Baltimore Ravens: Will 1,000 Receptions Put Steve Smith in the HOF?
Steve Smith Sr. will be the focus of a ton of debates when it comes to him becoming a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Wide receivers tend to be a polarizing position in these discussions. However, there may be a few key stats you overlooked when judging Smith.
Last year was supposed to be Steve Smith’s last NFL season. However, a blown Achilles changed his plans after an outstanding start to his season. There has been a lot of talk regarding whether or not the fiery wideout is worthy of the Hall of Fame and Smith himself has said that one of the reasons he’s returning for one more year is because he wants to join the 1,000 catch club.
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This leads us to the obvious transitional question of, does Smith belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and will 1,000 catches put him over the top? There are currently only 13 members of the 1,000 catch club and with 39 receptions in 2016, Smith will join this exclusive group.
NFL Players With 1,000 Receptions
Jerry Rice 1,549
Tony Gonzalez 1,325
Marvin Harrison 1,102
Cris Carter 1,101
Tim Brown 1,094
Terrell Owens 1,078
Reggie Wayne 1,070
Andre Johnson 1,053
Issac Bruce 1,024
Jason Witten 1,020
Larry Fitzgerald 1,018
Anquan Boldin 1,009
Hines Ward 1,000
As you can see, everyone with 1,000 catches is either in the Hall of Fame or should be soon. To me Smith is no exception. He’s one of the more underrated players of his era. We’ve seen him put together seven 1,000 yard seasons with career highs of 103 receptions, 1,563 yards and 13 touchdowns (12 receiving, one rushing) in 2005. He also had a huge impact in the return game early in his career returning six kicks/punts for TDs in his first three seasons in the league.
Aside from the numbers on paper, he is pound-for-pound the toughest player I’ve seen play in the NFL and he is a great football player. No one plays with more heart and he does the little things that don’t show up on a stat sheet. If you watch film on him, he’s always throwing a block down field and never takes a play off. Smith is breaking hard on routes when there is no chance the ball is coming to him because that’s who he is. He has one gear and it’s full throttle.
There is one extremely impressive statistic that is very much overlooked when it comes to Smith. You may not know this but he is eighth all-time in all-purpose yards. He’s up there with some incredible names and is the only active player in the top 10. The top four consist of Jerry Rice, Brian Mitchell, Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith.
Smith isn’t catching those guys, Emmitt has 21,564 all-purpose yards to Smith’s 18,381. Nevertheless, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Smith jumps LaDainian Tomlinson, Marshall Faulk and Tim Brown this season. He needs less than 100 yards to pass LT and about 800 to jump Faulk. With 1,301 total yards this season, Smith will be fifth all-time in all-purpose yards. That is nothing to scoff at. That has to put him in the HOF.
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In my personal opinion he’s a Hall of Famer. However, it’s tough for wide receivers to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for some reason. Michael Irvin, Marvin Harrison and Cris Carter didn’t get in on the first ballot and it took Art Monk over a decade. It’s kind of bizarre how WRs are treated by the Hall of Hame. Nonetheless, I fully expect to see Steve Smith Sr enshrined in Canton one day, wearing his gold jacket.