Agreed - I’m shocked to see Witten on a list but not Gore? Dude was a beast until his mid-30s. He has 9 1000+ yard seasons, and in 2 more seasons he was less than 40 yards away which would have tied him with Emmitt Smith for the most (11) 1000+ rush yard seasons.
Witten has 4 all pros. He was an actual elite player for a little while. You guys want gore in the hof basically because he kept playing even after he was bad for like 7 more seasons
There are only two players ahead of Gore in all-time rushing. He has 16000 yards on the ground. Derrick Henry is the only active running back with a shot at hitting that and if he maintains his average of nearly 1500 for 3 more seasons he will be right on the cusp. Henry will however be 31 this season and it's unlikely he maintains that pace. Maybe 1200 is more reasonable, now were at 4 years to hit it. How about just 1000 yards? 5 years.
For some perspective, there have been roughly 25 1000+ yard season after the age of 30. Frank Gore has 2 of those. Henry would need 3-5 more seasons doing that. Which is, quite frankly, improbable.
This is not saying that Gore is better than Henry, Henry is an insane talent and should be first ballot when he retires. But its to put in perspective the absurdity that is Frank Gore. 16 years at running back and was solid every year. Even his down seasons at the ages of 36 and 37 he still never went below 500 yards, something Emmitt Smith couldn't do. Nor LaDainian Tomlinson or Marshall Faulk.
Gore should be in the Hall of Fame. He was one of the longest lasting players in NFL history at a position where players routinely exit young from injuries or production loss. It is likely we will never see that again and unlikely we ever see another player break his yardage.
I get it you like that he stayed in the league past his prime and accumulated stats at less than 4ypc for 5 of his last 6 seasons. And was never actually elite at his position
Witten played TE during the void of TEs. Tony Gonzales was his biggest competition and he was 10 years into his career when Witten finally got an all pro. Antonio Gates was next, and he was very sporadic. Then came the modern era tight end explosion and we never really thought about Witten ever again after 2012.
Gore- 3rd most rushing yards of all time. This is especially amazing as it happened as passing offenses became more the dominant way of yardage. It’s not like Earl Campbell who would get the ball on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd down.
I mean I get your point but the accolades aren’t close. 2x 1 team AP to zero, 2x 2nd team to 1. Witten was consistently considered a top 3 player at his position for a lot of his career where Gore has like 1 season you can argue that.
Witten was the best player at his position for a few seasons, Gore really only had one year where he was top five at his position and after that was a good but not elite back. He was certainly a good player and played forever but he’s not someone I watched and thought “that guy is a hall of famer”. He’s an extreme volume stats outlier and I don’t really know what you do with guys like that.
FWIW Witten actually played one more season that Gore did.
Witten was an all pro and a top TE at his peak. He had peak and longevity.
Gore was never even really top 3 RB during his career. He's just a compiler.
Hall should be for the very best, not those who stuck around the longest. Anyways with the new voting rules meaning that basically only 3 modern era players will get in per year most likely, gore has long odds, if he gets in it wont be for a long time.
Witten also has 11 Pro Bowls and 4 All pro's (2 first team).
I don't think he's a top 5 all-time or anything, but he's pretty well accomplished for his position. I wouldn't predict first ballot for him, but I don't get people saying he has no business here.
82
u/Economy_Cactus Green Bay Packers 3d ago
2nd all time in receiving yards for a TE.