LSAClassOf2000

February 11th, 2016 at 12:05 PM ^

“Hard to say he's going to be in the Hall of Fame when his team hasn't gotten to a Super Bowl, and they don't get a chance to get into the playoffs,” Swann said, per the Detroit News. “And that's for a lot of guys across the board. If he had broken every passing record, like Danny Fouts, who didn't win the Super Bowl, then yeah, I think there's going to be consideration.”

I would agree with the writer here - this is a pretty stupid argument if the basic implication is that Johnson's impactful career on offense should be devalued significantly because he played for a moribund franchise. You can argue individual achievements, to be sure, but let's not pretend that the bar for entry should rely heavily (or at all) on the number of appearances your team had in the playoffs or the Super Bowl.

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matty blue

February 11th, 2016 at 2:15 PM ^

1.  lynn swann.

seriously, what a load of shit.  swann led the league in something exactly once - touchdown receptions, in his second season.  he had 51 touchdowns, total, 108th all time.  other players that had 51 touchdown catches:  dell shofner, tony hill, and charley hennigan, all of whom played in similar (or even less receiver-friendly) offensive eras.

the best comps for lynn swann, according to pro-football-reference.com:  darrell jackson, al toon, terance mathis, carl pickens, greg jennings, desean jackson, john jefferson, t.j. houshmandzadeh, laveranues coles, chris burford.  i don't like houshmandzadeh's chances of joining him, either.

lynn swann is in the hall for one reason and one reason only - he made half a dozen big plays in super bowls.  period.  putting him in was a lot like putting in someone like...oh, hell, i don't know.  charley hennigan.

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ShootyDooks

February 11th, 2016 at 3:03 PM ^

I'm not saying he's not worthy but it's going to take a lot of time before if and when he is elected. Tim brown was just elected and he has over 200-300 more catches 3000 more yards and about 25 more touchdowns. I personally don't think he'll get inducted but that's just my opinion.



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CoverZero

February 11th, 2016 at 3:25 PM ^

Swann should not be in the HOF.   HIs career numbers are average at best.

Same with Troy Aikman.  He played in a passing era and threw for 20 TDs like one time in his career.  Totally average QB on a great team.

Dan Fouts...my fav. player when I was a kid....is not HOF worthy either.  If Dan had not been a broadcaster and stayed in the limelight, he would have faded in to obscurity.

Snake Stabler...loved the guy...not a HOF creditialed QB.

Ken Riley, top 5 all time in INTS..tied with Charles Woodson...did it in the 70s which was not a great passing era.  Not in Hall of Fame.

Its a popularity contest, pure and simple. 

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ca_prophet

February 11th, 2016 at 4:32 PM ^

As others have pointed out above, his career looks like Terrell Davis, but with a less dominant peak (I mean, TDs two peak years are otherworldly) spread over a few more years. The voters have consistently rejected Davis (albeit after much debate each time) and RB is a position much more prone to short careers than WR. Then you look at his contemporaries - when he comes up for election, he will be compared with people who played twice as long and, if not matching him at his peak, had much more graceful declines. Whether he should be there depends on how you weigh the various factors - are you a Big Hall person? Do you pick peak performance over sustained excellence? Are you looking for memorable moments? Awesome performances in the clutch? I would likely not vote for him, largely because he was unable to sustain his early greatness into a sustained run, and he has many contemporaries who were almost as good on any given play but made twice as many. As to Swann, yes, he's not a 2nd option receiver, but he's not the finest example of a Hall receiver from the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust days either (Paul Warfield comes to mind as a worthy WR; IIRC he averaged 20 yards a catch ... for his career!). He was a good receiver who didn't get the regular season chances to compare to modern receivers, but shone on the biggest stages when they did throw the ball. And yes, his teammates did get him to those stages. As to his argument, it's pure BS. It is pointless when talking about Peyton Manning, and it's even more pointless when talking about someone who needs his line to block so his QB can throw him the ball before he gets a chances to show how good he is ... and even that only covers offense, to say nothing about defense or special teams.

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Space Coyote

February 11th, 2016 at 5:22 PM ^

Davis had a 7 year career, the first four of which were above average (top 15) and the other 3 that were equivalent to either terrible (twice, injuried but not productive when playing), or a decent backup (once, played half the season, limited production).

Calvin Johnson played 9 seasons, 7 of which where he was probably a top 10 WR (8 of which he was top 20).

Davis's peak was unbelievable, Johnson's peak back-to-back years were just as unbelievable for the position. Furthermore, Johnson set records, being the fastest to 10,000 yards, first ever to post 5,000 yards over 3 years, etc.

Johnson had 7 seasons over 1000 yards, Davis had 4 over 1000 yards. And outside of Davis four good to great seasons, he rushed for 1194 yards over three seasons for a 3.8 ypc average.

Davis's 5th best season was 700 yards, his 6th best was 282.  Johnson has never had less than 756 yards receiving in his 9 year career.

Put simply, Johnson had the strong peak years (one of the strongest 3 year stretches ever), with an additional great year, and a bunch of very good years, and nothing less than that. That's 9 years of nothing less than good years. That's consistency and a strong peak. If strapped it up for a few more seasons, played in half the games, and was 75% of his 2015 self, he'd finish with 1400 more yards and 10 more TDs, and people would look at his numbers (13,000 yards and 93 TDs), and say "yup, no doubt, hall of famer". By not playing those hypothetical by far worst seasons ever for him, doesn't change my mind about him being a HOF WR.

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Space Coyote

February 11th, 2016 at 5:43 PM ^

And there should be, with the way the game is played. The numbers at the positions change based on who puts up the stats, and in modern football, WR is that position.

TO, Randy Moss, Isaac Bruce, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Steve Smith, Torry Holt, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Hines Ward, Calivin Johnson, and Brandon Marshall are all probably getting in sooner rather than later.

You'll see TEs Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, and Antonio Gates join them.

Borderline guys that probably don't get in include Derrick Mason, Keyshawn Johnson, and Wes Welker.

Young guys that are on the right path include Antonio Brown, Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, Julio Jones, and AJ Green.

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