Least Deserving Hall of Famers: Detroit Lions

[Rain Man]

VOTE FOR THREE.

With all of the talk about undeserving people in the Hall of Fame, I thought it might be interesting to identify the absolute least deserving people in the Hall of Fame.

I'll do this first for players, identifying the least deserving players by team, and then we'll do a heat or two for non-players.

Poll coming quicker than a Barry Sanders cut.

You can read profiles of the players here, in a very unfriendly format on the HoF site: https://www.profootballhof.com/heroe...me/franchises/

Rules note: If a team has less than 10 HoFers, I'll combine them with another team to get to that number.

[Rain Man]

I'm compelled to point out that Barry Sanders is the only Lion HoFer that has taken the field since 1977. That's impressive.

[Deberg_1990]

Matthew Stafford

[Eleazar]

I wasn't aware they had any hall of famers besides Sanders

[rabblerouser]

There's only 3 who SHOULD be in the HOF :

Doak Walker
Dick LeBeau
Barry Sanders

That's it.

[Rain Man]

Okay, let's review these guys.

Alex Wojciechowicz - Along with Vince Lombardi, he was one of Fordham's "Seven Blocks of Granite" on the offensive line. Played 13 seasons, most as a two-way center and linebacker. Played four games in his first week as an NFL player. However, I can't tell that he was ever an all-pro or anything. Weak sauce.

Barry Sanders - Come on.

Bill Dudley - Played nine seasons, losing two when he was in WWII (mostly playing football for the army). He once led the league in rushing, interceptions on defense, and punt return yardage. MVP in 1946. Six-time 1st or 2nd team all-pro, and is the only player ever with a rushing touchdown, touchdown reception, punt return for touchdown, kickoff return for touchdown, interception return for touchdown, fumble return for a touchdown, and a touchdown pass thrown. Seems pretty good, though not a lock.

Bobby Layne - 15 seasons. Reputation as a clutch quarterback and great partier. Great career stats for his era with 26,000+ career passing yards and 196 TD passes, which were records at the time of his retirement. He invented the two-minute drill and was the quarterback on 3 NFL championship teams (though he was injured before one of those games and missed it). Interestingly, his halfback was Hall of Famer Doak Walker, who was his high school teammate as well.

Charlie Sanders - 10 seasons, 7 pro bowls, team leader in receptions for 6 seasons. Named to the NFL's all-decade team of the 1970s.

Dick LeBeau - 14 seasons, had a streak of 12 seasons with 3+ interceptions. 62 career interceptions, and he's the best looking 82 year old coach in the league.

Dick Stanfel - 7 seasons, 5 all pros at the guard position. Retired young to get into coaching. How good was a guard to get in after only 7 seasons? Weird.

Doak Walker - 6 seasons, 5 all-pros. Halfback who also placekicked, so he retired with the third-most points scored in NFL history at that point. He retired because he was running businesses in Texas and wanted more time with them. Rather modest rushing and receiving yard totals, though. I'm not seeing the big deal here. Basically got in because of two championships in those six years. Sounds like a better version of Terrell Davis.

Earl "Dutch" Clark - 7 seasons, 6 all-pros. Last dropkicking specialist in the NFL. Won one championship. Played tailback when it was also the quarterback, so he ran and passed. Known for poor eyesight, but oddly a high percentage pass completion rate. Member of the inaugural Hall of Fame class, and the Associated Press named him the best football player of the 1930s. Known for using blockers well and eluding tackles.

Jack Christiansen - 8 seasons as a safety, 6 all-pros, and 46 career interceptions. Had 8 punt return touchdowns, which is impressive and still the 4th-highest total ever, trailing only Devin Hester, Eric Metcalf, and Brian Mitchell. Teams had to game plan against him specifically, according to lore.

Joe Schmidt - 13 seasons at MLB, with 10 all-pro selections. NFL's defensive MVP twice. Credited with feeding the rise to prominence of the MLB position, which was still relatively new when he joined the league.

Lem Barney - 11 seasons, 56 interceptions. Also served as a kick and punt returner. I remember him having a reputation as one of the league's best cover corners.

Lou Creekmur - 10 seasons as guard and tackle, occasionally played defense. 6 all-pro selections, had a 165 game streak without missing a game.

Yale Lary - 11 seasons as a safety and punter, 5 all-pros. Generally deemed one of the best punters in NFL history, and also had 50 interceptions.

[Rain Man]

Okay, we've got a few guys here who didn't play long enough to convince me. I'm voting against:

Dick Stanfel - 7 seasons at guard gets you into the HoF? No, thanks.

Doak Walker - I was thinking he was a stud, but when I look at him objectively I don't see it. He's out.

Alex Wojciechowicz - Seems like a classic Hall of Pretty Good guy.

[oldman]

Once those guys started wearing face masks, they weren't quite as tough. I'm not sure any outside Sanders, Barney, and Bobby Layne belong.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

There's only 3 who SHOULD be in the HOF :

Doak Walker
Dick LeBeau
Barry Sanders

That's it.

I'm assuming you just didn't notice Bobby Layne's name there.

[Megatron96]

Are you fucking kidding? Barry Sanders?

[Chiefs4TheWin]

I voted Barry Sanders. Take that society!

Jokes aside, damn he was fun to watch.

[Molitoth]

Originally Posted by Chiefs4TheWin

I voted Barry Sanders. Take that society!

Jokes aside, damn he was fun to watch.

That vote made baby jesus cry. See you in hell.

[DeepPurple]

I went through basic training with Charlie Sanders April - June 1970 Fort Polk Louisiana. I was regular army and he was a reservist from Michigan. Honestly, I didn't know who he was, but he was one of the biggest humans I had seen up until then, hard to believe a TE could be so big.

Our company was half reserves from that unit and half regular like myself. The drill sergeants made him 'field first', which meant he got his own room and he lead the marches. His stride was so long, that in the third platoon I was in, we had to jog to keep up and the drill sergeants loved that. After four weeks we got a weekend pass and about 80 of us went to Lake Charles and got a steak and got drunk, Charlie flew home to Detroit, he was the only one allowed leave the state.

[Best22]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

I wasn't aware they had any hall of famers besides Sanders

They’ve been around for 90 years

[old_geezer]

Alex Wojciechowicz - Wasn't he in the "Barney Miller" sitcom?

I'm old enough that I watched Joe Schmidt, Lem Barney, and Bobby Layne play. Believe me, they deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.