Brandon Staley Did a Heckuva Job in 2020

  By John Turney

Brandon Staley

We posted on this in late November when the Rams defense was showing it was going to sustain its excellence through the season.

Here is the final update. We listed the categories listed by NFLGSIS by rankings and added in defensive passer rating . . . and then added up the rankings to get a total "score"—the lower the better.

We picked the best Rams defenses ever, the ones that featured the Fearsome Foursome and the defenses of the 1970s plus the best of the solid "vanilla defenses" of the 1980s and the two Super Bowl defenses in St. Louis—1999 and 2001 and then added in 2020.

Here are the results with the categories used highlighted—

This was the peak of the George Allen's Fearsome Foursome era, 1968 being the top, though 1967 was the peak run defense. The cumulative ranks of the key defensive categories totaled 29 points in 1968.

George Allen

The 1968 defense featured the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year Deacon Jones and All-Pros Merlin Olsen and Eddie Meador and Second-team All-Pro Maxie Baughan. The unit scored twice on defense (four times in 1967). 

The 1973-77 iteration was the Ray Malavasi years. In that five-year span, they allowed the fewest rushing yards and touchdowns, the fewest points, and yards in the NFL and were second in the NFL in sacks, interceptions, and defensive passer rating and in pick-6s. 

Ray Malavasi

In our "inverse rank point system" 1975 was tops with 40—the best of the five-year period but if we went by the entire span it would be much higher since (as you can see from above they were 1st or 2nd in most of the categories 

This group still feated Merlin Olsen in his twilight years, Jack Youngblood, Isiah Robertson, Monte Jackson who was All-Pro in 1976 and 1977, Hacksaw Reynolds, and more. It was a tough, hard-hitting unit that did it all, like the late 1960s unit, stopped the run, sacked the quarterback, picked off passes, and kept opponents out of the end zone. 

The first three years here—1978-80 are the Bud Carson years and 1985-86 are the best Fritz Shurmur seasons. 

In the points system, 1978 is tops with 28. That year they scored seven defensive touchdowns (among the best in team history. 

Bud Carson

Carson blitzed far more than the 1973-77 units and played much more Cover-2 and Cover-22 (now known as Tampa-2) and really made the most of Nolan Cromwell who Carson called "the best free safety ever". 

The Rams still had Jack Youngblood rushing from the left edge and Larry Brooks run-stuffing inside but it was moving to a "coverage-type" team rather than a "front" team—relying on more nickel and schemes in the secondary that just relying on superior talent to play man or Cover-3 which they had done for years under Malavasi and have the defensive front put pressure on Qbs when they were in passing situations and make sure they got into 3rd and longs by players great run defense. 

Fritz Shurmur

In 1985-86 the defense was solid but didn't lead the NFL in anything. It was more of a bend-but-don't-break defense that was very tough versus the run, gave up some yards through the air, but made opponents have long, sustained drives with no mistakes if they wanted to score. 

In 1985 they were a bit better than in 1986 with a healthy Gary Jeter sacking quarterbacks and also Mike Wilcher finding himself sd a player getting 12.5 sacks and being a nickel linebacker as well. The secondary was the key with LeRoy Irvin coming into his own and Gary Green playing well, then getting hurt, and in 1986 Jerry Gray replacing him. The safeties were also excellent, Johnnie Johnson and Nolan Cromwell (both hurt for much of 1984) we back to pre-injury form. Nickel back (part safety part linebacker Vince Newsome was terrific as well. 

In 1999 and 2001 the Rams went to Super Bowls, winning it all in 1999 and they had great, great offenses but the defenses were excellent as well. In addition to many high ranks in the key categories in 1999, the defense scored eight times and in 2001 they scored five touchdowns. 

Peter Guinta in his time with the Giants

In 1999 the Rams ran Bud Carson's scheme of defense but Peter Guinta made the calls but he and John Bunting shared the defensive coordinator title. The 1999 team set Rams marks for rushing defense and sacks. Kevin Carter and Todd Lyght were All-Pros and Grant Wistrom and London Fletcher emerged and Mike Jones, the SAM 'backer made "The Tackle" sealing the Super Bowl win for the Rams.  

Lovie Smith

In 2001 Lovie Smith was the defensive coordinator and he brought in Tony Dungy's "Tampa-2 defense". The Rams traded for Aeneas Williams who played All-Pro corner and provided leadership, London Fletcher, now a star, was terrific as was Grant Wistrom (also a star) and nickelback Dre Bly. The only failure was the Patriots drive in the Super Bowl which led to the game-winning field goal by Adam Vinatieri.

