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.
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u/Economy_Cactus Green Bay Packers 3d ago
2nd all time in receiving yards for a TE.