There are many good athletes in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and perhaps just as many additional candidates who could be discussed for induction. Players like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning look like slam dunks, while cases can be made for Don Coryell, Ronde Barber, and Clay Matthews, among many others.
Below, I've listed eleven candidates I think have a great case for a bust in Canton. This isn't necessarily a list of the best candidates, or the most deserving, but it is a list of players, and others, who I think should be strongly examined.
1. Philip Rivers - Rivers has been great in his career regardless of whether you like traditional or advanced stats. He's led the league in seventeen different categories at least once, including touchdown percentage, adjusted yards per attempt, and adjusted net yards per attempt, though he's also led in areas like interceptions. He's passed for 4000 or more yards ten times in his career, helping him rank eighth all time in passing yards. He'll be 38 in December, but threw for north of 4000 yards for a sixth year in a row in 2018. Regardless of when decides to hang up his cleats, he shouldn't have to wait long before he's making a trip to Canton.
2. Ken Riley - Riley played in 207 games in his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, picking off opposing QBs 65 times. He returned five of those interceptions for touchdowns. There are only four players in history with more interceptions, and each of those four is in Canton already. He's 16th all time among CBs in Pro Football Reference's approximate value (AV).
3. Julius Peppers - In my opinion, he should be a first-ballot inductee. He's fourth all time in sacks and second in forced fumbles, though neither stat was recorded through most of pro football history, and it's possible Deacon Jones, Lawrence Taylor, and others have more sacks. Still, Peppers' stats are very impressive, and his 183 AV ranks fifth all time among DEs and OLBs, one spot ahead of LT.
4. 1972 Miami Dolphins - Football is a team game, but there are no teams in the Hall. My vote, not that it actually counts, is to change that, and the first team that should get in is the famous 17-0 squad from South Beach.
5. 1985 Chicago Bears - They were scary. They were tough. And they were good. The 1985 Chicago Bears outscored opponents by 258 points in the regular season en route to a 46-10 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. They also shut the Giants and Rams out in the playoffs prior to facing New England.
6. Isaac Bruce - He's the fifth-best receiver all time in receiving yards, behind only Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald, Terrell Owens, and Randy Moss. His 91 career touchdowns lag behind some of the true legends of the game, but still put him in the company of the elites. He also won a Super Bowl with the Greatest Show on Turf, a standard for induction that will help him in the eyes of voters.
7. Frank Gore - Longevity, especially at the running back position, is difficult in the National Football League. Gore has achieved a long-lasting career and then some during his time as an NFL player, rushing for 14,748 yards over 14 seasons thanks in large part to nine seasons over 1000 yards. Gore has never had a truly bad season, and has played fewer than 14 games only once in his career.
8. Adam Vinatieri - Vinatieri has scored more points than anyone in league history, which by itself should be enough to get him in. It's hard to tell the story of a sports league without the top all-time scorer. Further boosting his case are his success in big moments and four Super Bowl rings.
9. Edgerrin James - He won an Offensive Rookie of the Year award when he led the NFL in rushing yards in 1999, and ranks 15th in career scrimmage yards. He's also tied with Bruce with exactly 91 total touchdowns for his career, short of true legend status, but also tied with Tony Dorsett, Bobby Mitchell, and Ricky Watters at 31st all time. James also led the NFL in rushing yards in his sophomore campaign with 1709.
10. Jeff Saturday - Overall, offensive lineman are underrepresented in the Hall of Fame. In general, there are five times as many linemen as quarterbacks on the field at any one time. Yet as far as Canton goes, there are 26 modern era quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame, compared to 46 modern era offensive linemen. The only offensive linemen ahead of Saturday in AV are current members of the Hall of Fame.
11. Alan Faneca - Faneca is just a few spots behind Saturday in AV, and was named to the All-Decade team for the 2000s. If I were a voter, I would have picked him for induction this year, though there were plenty of great candidates, and those who were chosen for enshrinement are more than worthy of the honor.
*All stats from the Pro Football Reference website, except for number of Hall of Famers by position, which came from the Pro Football Hall of Fame website, and Faneca's inclusion on the All-Decade team, which came from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.*
