The only player in the Hall of Fame primarily for his work as a punter is Ray Guy, and you could make a case that Hekker is on that track. That's just about a magic formula for getting into the Hall. James was a first-team All-Pro as a rookie, and while he missed 11 games in 2019 with a foot injury, he should get back on track in 2020. Julio Jones (2011-17): 8,076, two-time All-Pro, will be a Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice (1985-89): 7,370, Hall-of-Famer, greatest receiver of all time Randy Moss (1998-2003): 7,258, Hall-of-Famer Torry Holt (1999-2004): 7,147, most yards through five years in NFL history Kuechly played just eight seasons with the Panthers from 2012-19, but they were very good ones, with five first team All-Pro selections, seven Pro Bowls and a spot on the All-2010s team. Adams has two Pro Bowls and an All-Pro nod across his first three seasons, putting him in a group with safeties such as Kenny Easley, Steve Atwater, Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu. Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans is having himself a season. Below them are the players who are In the running (between 40% and 69%), and then the players who have Work to do to get on the Hall of Fame radar, who come in between 10% and 39%. Thielen only emerged as a starter after turning 26, which means he would have to play into his late 30s to have a chance at racking up the cumulative stats modern wide receivers will need for enshrinement. In the running (40% to 69%): DE Chandler Jones. After that, we have players who are Likely to get in, who I estimate have between a 70% and 99% chance of earning induction. If you were asked to name off the top of your head the three best NFL receivers to enter the league at 21, you might say Moss, Larry Fitzgerald and DeAndre Hopkins. I would put Gronkowski's chance somewhere around 99%. 19 Won't: Maurice Jones-Drew March 25, 2020 9:36 pm ET. Bosa's case is trickier, in part because he missed four games in 2016 and nine games in 2018 with injuries. Lock (100%): QB Patrick Mahomes. Xavien Howard made the Pro Bowl in 2018 and would be the best candidate, but he has missed an average of six games per season across his four pro campaigns. He has been one of the five best players at the second-most lucrative position in football over the past five years, and the fact that he was traded for two first-round picks and then delivered a wildly successful season with all of that attention in 2018 helps him. Manning won two Super Bowls with the Giants, winning MVP both times. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. The two first-time eligible players who stand out on next years ballot are defensive end Julius Peppers and tight end Antonio Gates. Work to do (10% to 39%): DE DeMarcus Lawrence, DT Gerald McCoy, LB Leighton Vander Esch. He has now made three consecutive Pro Bowls, although his only first-team All-Pro nod came in 2017. Disputed loan at center of Commanders probe, Picking the top bounce-back candidates for all 32 NFL teams, Football historians talk about the game in a previous pandemic, Ranking the NFL's top 25 prospects: Young players who could break out in 2020, last attempted something like this column in June 2016, 42.6% of voters thought Rivers was a Hall of Famer, honor his request and trade the 25-year-old, trading a first-rounder to the Bills in 2009. Work to do (10% to 39%): OT Andrew Thomas. Work to do (10% to 39%): QB Joe Burrow. Leonard, with one All-Pro spot and a Pro Bowl appearance last year, is right behind. Heres the top 10 in NFL and AFL history in receiving yardage through 85 games. I think the PED suspensions could help keep out players like Edelman and Lane Johnson, but it's tough to imagine Peterson not making it. On the latest episode of the Let's Go! He looked to be firmly on a Hall trajectory at that point, but over the ensuing five seasons, he has just one Pro Bowl appearance. All but. Regardless of age, Evans has had an impressive start to his career. That means Robinson (who is coming off . Exhibits Interactive Experiences Gear Shop Pit Stop Caf Accessibility Champ the Cheetah. If Wagner makes it to another Pro Bowl or two, I don't think Willis' status will matter. Buckner made the Pro Bowl in 2018, but he was otherwise underappreciated during his four seasons in the Bay Area. Landry's hip surgery then looms as a problem; if he can get past it and keep this up, he profiles as a borderline Hall of Famer. Marriott has since been ordered by a judge to release footage of Irvin and the woman's altercation and the name of the . The Saints have the best tackle combination in football, but Armstead went underappreciated before picking up steam over the past couple of years and Ramczyk raised his game in 2019. Of the 16 Hall-eligible first-rounders who were first-team All-Pros as rookies, nine are enshrined. 