Edelman national HOF discussion

I can see why Edelman’s lack of consistently strong regular season stats could hurt his case, but here’s the thing. Lynn Swann is in the HOF and his career numbers don’t exactly pop off the page. He never had more than 880 receiving yards in a season. If you prorated his best season in terms of yards per game (in 1979) you still get 995 yards. The reality is it was Swann’s playoff heroics and his role as the top target of the Steelers ‘70s dynasty that cemented his place in Canton. Edelman is second in playoff receptions only to Jerry Rice. That’s going to amount to something, especially if the Pats keep winning championships with him. I think Edelman at least is deserving of consideration at this juncture.

Someone called Welker a better player than Edelman and that kind of shocked me.

I love Welker and what he did here. 100+ receptions was the norm.

However, Edelman was a much more complete receiver and its not even close.

rochrist said:

And Edelman has the second most catches and yards in postseason history and a SB MVP.
Edelman also has TWO 1000+ seasons, and 3 others that would have easily been over 1000 if he'd played the entire year. And 3 seasons of 6+ TDs, 1 less than Glenn in 3 fewer seasons.

More importantly, he's a game changer. From the slot no less. Glenn was a shiny hood ornament that Parcells managed to drag to one SB. His rookie year. He never had another season as good as that one.

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Okay, but Edelman didn't play those full seasons and the "ifs" aren't going to sway Hall of Fame voters. His playoff stats are nice but playoff stats simply don't matter for anyone except maybe QBs. People cite the playoff receptions but on the other hand he has 5 career playoff TDs, fewer than David Givens. Even if we consider the playoffs as another season of his career, his career has been less impressive than many WRs who will never be considered for the Hall.

I'm not arguing that Terry Glenn was better than Julian Edelman. I'm pointing out that their regular season resumes are comparable. There's really no player in the Hall of Fame with as weak a regular season resume as Edelman. He's a very good player. He's not a Hall of Famer.

Patriot Missile said:

Someone called Welker a better player than Edelman and that kind of shocked me.

I love Welker and what he did here. 100+ receptions was the norm.

However, Edelman was a much more complete receiver and its not even close.

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Welker was a better player than Edelman.

primetime said:

Welker was a better player than Edelman.

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A better slot receiver maybe? Would love to see Welker line up as the 2 and see how that would go. Edelman could catch farther down the field which made him a much more lethal player. His range wasn’t limited like Welkers was. Great player though.

Was listening to this very same discussion on nfl radio. Someone pointed out that while edelman has really good post season stats he only has about 5,000 yards total and has never had more than 6-7 td in a year. And while he has great post season numbers that doesn't make him HOF worthy, they are a lot of wr that have much better numbers that aren't in the HOF.

Patriot Missile said:

Someone called Welker a better player than Edelman and that kind of shocked me.

I love Welker and what he did here. 100+ receptions was the norm.

However, Edelman was a much more complete receiver and its not even close.

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Is. Not was. Right?

BoTown said:

I can see why Edelman’s lack of consistently strong regular season stats could hurt his case, but here’s the thing. Lynn Swann is in the HOF and his career numbers don’t exactly pop off the page. He never had more than 880 receiving yards in a season. If you prorated his best season in terms of yards per game (in 1979) you still get 995 yards. The reality is it was Swann’s playoff heroics and his role as the top target of the Steelers ‘70s dynasty that cemented his place in Canton. Edelman is second in playoff receptions only to Jerry Rice. That’s going to amount to something, especially if the Pats keep winning championships with him. I think Edelman at least is deserving of consideration at this juncture.

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Those numbers don't pop off the page if you view them devoid of their context. Swann's 61 receptions and 880 yards in 1978 was 4th in the league among receivers. Guys didn't catch 100 balls for 1000 yards as a matter of course in the 70s the way they do now. Swann also waited 20 years and his election to the Hall of Fame was somewhat controversial in that he was still considered a weak candidate for the reasons you cite, and had a lot to do with the fact he remained in the public eye after his playing days were done.

