Cantonized

[Jake]

Looking for NFL news I came across The 50 NFL Players that ESPN considers most likely to enter The Hall of Fame... To make a long story short Ray Lewis is listed at 5 th.
Jonathan Ogden is listed 7th. Will Ed Reed make it ? If he continues at his present pace I'd say he 's a sure thing .

[Losac]

50 is way too many players to have on such a list. They have Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and Calvin Johnson on there. Johnson having yet to see a single play in the NFL and Leinart and Bush entering their second years.

[Gabrosin]

It's an absurd list. Hopefully we won't ever see fifty of today's players in the Hall... or at least, half of those fifty will be young guys who haven't come out and proven themselves yet.

Here are the locks:

QB - Favre, P. Manning, Brady
RB - Tomlinson
WR - Harrison
TE - Gonzalez
OL - Ogden, Jones, Allen
DL - Strahan, Peppers
LB - Seau, Lewis, Brooks
DB - Bailey
PK - Vinatieri

While there are other players who SHOULD get to the Hall eventually with continued excellence (Ed Reed, Carson Palmer, Brian Urlacher, etc.), I would be absolutely shocked if any of the people on the above list don't wind up enshrined.

[UKRavenStockers]

I'd not be shocked if Vinatieri didn't end up enshrined and I'd be quite content if he didn't actually.

[jonboy79]

STOCKERS
In my mind, that means yoiu feel kickers shouldn't EVER be enshirned. I disagree, it is a position, similar to others, and Vinateri is as good as anyone has ever been.

[UKRavenStockers]

STOCKERS
In my mind, that means yoiu feel kickers shouldn't EVER be enshirned. I disagree, it is a position, similar to others, and Vinateri is as good as anyone has ever been.

I don't think they should never ever be enshrined, but I do think they need to show that they are significantly greater than other kickers. I don't think Vinatieri is significantly greater than any kicker of this time or all time. The Superbowl wins is something that is almost completely incomparable and the only comparison I can draw from that is that he's twice as good as Scott Norwood, which isn't really that great a claim is it?

[Gabrosin]

Vinatieri has been a key figure in four Super Bowl championships this decade. If you ask any NFL personnel executive who they would want kicking for them in the Super Bowl this year, I'd expect all 32 to say Vinatieri. It's possibly the ONLY position where you could get consensus when choosing the top player in the NFL (Gates at TE and Bailey at CB are the only other spots that come close in my mind... and, I suppose, Tomlinson at RB). How can you exclude such a player from the Hall?

[UKRavenStockers]

Because whilst he has kicked those Superbowl winning field goals, no-one else has had that opportunity besides Scott Norwood so I don't think it's at all a fair comparison. His field goals percentage, his consistency within 40 yards and his success rate beyond 45 yards is not significantly greater than any other kicker in the league. The clutch is something that only he has been able to prove in a Superbowl but plenty of other kickers have proven it in game winning situations, game tying situations and playoff situations. For those reasons I don't feel that he is clearly the best kicker in the league.

[Gabrosin]

But Vinatieri has proven it in non-Super Bowl situations as well... in the infamous "tuck rule" game, Vinatieri hit the kick both to tie and to win the game... he scored ALL of Indy's points against us in the playoffs last year... he's had numerous big kicks with regular season games on the line. He's the best.

[riprulz8]

To me, the only difference between Adam and Stover is the opportunity to succeed. Adam has been on many more playoff teams than Matt. I feel that Stover is just as accurate a kicker (if not more so) than Vinatieri. Oh and, yes, I know Stover missed a FG in SB35, no need to point that out. :)

[RAVENOUS52]

NO. Stop it. Vinateri is head and shoulders a Hall of Famer if ever there was one at his position. He's as clutch as they come and when the opportunity was given to him to cement his legacy, he did it time and again.

Right place, right time, right performance.

He's probably the most accomplished kicker in NFL history and is at least as good as Stenerud.