Pre-Season Rank #27, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #40, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #57, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #107, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #143. Peak Period 2017-18/2022-24

When you are on the same Offensive Line as Jason Kelce, you fall easily into the shadows.  As Kelce’s teammate, Johnson won a Super Bowl, went to five Pro Bowls (2017-19 & 2022-23), and was twice a First Team All-Pro, cementing him as one of the top Tackles in Football.  Following Kelce’s retirement in 2023, Johnson accomplished something that Kelce could not do: win a second Super Bowl.  That occurred in 2024, when Johnson added Pro Bowl number six.  How much does Johnson’s legacy increase if Philadelphia wins it all again this year? 

2025 Pre-Season Ranking #22, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #49, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #79, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #118, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #142.  Peak Period: 2020-24

From 2020 to 2024, Fred Warner assaulted this list and terrorized rushers as one of the best (if not the best) man-to-man interior forces in football.  It was an incredible run that yielded four First Team All-Pros, and the quick-as-a-cat Middle Linebacker had a fifth one in his sights in 2025 before an early-season broken ankle took him out for the rest of the campaign. 

That led to his first tumble on our Notinhalloffame Football Monitor, but he enters this season in perfect health and ready to anchor the 49ers defense and possibly make a Super Bowl run.  Barring injury, this is what we expect from Warner, who will likely get right back on track.  This is one player we would not bet against.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #49, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #76, #2023 Pre-Season Rank #106, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #142, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #141.  Peak Period: 2020-24

The fanbase of the Tennessee Titans is still shaking its head at the trade of A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles.

A Pro Bowl Selection in 2020, Brown was traded to Philadelphia, and the Eagles made the right bet: in his first three years in the City of Brotherly Love, he was named a Second Team All-Pro.  The primary air weapon of Jalen Hurts, Brown had back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons in 2022 and 2023, and in 2024, he was a massive part of the Eagles' Super Bowl win.  That is where Brown's Philadelphia story ended, as he begins the season with the New England Patriots and should be able to get his fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season.

As he is still in his prime, and should the Patriots return to the Super Bowl, Brown should see his Hall of Fame stock improve.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #40, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #38, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #48, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #57, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #118.  Peak Period 2019-23

Stefon Diggs is an interesting player, isn’t he?

After establishing himself in Minnesota, Diggs played four years in Buffalo, where he was a Pro Bowl selection in each campaign and led the NFL in Receiving Yards in 2020 (1,535).  After an injury-plagued year in Houston in 2024, he rebounded in New England, with 1,013 Yards and a trip to the Super Bowl.   However…

Diggs was accused of assault by his personal chef, and while he was found innocent, drama followed him to the Super Bowl, where he and megastar Nicki Minaj broke up before the game.  Diggs was flat, and after he was released by the Patriots, we weren’t sure if he would find work; luckily for him, he did, as he joins the Washington Commanders this season.

Diggs is still capable of great production, and he will have to go the compiler route to make a late charge for the Hall. 

2025 Pre-Season Rank #17, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #39, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #69, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #98, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #117.  Peak Period: 2020-24.

Josh Allen has been incredible since he entered the NFL, but like Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, he is a quarterback and will be judged by his Super Bowl appearances and wins.

Allen (for our money) is the most exciting QB in the league, and has done an awful lot with not a lot of weapons or superstar defenders, so he has made himself the ultimate weapon.  He's come close to the Super Bowl, taking Buffalo to two AFC Championship Games, and in 2024 he narrowly beat Jackson for MVP with a 28 TD pass/12 rushing TD year; he also has four other top-five MVP finishes.

Despite being only 30, he set the record for rushing TDs by a Quarterback with 79, and 100 is easily in his grasp. 

Entering 2026, Allen is the leader of a Super Bowl contender and is himself an MVP contender.  Saying that, no matter what he does, he needs that Super Bowl to become a lock.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #28, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #43, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #78, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #86, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #113, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #147.  Peak Period: 2020-24.

There are a lot of parallels with our highest-rated cornerback, Jalen Ramsey, and our highest-ranked safety, Budda Baker:

Both have a loaded baseline we are comparing them to, and both feel like something is missing.

We have had Baker at #1 in Safeties since the removal of Earl Thomas, but honestly, we aren’t in a golden era of Safeties.  It is a high bar for this position, and the Hall itself often ignores that spot on the field.  Regardless, Baker is an eight-time Pro Bowl selection (seven as a Safety, one in Special Teams), and his tackling numbers are incredible, as among all Safeties over the past seven seasons, his tally is easily the highest.

Baker is now 30, and there is no reason he can’t keep producing at a high level; given the Safety baseline, he will have to.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #20, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #20, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #23, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #35, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #54, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #73.

