Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022: Semifinalists (1 Viewer)

[Yogibear]

I tried to add on to the previous thread which talks about the nominees for the Hall of Fame Class of 2022, but I'm not sure if I'm going to get any more responses, so I decided to start another thread for the Semifinalists.  Anyway, here's the list of Semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022:

Eric Allen

Jared Allen

Willie Anderson

Ronde Barber

Anquan Boldin

Tony Boselli

LeRoy Butler

Eddie George

Devin Hester

Torry Holt

Andre Johnson

Robert Mathis

Sam Mills

Richard Seymour

Steve Smith

Steve Tasker

Fred Taylor

Zach Thomas

Hines Ward

DeMarcus Ware

Ricky Watters

Reggie Wayne

Vince Wilfork

Patrick Willis

Darren Woodson

Bryant Young

Keep in mind that Cliff Branch is the Senior Finalist, **** Vermeil is the Coach Finalist, & Art McNally is the Contributor Finalist.  Out of those 26 semifinalists, who has the best chance of getting into Canton in 2022?

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Holt

Seymour

Thomas

Wayne

Willis

 

[need2know]

Hester

 

[TZMarkie]

Hester

 This.   ^^

 Sure, special team players and returners are mostly overlooked for more "popular positions", but Hester stood out.

Even though I didn't watch much football for years in his career, I do remember him being a threat to run one back at any time.  I *ALSO*  remember many times where other teams simply kicked and punted AWAY FROM HIM.

Probably the best return guy in my lifetime, but even if you argue otherwise, he is  AT LEAST in the conversation.

Others in my mind who are close are HINES WARD, REGGIE WAYNE and another worthy of consideration is ANQUAN BOLDIN , but admittedly I can see an argument for NOT  voting him in.

 TZM

 

[Anarchy99]

I got that Hester was an exciting player. But there have been other successful returners. Brian Mitchell is second all time in APY after Jerry Rice. He has almost 9,000 more APY than Hester.

The issue for any special teamer is they only play a handful of plays per game. In many cases, guys play special teams because they aren’t good enough to start  at other positions. Hester was not very noteworthy as a WR. 

IMO, there is a long list of players at many positions that saw more action each week with more impact on games than Hester had. Hester MIGHT have had a big play returning a kick now and again. IMO, kicking away from a returner is not in itself worthy of being a HOFer. 

How many WR were double teamed and saw few targets? Not getting the ball  isn’t necessarily a good thing for building a HOF resume. 

 

[Tau837]

 This.   ^^

 Sure, special team players and returners are mostly overlooked for more "popular positions", but Hester stood out.

Even though I didn't watch much football for years in his career, I do remember him being a threat to run one back at any time.  I *ALSO*  remember many times where other teams simply kicked and punted AWAY FROM HIM.

Probably the best return guy in my lifetime, but even if you argue otherwise, he is  AT LEAST in the conversation.

Others in my mind who are close are HINES WARD, REGGIE WAYNE and another worthy of consideration is ANQUAN BOLDIN , but admittedly I can see an argument for NOT  voting him in.

 TZM

Holy cow. I disagree with every player named here. I don't think Hester, Ward, Wayne, or Boldin are deserving. I could see Wayne as borderline, but certainly not before Holt gets in, and maybe other WRs.

 

[Tau837]

Barber
Boselli
Butler
Holt
Thomas

 

[JetMaxx]

The sliding scale continues on the decline.