Hall of Fame LB, Patrick Willis

Originally posted by 49TimFL:

Originally posted by Hysterikal:
He's 37…

32 is considered old in todays NFL

Not at every position but off ball LBer 37 is ancient

Originally posted by Wubbie:

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by Niners99:
lol so many embarrassing takes in this thread.

Calvin Johnson just got in. These voters actually get into a room and openly debate until they settle on a class. This isn't baseball where passive aggressive beta male writers use their secret vote like a weapon. People in the room will say "We just put Calvin Johnson in, so we cant use career length against Willis." It will be hard to justify keeping him out this year with such a weak class. He was the best MLB in the game during his career.

Willis quit in his prime on a good team and was exceptional at everything but never the best at any one thing and he quite after 7 years rather healthy. Johnson quite as his career was on a downward trajectory because of long term injuries sustained while exclusively playing on one of the worst teams in the NFL and he managed to set several all time records doing so, he also played 9 seasons.

Willis quitting as a healthy athlete with a short career is going to get held against him.

I think as time goes on, as player safety gets more emphasis, him retiring early won't be held against him as much.
He certainly was a dominant linebacker when he played. He was ROTY his first year and then was a Pro Bowl and/or All-Pro LB every year for the next seven years. That pretty much says he was the best linebacker in the league while he was playing.

I think it's harder for him to get in as a LB is that there aren't really any big linebacker stats. Tackle numbers don't amount to much because an okay linebacker on a bad defense can still rack up tackles. He's not an edge-rusher that racks up sacks. Meanwhile, you look at Calvin Johnson and can easily be like "Oh, he had seven 1000 yard seasons, four 10+ TD seasons, and a three year stretch where he had 1600, 1900, and 1400 receiving yards... And then the 2012 season was such a record breaking season in itself."

I think it also hurts that he doesn't have a Super Bowl champion tag next to his name.

This is part of the problem. People look at these offensive numbers and are wowed. I recently saw someone downplaying Roger Craig because he only had 8000 yards rushing, totally ignoring where he was among his peers at the time he played. Fans and sadly the writers who do the voting look too much at these numbers and try to make a judgment- and this isn't disrespect to Calvin Johnson who absolutely deserved to be in. But Patrick Willis just came in right out of the gate and took the crown from Ray Lewis. He was the guy for the first six to seven years of his career- pure dominance. It's not even a question. Willis is a first ballot guy and unfortunately that will not be the case.

Originally posted by Hardcoreniner559:

Originally posted by Afrikan:
BUT are they gonna let TWO Middle Linebackers in a the same time?

Zach Thomas and Willis?... when is Luke Kuechly eligible?

IMO, Pat was better than all of them (it was extremely rare to see Patrick make a mistake on the field).

Willis was all time great even if you can redraft all lb ever I think Willis would go above most big names

Agreed. if we are talking middle linebackers, I think Willis is getting drafted in the top-5/10 ever.

Does Richard Sherman think Willis qualifies for the Hall?

top 5 all time Niners player for me.

Is he coming back? Willis at 37 can stone running back for zero yac 1x100000 better than Fred the Hairable. Dude gets knocked back by a mild breeze.

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:
Is he coming back? Willis at 37 can stone running back for zero yac 1x100000 better than Fred the Hairable. Dude gets knocked back by a mild breeze.

Can he cover a crossing route like Warner?

Imagine Ronde Barber and Zach Thomas getting in over Pat. He was—in my opinion—a more impactful player than both.

They can't keep him out forever.

NFL out here just robbing the 49ers. Zach Thomas wasn't the f**king Linebacker Willis was on his best day and 52s worst day.

The disrespect is unreal. Ronde Barber? Zach Thomas?

Originally posted by BYisGod:
Imagine Ronde Barber and Zach Thomas getting in over Pat. He was—in my opinion—a more impactful player than both.

They can't keep him out forever.

Agreed on Zach Thomas but not Ronde. Ronde was a baller and made tons of big plays. I don't think Thomas is HOF caliber. If he got in Willis should be a lock at somepoint.

They're punishing him for retiring early, which would less insulting if Calvin Johnson didn't get in 1st ballot.

If I were a gambling man, I'd say next year will be his time. Julius Peppers and Antonio Gates are the only worthy first-ballot nominees.

I'm super surprised that he was snubbed again. When playing, he was probably one of the most dominant linebackers of his generation, him and Luke.

I think he deserves it, he was at the top of his game while he played and he played long enough to qualify. I'm thinking the snub has to be due to the fact maybe many believe he retired pre-maturely?

Turf toe is hard to recover from and he had to consider his quality of life. I respect him retiring but I also wish he woulda played more.

The Hall Of Above Average strikes again. Zach Thomas, for real? The voting here has gotten as watered down as the rest of the NFL "product".