Is Henry Ellard a HOF'er???

[Playaction2Sanders]

One of my favorite WR's of all time growing up when he was with us. He was our Art Monk when he left. Just as productive in his mid 30's as he was in his prime in his late 20's. 

 

I remember practicing his out routes he ran for us just beyond the 1st down marker with my friends out in the street and the yard like. " Ok you have to throw it where I'm gonna be, like Ellard, and near the sidelines." 

 

He was quiet just like Art, clutch just like him. Ended up with more yards over his career than Monk. I know he was only with us a few years, and obviously the knock on his is gonna be he wasn't on many winning teams like Art was..

 

Thoughts?

[skins island connection]

I don't view him as being better than Gary Clark, who isn't in the HOF.

The HOF is a joke today; its about who makes the most noise off-field, not on- field.

[PeterMP]

It is unlikely.  First, he suffers from the same problem Monk did as the game changed while he played and he didn't fully benefit from that change during his prime, but the Rams were still very run heavy.

 

In terms of total yardage, the only person that has more yards than him and started before him is James Lofton (who is in the HOF).  But he's been surpassed by a whole lot of people that came after him (he's 15th in total receiving yards).

 

His other problem is he sort of sits in the middle in terms of what his game was.  He didn't rack up a ton of receptions/game (people like Monk, Tim Brown, and Andre Reed have more receptions/game), but he wasn't the big play WR having huge yards/reception number like Lofton (whom he has more receptions/game).  He wasn't a pure possession receiver in the mold of Monk, Reed, and Brown (for most of his career, early Brown was pretty explosive), but he wasn't a true big play guy like Lofton.  Those sorts of people always give HOFs problems.  When you can point to a single number and say this is why the person is great, the HOF voters seem to be more receptive.

 

He also doesn't have that historical year/event(s) where he just sort of blows away what receivers had done in that time frame like Monk did in 1984 with his 106 receptions (When Monk caught 106 balls in 1984 nobody had ever caught a 100 balls since 1964 and the league leaders in receptions when Monk did it were mostly TEs and RBs so for him to do it as a WR was huge, and then nobody does it again until 1990 when Jerry Rice does it, but at that point in time they are in full swing West Coast Offense and are throwing the ball a lot more than most teams did historically and more than the Redskins did).  Ellard lead the league in yards one year and yards/game twice, but WRs were putting up similar numbers at the time directly before and after him.

 

Then the last thing is he isn't going to have a HOF coach show up and say things like:

 

""One of the things on Art's behalf is that he sacrificed for the team," Gibbs, who resigned as team president and coach Jan. 8, said from North Carolina during a telephone interview. "As most people know, we used three wide receivers, but Art was the inside portion of the three wide receivers. We used him in there blocking a lot. And a lot of the passes he caught were across the middle, they were shorter passes, and he actually sacrificed so much for the team."

 

I think to make it, he'd need a real serious advocate that is taken seriously in NFL circles (like Gibbs did for Monk), and I just don't see that person showing up for him.  Maybe that person is out there, but I don't see the obvious connection like you did for Gibbs-Monk.  Peter King really pushed for Carson so maybe somebody that covered the Rams in those years will and can step up.

[Dark Acre]

Art Monk would be an even studder stud under today's liberalized passing rules.

[bobandweave]

I hate to say No so I’m not saying anything about Ellard.

 

It still angers me that Jacoby isn’t in the Hall yet. Every season half of his games he had to lineup against the best pass rushers who ever played the game and he did a great job. All decade team, multiple Super Bowl wins, he needs to get in. The players he lined up against think he is a HOFer what more is there needed? Sorry for the vent but to me if we are going to talk about former players who should be in the Hall he must be mentioned 

[Malapropismic Depository]

2 hours ago, bobandweave said:

 

It still angers me that Jacoby isn’t in the Hall yet. Every season half of his games he had to lineup against the best pass rushers who ever played the game and he did a great job.

 

Not so much a great job against LT.

But yes, he was great.

[SkinsGuy]

Another big reason Ellard would have a hard time getting in the HoF is the glut of WRs who are waiting to get in.

 

When more elite WRs like Terrell Owens, Chris Carter, Monk, and Andre Reed had (have) to wait, it doesn't look good for Ellard.

 

Here is an article from last Summer that gives a list of WRs not in the HoF (Gary Clark and Heny Ellard are among them):

 

https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Top-10-Wide-Receivers-Not-in-the-Pro-Football-Hall-of-Fame

[zoony]

I really dont think he is.  He was great though

 

The problem i have with the hof is that it is too easy to get in.  Im not sure its as exclusive as it should be.  Even so, with current criteria, i dont think Ellard is even in the conversation

[pjfootballer]

I don’t like that the WRs who put up video game stats the last 15 years are bumping out great WRs from the past who should get consideration. 

[RandyHolt]

First Down!

[Malapropismic Depository]

On 1/25/2018 at 10:31 PM, RandyHolt said:

First Down!

 

Speaking of automatic First Downs, the problem is, if you agree that Ellard is HOF worthy and gets inducted, then naturally you HAVE to bring Michael Westbrook into the HOF conversations.

 

I kid, I kid.

[MumboSauce]

Really liked Henry Ellard, polished and reliable, great hands. A great! , but not a HOFer imo.

[DCSaints_fan]

3 Pro bowls, 1 first team all pro.   Never really stood out through memorable plays / unique play style / etc.  I would say not enough 

[RandyHolt]

Ellard was a total stud a first down machine, all via his precision route running. The thing about him that made him unique, was that he was a solid deep threat sans the blazing speed.  Sporting a career 16.9 ypc average in an era when offense wasn't favored in rule changes like today is nothing to scoff at.  I suspect others have made it to the hall with lessor stats and would be happy to hear he made it in. He was a class act to boot. I wish we had him before the final years of his career.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/EllaHe00.htm

 

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

On 1/25/2018 at 6:15 PM, SkinsGuy said:

Another big reason Ellard would have a hard time getting in the HoF is the glut of WRs who are waiting to get in.

 

When more elite WRs like Terrell Owens, Chris Carter, Monk, and Andre Reed had (have) to wait, it doesn't look good for Ellard.

 

Here is an article from last Summer that gives a list of WRs not in the HoF (Gary Clark and Heny Ellard are among them):

 

https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Top-10-Wide-Receivers-Not-in-the-Pro-Football-Hall-of-Fame

Pearson, Branch and Carmichael all feel like they should be in. Growing up in that era, they all felt like HOF guys, where a John Stallworth didn't.

 

Clark and Clayton from the later era definitely.

 

Can't speak to Otis Taylor. Before my time.