In 2007, though, they elected Irvin to Canton, and in each of the next five seasons, they've passed on Carter. The wide receiver won three Super Bowls and was selected to five Pro Bowls. Dont scoff because it is so early in his career. 1990-99: Michael Irvin. Anything that causes a player's career to be broken up usually dampens the perception of his greatness. During that three-year stretch, Branch caught 157 passes for 3,096 yards and 34 TDs. From 1998-2000, Carter caught 34 TD passes, more than anyone except Moss, who had 43. 1950-59: n/a Projecting the Jets' depth chart after the NFL Draft, Aaron Rodgers Pro Football Hall of Fame Top 20 - Leading Lifetime Receivers. NFL News and Rumors: Dalvin Cook to Dolphins, C.J. He may be over-qualified, but Sharpe is not the most overqualified receiver on our list. Smith was one of the most dangerous NFL wide receivers of his era, and he made his mark in the playoffs with 7 postseason touchdowns (Edelman has 5). Tim Brown Great punt returner with 1,000 receptions, almost 15,000 yards, and 100 TDs. Those of us who care about the Hall of Fame sometimes write derisively about "compilers" that is, a compiler of stats, who has impressive career numbers without ever really being a great player. Swann and Stallworth were legendary postseason performers. 2. James Jones: Julian Edelman had a very good career, but there's no way he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Looking at each player's best seasons, though, it's not apparent to me that Moore stands out from the best of his contemporaries. 1960-69: Lance Alworth, Don Maynard Whom you ask why stats or ok not great nothing like carters or Tim brown who enter the league same year and was so far ahead and higher in stats and records even with horrible qbs and team. Their quarterbacks are protected in ways Y.A. Troy Aikman, and Emmitt Smith. This is a Game 7 I will forever remember as the Steph Curry game." Branch made four Pro Bowls, was four times first-team All-Pro, and played on three Super Bowl winners. Rice had a three-time Super Bowl Champion. Harrison is one of the best wide receivers in NFL history, currently ranked fourth all-time in career receptions and fifth all-time in receiving yards. Who is the best wide receiver eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but not yet enshrined? How does Moore get that high in a statistical analysis? I understand why Brown and Carter haven't been enshrined yet. 25. These NFL wide receivers, Hopkins, like Edelman, made a little news on Monday when the folks at the MIT Sloan Analytics Conference named Hopkins acquisition by the Arizona Cardinals as the, Smith, like Andre Johnson, becomes Hall of Fame eligible next season. 501 receptions, 8,685 yards, 67 TD. He lacks Johnsons best seasons and Smiths image. Thats just one more indicator of how high the Hall of Fame bar really is. Pro Football WR Hall of Fame Monitor Weve written before that the Pro Football Hall of Fame has a receiver problem. Kansas City Chiefs running back Dante Hall (82) is chased by Oakland Raiders defenders Keyon Nash (42) and David Terrell (35 . Harrison, Owens, and Isaac Bruce all have far more impressive career stats. To me, no one from that group left a Hall of Fame legacy. Great receivers of the mid-late '70s, played on terrific teams, had a few brilliant seasons but didn't keep it up, mentioned often as Hall of Fame snubs but never enshrined. The committees of the late 1980s and 1990s got a little carried away with making sure every Lombardi Packer and Steel Curtain Steeler who ever buckled a chinstrap got enshrined. The off-field stuff isn't supposed to factor into HOF voting, but Rison's uneven career and locker room impact are fair game. He gained 1,300 yards in a season four times, scored 100 touchdowns, caught 80 passes in a season 10 times. All HOFm Positions: QB RB WR TE G T C DT DE ILB OLB DB K P WR HOFm Leaders Bold indicates HOF player See full explanation here Share & Export But give the Sloan crew credit: they arent hailing Jon Gruden as a mathematical sorcerer because he traded Khalil Mack for draft picks anymore! That's when Steve Largent and James Lofton and the Air Coryell teams in San Diego were shattering receiving records. Keeanu Benton, DT, Wisconsin Late in his career, he was suspended under the NFLs substance-abuse policy; after retiring, he went through even more cycles of rehab, sobriety and relapse, even serving prison time in 2013. Carmichael begins this exercise in a hole, as the only player on the list who ranked among the top 10 in receiving yardage