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. Work to do (10% to 39%): QB Carson Wentz, TE Zach Ertz, CB Darius Slay. I would put Gronkowski's chance somewhere around 99%. Casey has made five consecutive Pro Bowls, but the Titans were willing to cut him this offseason before trading him for a seventh-round pick, which also seems telling about where they saw his future. You probably dont need me to tell you that in 2018 Moss became the most recent receiver to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. 1 min read. We still have no idea how Thomas will perform, but if we look back through history, four of the 32 offensive linemen since 1970 who were drafted with a top-five pick have made it to the Hall of Fame. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, September 1st at: www.radiohalloffame.com. Orlovsky sounds off on Wentz not making top 100 list. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Peterson, fifth all-time in rushing yards (14,918), is a good bet for election on the first ballot. Whitworth was criminally underrated during his time in Cincinnati, earning just one Pro Bowl nod during his first nine seasons with the Bengals. Erica Farber and Bill Siemering, prominent figures in U.S. commercial radio and public radio, respectively, are among eight new members of the Radio Hall of Fame. Adam Vinatieri will eventually join Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen, but those guys averaged 22 seasons in the league. Sensing that many people might disagree with me, I decided to post a poll on Twitter. Theyre easily first-ballot selections. Gore is third in career rushing yards, which owes much to the fact that he also ranks third in carries. The shrine in Canton, Ohio, is one that hasnt been easy to gain membership in through the years. What makes Evans production especially impressive is that he entered the league at such a young age. A starter from day one, Jackson was a first-team All-Pro while leading the league in interceptions in 2018. Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in football, although he might struggle to earn first-team All-Pro nods when stuck in the same time frame as Mahomes. Ingram wasn't very good for extended stretches of time until his fourth season in the league in New Orleans, and while he has made three Pro Bowls since, he hasn't had a top-five season in terms of production or won a Super Bowl. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Whether Johnson will be there to welcome Watt into the Hall of Fame will be interesting. At the same time, no tight end in history has more than four 1,000-yard seasons over their respective careers, and Kelce has just run off four consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns. JAX | KC | LAC | LAR | LV | MIA | MIN In the running (40% to 69%): C Maurkice Pouncey, LB T.J. Watt. Hilton, DE Justin Houston, DT DeForest Buckner, CB Xavier Rhodes. White got his just due last season and was named a first-team All-Pro while tying for the league lead in interceptions (six). Rodgers is a three-time All-Pro, a member of the 2010s All-Decade Team and so much more. A portion of ticket purchases is a tax-deductible charitable donation to the Museum . Unlike Gurley, McCaffrey didn't win Offensive Player of the Year or make a deep playoff run. Just nine tight ends are enshrined, and Kelce's game leans more toward receiving than any of them. NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF Likely (70% to 99%): WR Michael Thomas. 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. 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. Kittle is the best all-around tight end in football right now, and if you could tell me this minute that he would have a 12-year career, I'd expect him to be a Hall of Famer. Likely (70% to 99%): WR Tyreek Hill, TE Travis Kelce. 8/16/2011. Jackson does an incredible job of avoiding hits and getting out of bounds, but there's naturally going to be questions about whether a quarterback can run the ball 10 times per game in the modern NFL and have a 15-year career as a starter. The suspension hurts Peterson's chances, but with eight Pro Bowls and three All-Pro appearances across his first eight seasons, his prior track record was impeccable. The two first-time eligible players who stand out on next years ballot are defensive end Julius Peppers and tight end Antonio Gates. 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. I polled my Twitter followers and found that 42.6% of voters thought Rivers was a Hall of Famer. He is a graduate of Southwest Texas State University and Bowie High School in Austin. 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. But during his 15-year career, Lewis has only been a Pro Bowler and Second-Team All-Pro in 2010. (Justin Simmons, who was one of the NFL's best safeties a year ago, is still waiting for his first Pro Bowl appearance.). 