Would you put Rod Smith in the Hall? AA YAHEA

Would you put him in the Hall?

August 1, 2007 8:10 AM

Posted by Mike Sando

In Denver they're wondering if Rod Smith has played his final down for the Broncos, and in the NFL. It's a fair question. Smith is 37 years old and he has not yet returned from offseason hip surgery. He's coming off a 512-yard season. His 9.8-yard average was the lowest of his career - by far.

Jerry Rice also hit a career low at age 37 when he averaged 10.7 yards per catch in his final season with the 49ers (2000). Conventional wisdom said Rice was finished. All he did was catch 175 balls for Oakland over the next two seasons, and 63 in the season after that.

Smith is no Rice, but he does have eight 1,000-yard seasons. And it's not as though the Broncos' roster is packed with proven starting receivers beyond Javon Walker. Smith has a chance to take back his job if that hip doesn't stop him.

Check out Smith's career stats (849 catches, 13.4-yard average), consider his production during the Broncos' championship seasons and tell me if you'd put him in the Hall of Fame, or why you would keep him out.

Rod Smith, Jerry Rice, Broncos

Pro Football Hall of Fame Top 20 - Leading Lifetime Receivers
(At the Start of the 2005 Season)
Rank		Player	League	Yrs.	No.	Yards	Avg.	TD
1	(1)	JERRY RICE	NFL	20	1,549	22,895	14.8	197
2	(2)	Cris Carter	NFL	16	1,101	13,899	12.6	130
3	(3)	TIM BROWN	NFL	17	1,094	14,934	13.7	100
4	(4)	Andre Reed	NFL	16	951	13,198	13.9	87
5	(5)	Art Monk	NFL	16	940	12,721	13.5	68
6	(6)	Irving Fryar	NFL	17	851	12,785	15.0	84
7	(12)	MARVIN HARRISON	NFL	9	845	11,185	13.2	98
8	(7)	Larry Centers	NFL	14	827	6,797	8.2	28
9	(8)	Steve Largent *	NFL	14	819	13,089	16.0	100
10	(9)	Shannon Sharpe	NFL	14	815	10,060	12.3	62
11	(10)	Henry Ellard	NFL	16	814	13,777	16.9	65
12	(17)	JIMMY SMITH	NFL	12	792	11,264	14.2	61
13	(20)	ISAAC BRUCE	NFL	11	777	11,753	15.1	74
14	(11)	James Lofton *	NFL	16	764	14,004	18.3	75
15	(16)	KEENAN McCARDELL	NFL	13	755	9,763	12.9	53
16T	(13T)	Charlie Joiner *	AFL-NFL	18	750	12,146	16.2	65
16T	(13T)	Michael Irvin	NFL	12	750	11,904	15.9	65
18	(15)	Andre Rison	NFL	12	743	10,205	13.7	84
19	(--)	MARSHALL FAULK	NFL	11	723	6,584	9.1	35
20	(--)	ROD SMITH	NFL	10	712	9,772	13.7	59