We are not suggesting that the 2020 defense is the best-ever in Ram annals but we are, however, reporting that when the ranks of the given categories are added together, 2020 is the lowest total ever, beating 1978 by one point. They also scored four touchdowns and a safety while, as we mentioned, the 1978 defense scored seven touchdowns defensively. So, it's close. 

Also, it is to be noted that this is an era where defenses have a big disadvantage with the rules that favor the offense, which does lend credibility that the Rams defense is "all that". 

It stopped the run using a 5-1 look (3-3 nickel personnel), got after the passer (53 sacks) held opposing passers to an 80.4 passer rating when the league average is 93.6 all the while playing cornerbacks "off" more than anyone in the NFL—about 7.6 average depth of corners per Next Gen Stats (NGS) and quarterbacks throwing the ball quickly—the defense faced the second-quickest time to throw TTT (NGS). They allowed 18.5 points a game and even less than that when you take out the pick-sixes and scoop and scores given up by the offense. 

Now, the Rams face the Packers and Aaron Rodgers and his top-scoring offense. We will see if they can contest passes the way they have all year and if they can limit the run with the 5-1 (33 nickel) as they have all year and also get pressure on Rodgers and make him uncomfortable. If they can they can upset the Packers in Lambeau. In not, it will be a long, cold day for the Rams. 

Bill Hewitt: Member of NFL 100 All-Time Team

 LOOKING BACK
By Chris Willis, NFL Films

Today is the third and final post by PFJ on the career of former Hall of Fame end, Bill Hewitt. 

After retiring from the NFL following the 1943 season with the Steagles, Hewitt stayed in the public eye.

In 1944 the Saturday Evening Post ran an article on Hewitt, titled "Don't Send My Boy to Halas." In the October 21st issue of the magazine, Hewitt talked about playing pro football under George Halas. Hewitt mainly discusses the salary he earned. He also compares his salary with the Steagles in 1943 and dealing with Bert Bell. Three years after the article tragedy struck the All-Pro end.  

On January 14, 1947, on the Bethlehem Pike in Pennsylvania, Hewitt was driving alone in his car on  slippery road. Losing control of his vehicle, Hewitt swerved off the road crashing into culvert. After being transported to the local hospital Hewitt was pronounced dead. He was just 37 years old.

 "It is a great shock to learn of Bill Hewitt's untimely death," said George Halas to the press after learning of the accident. "He was one of the great ends of all time. Bill was unable to attend our alumni dinner last year, but he wrote me that he was looking forward to being with us in 1947. I am sure all of his old-time associates will mourn his death." 

In 1971 Hewitt was honored by being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, next to a Who's Who of NFL legends. Also elected that year were Jim Brown, Frank "Bruiser" Kinard, Vince Lombardi, Andy Robustelli, Y.A. Title, and Norm Van Brocklin. Accepting for him was his daughter, Mary Ellen (Hewitt) Cocozza, who never knew her father, let alone seen him play. At the podium on the steps of the Hall of Fame she said: 

"Thank you very much. It's a great privilege and honor to be here in Canton accepting this award on my father's behalf. He is being recognized with such great men that have made football the American tradition it is today. My only regret is that my father cannot be here to reap the harvest of his efforts, but I know he is here in spirit. Thank you so much." 

For the next four and half decades, the name of Bill Hewitt seemed to be lost. Until 2019 when the NFL celebrated its 100th season. During the campaign, the NFL selected an All-Time Team. A 26-member blue-ribbon panel went about choosing the team. The panel selected 7 defensive ends for the team. Because of his standout play on the defensive side of the ball, Bill Hewitt was selected as one of the seven defensive ends. Over 75 years since he last played a snap in the NFL, Hewitt was given one of the greatest honors of any former NFL player- a spot on the league's 100th All-Time Team. 

For the past three days PFJ has celebrated the life of Bill Hewitt. On the anniversary day (Jan. 14th) of his untimely passing, we look back and never forget the brilliance of one of the NFL's greatest players.

PFJ's 2020 Homage to Allmost All-Pro/All-Joe Teams

 By John Turney

DiTrani and Weisman

A while back we posted about Vinny DiTrani's "Allmost-Pro Team" and Larry Weisman's "All-Joe" Teams. Those teams were picked by those two veteran writers for years and years to honor some players who were "snubbed" from the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams of the day.  You can get more about them details HERE and HERE.

