2023 Pre-Season Rank Unranked.  Peak Period: 2022-23*

We were not going to rank any player who has only played two seasons, but with Sauce Gardner, we are making an exception.  The 2022 Defensive Rookie of the Year, is the second coming of Darrelle Revis, and he has already netted two First Team All-Pros.  Gardner does not have an island on the field; he has a planet!

*Gardner has only played two seasons.

2023 Pre-Season Rank Unranked. Peak Period: 2019-23

Haason Reddick had his first double-digit Sack year in 2020 as an Arizona Cardinal, repeated that as a Carolina Panther in 2021, but had his best season to date in his first year in Philadelphia, where he had 16 Sacks and was the league-leader in Forced Fumbles (5).  A Pro Bowl that year, Reddick was again last season with his fourth straight 10-plus sack year (11), which netted him his second Pro Bowl.

The Eagles traded Reddick to the New York Jets, where he has refused to play as of this writing.  Making a Hall of Fame case is hard when you are inactive.

2023 Pre-Season Rank Unranked. Peak Period: 2019-23

Playing all five of his seasons thus far with the New York Jets, Quinnen Williams was a First Team All-Pro in 2022 when he had a 12-Sack year.  Williams is also on a two-year Pro Bowl run.

January 12, 1969. Kirk Buchner and Paul Lawrence look at Super Bowl III, one of the most important football games of all time.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.  Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, it is news to us that there will be three new members inducted into the New York Jets Ring of Honor in 2022.

The team announced that Derrell Revis, Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson will be inducted this upcoming season.

Revis is arguably the biggest name of the three.  Playing at Cornerback, Revis was taken in the First Round in 2007 (14^thOverall) from Pittsburgh, and he rapidly became one of the most explosive Defensive Backs in the NFL.  “Revis Island” became synonymous with elite coverage, and while he was with New York, he was chosen for four Pro Bowls and three First Team All-Pros.

Mangold played at Center for the entirety of his 11-year career, and would start all of his 164 Games for the team.  The product of Ohio State went to seven Pro Bowls and was a two-time First Team All-Pro.

Ferguson played his entire 10-year pro career with New York after the Jets after they chose the Tackle with the Fourth Overall Pick in 2006.  He started all of his 160 games with the Jets.

The honors will take place for Mangold (Sept 25), Ferguson (Oct 30) and Revis (Nov 27).

These are the first entrants since Kevin Mawae in 2017.  They will also join Weeb Ewbank, Winston Hill, Curtis Martin, Don Maynard, Joe Namath, Larry Grantham, Freeman McNeil, Gerry Philbin, Al Toon, Wesley Walker, Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau and Marty Lyons.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members to the New York Jets Ring of Honor

We have lost another football legend today.

Former New York Jets Wide Receiver, Don Maynard, passed away today at the age of 86.

A college star at Texas Western (the future UTEP), Maynard was taken by the New York Giants in the draft, playing for them sparingly as a rookie, to the point where he left the team for Hamilton of the Canadian Football League the season after.  In his third professional year, Maynard returned to New York City, but this time with the Titans of the upstart American Football League.

Maynard would become the team’s top Wide Receiver, exceeding 1,000 Yards five times, and winning the AFL Receiving Title in 1967.  A four-time Pro Bowl and All-AFL Team Selection, Maynard helped lead the Jets to win at Super Bowl III, as the primary target for Joe Namath.

Retiring after a final season with the St. Louis Cardinals, Maynard left the game with an exceptional 11,834 Receiving Yards (a record at the time) and 88 Touchdowns. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to offer our condolences to the fans, friends and family of Don Maynard.

Brandon Marshall was a really good Wide Receiver, but was he a Hall of Fame wide out?

The 4^th Overall Pick in 1977 from USC, Marvin Powell wasted little time affixing himself as the starting Right Tackle for the New York Jets.  In 1979, Powell would begin a five-year run as a perennial Pro Bowl Selection, and in '79, 1981 & 1982, he was a First Team All-Pro.  Without Powell's protection and presence, the offensive game would not have been as good, and he was certainly one of the most underrated players in Jets history.

Art Powell played in the Canadian Football League for two seasons before he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1959.  As an NFL rookie, Powell was used as a returner and defensive back but would join the New York Titans (later to be renamed the Jets) of the American Football League.  With the Titans, Powell would lead the AFL in Receiving Touchdowns (14) in the league's first year of existence, and in 1962 he would finish first in Receiving Yards (1,130).

From the University of Mississippi, Larry Grantham was a second round pick by the New York Titans in 1960 (he was a 15^th rounder in the NFL) and a member of the original team. 

2023 Pre-Season Rank #86, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #90, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #95, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #122.  Peak Period: 2011-15

Brown enters the season as a Free Agent, and if his career has come to an end, has he done enough to become a Hall of Fame inductee?

He likely hasn’t, bit leaves behind 220 Games Played (218 Starts) and should be acknowledged in any Houston Texans Hall of Fame.  He could still find work in 2024 as a veteran presence on a contending team.

