CFZ Should Herschel Walker be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Diehardblues

Diehardblues

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gimmesix said:
Walker should be in because Warren Moon is. They clearly considered Moon's CFL success when deciding to put him in the hall. However, Hall voters are an inconsistent bunch in their rationale.
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CFL is a more credible league. USFL folded after what , 2 or 3 years.
 
Kingofholland

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Jumbo075 said:
When the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, all the statistics compiled by the players in the AFL were included in their official statistical history. But when the USFL folded in the mid-1980's, the statistics compiled by the players, including luminaries like Herschel Walker, Reggie White and Jim Kelly were not included in their overall professional football statistics. That is why Bruce Smith is credited with the most sacks in history (200) ahead of Reggie White (198.) If you include the 23.5 sacks Reggie White had while playing in the USFL in 1984 & 1985, Reggie White is the clear #1 all-time sacks leader with 221.5 sacks in his Pro Football career.

In the USFL playing for the New Jersey Generals, Herschel Walker had 7,115 yards from scrimmage.
  • 1,143 rushing attempts for 5,562 yards
  • 130 receptions for 1,484 yards
  • 3 kick returns for 69 yards.
Currently, Herschel Walker ranks 48th in NFL history in total yards from scrimmage, sandwiched between HOF RB Roger Craig at #47, and HOF WR Art Monk at #49. He is 2 spots ahead of soon-to-be HOF TE Jason Witten, who is ranked 50th all-time on the total yards from scrimmage list.

In the NFL, Herschel Walker has a total of 18,168 total yards from scrimmage.

  • 1954 rushing attempts for 8,225 yards
  • 512 receptions for 4,859 yards
  • 215 kick returns for 5,084 yards
If you added his USFL statistics, Herschel Walker would rank #1 on the Total Yards from Scrimmage list with 25,283 yards compiled - 1,743 yards ahead of currently ranked #1 Jerry Rice, and 3,704 yards ahead of currently ranked #2 Emmitt Smith. Even if you exclude his kick return yardage, he would rank 4th all-time, behind Walter Payton with 20,130 Total Yards rushing and receiving.

Walker, even without his USFL statistics currently ranks 45th all time in rushing yards, ahead of HOF players Roger Craig, Larry Czonka, and Terrell Davis. If you add his USFL numbers, he has a total of 13,787 total rushing yards, which would rank him 7th all-time, ahead of HOF RB LaDanian Tomlinson, and just behind HOF RB Curtis Martin. Walker's receiving yards would rank 197th all-time, and his kick return yards would rank 32nd all-time.

In Canton, they call it the Pro Football Hall of Fame, not the NFL Hall of Fame. I'm not sure how they can justify excluding Herschel Walker from among the luminaries inducted into company of legends already included therein.
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I think he's worth consideration he did rack up a lot of yards as a dual threat which will help his case. Not many RBs when he came into the league were able to do what he did catching the ball.

I think what will hold him back though is he only made the Pro Bowl 2x and rushed for 1k yards in a season twice.

Last yards from scrimmage doesn't include punt or kick return yards. Yards from scrimmage are much harder than getting a 15 to 20 yard head start.
 
Diehardblues

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If Herschel wants to blame anyone but himself for choosing to go to USFL, I’d blame Jethro and Jimmy for trading him.

I don’t think Tex or Tom would have. They were looking to draft Troy too and with Walker and Irvin had their nucleus to rebuild on. Tom loved Herschel . He could have easily been a HOF back for us in the 90’s.
 
RS12

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Certainly one of the best college backs ever to play. Game had a Jim Brown quality to it.
 
KJJ

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gimmesix said:
Walker should be in because Warren Moon is. They clearly considered Moon's CFL success when deciding to put him in the hall. However, Hall voters are an inconsistent bunch in their rationale.
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Warren Moon is in the Hall of Fame because he was in the top five all-time leading NFL passer’s when he retired. Plus, he even won 5 championships in the CFL. Herschel Walker didn’t win any championships in the NFL or USFL. Although he put up a lot of rushing yards in both leagues, he was well down the list of all time rushers in the NFL when he retired. Had he put up all his yards in the NFL he would’ve had over 14,000 rushing yards. That might have been good enough to get him in the Hall of Fame.
 
noshame

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If he was in the nfl the whole time, there's no doubt not only would he be in the hall, but he'd hold records for sure.
That said, he made a choice

Love the guy, but gotta pass.
 
GimmeTheBall!

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Jumbo075 said:
When the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, all the statistics compiled by the players in the AFL were included in their official statistical history. But when the USFL folded in the mid-1980's, the statistics compiled by the players, including luminaries like Herschel Walker, Reggie White and Jim Kelly were not included in their overall professional football statistics. That is why Bruce Smith is credited with the most sacks in history (200) ahead of Reggie White (198.) If you include the 23.5 sacks Reggie White had while playing in the USFL in 1984 & 1985, Reggie White is the clear #1 all-time sacks leader with 221.5 sacks in his Pro Football career.

