5 former Detroit Lions with a case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame

With another Pro Football Hall of Fame class announced, these former Detroit Lions have a case for induction.

On Thursday night at NFL Honors, the 2022 class for the Pro Football Hall of Fame was announced. No one with ties to the Detroit Lions is in this year’s class, after Calvin Johnson got in last year, so the count of Lions Hall of Famers will remain at 22.

That said, even given the generally dismal history of the Lions franchise, there are players who played for the team who have a case for a bust in Canton. Overlooked might be a fitting label, and Lions’ fans may go further to say some guys have been outright disrespected.

Here are five former Lions who can make a case for Hall of Fame induction.

5 former Detroit Lions who have a case for Hall of Fame induction

5. Al Baker

Baker was drafted by the Lions in the second round of the 1978 NFL Draft, and in his first three seasons he had 56.5 sacks (65.5 sacks over his first four seasons. Of course sacks were not an official NFL stat until his fifth season (1982), with an unofficial tally of 74 sacks in those five seasons as a Lion.

As Pro Football Reference dove back into the data, Baker’s 23 sacks in 1978 when he won Defensive Rookie of the Year is the unofficial single-season record.

Baker’s 131 career sacks (unofficially) are (unofficially) in the top-25 all-time. He should garner Hall of Fame consideration at some point.