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

Neither is a coach or an executive and they are voted in.

 

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is going with the numbers that I cited. Football-reference counts Associated Press all-pro only over other organizations. The there are years the AP voted for a punter and others where they didn't.

If Canton views him as a six-time first-teamer, then fine. I get why people would view him as three.

From 1973-75, he was the first-team punter by the other three organizations that voted — the Newspaper Enterprise Association, the Pro Football Writers Association and Pro Football Weekly.

The Associated Press started its all-pro team in 1965. From 65-69, they did not pick a punter or kicker. They picked Dave Lewis in 1970, then did not pick another punter until 1976, when Guy got the first of his three straight AP selections, DESPITE picking a kicker from 1971-74, punter was blank.

 

I don't have a problem with putting a punter in if the voters think one is deserving, but lack of representation of a certain position is a terrible reason to put one in.

 

56?

 

53 then plus the practice squad

You should probably get the point by connecting the dots.

 

If your point is that punters are more important than assistant coaches ... false.

Also the practice squad is eight-man, so the number you are looking for is either 53 or 61.

Your 56 appears to have come from the same place as Devilmetrics.

 

What level of assistant coach are you talking about?

 

A good assistant coach. Maybe a great one.

 

I'm not sure I understand the obsession with average in Guy's case. The Raiders in the 70s and 80s had a very potent offense so a lot of his punts were going to be shorter range in the first place. He wasn't punting much from deep in his team's own territory. Also nobody ever returned one of his punts for a TD in his entire career. While that certainly speaks to the quality of the Raiders' special teams, having his punts hang up there for eons certainly helped them get down the field quickly enough to create a lot of fair catches or negligible returns. He also only had 3 punts blocked in his entire career. Football Reference doesn't compare his gross to his net, but I'd be curious to know where he stacks up there.

 

Does anybody actually have his hang times on record? I'm sure that is something you could find for current punters, but I don't think the data exists for Guy or his contemporaries.

Let's just say that time, imagination and people wanting to see him get into the Hall of Fame seem to have ...enhanced...the legend of his punts a bit.

 

OOP, he's got three Super Bowl rings and he did have a part in winning them. I think that makes for a strong case.

 

Matt Millen, Jesse Sapolu, Keena Turner and Mike Wilson are among the players with more Super Bowl rings than Guy. Ken Norton, Jr. was on three consecutive winning teams. I believe he was a starter on all three.

I guess those guys all belong in the Hall of Fame, too.