7 overall in the 2014 draft at the age of 20. David has been supremely underrated during his career, but after earning a first-team All-Pro nod in 2013, he has made it to a lone Pro Bowl over the ensuing six seasons. He has made the Pro Bowl in each of his first six seasons, adding four first-team All-Pro appearances. Judging safeties on interceptions is stupid, but we haven't evolved beyond that point. The Defensive Player of the Year candidate was named a first-team All-Pro in 2015 and 2019, but he hasn't received any other nominations across his other five pro seasons. Hes top-10 in passing yards and touchdowns, so hell get a gold jacket at some point, if not on the first ballot. Unfortunately, Houston fans have had to wait through the years to see their stars get inducted. That might bode well for Suggs case, especially with the premium placed on pass rushers in the modern NFL. Pictured: Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (13). While Witten, 38, is years removed from his peak, he's going to finish his career with 11 Pro Bowl appearances and two first-team All-Pro nods. But playing on so many bad Eagles teams delayed his entry into the Hall of Fame. Texans great Andre Johnson fell short of election to the Hall of Fame again this year in his second time as a modern-era finalist. Outside of that one year, though, he has three Pro Bowl nods, no first-team All-Pro spots and a 2-5 record in the postseason. Both Bosa and Kittle could make this tier placement look stupid if they have big seasons in 2020. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. He has been phenomenal while winning one Super Bowl, and came within an interception of winning a second, but he has also never been considered the best quarterback in football or garnered a single MVP vote. Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens are two of the greatest players to ever catch a football, ranking first and second, respectively, in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in NFL history. Will OBJ defy his long-shot odds to lead NFL in receiving yards? We may be compensated for the links provided on this page. . Jackson and teammate Kyle Fuller both slipped last season, but each earned Pro Bowl nods, and that's going to matter more to voters 15 years from now than how either player actually performed in 2019. So Johnson still has plenty of time for his credentials to be debated by the 49-person selection committee. Or write about sports? Players with two Pro Bowls and one first-team All-Pro spot across their first three seasons who are eligible for the Hall have made it just over 48% of the time. He was selected No. He shared a receivers room with four Hall-of-Famers and caught balls from a pair of Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks in Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner while playing in eight post-season games . Evans is on pace to join Randy Moss as the only other player in NFL history to open his career with six consecutive 1,000-yard receiving campaigns. He's in line behind guys like Atkins unless the USC product continues to make Pro Bowls deep into his 30s. Donald clinched his gold jacket when he won his second Defensive Player of the Year award. Jalen and Reggie Wayne connected while he was in college, and his uncle has helped him every step of the way since. I haven't included players who I believe have no more than a 10% chance of making it into the Hall. If Brown has a Whitworth-esque autumn to his career, he has a shot. He previously worked as the sports editor at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. When: 1999-2004 These two probably had the greatest four-year stretch in NFL history. The Best Wide Receivers of AllTime. Its not at all random that hes become a big-time NFL player. Elliott has already won two rushing titles across his first four seasons, and that might be enough on its own. The future of Tampa Bay's tight end room. No offensive lineman is ever a lock when guys like Faneca still aren't enshrined, but Smith plays the most prominent position on the line for the most popular team in the league. These NFL wide receivers do not count toward our list of 10 worthy Hall of Famers. It's not too late to play with friends and family. I believe Evans will be in the NFL Hall of Fame someday, and in this piece I hit on a few of the reasons for my position. There are four notable first-time eligibles on this ballot: running back Adrian Peterson, tight end Rob Gronkowski, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown. Itll be interesting to see if his postseason prowess carries him, as it arguably did Lynn Swann in his eventual election. In the running (40% to 69%): QB Lamar Jackson, CB Marcus Peters, K Justin Tucker. Bakhtiari, likewise, is blocked by Tyron Smith. He deserves it. White got his just due last season and was named a first-team All-Pro while tying for the league lead in interceptions (six). In the running (40% to 69%): WR Odell Beckham Jr., WR Jarvis Landry. Za'Darius Smith might have been the best pass-rusher in the league last season and has been great over the past two years on a snap-by-snap basis, but he turns 28 in September. Since 1950, 12 players have won two or more rushing titles. McShay's favorite pick for all 32 teams The Pro Football Reference Hall of Fame Monitor (HOFm) is a metric designed to estimate a player's chances of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame using AV, Pro Bowls, All-Pros, championships, and various stat milestones. In the running (40% to 69%): RB Saquon Barkley. The Bucs already have the best receiver duo in the NFL