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. He has stayed healthy and productive, so that hasn't been the issue. In the running (40% to 69%): WR Odell Beckham Jr., WR Jarvis Landry. Jones is likely to top 13,000 receiving yards and earn his eighth Pro Bowl nod this season, which should be enough to seal things for the superstar wideout. Players with that sort of injury history early in their careers typically don't have the sort of lengthy peak needed to become a Hall of Famer. Both are among the all-time leaders in every notable stat at their positions. I think Thomas is a prohibitive favorite to get in. He needs to have a second act and have another selling point -- either winning a Super Bowl, competing for another MVP award or making it to a handful of Pro Bowls -- to have a viable path to a gold jacket. In the running (40% to 69%): DE Chandler Jones. Ten of those 12 are in the Hall -- Elliott and Adrian Peterson are the other two. If McCaffrey can piece together even two more seasons at his 2019 level and add two or three more like his 2018 campaign, that might be enough to make it to the Hall of Fame. Sanders started 16 regular season games at cornerback and another eight at wide receiver - becoming the first two-way starter in the NFL since the Philadelphia Eagles Chuck Bednarik, who retired in 1962. Likely (60% to 99%): RB Frank Gore. Many of the modern-era players to whom hes statistically comparable played well into their 30s. As good as third-year receiver Chris Godwin has been for the Bucs this season, its hard to say that hes anything more than the Anquan Boldin to Evans Fitz. The former LSU corner was already a star on the field after his 2018 campaign, but getting that first nod is usually tougher than getting invited back. Judging safeties on interceptions is stupid, but we haven't evolved beyond that point. Guy made only one Pro Bowl after turning 30, and Hekker probably needs a couple more All-Pro appearances to earn serious consideration. After missing the postseason for the first time in four years, the Green Bay Packers will now spend their offseason with one topic at the forefront of their internal conversations: the future of Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers has had a lack of weapons on the Green Bay Packers If his career lasts only six or seven seasons, though, he'll have to be a perennial All-Pro to make it to Canton. Hes top-10 in passing yards and touchdowns, so hell get a gold jacket at some point, if not on the first ballot. He repeated that feat in 2019, but he'll need to have Campbell's longevity and continue at this level into his mid-30s to have a viable path to the Hall. Longtime teammate Jeff Bagwell, meanwhile, had to wait until his seventh year on the ballot before gaining enshrinement to Cooperstown. All of these guys have something in their favor, but it isn't enough to propel them to meaningful consideration as of yet. 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. So maybe the best thing for Johnson and Texans fans is to be patient. Meanwhile on offense, receiver Allen Robinson's three-year, $46.5 million contract (signed last spring) comes with $15.2 million guaranteed in 2023. 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. 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. Work to do (10% to 39%): RB Melvin Gordon, DE Jurrell Casey. Charley Taylor. 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. Things would be different if he had actually won the MVP award or been the quarterback who ran the Eagles through the playoffs in 2017. 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 Harold Carmichael finished his career with 590 receptions and 79 touchdowns. He was a Pro Bowler in 2017 and has 37.5 sacks over his first four pro seasons, but he was overshadowed a bit by Campbell over that time frame. I mentioned the math for quarterbacks in the Bengals section; in Garrett's case, four of 26 non-QBs taken with the first overall pick since the merger have made it to the Hall. QB Anthony Richardson rejects 'project label' entering combine, Texans terminate center Justin Britt's contract, Bun B, Badu, J.J. Watt celebrate RodeoHouston Southern Takeover. In his other two seasons, he racked up a combined 23 sacks and made a pair of Pro Bowls. People in favor of him will point to his stats, which are clearly better than those of Eli Manning, but that ignores the point; Manning isn't getting into the Hall because of his regular-season stats. I had Wagner as a lock when I first compiled this list. Jeremy Fowler polled a panel of more than 50 coaches, execs, scouts and players to come up with top-10 rankings for 2020: QB | RB | TE | WR | OT The Hall site draws a distinction, interestingly, between wide receivers and ends. If pro football did what hockey used to and waive the waiting period for the likes of Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, it could be argued Brady