We've Just Had the Upset of the Century in the Patriots Hall of Fame Voting

Well here's a blog I did not expect to be writing so soon. In fact, I'm kind of stunned. More surprised than Julian Edelman's dad, that we can confirm:

Not that Julian Edelman is not worthy of wearing the red jacket. On the contrary. There won't be true justice in this world until all three nominees are enshrined in Foxboro:

But this looked to me like two very deserving candidates going up against the undisputed Best Ever at his position. And a guy who most memorable moments directly took this franchise from perennial irrelevance and turned it into a hyper relevant Dynasty.

Shows you what I know. The people have spoken. We can chalk it up to recency bias. After all, Adam Vinatieri's signature moments happened a quarter century ago. If you were in high school when his kicks beat the Rams and the Panthers in the Super Bowl, you're more likely to have spent the last three weeks getting dragged around Disney by your kids and sucking your dad belly in at the hotel pool around the other moms, like when Lacey Underalls walks to the high board, than voting on this. Online Hall of Fame is young man's game. Better suited to the same age demo who are more invested in the last three banners than the first three. 

Still, this qualifies as one of those surprise election results few, if anyone, saw coming. Truman over Dewey. Trump in 2016. Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan. Taylor Hicks over Katherine McPhee. But it's a reflection of how good we've had it over the past 25 years that the greatest at his position in the history of the game, who'll sail into Canton on the first ballot, has to wait his turn to get into One Patriots Place. 

Speaking of Canton, now is the perfect time to repeat what I said when Edelman rode off to football Valhalla:

Advertisement

If we go just by the numbers, the way Cooperstown does it, this wouldn't even be a discussion. It would be a hard no. Among players all time, Edelman ranks just 75th in career receptions, and just 15th among active players. In receiving yards, he's 156th and 25th, respectively. As you might expect from a converted Kent State quarterback who was the 232nd pick in the draft, it took his career a while to get going. He hung on as a depth receiver/punt returner for a good four years before his 105-catch, 1,056-yard season in 2013. He never made a Pro Bowl. Missed the entire 2017 season as well as seven games in 2015 and 10 last year. So yes, by the back of his football card (Note: I don't know if they put career stats on the back of football cards anymore, it's just a metaphor at this point) he's not in the conversation

What I respect about the way Canton does it though, is that it is about so much more than accumlating big numbers over a long, if undistinguished career. The football HoF does not give out Irving J. Thalberg Lifetime Achievement Awards. It's about honoring the players who made an impact. Who affected the course of history. And in that respect, Edelman is deserving. You cannot tell the story of pro football in the last decade without including him in the discussion. 

Just to keep it to numbers for a second, in spite of all the time he missed, he was one of the most prolific slot receivers in the league during a time when 3-receiver sets became the new pro-style offense and slot receiver evolved into basically an official starting position. More so than say, fullback. 

And those numbers were much better in the postseason, where Hall of Fame careers are made. He'll retire No. 2 all time in career playoff receptions behind only Jerry Rice. They are the only two in history with more than 100 postseason catches, and there's a huge gap between Edelman's 118 and No. 3 Reggie Wayne's 93. Rob Gronkowski is No. 4 with 89, but it's hard to see him catching his boy in the time he's got remaining. In his last 10 career postseason games, he had 100+ receiving yards six times. In his three Super Bowl appearances since becoming the starter, he totalled 337 yards, an average of 112.3 per game. He won the MVP of Super Bowl LIII, with 10 receptions on 12 targets and 141 yards.

Note that Travis Kelce now leads in career postseason receptions. And if the NFL has anything to say about it (they do), he'll lap the field before it's all done and dusted. But No. 3 all time at a key stat, winning three rings and a Super Bowl MVP, while making one of the most clutch plays in history, in the middle of the greatest comeback in history:

… means he deserves more that "just" the honor of being immortalized in Foxboro. He deserves a bust in Canton. My advice to Edelman is he holds onto his induction speech. He's going to be re-using it sooner or later.