in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and the addition of a player like Brown in his prime would make this unit completely unfair. Early in a player's career, I'm also comfortable using draft status as an estimate of talent until they establish themselves as pros, which will lead to some very inexperienced players making this list. Wilson is somewhere in the 90% range. Inside linebackers generally need to become Defensive Player of the Year candidates and earn multiple first-team All-Pro appearances to get serious consideration for Canton, but Edmunds is off to a great start. The Hall of Fame receiver responded with a $100 million defamation lawsuit. Around the NFL Writer. Watt's last name and presence on a high-profile defense won't hurt. Guy earned six Pro Bowl nominations and three All-Pro picks before turning 30. Edelman has never made a Pro Bowl, but the only player with more receiving yards in the playoffs is Jerry Rice. (You might remember Mitchell Trubisky in the Pro Bowl in 2018.) Kiper's draft grades for every team Evans has a chance to continue making history in 2022. Gronk has five first-team All-Pro appearances. After being retired for five years, players maintain modern-era eligibility for 20 years, after which their cases go to the seniors committee. Work to do (10% to 39%): QB Baker Mayfield, DE Myles Garrett. Only two full-time kickers Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen are in the Hall of Fame, but it would be hard to see Vinatieri shut out given his accomplishments. Brees could have retired five years ago and comfortably made the Hall of Fame. Of the 35 Hall-eligible players who have won that trophy since the merger, 11 are in, and that number will rise in the years to come. Peterson, fifth all-time in rushing yards (14,918), is a good bet for election on the first ballot. What will define Eric Bieniemy's success? Pro Football Reference Hall of Fame Monitor, Frequently Asked Questions about the NFL and Football, Pro-Football-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREE. Even if Hopkins takes a step backward without Deshaun Watson, he's probably just a couple of Pro Bowls from getting in. Longtime teammate Jeff Bagwell, meanwhile, had to wait until his seventh year on the ballot before gaining enshrinement to Cooperstown. Martin, who also turns 30 during the season, might not even need another nod. McCaffrey could turn into LaDainian Tomlinson, but what if he's more like Shaun Alexander, who won league MVP at his peak and never really got serious Hall of Fame consideration? to put up the accumulation stats often needed to bolster a Hall-of-Fame case. Nelson doesn't play a high-profile position, but he's off to a great start. One more Pro Bowl would probably do the trick. In my Week 10 WR/CB matchups piece, I highlight the upcoming matchup between Evans and Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson and say that we might be seeing two Canton-bound players go at each other in a one-on-one heavyweight matchup.. CLE | DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND He joined the Chronicle in January 2015 as the online sports editor. From 2015 to 2019, his numbers are virtually identical to those of Eric Ebron. This was. Wagner turned 30 in June, and after eight seasons in the league, he has six Pro Bowl appearances and five first-team All-Pro nominations. Mosley's case, meanwhile, has stalled in New York. Some players draw more attention after getting traded or signing a big extension, and Buckner did both this offseason. Ten years after he retires, we're more likely to look at his two first-team All-Pro nods and forget those times he guessed wrong and gave up touchdowns with the Chiefs and Rams. You could also make the argument that Murray should be up a level after being taken with the No. Williams made seven consecutive Pro Bowls before sitting out the 2019 season and forcing a trade to the 49ers. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, September 1st at: www.radiohalloffame.com. In the running (40% to 69%): CB Tre'Davious White. It's possible to make the Hall of Fame as a lineman without an All-Pro appearance, but the only guy to do it since the merger is Jackie Slater. I'd like to see a bigger sample before I treat that rate as gospel, and players such as DeAngelo Hall and Everson Walls had long careers without making it to the Hall, but Lattimore is off to a promising start. It was a good weekend for wide receivers at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. JAX | KC | LAC | LAR | LV | MIA | MIN Hekker got a two-season head start, but he has been a first-team All-Pro four times before turning 30 in February. Former Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, ex-Giants quarterback Eli Manning, ex-Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs and longtime Patriots/Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri are the notables on the 2025 ballot. Finish reading this entire article absolutely FREE in our app. He was nearly a lock after making four Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro nods across his first five seasons, but injuries have cost Thomas 20 games over the subsequent four years. Grading the Jamal Adams trade He's going to get in on the first