Why Hines Ward is a Hall of Famer

In the recent news about Hines Ward’s release from the Pittsburgh Steelers there has been a lot of discussion about his pending retirement and whether or not he will eventually find a home in Canton. The Hall of Fame is for those that contributed to the game beyond reasonable expectations and who demonstrated a skill set better than their counterparts of the era.  Hines Ward meets these criteria on all counts and there should be no discussion that he belongs in the Hall. For the better part of a decade (which is an eternity in the NFL), Ward was consistently a premier receiver in the league, always being among the league leaders in receptions. More importantly however and what often gets lost in the box scores are his clutch yards after catches to pick up key first downs and his unprecedented and unmatched ability to set blocks down the field.  Notwithstanding the fact that he played the majority of his career in a run first system he still managed to accumulate 1000 receptions while with the Steelers, more than Randy Moss or Andre Reid caught in their careers. The early critics opposing Ward ever getting into the hall are using the pitiful argument that if Chris Carter and Tim Brown can’t get in than why should Hines. With all due respect to those two great receivers, they did what above average receivers have done throughout the modern era and will continue to do forever. They ran their routes, got open and caught passes. What Hines Ward has done in his career, blocking like an all pro lineman while catching 1000 passes, has never been done before and will rarely be done again. I have nothing bad to say about Carter or Brown, but claiming that they were better in their careers than Ward is like saying that Shawn Kemp or Derrick Coleman were better Power Forwards than Dennis Rodman simply because they scored more points. Anyone who understands the value of defense and rebounding in the NBA knows that Rodman was a far superior player than the other two and no one who truly understands the NFL would ever claim that Carter or Brown were better football players than Hines Ward. A better point of reference for Ward would be to compare him to Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe who was inferior to Ward both statistically and as a blocker. We live in a world where we evaluate tangibles simply because it is easy to measure but if anyone ever stopped to consider the intangibles it would be clear to them that the two-time Superbowl Champ should one day be inducted in a yellow blazer.   

AND THAT’S THE BRUTAL TRUTH!