Ed note: This was originally written for packershalloffame.com, but wasn’t published because the board decided, after it was written, they only wanted features on current hall of famers. So, you can slurp it up in all its deliciousness right here.
There are a number of Green Bay Packers not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who deserve to be — Jerry Kramer, Dave Robinson, LeRoy Butler, etc. For most, if not all of those individuals, the call will likely never come.
There are still plenty of Packers who have made, are making or will make a strong case for Canton. Here’s a look at those players.
First Ballot
Brett Favre
Love him or hate him, the old gunslinger will go into the Hall of Fame when his mandatory five-year wait is up in 2016. That is, if he stays retired. Favre is currently the only quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 70,000 yards and 500 touchdowns, and with more than 10,000 pass attempts. He holds the career NFL records for most touchdown passes, passing yards, pass completions, pass attempts, victories and consecutive starts. Favre owns three NFL MVP awards, he was an 11-time Pro Bowler, three-time first-team All Pro, five-time NFC Player of the Year and member of the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team. Favre also helped the Packers win Super Bowl XXXI.
Career Stats: 6,300 completions, 10,169 attempts, 71,838 yards, 508 touchdowns, 336 interceptions
Virtual Lock
Charles Woodson
We’d like to say Woodson is sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer, but voters can be a fickle bunch. That said, he certainly has the resume – 1998 Defensive Rookie of the Year, 2009 Defensive Player of the Year, eight-time Pro Bowler, four-time first-team All Pro, 1997 Heisman Trophy winner and Super Bowl XLV champion. When you compare Woodson to 2011 Hall of Fame inductee Deion Sanders, he stacks up favorably. Woodson has more than 250 more tackles than Sanders, two more defensive touchdowns and one more interception. Sanders played 14 years in the NFL, which is the same number Woodson has played, thus far. Beyond those numbers, Woodson is superior at rushing the quarterback and forcing fumbles. If you’re a betting man, it’s a pretty safe bet Charles Woodson ends up in Canton.
Career Stats: 753 tackles, 54 interceptions, 15.5 sacks, 28 forced fumbles, 12 defensive touchdowns
On The Right Track
Aaron Rodgers
The Packers current signal caller still has a long way to go. However, if he continues on his current pace, Rodgers could easily find himself with a bust in Canton. In his first four seasons as a starter, Rodgers has averaged 4,259 yards passing and 32 touchdowns versus only nine interceptions. He has a career passer rating of 104.1. If you compare Rodgers stats from his first four years as the Packers starter with those of Hall of Famer Steve Young’s first four replacing Joe Montana in San Francisco, you’ll get a better picture of Rodgers’ long-term potential. Rodgers has more completions and attempts. He’s outpaced Young by more than 2,000 yards (17,037 to 14,657), has 22 more touchdowns (131 to 109), seven fewer interceptions interceptions (37 to 44) and an equal number of titles. Really, the only area Young is superior to Rodgers is in MVPs. He won two in his first four years succeeding Montana, which Rodgers just won his first.
Work To Do
Clay Matthews
It’s hard to gauge someone’s Hall of Fame chances after only three seasons, but we’re going to try anyway. Kansas City’s Derrick Thomas is the last outside linebacker to enter the Hall of Fame and finished his career with 126.5 career sacks. Over his 11 NFL seasons he averaged 11.5 sacks per season. Matthews’ 29.5 career sacks give him an average of slightly less than 10 sacks per season. He was on pace to surpass Thomas after his first two seasons, but a disappointing 2011 campaign, where he registered only six sacks, set Matthews back. Still, if he averages 10 sacks over 11 seasons, Matthews will finish with 110 career sacks. Will that be enough to get him into Canton? Who knows? He’ll probably need to rack up an accomplishment list that looks something like Thomas’ as well – 1989 Defensive Rookie of the Year, nine-time Pro Bowl selection, three-time first-team All Pro and the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team. Matthews is already on his way toward equalling those accomplishments. If he stays healthy, he’ll have a very strong argument in several years.
I usually don’t give a fuck about the hall of fame, so i’m not really into their rules: will the old cockslinger enter the HOF as a Packer or do we have to watch him get there with a ‘queens jersey?
Players don’t enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame under “teams” or with a “jersey”. They only do this in baseball.
By the standards outlined above, Matt Ryan is also a future hall of famer then.
slurp, slurp. ‘queens jersey’? really, don’t be daft.
The old cockslinger can eat a dick.
You can tell it’s the offseason.
Jeff Yerns4Dick..get a life you fucking tard!
PackerFanInFL…..shhhhhhh….go listen to your Whitney Houston albums. & quit stalking me, shit for fuckbrains.
Jeff Ircink, I don’t know you nor do I wan’t to, but you appear to be a pot stirer. If you are a Farve fan or a Viking you are draging your fanbase’s name through the mud along with other characters that blog petty things on total packers. So if a blogger calls you a tard or a cock yerner you asked for it. Just prepare to eat crow when you poke the bear on this site, alright chief.
i wasn’t talking to you, Hacksaw.
Oh I’m sorry Mr. Ircink, I didn’t know this was your blog site. Next time I’ll make sure I go to a Packers site that I don’t have to worry about offending Viking fans. In fact I’ll go out of my way so that you won’t be offended. How inconsiderate of me to call you out on a Packer site. Please forgive me Jeffrey Ircink.
you’re forgiven, Hack.
Actually Yerns4Dicks suffers from two forms of cock envy one being brett favre second being the swinging dicks that run this blog you see yerns4dicks runs his own blog that is a bunch of self promoting horseshit that really doesn’t amount to shit to anyone other then himself…kicker is he so god damn fucking stupid when it comes to web programming he injects a huge ass song (a m4m german genre) in his page that needs to load before displaying his content that takes 35 seconds or longer…so any hits he gets usually bail out anyhow..if you ask yerns4dick he will tell you its slow because of the 1000s of articles he posted…yet again proving how fucking stupid he is thinking the entire website must load!…speaking of load..he is a waste of one!…excuse me now I gotta go take a irncink (shit)!
you again PackerFUCK? go away, bad dream. you’re not wanted on this thread, bitch. and i think it’s funn – as will others here – that u despise me and my blog so much but you go on and on about the blog. why is that?
Because Yerns4Dick you are a tool!
go back to bed. post when you’re feeling more sociable.
Give Up dick slayer (Yerns4Dick)
i meant to say “when you’re feeling less suicidal”/
LOL..Yearns4Dick is all pissy because hacksaw beat him up like a rag doll!…what a fucktard (ircink)
“beat me up”? ????? be delusional somewhere else….