What 1st ballot HOFers are we watching today?

[Bootz]

It's the slow time of the football offseason. So a little bit of critical thinking is always fun.

Football fans get to enjoy watching great players do what they do and then reach the ultimate honor of being named to the HOF. We never really discuss it until they retire though. You dont really appreciate them until they are gone. But there are always those who you KNOW will be in Canton 5 years after they retire.

Who are some guys playing today that you guys think will be in the HOF 1st ballot? I'll name a few and let yall name some others.
And what I'm referring to is guys who have already put up HOF worthy careers. Not Jayden Daniels or CJ Stroud with just 1 or 2 years under their belts.


Derrick Henry

There's no one like him. At a position that is notorious with short careers and fast declines, Henry is still in the elite tier of RBs. 7 straight years of double digit TDs and 1000+ scrimmage yards. And his age 30 season last year might have been his best yet.

Travis Kelce

He's been the standard at TE for half a decade now at the least. Even as he gets late into his 30s, he still makes plays and is among the best at the position.

Myles Garrett

This one is obvious. He could really retire today and he'd be in the class of 2030. He's been the best since he stepped foot onto an NFL field in 2017 and he's still the best.

Lane Johnson

He's somehow gotten better later in his career. You wanna see some master class in OL work, watch him this past season. He was so good.

Patrick Mahomes

Duh!

[__Chef__]

Mike Evans ... He's got his eyes on multiple prizes for consecutive 1000 yard seasons ... If this defense can step it up, another ring would be the cherry on top of an incredible career.

[Sooner06]

yeah, i think mike Evans is a lock for the HoF.


Trent Williams, obviously. Chris Jones could end up wearing the gold jacket. Fred Warner should as well. Kittle? Micah Parsons if he can stay healthy. Cooper Kupp, maybe. Joe Thuney?


wow, how did i forget Tyreek Hill? Reek almost a lock for the HoF.

[Bootz]

yeah, i think mike Evans is a lock for the HoF.


Trent Williams, obviously. Chris Jones could end up wearing the gold jacket. Fred Warner should as well. Kittle? Micah Parsons if he can stay healthy. Cooper Kupp, maybe. Joe Thuney?


wow, how did i forget Tyreek Hill? Reek almost a lock for the HoF.

Thats a great list.

[__Chef__]

It's early ... but Whirfs ... went from playing at an elite level on the right, to playing at an elite level on the left.

Wirfs didn’t allow a single sack on 664 pass-blocking snaps. He keeps that level up, he's in.

[Pirate Life]

QBs: Rodgers, Jackson. Maybe Allen, feels like he will need a ring, don't think Jackson will need one.
RBs: McCaffrey, maybe Barkley.
WRs: Jefferson and Chase.
OL: Mailita, Nelson, possibly Sewell but likely needs another couple of years performing at the level he has so far.
DT: Dexter Lawrence. Cam Heyward likely gets in, but don't think it'll be first ballot.
DE/Edge: Von Miller. Mack makes it, but don't think he's first ballot.
LB: LVD. Bobby Wagner.
S: Several current guys likely make it in, but I don't think any of them are first ballot at the moment.
CB: Gardner and Surtain II have a good chance to be first ballot if their careers continue along the trajectory they are in for another season or three.

[__Chef__]

QBs: Rodgers, Jackson. Maybe Allen, feels like he will need a ring, don't think Jackson will need one.
RBs: McCaffrey, maybe Barkley.
WRs: Jefferson and Chase.
OL: Mailita, Nelson, possibly Sewell but likely needs another couple of years performing at the level he has so far.
DT: Dexter Lawrence. Cam Heyward likely gets in, but don't think it'll be first ballot.
DE/Edge: Von Miller. Mack makes it, but don't think he's first ballot.
LB: LVD. Bobby Wagner.
S: Several current guys likely make it in, but I don't think any of them are first ballot at the moment.
CB: Gardner and Surtain II have a good chance to be first ballot if their careers continue along the trajectory they are in for another season or three.

LVD unfortunately has been snubbed his entire career. No way he realistically makes it in first ballot.