deserves the same treatment. Pouncey fits that magic 8+2 formula I mentioned earlier with regard to Atkins, and at 31, he should still have a couple more Pro Bowls in him. Top-10 picks who make it to the Pro Bowl as rookies have a great track record. He is right on the borderline between the "Work to do" and "In the running" tiers. Work to do (10% to 39%): DE Chase Young, S Landon Collins. If a receiver can enter the league and perform well right away at a boyish age, that speaks well for his future as he develops. After five consecutive Pro Bowl campaigns, I wonder whether Landry actually has a better shot of surpassing his friend and longtime teammate. In the running (40% to 69%): WR A.J. More on the Ring of Honor found on the team website. Although the Texans struggled through much of his career with the team, the franchise and fans always knew they could rely on him for stellar numbers. Green. 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. Often, I'm making an educated guess as to what would get a player in by looking at which accomplishments and plaudits matter more to voters. Every two-time winner got in easily, so while Watt might not have the longevity he hoped for, the Houston icon could retire tomorrow and get in. If you think this is too early for the 2019 seventh overall pick, think again. 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. He also earned two major awards: Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year the following season. He started his career with seven Pro Bowls in seven seasons, which is rarefied air. I think he'll end up getting in because he has simply racked up numbers year after year without missing much time, although I could also see an argument that he hasn't done enough outside of that one brilliant year. Buckner made the Pro Bowl in 2018, but he was otherwise underappreciated during his four seasons in the Bay Area. Work to do (10% to 39%): S Tyrann Mathieu. Nelson doesn't play a high-profile position, but he's off to a great start. Given his style, I worry about his aging curve versus that of tight ends who are basically glorified wide receivers. In the running (40% to 69%): RB Christian McCaffrey. Wilson is somewhere in the 90% range. Watt, with his three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Texans, will for sure give Houston another Hall of Famer. Inductees Nominees Induction Weekend Induction Process Landmark Award Squier-Hall Award Blue Jacket & Class Ring. Once again, its wait til next year for Texans great Andre Johnson when it comes to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roy Williams is the lone Hall-eligible safety who didn't follow his early success to Canton. In the running (40% to 69%): DT Ndamukong Suh. In the running (40% to 69%): DE Danielle Hunter, S Harrison Smith. Gronk has five first-team All-Pro appearances. But history tells us that's a lot to ask. If that seems surprising after what he accomplished last season, remember that it was his first season with either a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro nod. 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. Since the merger, 11 offensive linemen have been named a first-team All-Pro in four consecutive seasons, and nine of them are in the Hall of Fame. Carmichael was one of the best wide receivers of his era. From 2000-2003, Randy Moss put up video game numbers: 376 receptions, 5,649 yards and 49 touchdowns. Evans was a big-time NFL prospect. Only nine players have done that in league history; outside of Green, the only player of the bunch who isn't in the Hall of Fame or a lock to get in is offensive tackle Richmond Webb, who played a much less notable position. Over that five-year span, Landry ranks third in the NFL in catches and seventh in receiving yards. Everyone but Hill is either a lock or extremely likely to make it in. Hunter just needs more individual recognition to raise his chances. Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame monitor ranks Edelman 110th among wide receivers, and that gives him credit for winning three Super Bowls. Only Chandler Jones and Aaron Donald have more sacks since the start of 2017. They both need multiple All-Pro seasons before they can rise up the ranks. He played 16 seasons, but never led the league in any notable statistical category other than interceptions. 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. In one of Coach Saban's press conferences, he spoke about some of the questions asked by the players to . The Hall of Fame Game, like the rest of the preseason, has been canceled during the coronavirus pandemic. Stanley was a first-team All-Pro last season, which was his first serious recognition as a superstar. 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. These NFL wide receivers do not count toward our list of 10 worthy Hall of Famers. All 259 picks | Every team's class You could also make the argument that Murray should be up a level after being taken with the No. ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN What will the Buffalo Bills do without defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier? Wait, Joe Burrow? Work to do (10% to 39%): DE Yannick Ngakoue. Ranking the top outlier contracts 1. AP Photo/Harold Filan. Moving to a higher-profile, more successful team will help Ramsey's chances of drawing national attention, although he wasn't close to Stephon Gilmore or Tre'Davious White a year ago. Partner with Us Back. Typically, there are between 45 and 50 Hall of Famers playing at any one time. After being retired for five years, players maintain modern-era eligibility for 20 years, after which their cases go to the seniors committee. I think his five-year peak with the Seahawks probably would have been enough to get him in, but earning a sixth Pro Bowl trip with the 49ers last season only helped his chances. Also, if a guy enters the league at a young age, he could theoretically have a longer NFL career, which would give him more time in the second half (or post-peak portion) of his career to put up the accumulation stats often needed to bolster a Hall-of-Fame case. In the running (40% to 69%): CB Tre'Davious White. Mosley needs to be recognized as the best inside linebacker in the game at least a couple of times; after missing virtually all of 2019 with a groin injury, he has opted out of the 2020 season over concerns for his family's health. Running backs mean less than they have in the past, but Terrell Davis just made the Hall for what really amounted to a three-season stretch as the best running back in football. If he can stay healthy, he's probably going to retire in the top 10 for career passing yardage, but will that really be enough to get him in without more individual awards or team success? Football Insiders with Trey Wingo. In fact, a future Hall of Fame wide receiver recently revealed that Rodgers tried to recruit him over to the Packers. Wide receiver, Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald's career stats: 1,432 receptions for 17,492 yards and 121 touchdowns One of the greatest wide receivers of all time, and certainly among the most dominant of his era, Fitzgerald will likely be a first-ballot Hall of Famer sometime around 2026. If you need something more, Fitzgerald's 2008 playoff run is probably the best postseason from any receiver in league history. All HOFm Positions: QBRBWRTEGTCDTDEILBOLBDBKP, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2:32PM. Partner with Us Back. The Cowboys are blessed with two linemen bound for Canton. On a weekly basis, Evans is a volatile player, but his year-over-year production has been incredibly consistent. As he enters the league, Young's chances of making the Hall of Fame on draft status alone sneak him into consideration. Mike Evans is on pace to be a Hall of Fame caliber wide receiver. He ranks seventh all-time in receiving touchdowns (116), 30th in yards (11,841) and 17th in receptions (955). Scouting reports | More draft coverage. Podcast: Stat superlatives The Best Wide Receivers of AllTime. 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. In the running (40% to 69%): CB Jalen Ramsey. Lock (100%): LB Von Miller. The reason Jackson is in this section and Fuller is in the next group is that Jackson has made two Pro Bowls in three seasons while Fuller has two across six years. 3 pick. Matthew Freedman (@MattFtheOracle) November 4, 2019. 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. Likely (70% to 99%): QB Matt Ryan, WR Julio Jones. Kelce is difficult to judge because tight ends aren't well represented in the Hall. Like Campbell, Heyward didn't earn widespread notoriety until he was approaching 30, with the Steelers star becoming a first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler for the first time in his seventh season. Meanwhile, Johnson spent the first 12 years of his career with the expansion Texans, who didnt make the playoffs until his ninth season with quarterback play that ran the gamut from dreadful to above average. Larry Fitzgerald Says Aaron Rodgers Should Play for the Dallas Cowboys Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) hands off. When a group consists of you and Jerry Rice, you've done something right. While James is closer to the 69% end of the spectrum here, Bosa's more toward 40%. Pro Football WR Hall of Fame Monitor 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. will Evans play and how productive will he be? He's an easy Hall of Famer. 