In the USFL playing for the New Jersey Generals, Herschel Walker had 7,115 yards from scrimmage.
  • 1,143 rushing attempts for 5,562 yards
  • 130 receptions for 1,484 yards
  • 3 kick returns for 69 yards.
Currently, Herschel Walker ranks 48th in NFL history in total yards from scrimmage, sandwiched between HOF RB Roger Craig at #47, and HOF WR Art Monk at #49. He is 2 spots ahead of soon-to-be HOF TE Jason Witten, who is ranked 50th all-time on the total yards from scrimmage list.

In the NFL, Herschel Walker has a total of 18,168 total yards from scrimmage.

  • 1954 rushing attempts for 8,225 yards
  • 512 receptions for 4,859 yards
  • 215 kick returns for 5,084 yards
If you added his USFL statistics, Herschel Walker would rank #1 on the Total Yards from Scrimmage list with 25,283 yards compiled - 1,743 yards ahead of currently ranked #1 Jerry Rice, and 3,704 yards ahead of currently ranked #2 Emmitt Smith. Even if you exclude his kick return yardage, he would rank 4th all-time, behind Walter Payton with 20,130 Total Yards rushing and receiving.

Walker, even without his USFL statistics currently ranks 45th all time in rushing yards, ahead of HOF players Roger Craig, Larry Czonka, and Terrell Davis. If you add his USFL numbers, he has a total of 13,787 total rushing yards, which would rank him 7th all-time, ahead of HOF RB LaDanian Tomlinson, and just behind HOF RB Curtis Martin. Walker's receiving yards would rank 197th all-time, and his kick return yards would rank 32nd all-time.

In Canton, they call it the Pro Football Hall of Fame, not the NFL Hall of Fame. I'm not sure how they can justify excluding Herschel Walker from among the luminaries inducted into company of legends already included therein.
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Great athlete. If he only had a brain.
 

AmericasTeam81

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Yes he should be in. It’s called the Pro Football Hall of Fame, not NFL Hall of Fame.

Total all purpose yards is different from total yards from scrimmage btw
 
plasticman

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Herschel has always been a strange bird. He never really committed himself to the game of football, thee was always something else going on.

I remember the year some thought he was going to quit and get into law enforcement. One year he was into karate, the next year he was into ballet. As good as he was sometimes, he was never truly focused the way Emmitt was. He had more natural ability than probably any RB in history but I don't know if he really made the effort to hone it, to be the best he could be.

Hey, I could be wrong, I'm just telling you the perception I had of him when he came into the NFL.

Many of us thought that, together with Dorsett, they would form the best duo in the history of football. They converted him to FB for some plays with Dorsett and it was really exciting..

The first season as a Cowboy, everything was going great at midseason. The Cowboys looked strong, they were 6-2. Then the bottom fell out and they finished 1-7 to go 7-9 for the season. It was heartbreaking. They ended up trading Dorsett and the dream was shattered.

The Cowboys never had a winning season with Hershel as a primary rusher. Not his fault but, for all his stats he never really lifted the team.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame probably considers the USFL to have the status of "semi-pro". You can't really blame them. All that league had was a handful of overpaid ex--NFL stars mixed in with a talent pool equivalent to practice squads.
 
conner01

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Diehardblues said:
It’s an excellent argument. I was a big fan of #34. He was such a freak athlete. Prob could have played well into his 40’s in such incredible physical shape.

But the opposing argument is the competition wasn’t as strong in USFL where he amassed much of his yards which his NFL stats wouldn’t be near enough.

It’s a shame cause if he’d of stayed in Dallas he was certainly on his way to a HOF career as he led the league in rushing in 1988 on a 3-13 Cowboys team but what made his draft lure so compelling in 1989.

Herschel made the choice when going to the USFL , being attracted by the lure of a new league, flashy arrogant owner and big payday. He’s probably going to have to live with that decision costing him an induction.
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I agree
I am a huge fan of his game but I wouldn’t vote to put him in HOF
He made a choice and that choice came with consequences
 

kskboys

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gimmesix said:
Walker should be in because Warren Moon is. They clearly considered Moon's CFL success when deciding to put him in the hall. However, Hall voters are an inconsistent bunch in their rationale.
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Ooooh, IDK about that. Moon was a beast and put up gawdy numbers in the NFL. Over 49,000 yds passing and 291 TDs. At the time he retired, those were easily top 10 all time numbers. I think he was 3rd or 4th in career passing yards upon retirement.
 
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