[Pirate Life]

QBs: Rodgers, Jackson. Maybe Allen, feels like he will need a ring, don't think Jackson will need one.
RBs: McCaffrey, maybe Barkley.
WRs: Jefferson and Chase.
OL: Mailita, Nelson, possibly Sewell but likely needs another couple of years performing at the level he has so far.
DT: Dexter Lawrence. Cam Heyward likely gets in, but don't think it'll be first ballot.
DE/Edge: Von Miller. Mack makes it, but don't think he's first ballot.
LB: LVD. Bobby Wagner.
S: Several current guys likely make it in, but I don't think any of them are first ballot at the moment.
CB: Gardner and Surtain II have a good chance to be first ballot if their careers continue along the trajectory they are in for another season or three.

LVD unfortunately has been snubbed his entire career. No way he realistically makes it in first ballot.

That's been changing recently. Numbers he's put up are unprecedented and folks are starting to recognize that. Honestly, has a better case than Evans purely on stats vs his peers since he's been in the league.

[acmillis]

Trying to name some I have not seen yet:
TJ Watt is a sure fire, first ballot HOFer.
Quenton Nelson - 3time first team all pro, 2 time second team all pro. Only 29 years old. 7x pro bowl player.
Lamar Jackson - Has any multiple-time MVP ever not made the HOF? Only 28 years old.
Tyreek Hill - 5x 1st team all pro, 8x pro bowl player.
Andy Reid - 3x SB winning coach. 19...yes 19 seasons of double digit regular season wins.

[Pirate Life]

LVD unfortunately has been snubbed his entire career. No way he realistically makes it in first ballot.

That's been changing recently. Numbers he's put up are unprecedented and folks are starting to recognize that. Honestly, has a better case than Evans purely on stats vs his peers since he's been in the league.

Had a moment to gather them so thought I'd add here:

LVD is 5th in tackles all time, 8th in combined tackles, 9th in TFL (only guy in top 20 who's not a pass rusher or DL), 27th in forced fumbles, top ten in defenders for recovered fumbles (list is dominated by QBs), and top 15 in passes defended by non-DBs. His forced fumbles totals are the most for a weak-side LB ever, closest one is our own Derrick Brooks. He's got more than HoF Ray Lewis. Taking sacks out of the TFL equation there are four LBs (of all positions) with over 100 TFL: Seau, David, Lewis and Urlacher. Hard to say he's not first ballot unless you value All-Pro/Pro Bowl selections over on-field performance.

[Bootz]

DBs is rather difficult to gage right now because most of the best guys are very young in their careers. Personally I'd say Jalen Ramsey and Buddha Baker are 1st ballot guys at DB.

[Sooner06]

DBs is rather difficult to gage right now because most of the best guys are very young in their careers. Personally I'd say Jalen Ramsey and Buddha Baker are 1st ballot guys at DB.

Yeah, at least for myself, judging DBs is kind of a fuzzy logic kind of thing. Off the top of my head, I'd say along with your picks, maybe Tyrann Mathieu and/or Stephon Gilmore? Also, I might be biased, having seen him play a lot over his career here in PHX, but Patrick Peterson?

[Bootz]

DBs is rather difficult to gage right now because most of the best guys are very young in their careers. Personally I'd say Jalen Ramsey and Buddha Baker are 1st ballot guys at DB.

Yeah, at least for myself, judging DBs is kind of a fuzzy logic kind of thing. Off the top of my head, I'd say along with your picks, maybe Tyrann Mathieu and/or Stephon Gilmore? Also, I might be biased, having seen him play a lot over his career here in PHX, but Patrick Peterson?

For some reason though I thought they had all retired lol. Especially Peterson.

[Terry Tate]

Since Derrick Henry got mentioned in the first post, it's worth mentioned how much of a trend buster he is. RB's tend to have short shelf lives. Big RB's tend to eat more contact and have an even shorter life. Speed is the first thing an athlete loses, which is why skill guys start to fall off at 30.

Yet, here we have the massive Derrick Henry with his 2500 career touches looking like he hasn't lost a step.

He came out in the same draft where we took Vernon Hargreaves and Noah Spence ahead of him.....

[Sooner06]

Yeah, at least for myself, judging DBs is kind of a fuzzy logic kind of thing. Off the top of my head, I'd say along with your picks, maybe Tyrann Mathieu and/or Stephon Gilmore? Also, I might be biased, having seen him play a lot over his career here in PHX, but Patrick Peterson?

For some reason though I thought they had all retired lol. Especially Peterson.

Really? All of them? Huh, musta missed that. Welp, then i got nothin', lol.



edit: these two are probably stretches, but maybe Denzel Ward (always thought that this guy was a stud DB) and L. Sneed. Injuries will probably keep Sneed out more than anything, but the level of his play has been elite when healthy.