Will Randy Moss end up in the Patriots Hall of Fame?
As you surely already know, former Patriot wider receiver Randy Moss has decided to retire after thirteen NFL seasons. To me Moss is a lock for the NFL Hall of Fame.
But what are his chances of making it into the New England Patriots' Hall of Fame?
The number Moss put up over his career speak for themselves:
- seven Pro Bowls; four-time First-Team All Pro
- eighth all-time in NFL history for receptions with 954
- fifth all-time with 14,858 receiving yards
- second all-time in receiving touchdowns with 153
- ninth all-time with 73.6 receiving yards per game
- fifth all-time with 154 touchdowns
- all-time single-season record of 23 touchdown receptions
- also has the fifth most receiving touchdowns in a single season with 17, which he did not once but twice
But those are all NFL marks, not franchise statistics. Did Randy Moss do enough in essentially three seasons to merit inclusion in the Pats' Hall of Fame?
Moss ranks ninth in the team record books with 3904 receiving yards and is twelfth with 259 receptions. His fifty touchdown receptions ties him with Ben Coates for second all-time behind only Stanley Morgan. Moss also has the most receiving yards (1493) as well as the fourth most (1264), as well as obviously having the team record for touchdown receptions in a year. And of course he was a large part of an NFL record setting offense, the team that was only the second in the NFL since 1942 to go through a regular season undefeated.
As previously mentioned, there is going to be a logjam in the next several years for induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Troy Brown, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison and Willie McGinest will presumably be voted in over the next four years. Moss will become eligible at the same time Mike Vrabel does; I would assume Vrabel gets in before Moss does. Depending on when they retire Moss might be up against Kevin Faulk or Adam Vinatieri the following year; again, I can't see Moss winning that vote. And even if he doesn't go up against either of those two there are other players with longer careers such as Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Ted Johnson, Raymond Clayborn, Julius Adams and Russ Francis for competition.
This past year we saw Curtis Martin, another player with an outstanding but very brief career with the Pats not even make it to the final round. Bill Parcells made it as far the final vote but faces an extremely uphill battle to get on the final ballot again, considering all the players that will be newly eligible over the next several years.
I think the day will come when Randy Moss does become enshrined in the Patriots' Hall of Fame - but that day is not going to come for a long, long time.
What are your thoughts on Moss becoming a Patriot Hall of Famer? Let me know below. Also, be sure to check out what may have been the deciding factor in Moss' decision to retire: Moss Turned Down 1-Year Offer With Patriots, as well as the message board discussion about Randy Moss' retirement
