Pro Football Hall of Fame: Morten Andersen profile

Seven new members will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Which gridiron legend does placekicker Morten Andersen remind us of?

The number of members of this prestigious establishment now stands at 310. That’s because this week, seven new gentlemen will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It’s an honor that can’t be overstated for those who have played, coach and contributed to the game of professional football.

Here we are going to take a bit of a different approach. The Class of 2017 includes two running backs, a team owner, one quarterback, a pair of stellar defensive players and a placekicker. So when looking at these impactful figures, which fellow Hall of Famers do each remind us of? For the most part, we’re talking playing style more than statistics. And we’ll start with the most prolific scorer in NFL history.

Morten Andersen/Jan Stenerud

Let’s be honest. We are kind of limited with our choices here. Then again, perhaps this year’s addition of placekicker Morten Andersen will re-open the door for more special teams’ contributors in Canton. The native of Struer, Denmark played 25 seasons for five different franchises. He owns the all-time records for points scored (2,544) and successful field goals (565), to name a few.

However, he’s only the second pure placekicker to be enshrined in Canton. You have to go back 26 years to 1991 when the great Jan Stenerud got the call from the Hall. The latter remains among the league’s Top 20 in terms of scoring and field goals. A native of Norway, he was one of football’s early soccer-style kickers and would wind up a Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Morten Andersen saw a lot of football in 25 campaigns with the New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings and two stints with the Atlanta Falcons. He enters the Hall of Fame three years after the first “pure” punter, Ray Guy, received his bust.

It will be interesting to see where this takes us in terms of special team stars such as Gary Anderson (second all-time in scoring) and Steve Tasker, as well as current players such as Devin Hester, Sebastian Janikowski and Phil Dawson, etc.