How many quarterbacks do you think are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? The answer is 29, although it is really 28. George Blanda, classified as a quarterback, is in the HOF for other reasons. So, 28 QBs in a little under 100 years. I suppose that makes sense. Roughly three generational talents at the position per decade.
Half of those QBs finished their careers before 1980. So over the last 45 years, 14 QBs have been enshrined. However, we have been in a lull of late. The last signal caller inducted was Peyton Manning in 2021. There have only been three others enshrined since 2006, and one of them – Kenny Stabler – made it in through the Veterans Committee.
Part of the reason for the recent dearth of HOF QBs is the fact that a couple – Tom Brady and Drew Brees – had very long careers and only recently retired. They obviously will get in when eligible.
But are there others from the 21st century who will join them? More to the point for Seattle Seahawks fans, will Russell Wilson be one of them?
NFL analyst makes case for former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to make the Hall of Fame
NFL Spin Zone’s Lou Scataglia recently published an article in which he proclaimed Wilson a lock for future induction. He was one of 25 current players Scataglia argued will easily get in. I agree with most and disagree with several on the fringes.
Scataglia has Johnny Hekker getting in, even though only one punter has ever been enshrined. Other punters should go in before Hekker if and when the voters deem the position worthy of respect.
The same applies to Kyle Juszczyk. Niche players like him do not make the Hall. A few others on Scataglia's are iffy but certainly possible.
As for Wilson, he poses an interesting problem for voters. If we assume that Brady and Brees are locks, Wilson falls into the next category. There are half a dozen QBs his age or slightly older who will be competing for perhaps one or two slots.
Among the recent retirees, you have Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, Phillip Rivers, and Eli Manning. Amongst current players, you have Matthew Stafford. I am not including Aaron Rodgers, who is a lock, or younger players like Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson, who are likely to be locks as well. (Mahomes already is one.)
If Brady, Rodgers, and Brees are in, that probably leaves space for one or two of the marginal candidates. Of them all, Roethlisberger has the strongest case. Two Super Bowls. A winning percentage as a starter of 67 percent.
Six Pro Bowls and a career QB rating of 93.5. And more than 65,000 total yards. There are a few points you could argue against his induction, but to me, Roethlisberger is in.
After him, Wilson compares favorably to everyone else in contention. His winning percentage is second only to Big Ben. He has fewer touchdowns than anyone else on the list, but he has played less, and his totals are competitive. He blows them all away in touchdown percentage – the percentage of his passes that result in TDs.
He is also significantly better than all of them when it comes to interceptions. His TD:INT ratio of more than three-to-one is one of the best ever. He has a Super Bowl win (should have had two), and he has the highest career rating of all the others in his class. And this doesn’t take into account his running ability, which is also significantly better than his fellow competitors.
Manning has two Super Bowls but a very weak overall resume. Ryan and Rivers have excellent numbers but no Super Bowl. Stafford matches Wilson’s Super Bowl, but his years in Detroit left him with deflated stats (his career winning percentage is still below 50 percent). It’s hard to know how voters will view that.
But if you want the single best data point in favor of Russell Wilson making it into the Hall of Fame, it’s this: Ten Pro Bowls in 13 seasons. That is overwhelming evidence of a quarterback who excelled for a long period of time.
As of today, only 46 players in NFL history have been selected to double-digit Pro Bowls. Five are still playing: Rodgers, Bobby Wagner, Trent Williams, Travis Kelce, and Russ. The other four are locks. for Canton.
Six are not yet eligible: Brady, Brees, Jason Witten, Larry Fitzgerald, Aaron Donald, and Matthew Slater. The first five are locks. If the NFL valued special teams play, Slater would be as well, but he remains a longshot.
Of the other 35 players eligible for induction with ten or more Pro Bowls, care to guess how many are in? Try all 35. Every last one of them. So if I’m right in my projections, and if Russ is denied entry, he will be one of just two players in NFL history to have ten Pro Bowls and no bust in Canton.
Slater, who played a niche position, would be the other. As we know, Russ plays the highest-value position on the field.
But here’s the devil’s advocate point, and someone in that room of voters is going to use it against Russ. Was Russell Wilson ever the best quarterback in the league, even for a single season?
No. He wasn’t. When he was at his very best – 2013, 2015, 2019 – other QBs were better. Whether it was Brady or Manning or Cam Newton, or Lamar Jackson, I don’t think you can ever say Russell Wilson was the best quarterback in the league.
In fact, out of all the QBs I mentioned, I think Wilson is the only one who never received a single first-place vote for either MVP or Offensive Player of the Year. (Except for Eli Manning, who, quite frankly, should not be in this conversation.)
There have been other HOF quarterbacks in the modern era who were accumulators. Warren Moon may be the closest thing to Wilson. But in his best years, Moon did get first place votes for the elite league-wide awards.
So will the voters hold this against Wilson? I think some will, and that will delay his entry. But in the long run, those ten Pro Bowls will win out. And lest we forget, he is still playing. Though he has seemed diminished of late, who’s to say he may not bounce back and add to the resume?
Seattle can list plenty of Hall of Famers in franchise history, but the majority only made the briefest of stops in the Northwest. To date, four-and-a-half true Seahawks are in Canton. Kenny Easley, Walter Jones, Cortez Kennedy, and Steve Largent. I’m counting Steve Hutchinson as the half because the Vikings have an equal claim on him.
Wagner will be in one day. I think Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas will as well. Maybe Beast Mode. And though it may not happen for another decade or more, Russell Wilson should be joining them.