It's Reggie Wayne's Time

By John Turney 

For six seasons after entering the NFL, Indianapolis wide receiver Reggie Wayne sat second chair to pass receiving-virtuoso Marvin Harrison. Now, over two decades later, he's in a similar position. He's in his sixth year as a Hall-of-Fame finalist, sitting second chair to former Rams' receiver Torry Holt.

The two have been finalists dating back to 2020, but only one has momentum ... and it's not Wayne. Where Holt was a Top-10 finisher this year, Wayne was not. Failing to make the first cut from 15, he took a step backward from 2023 when he and Holt each were in the Top 10.

So here's the question: Can Reggie Wayne escape the shadow of Harrison ... or even Torry Holt ... for the Hall's Class of 2025?

He certainly has the credentials. In 14 seasons and 211 games, he had 1,070 receptions (10th all-time) for 14,345 yards (also 10th all-time) and 82 touchdowns. Furthermore, he was first-team All-Pro once, second-team All-Pro twice and named to six Pro Bowls.

In short, he played second fiddle to no one.

However, that's the role in which Wayne was cast after Indianapolis made him a first-round draft pick in 2001, and it's easy to see why. He played opposite Harrison, a Hall of Famer who averaged over 100 receptions, over 1,300 yards and nearly 13 touchdown receptions in the first six seasons the two started together.

Yet, by Wayne's fourth year, he was putting up Pro Bowl-type numbers -- 77 catches for 1,210 yards and a dozen scores. By his sixth year, he joined Harrison in the Pro Bowl and helped take the Colts and Peyton Manning to a 29-17 win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. And when Harrison missed 11 games in 2007, it was Wayne's turn to be the star ...

-- In 2007, he led the NFL with a career-high 1,510 yards, 104 receptions and 10 touchdowns, was named second-team All-Pro and made his second Pro Bowl.

--  Three years later, in his 10th season, he was first-team All-Pro and went to a fifth consecutive Pro Bowl after catching a career-high 111 receptions.

-- Two years after that, he made his final Pro Bowl on the strength of 1,355 receiving yards, the third time he finished a season with 1,350 receiving yards or more.

That resume made Wayne a Hall-of-Fame finalist five consecutive times, locked with Holt in a logjam of wide receivers until Andre Johnson broke through this year. His election should make Wayne and Holt among the favorites for the Class of 2025, except for one potential glitch.

Momentum.

As I said, Holt has it. He didn't budge this year from the Top 10. Wayne did, moving in the wrong direction. But before counting him out, consider this:

-- His six Pro Bowls are more than Hall-of-Fame receivers Michael Irvin, Charley Taylor, Raymond Berry, Isaac Bruce, Don Maynard, Harold Carmichael, Bobby Mitchell, Cliff Branch, Art Monk, Charlie Joiner, Bob Hayes, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, as well as old-timers Elroy Hirsch, Dante Lavelli and Tom Fears. All had five or fewer invites to the annual All-Star game.

-- His resume as a one-time All-Pro and three first-or-second teams is equal to or superior to Irvin, Carmichael, Tim Brown, Stallworth, Tommy McDonald, Joiner, Isaac Bruce and Andre Reed.

-- He produced a 1,000-yard season eight times and a 100-catch season four times. He had 10 or more catches in a game 15 times and exceeded 100 yards in a game 43 times

-- He caught nine more touchdowns in the playoffs, which is tied for 10th all-time in the postseason -- and that includes a 53-yarder against the Bears in the Colts' Super Bowl XLI victory.

-- Speaking of the playoffs, his 93 receptions are the sixth most and his receiving yardage -- 1,289 -- seventh all-time. Wayne got it done like few others when it mattered most.

"One of the greatest route-runners in history," gushed former New England coach Bill Belichick, who called Wayne one of the NFL's greats of the past two decades. "A true professional who represents every positive attribute a player should emulate."

Belichick's comments were made after the Patriots signed Wayne, then 37, to a one-year contract in the late summer of 2015. However, he never played in the regular season, was released less than two weeks later and retired the following January. For someone who was the 30th overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft, Wayne accomplished nearly everything

At the University of Miami, he set receiving records as a four-year starter. Though he wasn't the biggest (6-0, 198) nor the fastest receiver (4.55 in the 40), he produced like one. A steady performer, he then went on to be part of one of the NFL's best-ever receiver duos.

But he was more than that. Where he began as a complementary receiver, he became a true number one -- a go-to guy -- and he's waited long enough on Canton. It's time Reggie Wayne wins his Gold Jacket and bronze bust.

The man earned it.