As an homage to those two great writers, we are picking our own Allmost All-Joe Team for 2020. To be eligible a player cannot be First- or Second-team All-Pro on the AP team or a Pro Bowler or First- or Second-team on our All-pro team or PFF's team. 

Here goes—

Offense

Center

Mason Cole, Cardinals—Good grades all year. One issue, too many false starts for a center, snap count issues. Once that is corrected, can compete for a Pro Bowl slot.

Guards

A.J. Cann, Jaguars and Graham Glasgow, Broncos—Like Cole, these two are consistent, especially Cann. Glasgow has always been pretty good. 

Tackles

Kaleb McGary, Falcons and Daryl Williams, Bills—McGary getting better and better and Williams solid for the Bills.

Tight End

Robert Tonyan, Packers—Pro Bowl snub and no All-Pro votes since Travis Kelce was a unanimous pick. 

Quarterback
Tom Brady, Bucs. —Nope, he didn't make the Pro Bowl or any All-Pro teams. He's the Allmost All-Joe.

Running backs
Jonathan Taylor, Colts, and Andy Janovich, Browns—Taylor the runner, Janovich the blocker.

Wide receivers

Robert Woods, Rams, Adam Thielen, Vikings, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Packers—we liked his 20.9. yards a catch. Woods can run, catch, block, and take a tunnel screen all the way. He's just a football player. Thielen, great routes, good hands, scored 14 touchdowns. FOURTEEN and not a sniff of post-season honors. 

Defense
Defensive ends
Brian Burns, Panthers, Carl Lawson, Bengals (tied) and Maxx Crosby of the Raiders.—Burns and Lawson lots and lots of hurries, not a lot of sacks—yet. Those will come. Crosby is just a good, tough, solid left defensive end. 

Defensive tackles

Fletcher Cox, Eagles, and Ndamukong Suh, Tampa Bay—Two old pros had good years but with so many good defensive interior players this year, they got overlooked. Quality is still there for Cox. Suh emerged from a few years in the doldrums—his final year in Miami, his lone season in Los Angeles and his first year in Tampa. This year he was good again.

Inside backer

Jordan Hicks, Cardinals—Made a lot of plays behind the line of scrimmage, and led a third and long nickel with six linebackers and five defensive backs for the Zona defense.

Outside backers

Kyle Van Noy, Miami, and Leonard Floyd, Rams—Complete backers who can play over a tight end, cover, be a rover-type rusher and even put a hand down and rush as an end and in Floyd's case a tackle in nickel. 

Cornerbacks

J.C. Jackson, New England, and Michael Davis, Chargers. Jackson had a ton of picks, began as a nickel then became a starter. Davis impresses, and had a good defensive passer rating. On the upswing, we think. 

Safeties

Terrell Edmunds of the Steelers and Darnell Savage Jr., of the Pack. Edmunds we like a lot, just no room for him on All-Pro teams. Savage getting better and better. We think the world with catch up to these two next year. 

Special Teams
Punter

Tress Way, Washington.—Good year-in and year out, always aced out by someone having a career year. 

Kicker
Jason Myers, Seattle—Had a good year, worthy of Pro Bowl, but likely just missed. In a normal year, would likely be listed as an alternate.

Returner

Jamal Agnew, Lions. —Had usually been good but several guys just had a better year. One of the best.

Special teams

Zeke Turner, Arizona—Tough rookie gets down and makes tackles on coverage.

Runnings Backs Total Yards From Scrimmage—Jim Brown Still Number One

By John Turney

Art Credit: Geroge Bartell

After all these years Jim Brown is still first on a list of yards per game rushing and yards from scrimmage and touchdowns rushing and receiving per 16 games as well. 

We've made this chart per sixteen games because we like seeing it that way, but it could be yards per game or per 14 games or 12 games but we chose 16 games due to the current (soon to be defunct) schedule length.

Yes, to include Gale Sayers we made the minimum games to qualify 60 but that could also be altered to 100 or 70 or whatever you wish. 

(click to enlarge)

So, though Brown's career marks have been broken, the per-game marks still stand, which is remarkable, no?

NFL Playoffs—#1 Scoring Team Versus #1 Scoring Defense

LOOKING BACK

By John Turney

Since the AFL-NFL merger, this matchup (top-scoring team versus team allowing fewest points) has occurred in the Super Bowl a few times. Pro Football Reference has posted on that. 

