10 NFL players who should not be in the Hall of Fame
Joe Namath, QB, New York Jets/Los Angeles Rams, 1965-77
Namath is one of the trickiest Hall of Fame cases, as he had an extraordinary impact on the NFL, yet his overall numbers don’t really compare to other Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
There’s no doubt Namath deserves a place in NFL lore, as his famous guarantee ahead of Super Bowl III and subsequent strong performance changed the course of football. Namath’s 1967 season is arguably one of the best ever, as he became the first quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards when many others could barely manage 2,000.
Still, his numbers fell of quickly in the 1970s, in large part due to injuries. Namath finished with 47 more interceptions than touchdowns and barely completed more than half his career passes (50.1%).
Namath’s raw interception total doesn’t mean much when compared to his peers, as he typically attempted more passes than others in the era. Still, an interception rate of 5.8 percent is much higher than most Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
If Namath was healthy for a few more seasons this could have been a much different story. But the Hall of Fame should be about what actually happened, not hypotheticals.
Namath’s career passer rating of 65.5 ranks 162nd in NFL history, a number that puts him in the vicinity of quarterbacks like Archie Manning and Rick Mirer.
While Namath was a great an important player, his Hall of Fame resume has holes. By most statistical measures, he’s the worst quarterback ever elected, even if he did change the game.
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