2025 Pre-Season Rank #23, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #27, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #24, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #43, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #67, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #95.  Peak Period: 2018-22

The Hall of Fame case of Davante Adams fascinates us.

A WR1 for most of his career and, at one time, the favorite weapon of Aaron Rodgers, Adams starts the 2026 season as one of the elder statesmen of the National Football League. While he is no longer the top dog on a team, he is still one of the most go-to end zone threats in the game.

Last season, in his debut for the Los Angeles Rams, Adams was Matthew Stafford’s favorite target to get six.  For the third time in his career, he led the NFL in Touchdown Receptions (14) and has a staggering 117 overall, making him the active leader and seventh overall.  Five TDs will take him to sixth to pass recent Hall of Fame inductee Larry Fitzgerald.

Yardage-wise, his 12,633 is well behind the 14,345 needed to make the top ten all-time, but the overall body of his work should be enough at this time.  Adams has a huge opportunity with the Rams to get his first Super Bowl, and if they get there, you know that Stafford will be looking at his veteran.

We think he’s done enough to get in, but we can’t forget the Wide Receiver queue for Canton has always been deep.  Ask Torry Holt.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #46, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #41, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #45, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #48, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #66, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #82.  Peak Period: 2017-21

We have said for years that Keenan Allen’s path to Canton would have to be through longevity and compiling as many yards and touchdowns as possible.  While he is a six-time Pro Bowl selection and the Chargers’ WR1 for years, he wasn't the enigmatic, dynamic force that took your breath away.

What he is, however, is a consistent producer who passed 12,000 yards and reached 70 touchdowns last season, but how many times have we said how high the bar is for Wide Receivers?  Time is running out for Allen, but if he can remain on the field for a few more years, it is not impossible, and this year, he will see what he can do to help his third franchise, the Indianapolis Colts.

He should receive some type of post-career acknowledgment from the Chargers when all is said and done.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #13, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #18, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #35, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #58, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #73.  Peak 2020-24

How can so much production seem so quiet?  

Two years ago, Mike Evans broke 12,500 Yards and 100 Touchdowns, and in the first 11 seasons of his career, he has never failed to break the four-digit mark in Receiving Yards.  The only person to do that is Jerry Rice, and as Evans was injured last year, he was unable to break Rice’s record, though anyone who shares a record with Rice has to be a legendary figure.

Right?

Well…

So, why is his career so unassuming?   In four of those seasons, Evans did not reach 1,100 Yards, and in two of them, he was less than 1,010.   Although Evans made the top ten in Touchdown Receptions six times, he has only reached the top ten in Receiving Yards twice and has never been a First Team All-Pro.  Regardless, he is a six-time Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl winner.

Entering 2026, Evans is no longer a Buccaneer, as he joins the San Francisco 49ers.  On all-time lists, should he get 1,000 Yards this year, he will vault from 21st to 12th, and he is already 10th in Touchdown Receptions, needing only four to pass Tony Gonzalez.

As it stands, we feel Evans will be a Hall of Fame inductee, but the question we ask is what year of eligibility it will occur.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #11, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #23, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #39, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #47, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #70, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #108.  Peak Period: 2019-20/2022-24

The Running Back is dead.  Long live the Running Back.

When many football fans and journalists called the death of rushing, Derrick Henry (and Saquon Barkley) had other ideas, but we have been surpised by Henry before

In 2019, it felt like Derrick Henry won the Rushing Title out of nowhere, as he was in his fourth year, and he only had 1,059 Yards the year before.  In 2020, Henry won his second Rushing Title, shattering his previous mark, and joined the 2,000 Yard Rushing club, won the Offensive Player of the Year.  Had he not gotten injured during the 2021 season, Henry was on his way to his second straight OPOY.  After a bounce back in 2022 that saw him net his third 1,500-yard campaign.  

After one more year in Tennessee, it was clear that the Titans were looking to move on, and the Baltimore Ravens signed Henry to join their potent offense.  In his first season in Baltimore, Henry rushed for 1,921 Yards and led the league in Rushing Touchdowns (16).  Last season, Henry was electric again, with 1,595 more Rushing Yards and 16 more TDs.  His work in Baltimore has been phenomenal, and he is now over 13,000 Yards on the ground and an astonishing 122.  Is Emmitt Smith’s 164 in reach?

Whatever happens forward, it was his first two seasons in Baltimore that sealed the Canton deal.