Ray Guy's best chance to make the Hall of Fame?

Jesse Owens' fastest 100 meter time: 10.3 seconds.

Usain Bolt's fastest 100 meter time: 9.58 seconds.

Doesn't take away from Owens' greatness in his time.

 

Yet, somehow if you polled former coaches, players, media etc... on who the best punter in NFL history is, probably close to 90 percent would say it's Ray Guy.

 

I think it does, too. He should get in.

 

That assumes Ray Guy was dominant in his time, and only modern punters have better numbers.

That is not the case.

 

Also a much larger gap in time between Owens and Bolt than there is between Guy and the top punters now.

It's not like other positions in the NFL, which have changed dramatically along with the game. You can make a much better comparison between Guy and Lechler, for example, than you can between Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady.

 

I wonder if he's the only eligible person on the 75th Anniversary team who isn't in Canton.

 

You're basing it on numbers. There's also the impact on the game. Gale Sayers only played five seasons, plus two games apiece in two others. He led the league in rushing yards twice, although if he hadn't been hurt in '68, he might have gotten a third rushing title.He ran for less than 5,000 yards in total.

Yet, you'd be hard-pressed to say that he wasn't a Hall of Famer.

Leroy Kelly had over 7,200 career rushing yards and won two rushing titles, so you may not be able to say that Sayers was the most dominant back.

 

Punting has also changed. Punters are much bigger and stronger than they were back in Guy's time and undergo considerable more training. In Guy's time, teams would just line players up, have them punt, and whoever punted the farthest got the job.

Jerrel Wilson is another underrated punter who had great numbers, who was overshadowed on his own team by Jan Stenerud.

 

But, Bart Starr's numbers aren't even close to Vinny Testaverde's!

 

Johnny Unitas sucked, too.

 

Billy "White Shoes" Johnson (punt returner) also is not.

 

And a lot of them punted farther than Ray Guy.

He is 83rd all-time for yards-per-punt. A large percentage of those with better numbers played before he did.