2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I see Gore has exactly 16,000 yards in 16 seasons. I want to vote for him just because of the incredible symmetry.

I never once thought "oh shirt. We're going against Gore today?" which is my personal HOF standard, but whatever. 16,000 yards on the dot.

Gore was definitely a compiler, but I think compiling is a HOF-worthy skill. You need to be really good to compile for as long as Gore did! That said, the closest comp to him I can see as a guy who was steady but unspectacular for the bulk of his career is Jerome Bettis, who needed five tries to get in. Bettis had a sub-4.0 YPC in nine of his 13 seasons and finished under 1,000 yards in each of his last four seasons. Gore had one 1,000-yard season and one 4.0 YPC season in his final six years. Given the imminent glut of no-doubters on the ballot, half a decade seems like a good over/under mark for Gore eventually getting in,

 

[Della9250]

Gore was definitely a compiler, but I think compiling is a HOF-worthy skill. You need to be really good to compile for as long as Gore did! That said, the closest comp to him I can see as a guy who was steady but unspectacular for the bulk of his career is Jerome Bettis, who needed five tries to get in. Bettis had a sub-4.0 YPC in nine of his 13 seasons and finished under 1,000 yards in each of his last four seasons. Gore had one 1,000-yard season and one 4.0 YPC season in his final six years. Given the imminent glut of no-doubters on the ballot, half a decade seems like a good over/under mark for Gore eventually getting in,

Gore wasn't going to be a first-ballot guy anyway, but this year really showed if these first-ballot guys can't get in right away, someone like him wasn't.

Bettis is a decent comp. The crazy thing is Gore got 250-some more carries and produced 2,300 more yards and he has almost 300 more catches and 1,500 more yards there to where the TD totals almost cancel out.

 

[Lt.Drebin]

Why is Philip Rivers considered a hall of famer? He was a stat compiler, nothing more. Watched him in person a couple times; thoroughly unimpressed. He had weapons to play with, too…

 

[hondo]

Fred Taylor deserves to be in the Hall. Best combination of size and speed at his position during his era. Aside from missing most of one season, very durable. If you're in a position to ask a defensive player who played against Taylor, he'll tell you how good the guy was.

Getting punished for playing in a small market.

 

[JC]

Why is Philip Rivers considered a hall of famer? He was a stat compiler, nothing more. Watched him in person a couple times; thoroughly unimpressed. He had weapons to play with, too…

Well because you watched him in person a few times I would definitely not vote for him.

 

[JC]

Fred Taylor deserves to be in the Hall. Best combination of size and speed at his position during his era. Aside from missing most of one season, very durable. If you're in a position to ask a defensive player who played against Taylor, he'll tell you how good the guy was.

Getting punished for playing in a small market.

Oh the tears from Jacksonville

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Fred Taylor deserves to be in the Hall. Best combination of size and speed at his position during his era. Aside from missing most of one season, very durable. If you're in a position to ask a defensive player who played against Taylor, he'll tell you how good the guy was.

Getting punished for playing in a small market.

I was thinking about him too during the Gore discussion. I don't think he'd get my vote, but I agree he suffers for having his best years after the Jaguars' run under Coughlin as well as for winding down like most running backs...he had just 980 yards in his last three seasons, the final two of which he spent in New England. He feels like one of those guys whose prime might be better remembered if he played for just one team. Steven Jackson is in the same position. I think his candidacy would look a lot better if he never had those winding down cameos w/the Falcons & Patriots.

 

[dixiehack]

Fred Taylor was 6-foot-1 and 228 pounds per NFL.com. I interviewed him a couple of times. If you asked me to guess what his measurements were from memory … let's just say Bob Barker would not be calling me up to the stage to play for a new car.

 

[Della9250]

Fred Taylor deserves to be in the Hall. Best combination of size and speed at his position during his era. Aside from missing most of one season, very durable. If you're in a position to ask a defensive player who played against Taylor, he'll tell you how good the guy was.

Getting punished for playing in a small market.

For me Taylor and Jackson are the just below the line for me. They don't have a lot of nice bulletpoints going their way -- low Pro Bowls, three second team All-Pros. When I look at the rushing list it feels right that everybody above Taylor is in and the guys below him that aren't shouldn't be (Henry will pass him in the first month next season) and the guys below him that are famous (Riggins, OJ, Davis, Campbell, Csonka etc.) or come from a time when their numbers were among the best in history at that time so they make sense.

If the career cutoff for a Hall running back is 12,000 yards with the exceptions of a Campbell or Davis for once in a generation talents, I don't think you are missing out on anyone.

 

[Della9250]

Why is Philip Rivers considered a hall of famer? He was a stat compiler, nothing more. Watched him in person a couple times; thoroughly unimpressed. He had weapons to play with, too…

Sixth all-time in passing yards and sixth all time in TD passes in 15 seasons isn't nothing.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Sixth all-time in passing yards and sixth all time in TD passes in 15 seasons isn't nothing.

A definite compiler, but again, you've got to be doing something right to compile for that long.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Sixth all-time in passing yards and sixth all time in TD passes in 15 seasons isn't nothing.

When When I watched Phillip Rivers it always seemed to me he played well and compiled excellent stats. But at the end of the game something would go awry and the Chargers would somehow snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. He was a better version of Kirk Cousins.