i have a hard time understanding any argument that Kurt Warner is not a Hall of Famer.
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My only argument is that he wasn’t consistent in his career. One of the major factors to me for the Hall is doing it year-in & year-out. Considering he had years throughout the middle/prime of his career where he wasn’t even the starting QB, he’s very borderline to me. I understand when he got in there he often won but if you can’t win the job in pre-season/practice how can you be considered an ALL-TIME GREAT?
That period in the middle of his career is weird, and definitely the hurdle he has to clear, but my feeling on it is that
a) in the first several years and the last several years of his career, he was SO good– maybe the most accurate QB I’ve ever seen, and, statistically, one of the best playoff QBs ever– that it nullifies the other stuff. So it wasn’t 10 years of sustained excellence, but 6-ish years of absolute greatness, which is maybe the Gale Sayers exception
b) I tend to think the HOF’s job, in part, is to tell the story of the game, to highlight the most important figures of the era. And I just don’t think there’s any way you could tell the story of the NFL’s last 10 years without spending at least 1 chapter on Warner.
Based on both of your arguments would you include Terrell Davis in the Hall too? Because I don’t think he’s a HOFer either, mainly because he didn’t do it long enough. He also played a big part of the story of the NFL. 2 Super Bowls, 3 time Pro-Bowler, 3 time All-Pro but I still don’t think that’s enough. Nor do I think it’s enough for Warner, at least not as a first ballot HOFer.
I think maybe after 2-3 years he may make it in but it depends on who else is up that year. If Favre retires this year, could you really put Warner in on the same ballot? I don’t think so. Also, the fact that we even need to have this discussion should force him to 2nd-3rd ballot acceptance. 1st ballot should be reserved for the no-doubt-about-it players. (Unfortunately, I also think this puts McNabb in the same position)
I’m not as gung ho on TD because his peak was so much shorter and I think he was less unique a case than Warner. Lots of RBs have a great peak for a couple years then disappear. Maybe not quite as great as Davis did, but still, pretty great– someone like Jamal Lewis, for example, was pretty awesome for a few years AND lasted longer, and I don’t consider him a Hall of Famer by any means.
Warner, though, I think is one of the most utterly unique great players I’ve ever seen, which is why I’m more on his Hall of Fame wagon.
My only argument is that he wasn’t consistent in his career. One of the major factors to me for the Hall is doing it year-in & year-out. Considering he had years throughout the middle/prime of his career where he wasn’t even the starting QB, he’s very borderline to me. I understand when he got in there he often won but if you can’t win the job in pre-season/practice how can you be considered an ALL-TIME GREAT?
That period in the middle of his career is weird, and definitely the hurdle he has to clear, but my feeling on it is that
a) in the first several years and the last several years of his career, he was SO good– maybe the most accurate QB I’ve ever seen, and, statistically, one of the best playoff QBs ever– that it nullifies the other stuff. So it wasn’t 10 years of sustained excellence, but 6-ish years of absolute greatness, which is maybe the Gale Sayers exception
b) I tend to think the HOF’s job, in part, is to tell the story of the game, to highlight the most important figures of the era. And I just don’t think there’s any way you could tell the story of the NFL’s last 10 years without spending at least 1 chapter on Warner.
Based on both of your arguments would you include Terrell Davis in the Hall too? Because I don’t think he’s a HOFer either, mainly because he didn’t do it long enough. He also played a big part of the story of the NFL. 2 Super Bowls, 3 time Pro-Bowler, 3 time All-Pro but I still don’t think that’s enough. Nor do I think it’s enough for Warner, at least not as a first ballot HOFer.
I think maybe after 2-3 years he may make it in but it depends on who else is up that year. If Favre retires this year, could you really put Warner in on the same ballot? I don’t think so. Also, the fact that we even need to have this discussion should force him to 2nd-3rd ballot acceptance. 1st ballot should be reserved for the no-doubt-about-it players. (Unfortunately, I also think this puts McNabb in the same position)
I’m not as gung ho on TD because his peak was so much shorter and I think he was less unique a case than Warner. Lots of RBs have a great peak for a couple years then disappear. Maybe not quite as great as Davis did, but still, pretty great– someone like Jamal Lewis, for example, was pretty awesome for a few years AND lasted longer, and I don’t consider him a Hall of Famer by any means.
Warner, though, I think is one of the most utterly unique great players I’ve ever seen, which is why I’m more on his Hall of Fame wagon.