Inspired by my recent trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, I got to thinking about what Lions players could belong in the hallowed halls. There are currently 21 men who spent at least one season with the Lions enshrined in Canton, including Class of 2020 honoree Alex Karras.
Adding Karras crosses the biggest eligible name off the list. The most obvious Detroit standout that deserves enshrinement isn’t quite eligible yet. He’s the headliner here among the eight best retired Lions players not in the Hall of Fame.
This isn’t an argument for any of these players to get into the Hall of Fame, though a couple of them are certainly deserving. It’s honoring some Lions greats who aren’t in and likely never will get enshrinement in Canton.
Calvin Johnson
The mega-talented Johnson will be eligible in 2021, and he likely won’t wait too long before he joins Karras and the others in Canton.
Johnson’s list of accomplishments ad wide receiver made him one of the NFL’s biggest stars despite making just two postseason games in his nine years (2007-2015):
- 3-time first-team All-Pro
- 6 straight Pro Bowls from 2010-2015
- NFL record 1,964 receiving yards in 2012
- NFL record 5,137 receiving yards in a 3-year period (2012-2014)
- 4th in NFL history in receiving yards per game (86.1)
- Pro Football Hall of Fame Team of the 2010s 1st-team
Johnson will get in sooner than later.
Herman Moore
Speaking of receivers with an incredible 3-year peak, Herman Moore was the NFL’s most prolific receiver in both receptions and receiving yards from 1995-1997. Moore was a first-team All-Pro all three years and a four-time Pro Bowler.
Any receiver who can post over 4,200 yards and 31 TDs in a 3-year span merits consideration.
Table from Pro Football Reference
Outside of his truly astonishing five-year run from 1994-1998, Moore doesn’t have Hall-worthy production. But he was a special talent and one of the NFL’s very best in an era where many great Hall of Famers players at his position populated the league. He did it with the omnipresent smile, too.
Billy Sims
Sims is another Lions great who was an elite talent but likely not for long enough to ever get into the Hall of Fame. He was well on his way at the start of his career, however.
Sims, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1980 NFL Draft, seized the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons, rushing for 3,379 yards and scoring 30 TDs from 1980-1982. Only Tony Dorsett and Earl Campbell (both Hall of Famers) ran for more yards and only Chuck Muncie scored more TDs on the ground during that time.
A devastating knee injury ruined the incredible start from Sims. He was done after the 1984 season. Lions fans know how awesome his slashing, physical style worked for Sims and forever wonder what could have been had he stayed healthy.
Lomas Brown
Underappreciated in his era, Brown played 11 seasons in Detroit (1985-1995) as a consistently stalwart left tackle. Protecting a barrage of different QBs, Brown was one of the best in his time at keeping them upright.
Brown made the Pro Bowl in each of his last six seasons in Detroit, earning first-team All-Pro in 1995. He was one of the primary reasons why Barry Sanders and Herman Moore could post the incredible numbers they did on those successful Lions teams of the Wayne Fontes era.
He was very good after he left Detroit for Arizona, too. Only two offensive linemen in NFL history have ever started more games than Brown’s 251, and his sustained status as an above-average left tackle for nearly all of his 18 NFL seasons deserves more credit.
Roger Brown
I never got to see Brown play defensive tackle in Detroit. His Lions era (1960-1966) was before my time. But the accolades Brown garnered do stand out:
- First-team All-Pro in 1962 and 1963
- Six straight Pro Bowls from 1962-1967
- 2nd-team All-Decade of the 60s team honoree
- 1962 Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman award
Tackles and sacks were not official statistics from that era, unfortunately. But he was known for his outstanding quickness for an unusually large (he played at over 300 pounds, huge for that era) tackle. His unofficial seven sacks and a safety of Bart Starr of the Packers on Thanksgiving in 1962 lives forever in Lions lore.
Jason Hanson
Detroit’s longtime kicker (1992-2012) burst onto the scene as the All-Rookie kicker and never let up. He’s fourth all-time in NFL history in points scored and field goals made.
What set Hanson apart was his range. He retired with the most successful FG attempts of 50 yards or more (52). Hanson made just two Pro Bowls in his 21 seasons, but he did finish in the top 10 in made field goals 11 times and top 10 in scoring in seven seasons. When he retired he was the 15th-most accurate kicker on FGs in NFL history. Hanson also ranks sixth all-time in total games played.
Chris Spielman
From the moment he stepped on the field in the Silverdome as the Lions second-round pick in 1988, Chris Spielman was tackling people. A lot of people. From his rookie year through his final season in Detroit in 1995, only one NFL player (Jessie Tuggle) recorded more tackles than the Lions standout LB.
Spielman made four Pro Bowls and his 195-tackle effort in 1991, the fifth-most tackles ever in a single season, earned No. 54 his only first-team All-Pro nod. He was second-team three times. A neck injury ended his career early after he joined the Bills in 1996. Spielman averaged more tackles per game for his career than either Ray Lewis or Junior Seau.
As an aside, he’s my personal football hero. I tried to not let that influence my position too much…
Bubba Baker
The star of the Silver Rush defense of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Baker would have considerably more national acclaim if sacks were kept as an official statistic before 1982. Baker won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 1978 thanks to an unofficial 23 sacks, still the team record and what would have been an NFL record.
Baker was a first-team All-Pro as a rookie and made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons. He only played two more in Detroit before leaving for several other teams in a long and consistently good career, but his best years were his first ones in Detroit. Unofficially he notched 75.5 sacks in five years with the Lions, according to team records.
