128 Modern-Era Players nominated for Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

Lomas Brown gets forgotten outside of Detroit, which is a shame.

My lasting memory was how pissed Lions fans were when he left for AZ.

Brown and Glover both were gone in back to back seasons. It pretty much ended Barry's desire to play anymore. To be fair with the Lions, both were aging out and past their peak. Lions really didn't replace them with anybody good. Happy to see Lomas get some national love with being a HOF finalist, he deserves it.

[49ersSF]

There are certain players whose careers were cut short, yet they should be included in the Hall of Fame based on the dominance of their peak. The precedent was set long ago with guys like Gale Sayers, Earl Campbell, Kenny Easley, Lee Roy Selmon, Terrell Davis, and Sterling Sharpe.

There are guys like Shaun Alexander whose 5-year peak is about as good as any back in the history of the game. Unfortunately, after 10 games into his 6th year of that peak, his run ended due to injury. Priest Holmes' peak is beyond ridiculous. From 2001 to 2004, only Shaun Alexander's brilliance came close to comparing to that of Priest Holmes. In 2004, he was having his greatest season yet, before injury pretty much ended his career.

These are two running backs whose peaks are actually better than those of Campbell or Sayers, yet they have pretty much been forgotten.

[2010GBPackers]

Originally Posted by 49ersSF

There are certain players whose careers were cut short, yet they should be included in the Hall of Fame based on the dominance of their peak. The precedent was set long ago with guys like Gale Sayers, Earl Campbell, Kenny Easley, Lee Roy Selmon, Terrell Davis, and Sterling Sharpe.

There are guys like Shaun Alexander whose 5-year peak is about as good as any back in the history of the game. Unfortunately, after 10 games into his 6th year of that peak, his run ended due to injury. Priest Holmes' peak is beyond ridiculous. From 2001 to 2004, only Shaun Alexander's brilliance came close to comparing to that of Priest Holmes. In 2004, he was having his greatest season yet, before injury pretty much ended his career.

These are two running backs whose peaks are actually better than those of Campbell or Sayers, yet they have pretty much been forgotten.

Here, here!

[Retired hobbist]

So does this give CMC a shot of getting in as regular or seniors candidate as the way his career is heading he looks like he could be a seniors candidate but Tiki Barber and Warrick Dunn have never had serious hall consideration and I don't see him getting much better lifetime totals than either guy does when it comes to yards from scrimmage totals.

[49ersSF]

Tiki Barber is another RB who had an unbelievable peak. From 2002 to 2006 (5 year peak) he averaged 2054 yards from scrimmage. There is no one in the history of the game that has ever done that in a 5 year peak. He retired after a 2127 scrimmage yard season.

Warrick Dunn is more in the category of Thomas Jones, Ottis Anderson, Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor, Eddie George. A very good dependable back, but never anything too special. I still do not understand why his name is always mentioned on this board.

CMC is about to lead the league for the 3rd time in yards from scrimmage. That puts him in with some of the all-time greats. Here's the list of players to lead the league in this category three of more time.

Jim Brown - 6
Eric Dickerson - 4
Thurman Thomas - 4
OJ Simpson - 3

That is it. If CMC can manage to hold onto his lead he becomes only the 5th player in NFL history to do so.

[88horsepower]

Originally Posted by Grid

Its because he was a stat compiler over many years. Like Gore, he benefited from good health and avoided any major injuries that many other RBs face over their careers.

Anderson played from 1979-1992. Which is no knock on him, that's a long time to ball! But was he ever, at any point, a top 5 RB in the league? How many great RB's played in his era? A lot. And all way better.

He started off hot, and then was just a guy for a dozen seasons. Both of his All Pros (1 first team) and both of his Pro Bowls were in 1979 & 1980 over his first 2 years. Then a dozen years of nothing straight.

Yes, he won 2 Super Bowls. But he was just on the team that got there. He wasnt the reason they were there. SBXXI in 1986, he had zero starts for the Giants and had 81 yards rushing for 1 TD in 8 games that season.

The other one, XXV, he had 784 rushing yards and 139 receiving with a total of 11 TDs on the season.

But he won SB MVP! He did! We should let Jim Plunkett, Doug Williams, Mark Rypien, Desmond Howard, Dexter Jackson & Santonio Holmes into the Hall as well then. They all won an MVP in the SB around the same time.

Longevity is underappreciated in sports.

[Retired hobbist]

Originally Posted by 49ersSF

Tiki Barber is another RB who had an unbelievable peak. From 2002 to 2006 (5 year peak) he averaged 2054 yards from scrimmage. There is no one in the history of the game that has ever done that in a 5 year peak. He retired after a 2127 scrimmage yard season.

Warrick Dunn is more in the category of Thomas Jones, Ottis Anderson, Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor, Eddie George. A very good dependable back, but never anything too special. I still do not understand why his name is always mentioned on this board.

CMC is about to lead the league for the 3rd time in yards from scrimmage. That puts him in with some of the all-time greats. Here's the list of players to lead the league in this category three of more time.

Jim Brown - 6
Eric Dickerson - 4
Thurman Thomas - 4
OJ Simpson - 3

That is it. If CMC can manage to hold onto his lead he becomes only the 5th player in NFL history to do so.

I think Fred Taylor eventually gets in as he has made a final in the hall voting process and either gets in during the eligibility period or as a seniors candidate.

[49ersSF]

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

Longevity is underappreciated in sports.

I don't really think this is the case with Ottis Anderson. From 1979 to 1984, Ottis Anderson was a great running back. From 1985 to 1992, he only had 3 seasons where he started 3 games or more. Of those 3 seasons, he had one where he started 8 games and another 11 games. Only one season out of those 8 seasons he started the full season. In those 8 seasons, he averaged 3.3 yards per carry (877 attempts - 2909 yards).

If Ottis Anderson gets into the Hall of Fame, it would have to be based on what he did from 1979 to 1984. He was definitely great during this period and worthy of consideration. However, with so many other running backs not in that were better, it becomes difficult to justify his induction.

Anderson's Peak 1979-84 (2xPB, 2xAP, 2xSB)

86 games - 9543 yds/scrimmage - 45 tds

Shaun Alexander's Peak 2001-06 (3x PB, 2xAP, MVP, OPoY, All 2000's Team

90 Games - 9794 yds/scrimmage - 105 tds

Roger Craig's Peak 1984-89 (4x PB, 2x AP, 3x SB, AP OPoY, 1st RB 1000/1000 - played most of this as FB) All 1980's Team

94 games - 9714 yds/scrimmage - 53 tds

Ricky Watters's Peak 1992-00 (5xPB, 1xAP, 1xSB) **same NFC as Barry and Emmitt. No period was more difficult to garner PB/AP, competing against 2 of the top 4 backs in the history of the game.

139 games - 14466 yds/scmimmage - 90 tds

Tiki Barber's Peak 2002-06 (3x PB, 1x AP)

80 games - 10274 yds/scrimmage - 45 tds

Priest Holmes's peak 1998-04 3x PB, 3x AP, OPoY, 1xSB

95 games - 10332 yds/scrimmage - 87 td's

I think it's clear the best 4 backs not in the Hall of Fame are Roger Craig, Shaun Alexander, Priest Holmes, and Ricky Watters.