Recently, former St. Louis Rams Wide Receiver Torry Holt was asked on the NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” about his Pro Football Hall of Fame credentials:
“Our resume speaks for itself. I played on a team with Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce – the list goes on. I think for me, I might’ve gotten a little overshadowed, but when you look at the production and you look at the work I was able to do, I was on a Hall of Fame level just as those guys were. And when I was playing with these dudes, I used to be like, ‘If I can raise my level up to these guys’ level, we’re going to be that much more dominant – we’ll all get in.’”
Warner, Faulk and Pace have already been inducted. Bruce has been a Finalist for the last three years.
Statistically speaking, Torry Holt has the credentials with 13,382 Receiving Yards and 74 Touchdowns and he is also a seven-time Pro Bowl Selection with two Receiving Yards Titles.
Holt has yet to be named a Finalist as of yet, though has reached the Semi-Final stage five straight years, At present, we have him ranked #11 on our Notinhalloffame.com Football list.
We have another major update here at Notinhalloffame.com as our Football list of those who should be considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame has gone through a major revision.
Last February, 6 of our top 10 were selected (Ray Lewis #1, Jerry Kramer #2, Randy Moss #3, Brian Dawkins #7, Terrell Owens #8 and Brian Urlacher #9) as was another top 15 (Robert Brazile #15). This has brought as expected a major overhaul in our top 10 list but with the addition of three strong first ballot entries none of the returning entries will crack the top three.
Our Notinhalloffame.com Football Top Ten is:
Former Tight End Tony Gonzalez debuts at number one. Gonzalez is without question the greatest Tight End ever and if you don’t agree with that, you can’t argue that he is not the best in terms of pure offensive skill. The former dual sport star from UCLA is second all-time in Receptions and is a 14 time Pro Bowl Selection. If anyone on this list has a speech ready to go it should be Tony Gonzalez!
Champ Bailey makes his inaugural appearance on our list at #2. The Cornerback dominated his position for years and went to twelve Pro Bowls as well as being chosen for three First Team All-Pro rosters.
Former Defensive Player of the Year Ed Reed arrives at #3. Like Gonzalez and Bailey, Reed has the credentials of a first ballot Hall of Famer. The Safety is a nine time Pro Bowl and five time First Team All-Pro Selection and is a Super Bowl winner with the Baltimore Ravens. He is also the all-time leader in Interception Return Yards.
Alan Faneca returns at #4 and is the highest ranked returnee from our list. The Offensive Lineman has been a Finalist the last two years and is a nine time Pro Bowl and six time First Team All-Pro Selection. He won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Chuck Howley is the highest rated former player who would need to get in via the Senior Committee. Howley, the MVP of Super Bowl V and six time Pro Bowler remains at #5.
Four time Super Bowl Champion L.C. Greenwood also holds the same rank as last year as he holds at #6. The former Pittsburgh Steeler was a six time Finalist and like Howley would need the Senior Committee to get inducted.
Johnny Robinson jumped from #10 to #7. The longtime Kansas City Chief is a former Super Bowl winner and was a Finalist six times. He too needs to enter via the Senior Committee.
From the Denver Broncos’ famed “Orange Crush”, Randy Gradishar jumped from #12 to #8. The former Linebacker was a two time Finalist was the Defensive Player of the Year in 1978 and was a seven time Pro Bowl and five time First Team All-Pro Selection.
Three time Super Bowl Champion Running Back Roger Craig moves up to #9. Craig was a Finalist in 2009.
Rounding out to the new top ten is Wide Receiver Torry Holt. Holt went to twelve Pro Bowls and helped the St. Louis Rams win the Super Bowl.
Gonzalez, Bailey and Reed are not the only new entries.
Four time Pro Bowl Selection London Fletcher enters our list at #66. Fletcher was a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams and is one of four players to have participated in 250 straight games.
Regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com know that we eventually plan to grow our core sports lists to 150 and as such we are allowing new entries to push our Football list beyond 100. We have two new entries in the lower end of the list with Asante Samuel at #97 and Brian Waters at #102.
You know what we want you to do!
Take a look at our new list (which can be found here) and let us know who you think should be in the next Pro Football Hall of Fame Class.
| Receptions |
Receiving Yards |
Touchdowns |
Yards/Rec |
All-Purpose Yards |
|
| Owens |
1,087 |
15,934 |
156 |
14.8 |
16,276 |
| Harrison |
1,102 |
14,580 |
128 |
13.2 |
14,805 |
| Bruce |
1,024 |
15,208 |
91 |
14.9 |
15,347 |
| Holt |
920 |
13,382 |
74 |
14.5 |
13,456 |
Torry Holt's ranking was a challenging task, and it's understandable that opinions may vary on where he should be placed. However, we value your input and would like to hear your thoughts. While Holt's stats may not be better than those of his peers in the Wide Receiver position, he was the most consistent performer in the NFL during the 2000s. Holt played for the Rams for all but one season, catching 920 passes for 13,382 yards. He led the NFL in Receiving Yards twice and was a favorite target of Kurt Warner, the star Quarterback.
He was selected to the Pro Bowl seven times and ranked in the top ten in receiving yards eight times over his eleven-year career. Additionally, Holt was the youngest receiver to reach 10,000 and 11,000 yards, and if he had played for another year or two, his career stats would have been impossible to ignore. We are eager to see what the Football Hall of Fame will do with Torry Holt, especially now that Isaac Bruce has been inducted. It's likely that Holt will soon follow suit, though he has been waiting a while. Holt might be used to that, as he has lived in the shadow of others for years.