The Rams believed that Jalen Ramsey was the best Cornerback in the NFL, and they went all in to get him during the 2019 season when he was disgruntled in Jacksonville.  Ramsey was the top CB in 2020, adding a second First Team All-Pro, a fourth Pro Bowl, and posting a career-high in Approximate Value (15).  Currently, over the AV/G, Ramsey added another Pro Bowl, First Team All-Pro, and, more importantly, a Super Bowl in 2021, proving the Rams right.  Ramsey claimed a sixth Pro Bowl in 2022 and a seventh with his third team in Miami, which was impressive considering he only played ten games in 2023.

One knock on Ramsey is that he is now on his fourth team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he is still a good player, albeit in decline, and another Pro Bowl-caliber season is in doubt.  Nevertheless, we have him as the highest-ranked cornerback for this study, though is he on the level of some of the Corners we use as a baseline?  His peak was excellent, but when you look at our baseline CBs, it is a hard level to break.   

Ramsey might still need a lot more.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #19, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #28, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #33, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #38, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #75, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #87.  Peak Period: 2017-21

In the first six seasons of Cameron Heyward's career, there was no mention of him ever sniffing the Hall of Fame. The next six years would change everything, as Heyward’s production increased, and he strung together a six-year Pro Bowl streak (2017-22) that included three First Team All-Pros.  Heyward was not just a consummate disruptor; he was an all-around role model who won the 2023 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

In 2024, at the age of 35, Heyward added his seventh Pro Bowl, but because his role is not purely as a pass-rusher, his 92 Sacks and 142 Tackles for Loss do not jump off the page, though, of course, we suspect the Hall of Fame voters know this.   Astoundingly, closer to 40 than he is 30, Heyward appears to have so much more left to give the game.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #44, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #57, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #87, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #102 2021 Pre-Season Rank #102, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #90.  Peak Period: 2018-19/2023-25

Danielle Hunter may not have been even a Pro Bowl Selection (though he was a Second Team All-Pro), but the current Houston Texan has evolved into one of the most effective and consistent pass rushers in the game.

Hunter broke the 100 Sack mark last year, and on the loaded Texans defense, he is poised to get his fifth double-digit year in that stat.  While he might be on the north side of 30, he still owns that sick blend of finesse and ferocity, and though he is revered in football circles, he often gets left behind in general football conversation.

A monster season puts him in the conversation, as would five more great ones; he is capable of both scenarios despite being 31.  This could be the year that gets him in.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #43, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #56, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #63, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #99, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #108, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #140.  Peak Period 2019-23.

Minkah Fitzpatrick has been a three-time First Team All-Pro, and since he debuted for the Miami Dolphins in 2018, he has earned the reputation of having one of the highest football IQs. Able to shift effortlessly in any Defensive Back position, Fitzpatrick starts 2026 for his third team, the New York Jets.

The Hall is a tricky path for Fitzpatrick, who, as beloved as he is, has to carve a more dominant path in his 30s in a position often overlooked by Hall of Fame eyes.  This isn’t writing Minkah off by any means, but a monster season in New York would be massive for his chances.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #7, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #11: 2023 Pre-Season Rank #15, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #24, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #68, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #102.  Peak Period: 2019-23.

Watching T.J. Watt rocket through this rank reminds us of how his older brother, J.J., did the same thing.

A Pittsburgh Steeler for all of his nine seasons, Watt has been among the game’s top pass-rushers through most of it, winning three Sack Titles (2020, 2021 & 2023), two Tackles For Loss Titles (2020 & 2021), and was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2021.  Watt has been so dominant that he was the runner-up for the DPOY twice (in 2020 & 2023), third in 2019, and fourth in 2024.  He also led the NFL in Forced Fumbles twice (2019 & 2024) and is a member of the 100-sack club.

Watt’s peak may be over, but he is Canton-bound.  The only sad thing is that his bust can’t be beside J.J’s. 

2025 Pre-Season Rank #9, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #17, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #34, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #53, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #99, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #144.  Peak Period: 2021-25

It feels like nobody deserves a change of scenery more than Myles Garrett.

After nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns, where he won two Defensive Player of the Year Awards, earned five First Team All-Pros, seven Pro Bowls, recorded 125 Sacks and 149 Tackles for Loss, Garrett arrives in Los Angeles, joining the already loaded Rams, where he has his first legitimate chance for a Super Bowl.

Over the past four seasons, Garrett’s numbers have been staggering.  In addition to his two DPOYs, he was fifth in 2022,  third in 2024, and has compiled 67 Sacks and 90 Tackles for Loss…and now he has Aaron Donald on the same line!  Although he is now 30, there is no reason to think that he can not extend his prime in Los Angeles.

