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. Interior OL | Edge 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. Mosley's case, meanwhile, has stalled in New York. One issue: Five of those six are running backs, with Randy Moss as the only exception. 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. Likely (70% to 99%): TE Rob Gronkowski. All HOFm Positions: QBRBWRTEGTCDTDEILBOLBDBKP, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2:32PM. Both are locks for election. Partner with Us Back. The Hall of Fame receiver responded with a $100 million defamation lawsuit. 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. That's just about a magic formula for getting into the Hall. While guys like Franco Harris and Champ Bailey managed to make it to the Hall with similar starts to their careers, standouts like Chris Hinton, Ricky Watters and Donovan McNabb have come up short without getting to that next level. 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. For now, Tom Brady and J.J. Watt lead the list of this years retirees wholl be on the ballot in 2028. 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. With five consecutive first-team All-Pro appearances, he could retire tomorrow and get in without any questions. 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 Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame monitor ranks Edelman 110th among wide receivers, and that gives him credit for winning three Super Bowls. One more Pro Bowl would probably do the trick. 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. In part, that has been driven by health; the only other wideout ranking in the top 100 for receiving yards who has played all 80 games over the past five seasons is Larry Fitzgerald. 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. Hightower has made huge plays in two Super Bowls, having stuffed Marshawn Lynch at the 1-yard line and strip-sacked Matt Ryan, but he has rarely gotten the regular-season attention he deserves. Hes No. 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. Joe Fortenbaugh breaks down why Julio Jones is the safer bet over DeAndre Hopkins to lead the league in receiving yards. Work to do (10% to 39%): OT Terron Armstead, OT Ryan Ramczyk. 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. But playing on so many bad Eagles teams delayed his entry into the Hall of Fame. The induction process, like so many things, is on hold. Typically, there are between 45 and 50 Hall of Famers playing at any one time. Work to do (10% to 39%): WR T.Y. Julio or Hopkins: Who's the better bet to lead in receiving? I worry a little about Atkins because he plays in a small market and in an era in which he's second fiddle to a better version of the same player (Aaron Donald), but history suggests Atkins is in. At the same time, Green has missed 23 games over the past two years with injuries. 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. Round 1: Kiper | McShay | NFL Nation To use an example, I don't think Eli Manning has the rsum of a Hall of Fame quarterback, but history tells us that most quarterbacks who win two Super Bowls typically get in. The Museum of Broadcast Communications also named its first 33 "Legends" inductees, one for each year of the hall's . Work to do (10% to 39%): WR Davante Adams, OT David Bakhtiari, LB Za'Darius Smith. I think Rivers probably gets in, but it might take a while. Harold Carmichael finished his career with 590 receptions and 79 touchdowns. The former star wide receiver on Thursday was not elected in his second time as a modern-era finalist in as many years of eligibility. 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. 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. Evans was a big-time NFL prospect. Draft a league now and start fresh with a 0-0 record and a shortened schedule. Joe Fortenbaugh isn't picking Odell Beckham Jr. to lead the NFL in receiving yards, but he expects Kevin Stefanski's scheme to improve the wide receiver's numbers in 2020. He figures to have a strong case for first-ballot election. Since 1950, 12 players have won two or more rushing titles. He probably needs two more All-Pro seasons to finalize his case. From 2000-2003, Randy Moss put up video game numbers: 376 receptions, 5,649 yards and 49 touchdowns. 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. 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. DT | LB | CB | Safety If his career lasts only six or seven seasons, though, he'll have to be a perennial All-Pro to make it to Canton. Byard was a first-team All-Pro in 2017 when he led the league with eight picks, but despite playing at an upper-echelon level over the ensuing two seasons, he hasn't received the same consideration. 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. With Anthony Harris hoovering up interceptions and Jamal Adams and Minkah Fitzpatrick emerging, 31-year-old Smith probably needs to earn that nod in the next year or two. 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. Barr made four consecutive Pro Bowls from 2015 to 2018, but it'll be tough for him to get the first-team All-Pro votes he'll need for Canton without racking up significant sack totals. Unless he turns things around dramatically this season, he would fall out of the "Work to do" category altogether. To contrast with a Hall of Famer, Derrick Brooks had six Pro Bowls and three All-Pro appearances by this point. Nelson is one of seven players to start his career with two consecutive first-team All-Pro nods, a group that includes four Hall of Famers, Devin Hester and Keith Jackson. 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. 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. Buy Seahawks Tickets. Rodgers is a three-time All-Pro, a member of the 2010s All-Decade Team and so much more. He will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Heres the top 10 in NFL and AFL history in receiving yardage through 85 games. Over that five-year span, Landry ranks third in the NFL in catches and seventh in receiving yards. Edelman's career as a starter really didn't begin until he was 27, so while his case is built on postseason performance, I still don't think he has the regular-season production needed to supplement a case. Newton has an MVP award, which goes a long way toward pushing any player into the Hall of Fame. 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. He deserves it. Even if he slows down from here on out, Miller's going to the Hall. Since there have been only 346 people elected to the Hall of Fame (some of whom aren't even players), we don't always have great measures or estimates for what players at each given position have to do to make it. 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. Tight ends have relatively short careers, which makes projecting their Hall chances exceedingly difficult. Fitzpatrick went from getting benched for the Dolphins in Week 1 to becoming a first-team All-Pro after his arrival in Pittsburgh; another year like 2019 will push him into Watt territory. There are another 11 players who aren't yet Hall-eligible, and five of them are locks to do the same. 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. Do you have a blog? All but. Watt is off to a dominant start, having racked up 34.5 sacks over three seasons while earning two Pro Bowl nods and a first-team All-Pro berth last season. Wagner also has a Super Bowl victory and, quite famously, an MVP vote from Tony Dungy on his rsum. Barnwell and friends discuss sports -- usually. Astros great Craig Biggio had to wait until his third time on the ballot to be voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and fell an agonizing two votes shy the previous year. Wentz's injury history this early in his career also doesn't bode well for his chances of playing deep into his 30s. Collins was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 2016 and has three Pro Bowls across his first five seasons. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, September 1st at: www.radiohalloffame.com. Roethlisberger won two Super Bowls with the Steelers and spent 18 seasons as Pittsburghs starter. He has now made three consecutive Pro Bowls, although his only first-team All-Pro nod came in 2017. A starter from day one, Jackson was a first-team All-Pro while leading the league in interceptions in 2018. In the running (40% to 69%): S Eddie Jackson. In the running (40% to 69%): S Jamal Adams. Vinatieri is arguably the greatest clutch kicker in NFL history, twice making last-second field goals to win Super Bowls and also making another famous kick in the Tuck Rule game that helped launch New Englands dynasty. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. He previously worked as the sports editor at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. 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.