Why Has Del Shofner Been Forgotten by Pro Football Hall?

By John Turney 

Del Shofner

Only five wide receivers in NFL history were consensus All-Pros five or more times, and, as you might expect, all were named to all-decade teams. However, not all are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In fact, one of them not only is absent; he has never been discussed as a Hall-of-Fame finalist or semifinalist.

Sound odd? It is. Meet Del Shofner.

A star with the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants, he's never been more than a four-time preliminary nominee in the 1970s. In the meantime, five-time All-Pros Jerry Rice, Don Hutson (who was technically an end), Lance Alworth and Terrell Owens have been ushered into Canton.

But Shofner? Nope. Passed over by time, and that should change.

Why? Let's start with his all-decade selection. He's one of just three modern-era (pre-1940) receivers named first-team all-decade who's not yet in the Hall of Fame, and one of those - - Antonio Brown -- is not yet eligible. Now, remember: Plenty of second-team all-decade choices ... plus some never chosen to any all-decade team ... are in Canton.

But not Shofner, and if that doesn't raise eyebrows, it should. Because in his prime, from 1958 -- the year he moved from defensive back to receiver -- through 1963, no one had more receiving yards. That includes Hall-of-Famers Raymond Berry and Tommy McDonald and everyone else. It also includes one year where leg and ankle injuries, plus a stomach issue, limited him to nine games ... and when the Rams moved him to defense where his less-than-usual speed wouldn't be much of an issue.

Nonetheless, in that period, he was second in pro football in touchdown catches. And though he was the quintessential deep threat, only two receivers caught more passes. In fact, among players who caught 100 or more passes from 1958-63, the tall, slender Shofner ranked fifth best in yards-per-reception, averaging 19.0 per catch.

Five times he was in the NFL's top four in receiving yards. Four times he was in the top four in receptions. Four times he was in the top four in touchdown receptions. And yards-per-catch? Three times he was in the top four. In that five-year peak, Shofner had four of the top 21 seasons in receiving yards in all of pro football -- the NFL and pass-happy AFL.

No one else had more than three.

One of the game’s most dangerous and feared deep receivers, Shofner finished his career averaging 18.5 yards per reception – including highs of 21.5 in 1958 and 21.4 in 1962. Then there's this: On Oct. 28, 1962, in a 49-34 victory over Washington, he had 11 catches for 269 yards.

To this day, that is the Giants' team record.

The next best is Odell Beckham Jr., with 222 yards. You know of him, but many fans -- including Giants' die-hards --don't know much about Shofner. They should. His 11 receptions that day also set a club record that has since been broken ... by one. The team record now stands at 12.

"Del Shofner was elite," said football historian and author T.J. Troup. "Del's numbers are very impressive, and he was the whole package – excellent routes, run-after-the-catch, fly-paper hands and toughness to run inside routes."

In his upcoming book "1961: A Sensational Season," Troup recalls that Shofner's speed "allowed him to be wide-open on short stops, and since he was a master at breaking tackles ... those short stops turned into long gainers. He was a master at shifting gears and burning past overmatched corners ... "

Troup should know. He may have seen more football game film than anyone from that era. And he maintains that it was Shofner -- not Hall-of-Famer Bob Hayes -- who changed the game as it pertains to zone coverage.

Granted, Hayes was faster than Shofner (and everyone else in the world), and opponents paid extra attention to him. But while he was in college, defenses would, as Troup explains, "roll their zones to the weak side to double-cover Shofner. In that era, teams would roll their zones towards the strong side because there was an extra receiver there."

Shofner with the Rams

But Shofner was more than a receiver. In addition to playing defense in Los Angeles, he was the Rams' punter in the late 1950s and had a career average of 42.0 yards. Later, with the Giants, he was so accomplished that Hall-of-Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle called Shofner "the best and most dangerous" of all receivers he threw to in his career.

However, bleeding ulcers and nagging leg injuries caused him to miss 19 games from 1964-67, limited his productivity and, eventually, caused him to retire from the NFL. More than that, they may have convinced Hall-of-Fame voters to exclude him, forgetting that he produced five stellar seasons unmatched by few others -- then or since. 

Isn't that enough to make him a Hall-of-Fame candidate? 

It is for supporters of Sterling Sharpe, the Packers' receiver who was a seniors committee semifinalist this year. He went to five Pro Bowls, the same as Shofner, but was a consensus All-Pro three times -- or two fewer than Shofner. The Colts' Berry also had three consensus All-Pro seasons and five Pro Bowl invites -- the same numbers as Sharpe.

Logic says that if it was good enough for those two -- one in the Hall of Fame and others poised to be inducted soon -- why isn't it good enough for the fleet receiver one paper once called, "a soft-spoken string bean?"

I'm waiting for the answer.