2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists

I'd go James, Taylor and then probably Dillon.

 

I'd pick Dillon over Taylor. He was much more durable.

 

All were better players than Reed.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/ReedAn00.htm

Heck, Henry freaking Ellard has a case when you match his stats to Reed.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/EllaHe00.htm

 

It's a good thing the voters actually saw Reed play and weren't stupid enough to have to rely solely on stats to put a guy into Canton.

 

He was a true breakaway runner his first two years in the league.

 

I would argue that Ellard's best 3-4 seasons were better than Brown's best 3-4 seasons, but Brown had a better overall career.

 

The problem with Brown is a gaping hole early in his career.
I know he suffered a knee injury but that shouldn't wipe out year-s- of production.
Ellard played for a lot of extreme run-oriented teams. That is a factor.

 

Yeah, as a Niners fan, I saw more than my share of Ellard over the years. He was a beast. IIRC, he had 2-3 years of limited production before he went to Washington. Fair, or unfair I think players are penalized more for something like that than they are if it happened at the beginning or the end of a career. Ellard's career also started slowly, he was in the league for six seasons before he got 1,000 yards.

 

This sounds about right. Taylor played at least 13 games in 8 of his first 11 seasons. Dillon only played 10 seasons, and started more than 11 games in 7 of them. Taylor was about the same player as Dillon, but I think he had more peak years. Would not seriously consider either for the Hall.

 

I'll be curious if James or Taylor ever make the Final 10. I think Bettis will go in before either of them and I'm not sure how any of them would rate against Terrell Davis or Roger Craig.

I would rather see the next three RBs to be inducted be Bettis, LDT and Peterson. I can't imagine any other active back making it unless Gore or Jackson have 3-5 more productive seasons and I'm definitely not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

 

I hope Bettis never gets in. 3.9 ypc over his career is not a HOFer. Although being from Detroit might be.

 

Curtis Martin averaged 4.008 for his career and had a wait a whole year to get in.

John Riggins averaged 3.893 for his career (as opposed to 3.926 for Bettis) and Riggins also got in his second year.

Bettis will get in eventually.