A hall of fame player in my mind is someone who transcends the game and who became a key asset for his team. Darren Smallwood is an underrated player who fulfills that criteria. The San Jose SaberCats have always lacked true stars, or a face of the franchise that people immediately associate with the team. Smallwood is one of the few players who really stand out to others when it comes to the discussion of who the SaberCats would contribute to the hall of fame. He has over 4 yards per attempt to accumulate 3700 yards over his entire career. These numbers have to be put into the context of the early NSFL being primarily a passing league, the SaberCats not withstanding, especially after the aquisition of Chris Orsoz. His numbers are excellent in this context prior to the defensive buffs put in place around six or seven seasons into the league. It's hard to establish a case for someone based on "what if", however if players like Lagerfield or Marquise Brown make it into to the hall of fame their numbers should dwarf Smallwood's. I would say that the difference in the rules of play between league wide changes to the game warrants a similar comparison to the early NFL. Players like Larry Csonka in the hall of fame only have 8,000 yards; this number seems small when it took Franco Harris a decade later 12,000 to get in.
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