2024 HOF Finalist

[CRA]

Peppers makes the cut in his first run.  Gates is the other first timer making the cut.  Absent is our very own 89.....despite a rather lengthy WR group making the cut.  Jared Allen makes the cut again and has Panther ties.  Got to think Peppers is going to keep him from advancing out of this finalist round. 

Finalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024 revealed  (nfl.com)

WRs making the cut:  Holt, Wayne, Andre Johnson, and Hester*.  Hester obviously largely as a returner.  Andre Johnson I think is the one I take biggest issue with.  I think 89 was better than all of them but Johnson doesn't have a ring as a the default reason of why he would be in ahead of 89.  Got to think this is the window 89 likely pays for being an a-hole and we are seeing Johnson making the finals for the 2nd year in a row. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Peppers is a 1st ballot HOFer. Gates might be too.

[CRA]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Peppers is a 1st ballot HOFer. Gates light be too.

yeah, if Peppers doesn't make it this first trip......then first ballot HOFers don't really exist and it's all politics. 

 

[OneBadCat]

Smitty is definitely getting snubbed. He's the best of the finalists. Just to give some insight on just how good Steve Smith really was. I pulled this from a post on another forum.

In terms of pound for pound the best player. Take away stat padding . Steve Smith > Fitzgerald, Holt, Harrison, and Bruce.

He was more dangerous and could score anywhere on the field. He was also historically targeted 20-30, to even 40 times less at times a season then the aforementioned players. The most Steve Smith was ever targeted in a season was 150 times, occurring only once. 

By comparison here are his contemporaries' targets of 150 more in a season. 

Fitzgerald (9)

Holt (4)

Harrison (4)

Bruce (2) 

Mind you this is playing with Jake Delhomme, and only having Muhammad to pull coverage for a few years. He also lost two seasons worth of his all time yardages due to injury and being a KR/PR his rookie year. 

Had Steve Smith got to play with Manning or Warner in a passing offense for any stretch of his prime he would smashed some records and likely be 16-17k in receiving yards conservatively.

Edited December 28, 2023 by OneBadCat

[LinvilleGorge]

I thought Smitty would eventually get in but not even being a finalist this year does not bode well. WR stats are getting ridiculous these days but that's irrelevant to Smitty's case IMO. You judge a guy against his peers in the league that he played in, not against what the league currently is.

[BrianS]

I think the HoF needs to start looking at different stats.  Total yardage isn't a great way to look at receiving, especially between eras.  Yards per game or yards per reception might be better.

[LinvilleGorge]

16 minutes ago, BrianS said:

I think the HoF needs to start looking at different stats.  Total yardage isn't a great way to look at receiving, especially between eras.  Yards per game or yards per reception might be better.

Where did he stack up against his peers? What was the percentage of his team's receiving yards he accounted for? These are measures that help put things into perspective. 

[CRA]

22 minutes ago, BrianS said:

I think the HoF needs to start looking at different stats.  Total yardage isn't a great way to look at receiving, especially between eras.  Yards per game or yards per reception might be better.

Doesn't help 89 that his career really spilled into 2 different eras.  Lot of WRs that he played with essentially played their entire career in the true passing era.  A featured WR in that era should just have better stats no matter how you look at it. 

[4Corners]

Peppers lock 

Smith should be in the HOF yesterday 

[Manna]

Agent 89 was smaller than all the other WRs and played as big/bigger than them. Defenses often double and triple covered him and he still made plays. These things don't show up on the stats that I wish the HoF took into consideration. 

[Mage]

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I thought Smitty would eventually get in but not even being a finalist this year does not bode well. WR stats are getting ridiculous these days but that's irrelevant to Smitty's case IMO. You judge a guy against his peers in the league that he played in, not against what the league currently is.

He'll make it.  HOF is just tough on WRs.  Look at how long Torry Holt has been waiting despite the numbers he put up.  

[Basbear]

I honestly think peppers doesnt care about the HOF. 

[tukafan21]

Was really hoping Smitty would be a finalist this year, but not get in while a couple of the other WRs did.

Because that would have then set up the potential to have both Smitty and Luke go into the HOF together next season, which would have been really cool.

But can't see a scenario where he goes from not being a finalist to making it in the following year, he'll need a year or two of being a finalist before finally getting the call I'd imagine.

[toldozer]

Andre Johnson as a finalist over Smith is a complete joke.