Regardless of what happens in SoFi, no player who won two Defensive Player of the Year Awards has failed to make it to Canton. 

2025 Pre-Season Rank #34, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #42, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #59, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #74, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #86, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #93.  Peak Period: 2018-19/22-24.

The man who coined “National Tight Ends Day” would be the toast of his position over the last decade if it were not for Travis Kelce, but George Kittle has become well known just the same!

Kittle is coming off his seventh Pro Bowl, where he just broke 8,000 lifetime yards and remained one of the best blocking Tight Ends in the game.  A San Francisco 49er for all of his nine years, Kittle is now north of 30, but still plays like he is in his prime.  With Rob Gronkowski (and possibly Jason Witten) entering soon, the statistical bar for Tight Ends is growing, but if Kittle can make it to five digits in yards, coupled with the respect that he has as a blocker, he is definitely in the Canton hunt.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #2025, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #29, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #42, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #51, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #78, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #89. Peak Period: 2018-20/2024-25

Here is another fascinating one for us.

Quenton Nelson shot out of a cannon in 2018, finishing third in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting, a rare feat for an Offensive Lineman, and in all of his eight seasons in the NFL (all with Indianapolis), he was named to the Pro Bowl.  Notably, he has six AP All-Pros (three First Team and three Second Team), yet the Colts haven’t been great around him, and he has appeared in only three playoff games.

Nelson looks like an early candidate for an All-Decade nod, and though he has not made the NFL 100 often (only four times), his AV/G is well over the MPA.  Throw in the association with only one team (thus far), his spot as the number two active O-Lineman on the list is well earned.

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 #21, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #16, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #55 Pre-Season Rank #66, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #76, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #81. Peak Period: 2017-18/2021-23

When we look at the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class, the induction of Roger Craig bodes well for another current 49er, Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey started his career with the Carolina Panthers, and in 2019, he joined Craig by rushing for over 1,000 yards and catching passes for over 1,000 yards—a rare accomplishment only shared by Craig and McCaffrey. Injuries hindered his progress in the following two years, but in 2022, when he was healthy and returned to Pro Bowl form, the team that had given up and traded him to San Francisco surrounded him. McCaffrey is one of the most adaptable running backs, but his role often involves dealing with injuries. 

In 2023, McCaffrey won his first Rushing Title, while also winning his second Yards From Scrimmage and Touchdown title.  This was an incredible campaign that as per usual CMC fashion, was followed by an injury-plagued year.

Last season, McCaffrey had his third 2,000-yard-plus YFS year, and is in a place where he is 21 yards shy of 13,000 in YFS, and is still capable of pounding more yards as long as the injury bug does not bite.

Is CMC a Hall of Famer?  Craig’s induction surely helps, but a ring would help more!

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.

2025 Pre-Season Rank ##51, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #117, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #122, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #132 2021 Pre-Season Rank #101, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #100.  2018-19/2023-25

Last year, we said, “Barkley has a lot of catch-up to do regarding his initial Hall of Fame promise.  A player injured that badly and early always struggles, and Barkley is no different.”

Barkley is different.

No ranked player jumped higher than Barkley, who we feared injuries would take out of a Hall of Fame conversation.  Not only was he healthy on a new team (Philadelphia), but he is also a Super Bowl Champion and the defending Offensive Player of the Year.  He also joined the 2,000-Yard Rushing Club, won his first Rushing Title (2,005), his second APY Title (2,283), and, along with Derrick Henry, brought back the Running Back.

At home in Philadelphia, Barkley’s only issues will be with injury, and another monster year will put him in the Hall of Fame hunt.  We won’t bet against him again.

2025 Pre-Season Rank #46, pSeason 2024 Pre-Season Rank #89, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #100, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #112. 2021 Pre-Season Rank #106, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #117.  Peak Period: 2021-25

In 2018, Jared Goff led the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl appearance.  They did not win, and although he won two Pro Bowls, the Rams gave up on him and traded the Quarterback to the Detroit Lions.  In Stafford’s first season in L.A., he won a Super Bowl, making Goff look bad in the process, but years later, Goff and the Lions proved it was not a one-sided transaction.

Goff brought Detroit to the NFC Championship Game in 2023 and was a Pro Bowl Selection in 2022 and 2024.  In 2023, Goff had his best year to date, throwing for 4,629 Yards and 37 Touchdowns, but the potent Lions were bounced early in the playoffs.  Nevertheless, Goff finished fifth in the MVP race that year, and is still young and talented enough to take the talented Lions to a Super Bowl win.   If that happens, this will result in a colossal jump for Goff.