Via Twitter, we asked if they ever posted on teams in the same conference meeting and they responded with a Tweet saying they would have to look that up. So, we did it ourselves. 

It turns out it has happened but not too often—only eight times since 1970. 

1. The first time was 1970 when the 49ers beat the Vikings 17-14.
2. The next year the Cowboys were number one in scoring and also beat the Vikings.
3. In 1976 the defense got its revenge as the Steelers beat the top-scoring Colts 
4. Defense reigned again in 1980 when the Eagles beat Dallas in the NFC Championship game. 
5. In 1993 the 49ers beat the Giants #1 ranked scoring defense.
6. The Broncos, in 1997,  put down the Chiefs top defense
7. Then, in 2014, the Packers lost to the Seahawks Legion of Boom.
8. The next year the Panthers top O beat the Seahawks top D

So, in the matchups, it's four of the offense and four for the defense. 

This brings us to 2020 with the Packers leading offense versus the Rams defense which ranks first in fewest points allowed.

Clearly, it can go either way. Even if there had been some advantage for the offense or defense, historically, it wouldn't tell us anything about this weekend—it could go either way.

Question: How Many Hurries/Pressures Does Aaron Donald Have?

PERSPECTIVE
By John Turney

Aaron Donald in some ugly uniforms 

Answer:  Depends on who you ask.

We've posted on this before but wanted to tackle it again. 

Here are Aaron Donald's career stats (click to enlarge)—

The tackles and sacks come from NFLGSIS (NFL Gamebooks), the run/pass stuffs come from Pro Football Journal. We think it is the most accurate representation of tackles for loss because it includes both run and pass plays, other than sacks and it includes plays where a fumble is forced, unlike NFLGSIS. 

The quarterback hits, pressures, knockdowns, pressures, disruptions come from various sources. And that is the issue. They purport to score similar things but come up with different numbers, some very different.

In Donald's career these are the sources of the KD, Hits, hurries, pressures, and disruptions.—

Rams = Rams coaches

NFL = NFLGSIS 

Stats = Stats, LLC

Sports Radar

PFF = Pro Football Focus 

FO = Football Outsiders 

NextGen = Next Generation Stats

ESPN= ESPN Stats & Information 

SIS =  Sports Info Solutions

Pro Football Focus is the most generous in scoring, then comes NextGen and then down the line. 

Who is "right"? No one.

Who is "wrong"? No one.

Just make sure when writing or reading about rushers that you use note who the source us and familiarize yourself with how that source views sacks, knockdowns, hits, hurries, pressures, and total disruptions. 

PFF defines sacks their own way not believing in half-sacks. Some sources breakdown knockdowns, where the QB ends up on his butt. Others count the hits, where the QB is hit, and presumably the ones where he's knocked down and sacked. Pressures and hurries are pretty synonymous but can mean an "all of the above" definition as can disruptions. 

Football Outsiders does not do their analysis until the Spring and usually shows up in their football annual in the Summer. We have not found ESPN's number as of yet, but they may have merged with NextGen, but we are not quite sure. 

The Rams quality control coaches release (or even keep) tackle charts but they did under Jeff Fisher's regime so that is yet another data point.

So, again...know your data if you compare T.J. Watt to Donald in terms of the pressure stats. Or even when you compare Donald to Donald. 

The real answer to the question in the title is this: A lot.

Hall of Fame Final 15—Thoughts and Predictions and Hopes

By John Turney

Here is our annual take on the Hall of Fame Final 15 and some thoughts and evaluation of who may or may not get in. Clearly, we will have some misses, but we have done fairly well over the years in our writings and on radio interviews. we will see if he can keep up reasonable accuracy in our guesses. 

Remember there are only five slots. Five. Tough choices have to be made by voters. Really, all fifteen are worthy. Just some stronger resumes than others. 

Locks

Peyton Manning, Quarterback 

No discussion. Likey presentation: (Stands up) "Ladies and gentlemen, with respect, Peyton Manning". (Sits down).

Chart: Pro Football Reference

Charles Woodson, Cornerback/Safety 

Will be a discussion but a man corner. Excellent slot corner and good safety with honors, stats (picks, sacks, and forced fumbles, ring, intangibles (played in playoff games and Super bowl with broken leg), and testimonials from opponents. Checks all the boxes. 

