Is (Insert Player Here) A Hall of Famer?

[C the Lyte]

He came in halfway through it. Stats over both for first 5 years or so:

Willis more tackles

Urlacher more sacks and ints

Take it for what it's worth. But IMO 5 great years doesn't get you in. A consistent career @ a top level does, IMO.

And for the record, I'd rather have Willis than Urlacher, but to this point Urlacher's body of work is longer and more consistent. Willis just hasn't had the time.

[wwharton]

Quote: Originally Posted by C the Lyte

He came in halfway through it. Stats over both for first 5 years or so: Willis more tackles Urlacher more sacks and ints Take it for what it's worth. But IMO 5 great years doesn't get you in. A consistent career @ a top level does, IMO. And for the record, I'd rather have Willis than Urlacher, but to this point Urlacher's body of work is longer and more consistent. Willis just hasn't had the time.

In terms of the Hall... Willis' time will come. He doesn't really belong in the discussion right now but he should be the lock that Lewis is right now. But over the span of his career I'd put him at the top of the MLB landscape. I just didn't have the years down so he probably doesn't belong in the discussion of who's above Urlacher in the last decade.

[ImTellinTim]

There were certain years where it was actually a debate that Urlacher was the best MLB in the league. 4-time First Team All Pro. 2005 Defensive Player of the Year. Clearly elite at his position for most of his career. During his whole career the Bears had dismal offenses, yet they won a few division titles and made a Super Bowl with Rex Grossman on the back of Urlacher-quarterbacked defenses. The year he missed due to injury, the Bears defense fell apart. The very next year when he was back they won the division and he was voted to the 7th of his 8 Pro Bowl teams.

His drawback was if a fullback or o-lineman got a block on him he sometimes had trouble shedding it. However, before his knee troubles started, he had incredible sideline to sideline speed and covered the middle of the field in Lovie's Cover 2 like very few at his position could.

He had a couple down years when his back was giving him trouble, missed a year with a major wrist injury, and this past year he was playing on one leg and lost a step. Those things hurt his case a bit.

All in all, he'll get in eventually because he's a Bears middle linebacker who had a great career.

To answer bk's question about Hester. There is certainly a case for him because teams were so deathly afraid at him at points in his career that they would gladly sacrifice many yards of field position to avoid him. With the offenses the Bears had who were unable to consistently move the ball, that was huge and won them games. His return TDs also won the Bears games. One game in Denver comes to mind right away. I don't think he should get in, but he might garner some votes.

[C the Lyte]

Quote: Originally Posted by ImTellinTim

To answer bk's question about Hester. There is certainly a case for him because teams were so deathly afraid at him at points in his career that they would gladly sacrifice many yards of field position to avoid him. With the offenses the Bears had who were unable to consistently move the ball, that was huge and won them games. His return TDs also won the Bears games. One game in Denver comes to mind right away. I don't think he should get in, but he might garner some votes.

Great punters neutralized him though...........

[wwharton]

Please don't sidetrack to Hester until/unless the OP throws his name out there.

This thread will get all over the place if we throw out names and have side conversations about them throughout.

OP, you may want to shorten the time between introducing a new player though... posters get antsy.

[bigbob]

I think 24 hours is long enough per player.

[Amoo316]

I don't think there is much debate that Lewis is the best MLB of the last decade. At least I don't see how there can be. Stacking his numbers up against Urlacher from 2000-2012 (taking out 96-99 for Ray just to compare identical time frames, might have been better to compare the first 12 years of Ray, but this is how I did it so...) I think cements Urlachers case to be a HOFer.

Urlacher:
Tackles:1353
Sacks:41.5
Ints:22
FF:12

Lewis
Tackles:1479
Sacks:28.5
Ints:24
FF:17

One could go on to argue that Lewis has played with better defensive lines allowing him more time with less blockers on him, but it's really hard to quantify those things, along with how subjective some of the stats already are when factoring in defensive schemes/pressure/coverage responsibilities...etc.

HoF to me has always been 2 things:

Was there a point in his career he was looked at as one of if not the best in the game? Yes

Did he do it long enough? Yes

I think Urlacher is pretty open and shut to be honest.

[55]

There are four MLB that have played in the last decade that all should get in at some point:

Ray Lewis
Junior Seau
Brian Urlacher
Zach Thomas