5 NFL players who can cement their Hall of Fame legacy in the playoffs

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

Christian McCaffrey just put forth a historic regular season with the San Francisco 49ers. After a strange legacy left behind in Carolina, he's been phenomenal since joining a legit Super Bowl contender. This season, he could legitimately be an MVP candidate, which is almost impossible for a running back. CMC is the best running back in the league, and that's mostly been the case for his entire career.

McCaffrey has an interesting legacy now that he's seven years into his career. The injuries are always going to be part of the conversation. He missed 22 games in 2020 and 2021 combined. He's now been healthy for two years in a row, and he just scored 21 touchdowns in a season. His legacy is pretty great, but what is the current threshold for an NFL running back to make the Hall?

According to Pro Reference's Hall of Fame monitor, CMC is surprisingly far away from the award. We assume his All-Pro selection this season will have him jumping up the list, but he's currently in the same conversation as Charlie Garner and DeMarco Murray. A championship would go a LONG way to jumping the list.

McCaffrey is the one player on this list with the greatest likelihood to make this jump. The 49ers are the favorite to win it all. He will be the reason they win if they do. That will push him into that Hall of Fame atmosphere if it happens.