80% likely

Alan Faneca, Guard 

He has the honors and there is no denying him so why not make it this year? Some people we talk to him think he (like some other Steelers offensive linemen) is overrated and got some "free repeater" All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors due to lack of diligence by voters and fan voters but be that as it may, it is his time.

Things we regret, not saving STATS, LLC. sacks allowed info for all players when it was posted by the Washington Post and Dallas Morning News and others. It has disappeared, with the "gold rush" of stats it has become too expensive for papers to keep it all published. 

And the statistics companies, STATS, Elias Sports Bureau, ESPN Sports & Information, Sportsradar, Sports Information Solutions, NextGen, Pro Football Focus, Football Outsiders, and even Pro Football Journal's run/pass stuffs et al, it is a mess and you cannot always get what was once out there on the web and what is out there now often conflicts with each other—more on that in an upcoming post. So, while Faneca's stats on sacks allowed exists, we don't have it. 

Chart: Pro Football Reference/NFLGSIS

Hard to say but the final two will come from this group

Calvin Johnson, Wide Receiver 

Cannot deny the skill set, possibly the best ever. Numbers and honors there. Could get in right away or have to wait. The only thing that hurts him is a short career and some voters like to limit who gets in on the first ballot. Guessing 75% chance.

Chart: Pro Football Reference

Clay Matthews, Outside Linebacker 

Elvin Bethea got in on his last shot. As did Carl Eller (though there was a rules change that allowed it). Others have not like Everson Walls. He does not have the sack numbers his contemporaries did because he had so much more coverage duties on third down which guys like Lawrence Taylor, Rickey Jackson, Andre Tippett and Kevin Greene did not have. That also hurt his honors (just one All-Pro). 

But he was named by Proscout, Inc.m as one of the top players they think should be in the Hall of Fame. Proscout is one of the sources Paul Zimmerman would crib from in the 80s and 90s. 

Matthews has a chance. Maybe 50-50.

Richard Seymour, Defensive End/Defensive Tackle

Played a tight-5 technique in base defense, a 3-technique in nickel. A hard-nosed player, a two-way player (run and pass) but does not have big sack numbers which likely hurts him among younger HOF voters. But he should get one of the five slots. But changes are likely less than 50-50 which is a shame.

He's of the ilk of a Howie Long, Dan Hampton, even a Lee Roy Selmon, but was bigger than all of them but for some reason didn't get the publicity they did. Also has the "jewelry". 

We speculate, perhaps a 25% chance (the next few—Butler, Thomas, and Boselli we put in the 25% category as well) but as we already mentioned, deserves a slot (as does Bryant Young who didn't even get to the Final 15 this year). It will be a bit heartbreaking when he falls shot and we think he will. But, a good shot at the Final 10 again.

LeRoy Butler, Safety 

Lots to like. But Woodson being up this year likely hurts him because we've observed (sometimes) two guys from the same team can hurt the lesser credential one. Not always and not that it is fair, but we think it happens based on discussions over the years. It's not a scientific fact, just an impression. 

He played slot corner and played safety the way it is played today, all over the place. In the box, deep middle, 1/2 the field. He picked off passes, sacked the quarterback, played linebacker in sub-packages. 

We think he is worthy and more valuable than a few of the safeties that have been on the list recently. 

Zach Thomas, Linebacker 

A fine player with some good things on his chart. Lots of tackles for loss for instance. We don't like the fact that while he was getting his five All-Pro honors from the Associated Press there were two middle linebacker slots (roughly from 1984-2016 or so) he was always the second-leading vote-getter. He never made the PFWA All-Pro team which just had one MLB slot. He was the leading beneficiary of the format of the AP team.  

Imagine if there were two center slots or four defensive tackle slots (double the normal amount) there would be a lot more players from those positions with All-pro honors and therefore getting more HOF attention. 

While that does not totally discount those honors it does mean they need to be judiciously considered.

Overall we can see Thomas getting in, he's been in the Final 10 and may get there again this year. So odds are good in the near term, but not this year.  

Tony Boselli, Tackle 

The question is this:  Does Boselli deserve the proverbial "Gale Sayers exception" for the Hall of Fame? that is the axiom that an injured player that is great still deserves the HOF if his career is cut short by injuries. Sayers clearly was the precedent setter for the modern era. 

Finally, in the 1990s, Dwight Stephenson got in after a few years of debate even though many experts felt he was the best center of all time based on film study and the evaluations of his peers. Eventually, Ken Easley and Terrell Davis got in under roughly the same standard. 