ballot. The only thing Pouncey is missing is a Super Bowl appearance. Jordan's ascension from very good player to one of the best defensive ends in football over the past three years has helped drive his candidacy. He was excellent in his third season, but since then, his production has roughly been in line with that of Robby Anderson. All but Gronkowski generated controversial off-field headlines, but the Hall voters only debate what is accomplished on the field. Larry Fitzgerald won't be suiting up for the Arizona Cardinals for the start of the season, but the future Hall of Fame wide receiver stopped just short Friday of announcing his retirement. AP Photo/Harold Filan. Six of the seven men ahead of him are in the Hall, with the exception of Peppers. He'll have a better shot once reunited with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. In his final college season, he had a nice 69 receptions for 1,394 yards and 12 touchdowns in 13 games as a redshirt sophomore. When a group consists of you and Jerry Rice, you've done something right. What will the Buffalo Bills do without defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier? If Kelce can earn that nod in 2020, that might be enough to get him in. Suggs logged 139 sacks, good for eighth all-time. Instead, legendary players and coaches like Troy Polamalu and Jimmy Johnson will wait until next year to give their speeches in Canton, Ohio. The one-time tight end has made nine Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro twice. I think Thomas is a prohibitive favorite to get in. In other words, instead of trying to project their chances by guessing what they'll do in the future, I'm looking at what they've done so far, comparing them to players at similar points in their careers, and seeing how often players with those sorts of careers made it into the Hall of Fame. You could make a case Jones belongs in the Likely category based on his 2017 and 2019 seasons, although I'd argue there's a significant gap between those two campaigns and the rest of his career. Jones now has five consecutive seasons with at least 10 sacks. The players listed below are the top 250 HOFm-rated players who played WR starting in 1955 or later for at least 50 career games. Kamara took a step backward last season when he ran into some touchdown regression, but he still did enough to earn his third Pro Bowl appearance in three years. He has made five consecutive Pro Bowls and has three first-team All-Pro nods to go with his Defensive Player of the Year trophy from 2016. 260 players who could win MVP 1. Twelve of the 29 Hall-eligible players who have started their careers with three consecutive Pro Bowl nods have made it to Canton. Rivers is probably the most difficult case to parse among veteran players. He made it to four Pro Bowls in his first five seasons with the Ravens, and while that's the sort of production we associate with Hall of Famers, he wasn't able to earn a first-team All-Pro nod over that stretch. The Cal product has five Pro Bowls and a first-team All-Pro appearance through his age-30 season. Hill's game still relies on speed, so he could be more susceptible to a career shortened by injuries than most other candidates, but if he gets three more seasons with Mahomes, he's probably in. Let's run team-by-team and try to estimate each notable player's chances of making it to the Hall of Fame given his current rsum. In the running (40% to 69%): DE Danielle Hunter, S Harrison Smith. He has eight Pro Bowl appearances, but he has never been a first-team All-Pro, never really been a viable pick as the best quarterback in football and has a total of four MVP votes across 14 seasons as a starter. All HOFm Positions: QBRBWRTEGTCDTDEILBOLBDBKP, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2:32PM. Edelman has never made a Pro Bowl, but the only . The superstar edge rusher has made the Pro Bowl every year except 2013, when he was suspended before going down with a torn ACL. While injuries have cost Watt 32 games over the past four seasons, his unprecedented four-season peak from 2012 to 2015 locked up things. DT | LB | CB | Safety Center Rodney Hudson deserves more attention, but he has been stuck behind Maurkice Pouncey in the AFC and has only three Pro Bowls to show across his seven years as a starter with the Chiefs and Raiders. Thomas now has three Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro nods in four years, and while there might be some sort of drop-off if Brees retires, the Ohio State product did just fine with Teddy Bridgewater on the field in 2019. Bosa won Defensive Rookie of the Year, which hasn't been quite as big of a boon as you might think. Since 1970, 55 players who are eligible for Canton have hit that 8+2 mark, and 52 of them earned enshrinement. Likely (70% to 99%): TE Rob Gronkowski. Just six of 32 Hall-eligible winners made it to Canton, although that's going to rise in the years to come as the likes of Charles Woodson and Julius Peppers win enshrinement. Mosley. If he can keep this level of play up for three more seasons, Jordan could get in. Five of the 40 defensive players chosen among the top three picks of the draft since 1970 who are eligible for the Hall are enshrined, a percentage that will rise as