I did this post at the beginning of last year so I wanted to do it again. Driver is my favorite current Packer and last year, we posed the question of the possibility of Driver making the HoF.
I know. Long shot. He's never been a
dominating WR, but one who came to work, played hard, and quietly rolled up a decent set of statistics.
He's still going to have to play a solid 3 or 4 years to be considered, especially since there are dominating WRs today that are tearing it up like Randy Moss, TO, Steve Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, etc. These are the guys Driver will be compared to, and even in this list, the majority won't make the Hall. Moss and Harrison are shoe ins, and I'd bet titles of my car vs your car that TO will make it (as much as I absolutely hate the guy). But those are the only sure bets.
As of the end of the 2008 season, Donald Driver is 63rd all time in Receptions, 75th in Receiving Yards, and 144th in TDs. Those stats won't even put him in consideration if he retired today.
But let's just say '09 was an exact duplicate of '08 - 74 rcpts, 1012 yards, and 5 TDs. That would put him at 37th place in Receptions, 42nd in yards, and 111th TDs. That low TD total would keep him out fo shizzle and the 37th in receptions is still not enough.
What will it take to be considered? I'm thinking 3 more 1000 yard seasons. That would put him ahead of Michael Irvin (who also has the benefit of winning 3 SBs) in yards at around 17th place. The thing is his low TD total will really hurt him. Even if he matched his five TDs for the next 3 years, that puts him in only 66th place, which are far from HoF numbers by today's standards. He'll need to catch more than 5 TDs and start getting one or two double digit seasons. Can it be done? Yes, but historically, he's never had double digit seasons, only achieving 9 TDs (twice).
Keep in mind, today, it's a heck of a lot easier to rack up TDs because the rules favor the WR over the CB and S. Because of that, HoF judges won't even consider someone in 66th place in TDs unless they did something absolutely spectacular in their career. Even with those extra 15 TDs, he's still behind Mushin Muhammed who's not going to make the HoF.
My man Donald Driver
(thanks to Pack93z for the pic)
2010 will be seen as the beginning of the new Packers dynasty. πΉπΉ π²π² π¦π·