fewer than three times. Edelman, the MVP of Super Bowl LIII and Tom Bradys favorite target for many seasons, deserves a place in the Patriots Ring of Honor (which is gonna get really crowded) and a cherished place in our hearts. Wonder how they come up with the ones in and the one not. Essentially, Carter is battling the notion that he usually wasn't even the best receiver on his own team, that he was a system player who seldom had to deal with double-teams and caught a bunch of short passes. Looking at the 1990s as a whole, Moore had more receptions than Andre Reed, more yardage than Henry Ellard, and more touchdowns than Michael Irvin. Moore had four 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the '90s. Irving Fryar and Rison did a lot of the same things as Andre Reed, but the constant team-switching makes it hard, psychologically, to view them that way. Below, I've organized HOF receivers by the decade in which they most established their greatness. For Minnesota, it was Randy Moss, not Carter. They were both great players, but Ellard was more exceptional. I was surprised when Carter didn't get elected to Canton in either of his first two years of eligibility. For years, it was Lynn Swann or Art Monk. Yeah, he had a bunch of good seasons, a nice prime, but so did all the others. 1971-84, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys That rule culminated in the 1978 allowance of only one bump of a receiver within the first five yards of the line. 3. He's 5th all-time in receptions and 6th in receiving TDs. Best Wide Receivers Not in the HOF: 1990s - Sports Central Best Wide Receivers Not in the Hall of Fame: 1950s. The best time of the year to . at But playing on so many bad Eagles teams delayed his entry into the Hall of Fame. It's about his peak. Reaching those round numbers makes his stats look a lot different. (Henry Ellard, Rod Smith and Isaac Curtis stans: this is your shout out). Charley Taylor. Top 10 Wide Receivers Not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Their stats in the decade are comparable, but Pearson found the postseason glory that eluded Branch until the 1980s, and teammates called him Mr. Pro Football Network strives to passionately deliver purposeful, captivating, and exceptional football content. He was a showboat in Atlanta, but you can get away with that when you're performing at a high level. Work at the Hall; Buy Tickets; FAQs; Ron Wolf, the GM for the Packers in the '90s, told Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman, "When [the Vikings] got in close, it was Carter you had to worry about. Is it popularity and how much they were in the spot light. Tyreek's 2K Target; He's Not Playing Around Or Is He? With that being said, here's my list for the top ten wide receivers in Redskins history. There are other 70s Bengals who are greater Hall snubs (cough - Ken Anderson, Ken Riley) but Curtis should at least be in this conversation. A first-team All-Pro in 1990 and a five-time Pro Bowler, Rison had five 1,000-yard seasons and in 1993 tied Jerry Rice for the most receiving TDs in the NFL (15). Stats again: The interesting thing about this list is that many of these players need to be evaluated with serious consideration of their postseason accomplishments. And if you look at the list of active players, there's really no one else who figures to pass Brown and Carter any time soon. Sterling Sharpe's five best seasons (1989-90, 92-94) average 4th, 5th, and 5th. Cris Carter is 3rd, 9th, and 4th, Tim Brown 7th, 5th, and 19th. 2. Between playing in one of the NFLs smallest markets during his career and fighting a tough battle with addiction afterwards both of which likely prevented him from the kind of second act in broadcasting enjoyed by many of his receiving contemporaries most fans dont remember just how great Smith was in his prime. Players at the other stat positions quarterbacks and running backs are elected to the PFHOF with much higher frequency than wideouts. 