I thought it would be fun to write a few articles about some football players who might be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the future—or perhaps not. I am not going to say whether I believe he belongs or not, rather I am going to provide the positives and negatives of his career and let you decide whether you believe he is worthy of enshrinement.
My first subject is former quarterback Vinny Testaverde. At first thought, Vinny Testaverde and Hall of Fame normally do not go together—however, he has some numbers that are worth considering. For example, he threw for 46,233 yards in his career, the seventh-most out of any quarterback, ever. He eclipsed the 3,000 yard mark six times and the 4,000 yard mark once.
Testaverde also threw for 275 touchdowns, which is eighth-most all-time. On the pass completions list and pass attempts list he ranks seventh all-time—proving that he ranks highly on many lists, not just a few. As a testament to his durability, he played for 21 seasons, helping lead three teams to the playoffs.
Unfortunately, he played for 21 seasons, which makes some of his statistics seem less impressive than before. For example, he eclipsed the 3,000 yard mark only six times in 21 years—less than once every three seasons. To put that in perspective, Brett Favre has reached the 3,000 yard mark in 18 of his 19 full seasons. Warren Moon did it nine times in 17 seasons and even Kerry Collins has done it six times—but in only 15 seasons.
In addition, Testaverde threw 267 interceptions, leading the league in that category four times and ranking fourth all-time—conversely, he never led the league in touchdowns. As well, his quarterback rating wasn’t terrible—it was 75.0—but it was closer to Chris Miller or Tim Couch quality than Tom Brady or Peyton Manning quality. Furthermore, his completion percentage was 56.5—again not terrible, but not great—and he is the losingest quarterback of all-time with 123 defeats to his name.
So, that’s good and the bad for Vinny Testaverde. What do you think? Should he be Hall of Famer one day?
