Site Admin
#6 Overall, Von Miller, Washington Commanders, #1 Defensive Lineman/Linebackers: Pass Rushers
2024 Pre-Season Rank #7, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #4, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #7, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #8, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #10. Peak Period: 2011-12/2014-16.
As it stands right now, Von Miller already has a Hall of Fame resume and might have the goods to get in on the first ballot.
A Defensive Rookie of the Year, Super Bowl winner, and Super Bowl MVP for the Denver Broncos, Miller has all the statistical requirements the Hall looks for and the name recognition that fits the word "Fame.” Over the last three seasons, Miller served as a pass-rushing specialist for the Buffalo Bills, and he is continuing his career in 2025 with the up-and-coming Washington Commanders.
Miller enters 2025 with 129.5 Sacks, only three behind Leslie O’Neal and the legendary Lawrence Taylor for 14th place all-time, and is the current active leader, and is sixth all-time in Tackles for Loss, notably tied with Hall of Famers Julius Peppers and Jared Allen. Five more TFLs will get him fifth place, just ahead of first-ballot lock, Aaron Donald. Considering what his specific role is, catching Taylor for Sacks and Donald for Tackles for Loss is doable.
Modern Positional Average
Much like with what he had in exterior lineman, we have a convulted system where we try to look at the interior run-stuffers, while recognizing what that the front seven vary depending on scheme and player. With that, we have a unique situtation in that with Sam Mills, who was a late entrant in the modern vote, is not factored into the traditional statistics as his overall numbers are not complete. This means that we have an average of the four for most stats, which exclude Mills.
Here are the statistics that we are using based on the last group of Defensive Lineman/Linebackers/Interior Lineman to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
- Games Played: 177.4
- Approximate Value: 151.8
- Approximate Value per Games Played: 0.8557
- Games Started: 174
- Approximate Value per Games Started: 0.8724
- Approximate Value per Five-Year Peak: 76.8
- Approximate Value’s Best Five Results: 83.2
- Top Five Defensive Player of the Year Finishes**: 7.8
- Pro Bowls: 7.8
- First Team All-Pros*: 4.4
- Interceptions: 16.8
- Interceptions Five-Year Peak: 8.8
- Quarterback Sacks: 28.9
- Quarterback Sacks Five-Year Peak: 15.8
- Tackles for Loss: 103.3
- Tackles for Loss Five-Year Peak: 53.5
- Forced Fumbles: 16.8
- Combined Tackles: 1,473.8
- Combined Tackles Five-Year Peak: 701.6
- Top Five Combined Tackles Finishes 14.2
- Super Bowl Wins: 0.4
- Super Bowl Appearances: 0.8
*This is an aggregate of the Top Five finishes (5th = 1, 4th = 2, 3rd = 3, 2nd = 4th, 1st = 5)
**This is a reminder that the All-Pros we use are from the AP.
#12 Overall, Calais Campbell, Arizona Cardinals, Defensive End, #5 Defensive Lineman/Linebacker: Pass Rusher
2024 Pre-Season Rank #19, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #19, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #26 2021 Pre-Season Rank #28, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #36. Peak Period: 2014-18
Longevity, talent, and class.
39-year-old Calais Campbell remains a solid Defensive End in the National Football League, and in 2025, he returns to the team he played for from 2008 to 2016, the Arizona Cardinals.
“The Mayor of Sacksonville” went to six Pro Bowls in a seven-year period (2014-20), which includes his last two in his first run in Arizona, all three of his seasons as a Jacksonville Jaguar, and his first in Baltimore. Campbell, who won the 2019 Walter Payton Man of the Year and the 2023 Alan Page Award, was also honored with a 2010s All-Decade Selection.
Campbell also has a statistical Hall of Fame resume with 110.5 Sacks and 187 Tackles for Loss, making him the active leader in that stat. The Hall of Fame loves character guys, but they don’t get a pass unless they show what their goods are on the gridiron. Calais Campbell did just that.
Modern Positional Average
O.K.. This is tricky. Initially, we were ironclad on positions regarding how they appear on a stat sheet, but we were kidding ourselves. The front seven on any defensive corps is a rotating group of roles that are far more complicated to define than any offensive position. We made a significant change, focusing on pass rushers and interior linemen, but even then, the myriad of roles renders it difficult, especially when we are looking at matching current players with their first five counterparts.
Here are the statistics that we are using based on the last group of Defensive Lineman/Linebackers/EDGE to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
- Games Played: 211.4
- Approximate Value: 132.4
- Approximate Value per Games Played: 0.6263
- Games Started: 191.8
- Approximate Value per Games Started: 0.6903
- Approximate Value per Five-Year Peak: 63.4
- Approximate Value’s Best Five Results: 68.6
- Top Five Defensive Player of the Year Finishes**: 4.8
- Pro Bowls: 6.8
- First Team All-Pros*: 3
- Quarterback Sacks: 129.8
- Quarterback Sacks Five-Year Peak: 63
- Top Five Quarterback Sacks Finishes: 9
- Tackles for Loss: 157.6
- Tackles for Loss Five-Year Peak: 75.4
- Top Five Tackles for Loss Finishes: 11.2
- Combined Tackles: 600.2
- Combined Tackles Five-Year Peak: 259.2
- Forced Fumbles: 35.6
- Forced Fumbles Five-Year Peak: 15
- Super Bowl Wins: 0.6
- Super Bowl Appearances: 1.2
*This is an aggregate of the Top Five finishes (5th = 1, 4th = 2, 3rd = 3, 2nd = 4th, 1st = 5)
**This is a reminder that the All-Pros we use are from the AP.