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.
4. Chris Spielman
Spielman just got into the Lions Ring of Honor this past season, in an overdue honor. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in tackles (1,138), with four Pro Bowl selections and three All-Pro honors on his resume. For his career as a whole, counting two seasons with the Buffalo Bills at the end, he is a top-20 tackler in NFL history (1,363 tackles; 18th).
Pro Football Reference’s Hall of Fame monitor is not kind to Spielman, placing him well below the average Hall of Fame inside linebacker. But from this corner, anyone that thinks Zach Thomas is a Hall of Famer should easily follow by lauding Spielman’s potential candidacy.
3. Billy Sims
For a certain generation of Lions’ fans, Sims was Barry Sanders almost a decade before the real thing arrived (he even wore No. 20). The first overall pick in the 1980 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma, he ran for 1,303 yards and 13 touchdowns on his way to Offensive Rookie of the Year, and he followed that with 1,437 yards and 13 touchdowns in his second season. He earned a third Pro Bowl nod in 1982.
Sims suffered a knee injury during the 1984 season that abruptly ended his career. A lack of longevity works against him for Hall of Fame consideration, but the list of career comps in years three, four of five of his career (via Pro Football Reference) is littered with Hall of Famers–Marcus Allen, Franco Harris, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Barry Sanders, Tony Dorsett. Among Sims’ career comps on PFR is Gale Sayers.
Sims somehow is not in the Lions’ Ring of Honor yet. Despite a very short career, he should get his place in Canton at some point. Check out a cool NFL Films video feature on Sims here.
2. Robert Porcher
Porcher spent all 12 seasons of his career (1992-2003) with the Lions, and he’s the franchise’s official all-time sacks leader with 95.5. He had five double-digit sack seasons, including four straight from 1996-1999 (15 in 1999). From 1996-2001, he had 68 sacks (second-most in the NFL over that span). If not for only posting 10 sacks over his last two seasons, he would’ve surely cleared 100 career sacks with room to spare.
Howie Long was a slam-dunk Hall of Famer by many accounts. He also had 84 official sacks (91.5 unofficial) over 13 seasons (1981-1993). The marked differences between he and Porcher are more Pro Bowl selections (eight vs. three) and a Super Bowl ring.
Realistically, Porcher has no chance to get into the Hall of Fame. But he absolutely deserves consideration.
1. Herman Moore
Before throwing the ball a lot was cool in the NFL, Moore set the single-season record for receptions with 123 in 1995, a record that stood until Marvin Harrison in 2002 (143 catches). Moore’s mark is currently tied for the ninth-best single-season catch mark in league history, and he followed it with two more 100-plus catch, 1,200-plus yard seasons in 1996 and 1997. He tied for the league lead in catches in 1997, with 104.
Moore never again reached 1,000 yards in his career after 1997, and his peak (including 72 catches for 1,173 yards and 11 touchdowns in 1994) was quite short as he played less than 10 games in three of his final four NFL seasons (his final season was with the New York Giants in 2002).
Via Pro Football Reference’s career comparison chart, even as his career wound down and his production fell, Moore has some nice comps–Bob Hayes (HOF), Isaac Bruce (HOF), Sterling Sharpe (should be HOF), Antonio Brown (will be HOF based on peak numbers), Cliff Branch (HOF), Paul Warfield (HOF).