Irvin belongs in easily, no doubt about it. Aside from changing the position with his size and physical play, he had terrific stats:
Seasons among the league's top 10
Receptions: 1991-2, 1992-7, 1993-3, 1995-5
Receiving yards: 1991-1, 1992-2, 1993-2, 1994-8, 1995-4, 1997-8t
Receiving TDs: 1991-9t, 1992-8t, 1993-9t, 1995-10t, 1997-6t
Yards from scrimmage: 1991-4, 1992-10, 1993-8, 1995-9
Among the league's all-time top 50
Receptions: 16t
Receiving yards: 11
Receiving TDs: 34t
He averaged 75 yards per game receiving throughout his career (as a point of reference Terrel Owens has thus far averaged 72). In his 16 playoff appearances he averaged 82 yards per game - compare that to Lynn Swann and his paltry 63 yards per game post season (supposedly the reason Swann got in was his post season play). Here he is along with the guys above him in total receiving yards with games played, total yards and average yards per game:
Jerry Rice: 303 games, 22895 yards, 75.6 yards per game
Tim Brown: 255 games, 14934 yards, 58.6 yards per game
James Lofton: 233 games, 14004 yards, 60.1 yards per game
Cris Carter: 234 games, 13899 yards, 59.4 yards per game
Henry Ellard: 228 games, 13777 yards, 60.4 yards per game
Andre Reed: 227 games, 13198 yards, 58.1 yards per game
Steve Largent: 200 games, 13089 yards, 65.4 yards per game
Irving Fryar: 255 games, 12785 yards, 50.1 yards per game
Art Monk: 224 games, 12721 yards, 56.8 yards per game
Charlie Joiner: 239 games, 12146 yards, 50.8 yards per game
Michael Irvin: 159 games, 11904 yards, 74.9 yards per game
Outside of Rice the ONLY thing those guys have on Irvin is that every one of them played at least 40 more games, and most played in around 80 more games. None of them can even come close to his per game average.
Irvin is a lock for the HoF, and the fact that he didn't get in first ballot borders on a travesty. For anyone to imply that he doesn't belong is laughable.
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