9:00 AM. 2023 Hall of Fame Game; Class of 2023 Enshrinement; Concert for Legends feat. Rank'Em: Cowboys Now Have 20 Hall of Famers - Dallas Cowboys Rod Smith, WR, Missouri Southern State (1994) Denver Broncos Smith was signed by the Broncos and went on to be a starting. It's useful to me, in thinking about these issues, to break them down by era. One is that his production was largely limited to seven seasons. The Jets' roster doesn't look wildly different in most spots compared to last season well, unless you count the Hall of Fame quarterback they just added last week. He led the NFL in receiving touchdowns twice, and in receiving yards in 1974. HOF Qualifications: EXCELLENT. They can't be bumped more than five yards downfield. Moore is remembered largely as a good player who was very productive in his system for about three years, and I believe that is a fairly accurate representation of his career. Published: Apr. (In fact, Smith remains the Jags all-time franchise leader in AV to this day.). Nuk will also get some juice for having signature seasons while catching passes from Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, and Tom Savage, and having perhaps the best hands of his generation. Top undrafted rookie free agents following the 2023 NFL Draft 13. KEYSHAWN JOHNSON entered the Top 20 during Week 17. And if nothing else, the Hall of Pretty Damn Good is all about keeping great players like him from slipping through the cracks of history. Brohm was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Association Hall of Fame in Lexington. Monk was repeatedly dismissed as a guy who caught 900 eight-yard hooks, and who wasn't the most dangerous receiver on his own team. He was the Megatron of the time and his stats blow away the similar era receivers who are in the HOF. 862 receptions, 12,287 yards, 67 TD. When you're trying to stand out from contemporaries like Brown and Carter, who played forever, that's a real problem. Fred Taylor, who rushed for over 11,000 yards, is unlikely to receive serious consideration. The 1970s Raiders have eight players in the Hall of Fame. Swann, Bob Hayes and Warfield all had less receptions and Yards, and only Warfield had more TDs. Jerry Rice has 1549 receptions, 22895 receiving yards, 197 touchdown catches when playing wide receiver. For one thing, Carmichael ranked among the top 10 in receiving TDs eight times, and as a possession receiver, his yardage totals don't fully reflect his value. He probably shouldn't be in. Andre Rison's average 5th, 9th, and 3rd. Gary Clark - Washington Redskins/Phoenix Cardinals/Miami Dolphins -. That player would be michael irving popular has rings and of course on the cowboys. Julio Jones by the numbers: Where Jones stands among NFL greats and how You can easily look at player like Art Monk or the 2 pass on this year TIm Brown and Chris Carter whom at a time or 1 and 2 on record books or right behind Jerry Rice. Is former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman a Hall of Famer? In the '90s, who besides Jerry Rice did what Brown and Carter did? But we can certainly compare these players to their peers. 1972-85, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders It's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction week around the NFL world. So now that I have my benchmark down, here are the wide receivers that I think only need a couple more seasons to potentially be considered for the HOF. Branch: 501 rec, 8,685 yds, 67 TD When football fans cry "snub", there's a good chance they're talking about a wide receiver. You probably don't remember Jimmy Smith on the Cowboys in 1992. He fell just short of 600 receptions, 9,000 yards, and 80 touchdowns. Jackson's record wasn't tied until Tim Brown in 2003, and finally broken by Terrell Owens and Tony Gonzalez almost 30 years later. Three: Chandler, Hill, Morgan, Reed, Rison, Hugh Taylor According to era-adjusted metrics such as TRY and AV, however, Smith belongs in the conversation of all-time great receivers. He joins his father, Oscar, and his younger brothers, Jeff and Brian, as members of the KHSAA Hall of Fame. Three: Chandler, Hill, Morgan, Reed, Rison, Hugh Taylor So this is really a list of 15. Branch played very well in Super Bowls XV and XVIII and won three rings. 579 receptions, 10,372 yards, 76 TD. Obviously, there's more to it than that. Let's use 1994-98. This doesn't apply to Jackson. But Smiths career was already halfway over when the 1999 Greatest Show on Turf St. Louis Rams began to revolutionize the modern passing game; he hung up his cleats for good two seasons before the 2007 New England Patriots further accelerated that trend. @Neil_Paine, NFL (976 posts) The premier deep threat and speed burner in the league in his prime. But when you're talking about the Hall of Fame, does it distinguish him from guys like Cris Carter and Henry Ellard and Tim Brown? 