Big Blue View
Russell Wilson’s career as a New York Giant is effectively over three games after it started. Giants fans have quickly moved on to focus on Jaxson Dart’s NFL debut as an actual (as opposed to zone read-only) quarterback this Sunday against the Chargers. The rest of the NFL chattering class couldn’t resist taking some shots on Wilson’s way out, though. On the Thursday Night Football pre-game show, Tony Gonzalez and Richard Sherman were not kind discussing Wilson’s chances to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
Those are a couple of authoritative voices. Gonzalez is not only a HOFer himself, he is by far the most highly graded tight end in NFL history in Pro Football Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor metric that tries to predict whether specific players will (as opposed to should) be elected to the HOF. Sherman was Wilson’s teammate during the “Legion of Boom” era when Seattle won one Super Bowl and almost won a second. His HOF Monitor credentials are pretty good, too, slightly ahead of those of Ronde Barber, who was elected this year.
Apparently, though, being gracious is not a criterion for Hall of Fame consideration, and X users roasted the pair for their comments, especially Sherman. Here are just a couple of the many reactions:
That last point references the fact that Wilson gave Seattle a 24-14 fourth quarter lead over New England in Super Bowl XLIX, only to have the Seattle defense surrender two TD passes to Tom Brady in the final eight minutes to ultimately lose the game. Even on the final drive after the Patriots took the lead, Wilson completed passes of 31, 11, and 33 yards to get the ball to the New England 5. Then Marshawn Lynch ran 4 yards to the 1, and Pete Carroll called a pass rather run Lynch again for the final yard, and the rest is history.
Of course none of this matters to Giants fans, who are likely to forget Wilson’s three-game Giants career as soon as this Sunday if Jaxson Dart somehow summons some magic and beats the Chargers, or even if he turns the season around after Sunday.
Still, the question is worth asking: IS Russell Wilson a Hall of Famer?
Pro Football Reference thinks: Maybe. Here is their HOF Monitor for QBs:
Players in boldface are already in the Hall, those not are not yet eligible or still active. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees are the only active/non-eligible quarterbacks with a HOF Monitor score above the average for QBs who are already in the Hall. Surely all three of them will go in on the first ballot when they become eligible. Among those not yet in or not yet eligible below the average, there are some interesting cases. Not Patrick Mahomes – he’ll get in if he retires tomorrow. Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers will eternally be part of the Eli Manning discussion. Roethlisberger checks the most boxes of the three, with two rings, six Pro...
