He was fun to watch. Would he be the first guy to get in primarily on his PR/KR skills? Billy White Shoes Johnson comes to mind but he didn’t make the hall.
and there a few WR in who going in primarily on their work at WR but were also clearly helped by their return work, a guy like Tim Brown comes to mind.
Cliff Branch is an interesting call. I was really young but I remember he and Biletnikoff were a dynamic WR duo for the Raiders. His numbers look pretty pedestrian compared to today’s standard but IIRC he was top 10ish all time in receiving yards when he retired.
I think Branch’s career stacks up pretty well with Harold Carmichael and John Stallworth. Both with a lot of career overlap with Brach and somewhat similar overall numbers both of whom are in the hall.
There are very few special teamers in the HOF. Ray Guy is the only punter; Shane Lechler might be the only other candidate, and I think he waits for a long time. Jan Stenerud and Morten Anderson are the only kickers; Adam Vinatieri will likely get in pretty quickly, the only other one I see being a reasonably good candidate is Justin Tucker.
Agreed on Hester. When you think about him, you think about someone who really changed how games were played. Teams intentionally didn’t kick off to him because of his ability to run one back at any time. Is that enough to get him in? Well, kickoff/punt returning is a notable part of the game and he’s the GOAT at it.
Oh, yeah - we did have a thread specifically for this.
This year’s winners
Tony Boselli, T
Leroy Butler, S
Sam Mills, LB
Richard Seymour, DR
Bryant Young, DE
Cliff Branch, S (senior finalist)
Dick Vermeil, HC (coaches finalist)
Art McNally (referee; contributor finalist)
I was listening to sports radio and the guy on the radio was going on and on about how “it’s not the NFL HOF, it’s the Pro Football HOF.” Slow news day.
Practically, … well, I can’t wait for Tommy Reamon and J.J. Jennings to make it in for their epic 1500+ yard rushing seasons in the WFL in 1974, or Tim Delaney for his 89-catch, 1232-yard showing that year (which he was following up with 44-594 the following season), or even Ed Marshall even if he only had 60 catches, because he also had 1159 receiving yards and 19 TDs (and then 31-582-9 the partial season after).
Super pumped to think about the induction of John Corker for his 41.5 career sacks in the USFL (28 in 1983 alone!), Chuck Clantion for his 26 interceptions - 4 brought back for TDs - in just 2 years, Kelvin Bryant for 4055 rushing yards and 41 TDs, and Chuck Fusina for his 10051 passing yards, 89.2 pass rating, and 66 TDs vs. only 33 INTs.
Let’s really not forget Herschel Walker, who finished his pro football career with 13,787 rushing yards and 115 TDs - 5562 and 54 of that from the USFL.