3. The Hall of Fame argument in Rison's favor is that he has good career stats for his era, and he was a remarkable player in his prime, with five 1,000-yard seasons and four years of double-digit TDs. Becoming a wide receiver is almost just an inevitable part of life at that point lmao" Carter had eight 1,000-yard seasons, six years with double-digit receiving TDs, led the NFL in a major receiving category four times and at one point set the single-season record for receptions. Hall of Fame Wide Receivers. The guys who peaked a little later have a stronger case. In this article, I count down the Rams' top five wide receivers of all time. Most Approximate Value (AV) in a receivers best sets of five and seven consecutive seasons, 1960-2019, McCardell and Smith dubbed Thunder and Lightning were a historically potent duo at receiver. No current HOF receiver was drafted later than 1988 (Michael Irvin) and no likely HOF receiver was drafted between '88 (Tim Brown, Sterling Sharpe) and '94 (Isaac Bruce). Behind The Mask Podcast: STEVE SMITH, FORMER CAROLINA PANTHER ALL-PRO 590 receptions, 8,985 yards, 79 TD. Pro Football Hall of Fame snubs: The 10 biggest in NHL history - Sportsnaut According to Pro-Football-Reference.coms Approximate Value (AV) metric, Smith had 74 AV in his best run of five consecutive seasons (from 1997 through 2001), which is tied with Lance Alworth, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones for fifth-best since 1960. Carter averaged just 12.6 yards per reception, one of the lowest marks in history for an elite wide receiver. Copyright 2019-2023. How does a guy who didn't stand out in his own era deserve Hall of Fame recognition? You can probably win a bar bet with that, by the way. Lets start by running through five obvious cases of overly-qualified receivers who have not yet been enshrined. That said, Hopkins may have to wait in line behind another recent Houston Texans receiver and former teammate. 4. zack howard on Twitter: "Imagine growing up with a hall of fame qb as Looking just at the 70s, Gray ranks 17th in receptions, 9th in yardage, and 11th in TDs. HOF Qualifications: FAIR. Theres no reason to belabor the arguments for them. The Best Wide Receivers in Los Angeles Rams Franchise History Part of the reason Rison moved around so much is that he was viewed as a bit of a headcase. Average rank in five best seasons: This is a quick-and-dirty rating method, underemphasizing the most important stat (yards) and unduly skewed by a couple of bad TD years, so I wouldn't want to draw any specific conclusions from it. Jackson led the league in receiving touchdowns and was a consensus All-Pro. Please help keep me accountable. But let's review each player's rsum, in alphabetical order. Gray was very good, but Carmichael, Branch, and Pearson are all much stronger HOF candidates. The Jacksonville Jaguars of the 1990s cannot catch a break. Drew Pearson And Smiths best set of seven straight seasons (1996 through 2002) earns him sole possession of seventh place since 1960, trailing only Rice, Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Michael Irvin, Alworth and Moss. 1965-74: Fred Biletnikoff, Bob Hayes, Charley Taylor, Paul Warfield He led the league in receptions once, never in yards or TDs. If I look down the line at some of the best wide receivers to play in Green Bay, guys like . Please note that WRs of the late '80s and early '90s, like Reed and Sharpe, are in next week's column. He played seven games and never caught a pass. Opening up to Gene Frenette of Jacksonville.com in 2016, Smith admitted that his fight against drug addiction is a constant obstacle. He made five Pro Bowls (one as a returner) and was second-team All-Pro twice (once as a returner). In that seasons signature win a playoff upset at the heavily favored Denver Broncos Smith had 71 yards and scored the eventual game-winning touchdown. Boldin is yet another receiver who becomes a Hall of Fame nominee this year. He had nine consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and ranks 4th all-time in receiving yards. Moore's other issue is that he played for the Lions at a time when (1) they weren't an elite team, (2) they had kind of a weird offense, (3) he was overshadowed by Barry Sanders. 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. Morgan was one of the greatest deep threats in NFL history. Maybe. What are some wide receivers that are currently in the hall of very 4. That means he will probably fall well short of enshrinement, which is just another indicator of how high the bar to Canton is. Joiner's best seasons came in the early '80s and the others all reached stardom in the '60s, whereas Jackson's career is truly centered in the '70s.

Lancashire County Council Adaptations, Does James Roday Sing, Why Did Ryan Hurst Leave Medium, Articles B