2023 Pre-Season Rank #32, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #41, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #44, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #45.  Peak Period: 2014-18

Mosley’s AV/G is higher than the average MPA for a Linebacker, though his traditional numbers are low for this stage of his career, and he doesn’t have that First Team All-Pro.  After five years in Baltimore, Mosley joined the Jets in 2019 but only played two games due to a groin injury and opted out of 2020 due to COVID concerns.  2021 was not the comeback he needed, but 2022 was, where he added Pro Bowl and Second Team All-Pro number five.  He is also on a three-year streak of at least 150 Tackles.

As a star of the Jets front-seven, his stock will rocket if the Jets and Mosely have a great 2024.

2023 Pre-Season Rank #16, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #16, 2021 Pre-Season Rank: #23, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #27.  Peak Period: 2013-17

For multiple reasons, Tyron Smith intrigues us the most among the Offensive linemen we have ranked in 2024. 

From 2013 to 2019, Smith was considered the best (or close to) Left Tackle in the business, attending every Pro Bowl and earning four All-Pros (two First Team and two Second Team).  However, his performance has been marred by injuries in the 2020 and 2022 seasons, raising questions about what he has left, though he did answer with a nice bounce back in 2023.

Now the Tackle has moved on from Dallas after 13 years to join the New York Jets, but is doing so at a time when the Jets are a questionable squad.   It is getting harder for Offensive Linemen to enter the Hall, and eight Pro Bowls and multiple First-Team All-Pros don’t always cut it (ask Richmond Webb who has seven Pro Bowls and multiple All-Pros).  Longevity might be his key.

2023 Pre-Season Rank #1, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #2, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #2, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #3.

The last batch of rounds around the sun has been fascinating for Aaron Rodgers.  

Rodgers, who has dated Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick, and Shailene Woodley, was even considered the permanent host of Jeopardy.  It looked like he would cross over into non-sports stardom, but that came crashing down, and he has been involved in more Hollywood feuds (see Jimmy Kimmel) and was thrust into the culture war when it was revealed that he did not get the COVID-19 vaccine and espoused conspiracy theories.  He became much less marketable than he used to be, and there are circles where he is high atop the list of the most hated athletes.  Last season, he was injured on the first drive with his new team, the New York Jets, and speculation has run wild that age has caught up to him.

None of this will matter.

Whether or not any voter dislikes Rodgers or not, no active player has the statistical resume that he has.  If he is healthy, he will continue to climb the stat ladder (he is 33 TDs behind Brett Favre for fourth), and a 3,500 Yard year leaps him over Dan Marino, Matt Ryan, and Phillip Rivers for sixth all-time.  No multi-time MVP has ever failed to enter Canton, and he has four.  Throw in the Super Bowl, and it is an open-and-shut case, regardless of what happens next.

It is not a stretch by any means to state that Nick Mangold was the greatest New York Jet Center ever.  We could easily go a step further and state that he is one of the best Offensive Lineman in franchise history.

This is a first for us. 

As many of you know, we are (methodically) working on our top 50 of every team, which will eventually lead to how each franchise in MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA treat their former players in terms of retired numbers, rings of honor and franchise Halls of Fames. 

We can’t really say that we envisioned one team taking a potshot as to how another one handles that, but that is exactly what transpired today.

In a speech at Gillette Stadium during the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation Awards the son of Pats owner, Robert Kraft, Josh Kraft, told those in attendance to check out the Patriots Hall of Fame and stated that “It’s a lot better than the Jet’s Hall of Fame, which is non-existent”.

Ouch.

While the division rival does not have a physical Hall of Fame, the Jets do have a Ring of Honor with seventeen members and have retired the numbers of five former players.  What New York has done is more than typical for a National Football League organization.

Either way, it is a banter that we here at Notinhalloffame.com love!

The hard-luck Cincinnati Bengals have yet to win a Super Bowl, but it was Boomer Esiason who brought them closer than anyone else had when they lost to the San Francisco 49ers on a last-minute drive in Super Bowl XXIII.  Fortunately for Esiason, his career did not need a Super Bowl Ring to be considered great.

Replacing the productive Ken Anderson, the powerful southpaw became one of the premier Quarterbacks in the league.  During his time in Cincinnati, Esiason was a consistent producer and he turned the Bengals into a high powered attack.  Mastering the play-action pass, Boomer used his strength and speed and was always producing high yardage games.

Although Quarterback sacks have always taken place in football, it was not an official statistic in the NFL until 1982.  The first labelled “sackmaster” of American football would have to be the flamboyant and somewhat controversial Mark Gastineau who terrorized Quarterbacks; and not because he had sex with Brigitte Neilsen.

A member of the 100 Sack club (133.5 exactly), John Abraham was a pounding Defensive End who terrorized Quarterbacks for years. Eight times he would exceed ten sacks in a season and was a very popular figure during his time with the New York Jets and the Atlanta Falcons. A very intriguing candidate, Abraham is as of this writing in the top ten all-time in Forced Fumbles and Tackles for Loss and the top fifteen in Quarterback Sacks.  He would go to five Pro Bowls, and was twice a First Team All-Pro, and that first step he took off the snap remains in the nghtmares of offensive linemen.