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. On Saturday night, Eagles star Harold Carmichael and Rams star Isaac Bruce were inducted as part of a . Cliff Branch and Herman Moore are two of the few exceptions, but their performance fell off significantly after their third All-Pro trip and never recovered to their prior level. He could roll off a string of these nods in the years to come. He had a wasted 2019 season, as he went down with a high ankle sprain in Week 3 and averaged 3.2 yards per carry over his next seven games after returning, but 2020 should see Barkley return to form. Collins was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 2016 and has three Pro Bowls across his first five seasons. Smith-Schuster had a down 2019 season amid injuries and terrible quarterback play; he should bounce back to his 1,426-yard form from 2018. 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. Assessing Browns' FA needs. 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. Joe Fortenbaugh breaks down why Julio Jones is the safer bet over DeAndre Hopkins to lead the league in receiving yards. Lock (100%): QB Patrick Mahomes. Rent the Hall. Work to do (10% to 39%): C Alex Mack, DT Grady Jarrett. In the running (40% to 69%): OT Trent Williams. Randy Moss. In recent years Seattle has gained somewhat of a reputation as being the last stop for future Hall of Fame wide receivers. 1 pick and winning Offensive Rookie of the Year, but that hasn't historically been a helpful combination. Likely (70% to 99%): TE Rob Gronkowski. 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. At the combine, he measured in at 6-foot-5 and 231 pounds and ran an impressive 4.53-second 40-yard dash. While he has made six Pro Bowls, that's not typically enough for interior linemen to make it into the Hall. Eagles fans will be furious, but the reality is that Wentz has made one Pro Bowl and hasn't won a playoff game or led the league in a major statistical category (outside of fumbles) during his first four seasons. Lattimore has two Pro Bowl appearances in his first three seasons; if you throw out early-career players like Lattimore, Jalen Ramsey and Marcus Peters, eight of the 11 corners to pull that off since the merger are either in the Hall of Fame or going there. We may be compensated for the links provided on this page. I think Rivers probably gets in, but it might take a while. . 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. Work to do (10% to 39%): QB Jared Goff, OT Andrew Whitworth, P Johnny Hekker. "Nuk" has been a first-team All-Pro in each of his past three seasons, which is the sort of run that earns skill-position players a trip to Canton on their own. Archive: Every podcast from Barnwell . Mosley. He will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Three different Cowboys defenders make this list, and you could make a case for Jaylon Smith, too. Brown was arguably the NFLs best receiver from 2013-18 in Pittsburgh, but wasnt the same player after he left the Steelers. Complicating things for Johnson is the logjam of candidates at his position. There are questions about Roethlisberger's character; he has twice been accused of sexual assault. Of the seven players eligible for the Hall of Fame who made it to the Pro Bowl in their age-21 campaign, six are in the Hall. Bakhtiari, likewise, is blocked by Tyron Smith. 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. As he turns 30 in September, Gilmore probably needs at least two more seasons in which he has a credible case as the best cornerback in football -- or a really long peak. Gurley was a first-team All-Pro in 2017 and 2018, but he wasn't able to clinch a rushing title and didn't look like his old self last season. There could still be a season in which Mike Zimmer needs to use Barr as an edge rusher and he ends up with 10 sacks, but that's not going to be enough. Grading the Jamal Adams trade 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. His case is very strong for a first-ballot election. After that, we have players who are Likely to get in, who I estimate have between a 70% and 99% chance of earning induction. He has made five consecutive Pro Bowls and has a first-team All-Pro appearance. Hester was a (great) returner, which typically doesn't inspire the same sort of fervor as other All-Pro nods, while Jackson actually started with three consecutive All-Pro nods before dropping off and retiring after nine years. Heres what you need to know. Six players have done that since the merger: Murray, Cam Newton, Sam Bradford, George Rogers, Billy Sims and Earl Campbell. In a normal universe, we would be celebrating the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020 right about now. Of the 16 Hall-eligible first-rounders who were first-team All-Pros as rookies, nine are enshrined. 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 probably needs to keep that streak going for a couple more years or rack up another 15-sack campaign to move the needle to Likely. (1:43). At the same time, Green has missed 23 games over the past two years with injuries. 19 Won't: Maurice Jones-Drew This was. 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. Likely (70% to 99%): RB Ezekiel Elliott, G Zack Martin, OT Tyron Smith.