Texans, making him a 7 year player. I don't remember him even playing a down with the Texans. Sad because this guy was IMO one of the 5 best offensive linemen I've ever seen. if only his left shoulder WASN'T operated on--well, you'll have to look at a couple online stories there.
IMO Jacoby is in the same spot as Everson Walls regarding years left for eligibility. When you get nominated on the veteran vote, it gets even tougher.
Ray Lewis; 13 time pro bowler, 7 time first team all pro, 3 time second team all pro.
Won two super bowl rings
2 time NFL defensive player of the year.
Brian Urlacher; 8 time pro bowler, 4 time first team all pro, 1 time second team all pro.
NFL Rookie of the Year-2000
NFL Defensive Player of the Year-2005
Ray Lewis is a no brainer.
Brian Urlacher has a good chance.
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Really makes my blood boil every time I think of the fact that guy is in the HOF. Of the remaining nine players Tony G, Fitzgerald and Moss are locks to make it in. So that leaves you with 50% of the players to make it in with 15,000 scrimmage yards. Edge, Issace Bruce, Dunn, Steven Jackson, Steve Smith and Tiki will probably be in the discussion for quite a while but that is definitely a log jam of good players right there. Tiki likely has the best case to be in the HOF over the aforementioned group of six. He has more scrimmage yards then the others. Had a higher ypc then the three other RB's and was IMO one of the leagues very best at his position for more years then the other five.
