Long post incoming, mostly because I think his case is somewhat complicated and I wanted to provide some context.
Gore racked up a lot of stats being in the league for a long time, but I’m not sure he was better than the 3rd or 4th best RB in the league for most of his career.
He played 16 seasons, 241 games. 5 Pro Bowls, 1 time as a second team all pro. 9 of 16 years over 1k yards (all 16-game seasons), never led the league in rushing. Pro Football Reference has his HOFm score at 101.05, which is well within the range for HoF players, but I think it’s worth noting that, based on the formula they provide on the site, 30 of those points are derived from this yards beyond 10k, which speaks to his longevity more than anything. The only HoF RB to be anywhere close in terms of games played is Emmitt Smith at 226.
I think he probably gets in at some point, but I think his closest comp is probably Curtis Martin, who has a lower HOFm score from only playing 11 seasons and not racking up the same counting stats.
Marcus Allen (who’s in the HoF) had a similar length career, and his counting stats aren’t as good due to lower usage later in his career, but he had 6 Pro Bowls, 2 first team all pro, 1 second team all pro, 1 MVP, 1 OPoY, led the league in rushing yards once and rushing TDs twice. Worse consistency, but undoubtedly higher peaks. For the NFL, I think getting into the HoF is more about how high the peaks are in most cases.
Frank Gore is a HOFer. Wish they selected more. Praying for Clay Matthews from the senior committee.
Long post incoming, mostly because I think his case is somewhat complicated and I wanted to provide some context.
Gore racked up a lot of stats being in the league for a long time, but I’m not sure he was better than the 3rd or 4th best RB in the league for most of his career.
He played 16 seasons, 241 games. 5 Pro Bowls, 1 time as a second team all pro. 9 of 16 years over 1k yards (all 16-game seasons), never led the league in rushing. Pro Football Reference has his HOFm score at 101.05, which is well within the range for HoF players, but I think it’s worth noting that, based on the formula they provide on the site, 30 of those points are derived from this yards beyond 10k, which speaks to his longevity more than anything. The only HoF RB to be anywhere close in terms of games played is Emmitt Smith at 226.
I think he probably gets in at some point, but I think his closest comp is probably Curtis Martin, who has a lower HOFm score from only playing 11 seasons and not racking up the same counting stats.
Marcus Allen (who’s in the HoF) had a similar length career, and his counting stats aren’t as good due to lower usage later in his career, but he had 6 Pro Bowls, 2 first team all pro, 1 second team all pro, 1 MVP, 1 OPoY, led the league in rushing yards once and rushing TDs twice. Worse consistency, but undoubtedly higher peaks. For the NFL, I think getting into the HoF is more about how high the peaks are in most cases.
Man what percentage of a chance Hurst will be there at that pick. He seems to be very talented