players like Julius Peppers and Von Miller eventually become eligible. Harris has four Pro Bowls and a first-team All-Pro appearance in 2016, but his play has slipped over the past couple of years, and smaller cornerbacks typically don't do well after they turn 30. He has made five consecutive Pro Bowls and has a first-team All-Pro appearance. Work to do (10% to 39%): OT Terron Armstead, OT Ryan Ramczyk. Mathieu is a great player and just turned 28, so he still has plenty of time, but he probably needs four or five more Pro Bowl seasons or a DPOY victory to really get in the discussion. No promotions available. Guy got some help because the Raiders drafted him with their first-round pick, while Hekker gets extra attention because of his propensity for fakes. If he recovers and returns to his 2017-18 form, he still has plenty of time to get back on the Canton track, given that he turned 26 this week. At the combine, he measured in at 6-foot-5 and 231 pounds and ran an impressive 4.53-second 40-yard dash. Five seasons of 100 receptions or more plus a few others that flirted with 100 make Johnson one of the most reliable wide receivers in NFL history. It's tough to rack up interceptions in the modern NFL, but Peters has 27 since entering the league, nine more than any other player. Theyre easily first-ballot selections. Gronkowski dominated at his position, played a key role on four Super Bowl winners, was on the all-2010s team and a first time All-Pro on four occasions. I'll do a little bit of projecting here and there, given historical aging curves and what we know about each player's injury history, but this is almost entirely about what each player has done so far. What makes Evans production especially impressive is that he entered the league at such a young age. you might say Moss, Larry Fitzgerald and DeAndre Hopkins. Charley Taylor. Since 1980, there have been 23 Modern-Era Wide Receivers honored by the Hall of Fame, with an average Legends Score of 29. Everyone but Hill is either a lock or extremely likely to make it in. On Tuesday, future NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald spoke with the team. Skeptics will point out that Rivers was 5-6 in the postseason and only made it as far as one AFC Championship Game, but he's also sixth in NFL history in passing yards and passing touchdowns. Wagner also has a Super Bowl victory and, quite famously, an MVP vote from Tony Dungy on his rsum. The left tackle has seven Pro Bowls and two All-Pro nods before turning 30. James Harrison was a backup for four seasons, started regularly for the first time at 29, and probably won't make the Hall of Fame despite a pretty spectacular peak. One more nomination should get Smith in. Published: August 24, 2021. What will define Eric Bieniemy's success? Matthew Freedman (@MattFtheOracle) November 4, 2019. He has three first-team All-Pro nods and a Super Bowl MVP before turning 31. Ngakoue has deserved more attention and might get it in a new locale if the Jaguars honor his request and trade the 25-year-old before the season begins. Hunter just needs more individual recognition to raise his chances. Witten is also the only Hall of Fame candidate on the Raiders' roster. Work to do (10% to 39%): DE Yannick Ngakoue. He turned 32 on Friday, and while there could be more left in the tank, he probably needs another Pro Bowl season or two to ensure he makes it. He doesn't need that sort of individual production to make it to the Hall of Fame, but the guys who made it in without a single first-team All-Pro appearance needed something else. While Tucker would be the overwhelming choice as the best kicker in football, the Hall has elected just two full-time kickers in its history. Aldon Smith, who was once the most promising young edge rusher in football, would need a miraculous comeback in his first season since 2015 to get back on the HOF radar. An interesting case could be made for Frank Gore, who is third all-time in rushing with 16,000 yards in a 16-season career with five teams, but tied for 19th in touchdowns with 81. But as a running back who has been above average or good seemingly forever, he's getting in. Peppers, who played for the Panthers (twice), Bears and Packers, ranks fourth on the NFLs all-time sack list with 159 and was also on the Halls All-Decade Team for the 2000s and 2010s. A candidate must get 80 percent of the vote to be elected. Gore is third in career rushing yards, which owes much to the fact that he also ranks third in carries. (1:43), Barnwell: Projecting future Hall of Famers for all 32 NFL teams, The future of the NFL combine: Is there really a chance it could end forever? The content on this page is for informational purposes only. The big deal he signed with the Jags and the subsequent 14.5-sack campaign he posted in leading them to the AFC Championship Game turned the tide, as Campbell was a first-team All-Pro and made three consecutive Pro Bowl trips with Jacksonville. There are questions about Roethlisberger's character; he has twice been accused of sexual assault. He might not make it on the first ballot, but he should make it eventually. He needs only three more years to get to 60,000 passing yards, and if that gets Philip Rivers in, Ryan shouldn't have much trouble.