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Patrick Willis: Hall of Famer?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Mar 9, 2015.

  1. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    I saw that, but those guys went on to longer, more complete careers. They didn't get in on only eight seasons of play.
     
  2. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    True, which is why his situation is kind of unprecedented.
     
  3. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    I would say yes; one of the players to define his era.
     
  4. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    Forgive my ignorance, but Willis put in eight seasons? Good Lord, where does the time go? Heck yeah Hall of Fame. Eight years is enough, IMHO.
     
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Most or all of whom wouldnt have made the Hall had they stopped playing after eight seasons.
     
  6. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    I don't think that's remotely true. Thirty years from now, if you were to name the best players of 2007-2014, would Willis be in the top 20? Top 30?

    Best linebacker? Arguably. That distinction doesn't carry the same weight it did even 10 years ago. And with only eight seasons under his belt, I just don't see him getting in the HOF.
     
  7. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    It isn't unprecedented at all.

    In a four- or five-year span in the early to mid '90s, Herman Moore was the best receiver in football. You could argue between him and Jerry Rice, but that's it. Yet Rice, Carter, Brown, Reed and some others are in, and Moore isn't. Among all those other receivers, only Rice was first-team All-Pro as often as or more often than Moore.

    Terrell Davis isn't in the Hall, I don't know if he will be, but his four-year stretch is Koufax-like. He was for sure a hell of a lot better than Bettis at their respective peaks. He was better than almost anybody at their peaks.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    There are two reasons that Terrell Davis isn't in the HOF: Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson.
     
  9. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Well, doing the equivalent of incorrectly comparing linebackers to fullbacks in relevance to bolster your argument aside, we'll have to agree to disagree.
     
  10. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    And about four or five others afterward
     
  11. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    Kind of apples-to-oranges, but Dwight Stephenson is in the Hall.
     
  12. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    So are Gale Sayers and Kellen Winslow, though Sayers has a mystique and Winslow revolutionized his position.
     
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