Patjew said:

Is. Not was. Right?

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Haha. Sorty Patjew, you missed his retirement speech last night

“Is” would be correct

Patriot Missile said:

A better slot receiver maybe? Would love to see Welker line up as the 2 and see how that would go. Edelman could catch farther down the field which made him a much more lethal player. His range wasn’t limited like Welkers was. Great player though.

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Welker's career yards per reception was 11.0, while Edelman's is 10.8 so I'm not really sure about this downfield receiver thing. I appreciate how good Edelman has been for the Patriots over the last few years when he's been healthy, to say nothing of his work in the playoffs, but people are vastly underselling how good Wes Welker was.

Completely clutch, completely underrated, does the hard work and brings the trophies home.

Man don’t care about the HoF when he’s winning rings

Have WFAN on now and even Pats hater Mike Francesa has Edeleman as a Hall-of-Famer.

Seems like the national media thinks Edelman is a Hall-of-Famer more than this board does...

Good stat. Again, Welker was a great Patriot and I appreciate what he did and am not one of the fools that dwell on the Giants drop/bad pass.

As a chess piece I just think Edelman’s role is a lot more unpredictable. Both are/were hard to stop when they are on their game.

Disco Volante said:

Have WFAN on now and even Pats hater Mike Francesa has Edeleman as a Hall-of-Famer.

Seems like the national media thinks Edelman is a Hall-of-Famer more than this board does...

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A day after the SB. Lets try again in late July when all the recency bias is out of the way.

Edelman lacks the volume that is needed for HOF. Playoffs completely different story, but I don't think that will be enough.

as for the Welker comparisons, Welker's playoff numbers fell off from the regular season, Edelman's numbers actually improve.

Now given that as starters, they have about the same number of games, but Edelman blows Welker away in numbers, clutch play, and the result.

Welker was a better fantasy WR........that's about it......dude didn't win sh*t and was not much in crunch time

The national media is beginning a campaign for a local hero to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame and the locals are mostly disagreeing and throwing out stats to disprove it.

BTW the local hero was a huge reason for three titles.

Think about it. That's crazy.

luuked said:

A day after the SB. Lets try again in late July when all the recency bias is out of the way.

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no need......one player excelled in the ultimate moment, one not so much

Purely from the perspective of "what will the voters be thinking" there are enough plausible arguments against Edelman that it's difficult to conceive of a Hall of Fame candidacy.

1) Playing with Brady and success of Brown, Welker, and Amendola in same role
2) PED suspension
3) Missed a full year, Patriots still made Super Bowl and nearly won
4) Pedestrian regular season stats
5) No Pro Bowls, no All-Pros suggests he was never even a top-5 receiver in the NFL

Again, none of this is to say that Edelman isn't awesome, but so were Kevin Faulk and Troy Brown and Tedy Bruschi and a bunch of other guys who won't have busts in Canton but will have red jackets.

Family said:

The national media is beginning a campaign for a local hero to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame and the locals are mostly disagreeing and throwing out stats to disprove it.

BTW the local hero was a huge reason for three titles.

Think about it. That's crazy.

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Because it's ****ing stupid hot takes that will be forgotten in a month

Steve:Section 102 said:

3. I think his lack of Pro Bowl selection and killer stats will keep him out. but the talking heads keep talking about, then he might surprise a lot of people.

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After last night, I want to re-think my position. His post season performances have to have meaning and weight. Put him in.

Going further, I think as this run continues (it's still going, we are still here), there will be more guys that get in. Ty Law got in. Adam's getting in. Gronk gets in. Brady and Belichick get in. Kraft gets in. Seymour gets in. Harrison's exclusion is a joke, he gets in eventually. Put Wilfork in. Logan Mankins.

I think that voters will come around and say "wait a minute" and come around on these guys.