Boselli's skill set and even honors are there. It is the longevity and nothing else. And the fact that voters keep putting skill players at the top of the queue and pass over worthy linemen like Mike Kenn or Joe Jacoby and others. 

Also, it's only fair to mention, since some pro-Boselli people (perhaps not on the committee) sank Joe Jacoby's final candidacy by suggesting he was moved to right tackle when Jim Lachey came to Washington because he was not best suited for a left tackle. Actually, Lachey didn't convert well to right tackle so, for the team, Jacoby moved that Boselli himself was not a blind-side tackle. Since that was the impetus for dogging Jacoby.

 Mark Brunell was left-handed so Boselli was a front-side tackle. Leon Searcy was protecting Brunell's blindside. Facts are facts. While some of the better, quicker rushers would still be on the defenses' right side, they would face Brunell. So in the classic sense, Boselli was not the "left tackle" is the sense that term is used. It's a kind of a misnomer in his case—a left tackle who protected the face-side of the quarterback. 

He will get in, his time will come. We don't think this year, 

John Lynch, Safety 

Lynch has a ring and a lot of Pro Bowls, though we think maybe a couple of the Bronco Pro Bowls are slightly dubious (fan voting). His "hook" is he is the last of the hard-hitting safeties. The game has changed and we won't ever see another like him. There are better safeties not in the Hall of Fame. He didn't have a lot of "numbers"—sacks, picks, etc. A tough call. 

His candidacy has been fading but he has as much of a chance as the previous players—Seymour, Butler, Boselli, Thomas, and Matthews. To us, that fifth spot is a roll of the dice and with the game in Tamps, Lynch having a high-profile job and having been a TV analyst for so long maybe this year Lynch wins that roll. 

Ronde Barber, Cornerback

And interesting newbie to the Final 15. Azone corner. Often zone corners not as respected as the top man corners like Woodson or Mike Haynes or a Darrelle Revis and players like that. But isn;t that a coach's decision? HOF voters are not player personnel evaluators, they evaluate careers. 

Barber's career is unique in NFL history so far. For one he had 28 sacks, as a corner. He also had 63.0 run/pass stuffs (tackles behind the line of scrimmage on run or pass plays—and exclusive PFJ stat). For comparison, Warren Sapp had 65.5 such plays. That 91 plays behind the line of scrimmage for Barber. Being able to play slot corner as well as he did and also to force run plays and pressure the quarterback makes Barber unique. 

Then throw in the picks and the 208 passes defensed. And the defensive scores on picks and fumble recoveries (12). He also scored a safety and two touchdowns on special teams and blocked three kicks on special teams. Seems like Ronde was a football player, not just a specialist zone corner.

The voters are going to have to sort that out, though. We think he's a compelling candidate. But won't have a shot this year his first in the Final 15.

No

Jared Allen, Defensive End 

Has plenty of compelling things on his resume but not for the first ballot. There are defensive ends from the 70s and 80s that had 20-sack seasons under their belt and over 130 career sacks or so (Coy Bacon, Al Baker) and even Harvey Marin (114 sacks and a 20-sack season) who never got a sniff of Canton.  Allen does not deserve more consideration than they did. 

Maybe Allen gets in, we like him a lot, especially in his days as a Chief, but he's not one of the top five players this year. But another key point is he needs to be compared to recent edge rushers who are in (Jason Taylor) and those coming up (Julius Peppers, DeMarcus Ware, Terrell Suggs, Dwight Freeney) to see if he has the goods compared to them. 

Sam Mills, Linebacker 

We like him, but no room. Not a three-down linebacker for most of his career. He was with the Panthers but with Saints, not usually. Lots to like. But not even the best linebacker on this list of fifteen.

Torry Holt, Wide Receiver 

Stop with the second-chair wide receivers. 

Chart: Pro Football Reference

Reggie Wayne, Wide Receiver 

Stop with the second-chair wide receivers. However, Wayne has an unfair advantage with Bill Polian and Tony Dungy as voters. A guy who drafted him and a guy who coached him. This is one reason why coaches and players and contributors should only be advisors on the HOF committee and not voters. It creates not just an appearance of a conflict of interest but a clear and obvious conflict of interest. 

Let them advise only. Sorry, it is unfair to those who don't have a coach or teammate, or general manager on the committee to push them along. 

Chart: Pro Football Reference