The Daily Procrastinator

On Saturday, January 31, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its 2009 inductees. The list includes four defensive players, one offensive player, and a long-time owner. Here’s a glance at the career highlights for this year’s honorees.

Wide receiver Bob Hayes, known as “Bullet” Bob Hayes, was the first athlete to successfully cross over from the world of track and field to the world of the NFL. After winning gold medals in the 1964 Olympics for the 100-meter dash and the 4×100 relay, Hayes entered the NFL draft and was selected in the seventh round by the Dallas Cowboys. As a wide receiver, Hayes led the NFL in receiving touchdowns in each of his first two seasons, and he was an instrumental part Dallas’ first-ever Super Bowl victory in 1971, making him the only athlete ever to win an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl championship ring.

Randall McDaniel played offensive guard for the Minnesota Vikings from 1988 until 1999, then spent the final two years of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While offensive linemen don’t often garner much attention from the media or casual fans, McDaniel played so impressively that he was selected to 12 consecutive Pro Bowls, an NFL record. He also started 202 consecutive games, a feat almost unheard of at the brutally physical position of offensive guard.

Probably the most high-profile inductee, defensive end Bruce Smith, was one of the most electrifying defensive players in recent memory. The first overall pick of the 1985 draft, Smith immediately began building his reputation as a quarterback sacking machine. By 1989, he broke the Bills’ all-time sack record when he recorded number 59. Smith was just getting started, though. By the time he retired in 2003, Smith had recorded an all-time best 200 career sacks, surpassing Reggie White’s mark. Although he never won a Super Bowl championship ring, Smith was a vital part of the defense that fought its way to four straight Super Bowl appearances from 1991-1994.

Another defensive standout, Derrick Thomas, spent his entire eleven-year career with the Kansas City Chiefs after the team selected him with the fourth overall pick of the 1989 draft. Selected to the Pro Bowl in his rookie season, Thomas would earn eight more selections in the following ten years. Thomas holds Chiefs career records for sacks, safeties, fumble recoveries, and forced fumbles. He also holds the all-time NFL records with 45 forced fumbles in his career and a single game in which he recorded 7 sacks.

Ralph Wilson is the owner of the Buffalo Bills, one of the founders of the AFL, and one of the most senior owners of an NFL franchise. He has been the owner and president of the Buffalo Bills since the team’s inception in 1959. Wilson’s financial support and outspoken policy-making helped the AFL stay afloat as a challenger to the long-established NFL, and he was one of the pioneers of the merger of the two leagues in 1970.

Rod Woodson’s NFL career spanned fifteen years, four teams, two all-time NFL records: 1483 interception return yards and 12 interceptions returned for touchdowns. Woodson was selected for eleven Pro Bowl appearances, was named 1993 defensive player of the year, and won a Super Bowl championship with the Ravens following the 2000 season.

Is Kurt Warner a Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback? That is the question all of the sports radio hosts in the Dallas area have been asking all week. My initial answer was “yes”, but after doing some research, I’m not so sure. Let’s look at the stats:

• 28,591 career passing yards
• 182 touchdowns
• Career completion percentage of 65.4
• Career QB rating of 93.8
• Victory in Super Bowl XXXIV
• Super Bowl MVP 2000
• Starting QB Super Bowl XXXVI
• NFL MVP 1999 and 2001
• Pro Bowls 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009
• First Team All-Pro 1999, 2001

One might argue that his stats aren’t as strong as some recently inducted HoF Quarterbacks.

“He hasn’t won as many Super Bowls as Troy Aikman!”

Nope. But he’s already won more Super Bowls than Dan Marino, Warren Moon and Jim Kelly combined, and his Passer Rating is also significantly better than all 3 of these quarterbacks.

“He doesn’t have as many passing yards as any of the HoF quarterbacks you just listed!”

Right again. But think about it for a minute. Warren Moon spent 10 years in the Run and Shoot totaling 33,685 yards. Let’s do a little math and compare that to Kurt Warner’s years in “The Greatest Show on Turf”. If you throw out Warner’s rookie season where he only played in 1 game, you have 5 seasons and 14,408 yards (don’t forget that Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand in 2002 and was only able to play in 7 games which led to a shaky start in 2003 when he played in only 2 games and was replaced by a promising young Quarterback named Marc Bulger. He only played a total of 9 games in those two seasons.).

I know, ♪Excuses. Excuses. You hear them every day♪. But that total is better than Aikman’s first 5 seasons as a starter (13,627), and is right in line with Kelly’s (15,730) and Moon’s (14,669).

His stats were meager to average from 2002 through 2006, where he dealt with injuries, mediocre talent in other offensive skill positions, and 2 first round rookie quarterbacks (Eli Manning – NY Giants and Matt Leinert – AZ Cardinals).

In 2007 Warner was able to play in 14 games and showed the ability that helped him lead the Rams to a Super Bowl and become a League MVP. Obviously his 2008 season is what has started this conversation. This season he threw for 4,583 yards 30 touchdowns and only 14 interceptions with a passer rating of 96.9. He led his team to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, earned a trip to the Pro Bowl, and I believe should have been the League MVP (but NFL darling Peyton Manning edged him out).

Now, back to the question: Is Kurt Warner worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame? At this moment, probably not. One thing that would end this conversation would be a Cardinals victory in Super Bowl XLIII. A second Super Bowl MVP makes it a no-brainer. But if the Cardinals lose, what happens? I believe 2-3 more years of strong stats and a playoff appearance or two would make his case. That would give him more good seasons than the string of bad ones he had in the middle of his career and probably allow HoF voters to take into account the adversity he experienced in those years.