02-11-2021, 01:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-14-2021, 05:38 PM by Asked Madden.)
*Most of the data I gathered is from the Wiki, if you think there is a discrepancy I'd be happy to change it here, but it is probably because that’s what the Wiki said - example Angus Winchester is listed as a Linebacker only on the Hall of Fame list.
**I started this in the middle of S26, just after the new HoF class was announced, but before the Ultimus. So S26 Awards and Pro Bowl info is not included.
****There is a lot of data compiled for this and not all of it is used for each part or section. I attempt to explain what exactly the data in each section encompasses, but if anything is unclear please don’t hesitate to ask questions
Step One: Make a Player
Step Two: Earn TPE
Step Three: ?
Step Four: Enter Hall of Fame
Sounds easy enough, but what exactly does one must do at Step Three to make the Hall of Fame. Over the next several thousand or so words I will dissect current Hall of Fame players to help you, the current player, determine if you have enough merit for the Hall of Fame committee to induct you into the International Simulation Football League Hall of Fame!
Before we dive into this I want to say this. No two players' careers are alike, and while nothing says you can’t recreate as soon as you think your player isn’t Hall of Fame material, I strongly urge you not to determine the success or failure of your career by whether you will make the Hall of Fame or not. Especially in the early seasons of your career. Retiring early is a sure fire way of preventing your player from reaching the Hall of Fame. While if you wait and stay the course you could succeed. I know of several potential future Hall of Famers who had the career they had because someone else retired early.
What was my goal in this? Well initially it was for personal reasons, my player Walt Green is retiring (now retired) and I was curious how he stacked up against past Safeties of the league. I thought additionally it could be fun to compare non-Hall of Fame players to current Hall of Fame players, so I invited the league to submit requests for any player they wanted me to compare to current Hall of Fame players. Finally, I hope this helps the Hall of Fame committee remain consistent in their votes as we, the league, enter a new era. As we migrate to a new sim, those that played before the migration, or even before a 16 game season existed, will have a honest chance of making the Hall of Fame by being compared to their peers, and not the current meta.
^again a reminder that I started this and wrote most of it during S26.
However 45% of all players in the league were drafted in one of the last 8 seasons (think about that - 45% of all players in the league were drafted in the most recent 30% of league history). So really only an estimated ~955 players are currently eligible to be on the ballot which increases a player’s odds to ~30% to be on the ballot and ~5.1% to be voted into the Hall of Fame. These numbers have fluctuated over the course of the league’s history. When the Hall of Fame first began the induction rate was 0%, seriously this isn’t a math joke. The league went through two Hall of Fame ballots (S8 & S9) before finally inducting the first two players (Ian Bavitz and King Bronko) to the Hall of Fame on the third ballot in S10. Comparing our percentages for total vs eligible and ballot vs HoF, as the league continued adding more players to the Hall of Fame the percentages grew from 10% league total & 7% eligible to make the ballot and 0.5% league total & 0.39% eligible to make Hall of Fame in S10 - to - 37% league total & 20% eligible to make the ballot and 5.2% league total & 2.8% eligible to make Hall of Fame in S18. Since S18 those percentages have decreased over the last decade of seasons to their current percentages. Below is a table visualizing what I just said.
Table 1.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-4IMtBr...sp=sharing
Knowing that 45% of the league’s total number of players only started playing in the most recent 8 seasons, it is not a surprise that the percentage of Hall of Fame inductees increases with every Hall of Fame ballot from the first one in S8 to its highest marks at S17-S19. Currently the process has averaged 3 inductees a season with a standard deviation of 1.67; even in S12 which had the largest Hall of Fame ballot with 43 players (13 more than the next biggest), the Hall of Fame still only inducted 4 players. Since the average draft class from S03 to S14 was 31, the league was adding 1 player to the Hall of Fame for every 10 players getting drafted - a whopping 10%. With the large draft classes from S15 and on now becoming eligible for the The Hall of Fame we should see the percentages for ballot listing and Hall of Fame induction continue to decrease if the Hall of Fame committee maintains the average.
Before breaking this down even more, we need to note that multiple players change positions mid career. For such Hall of Fame players I assumed their careers were exactly half of each position. I know this isn’t realistic, but at a certain point I gotta take short cuts. So a QB/K player would count as half a QB and half a K. For the rare triple position player, ^^Avon Blocksdale, I counted each position he played as 0.3.
^^Again, this is based on the players positions listed on the HoF list in the wiki.
https://wiki.sim-football.com/view/List_..._inductees
So during this period, S01-S13 classes produced 6.8 QBs, 5 RBs, 8.5 WRs, and etc. Between Offense (QB, RB, WR, TE, OL) vs Defense (DL, LB, CB, S) it has been Defense that has a higher rate of players making the Hall of Fame - 8.29% vs 8.03% for Offense positions. The 3 positions with the best percentage of making the Hall of Fame are Quarterback(14.17%), Linebacker(11.64%), and Kicker(11.43%). The three worst positions for making the Hall of Fame are Offensive Lineman(0.67%)[Blocksdale position switched so only counted as 0.3, if he counted a full 1 player, OL percentage would be 2.22%, still the lowest], Defensive Lineman(4.17%), and Tight End(6.98%). [Think Hall of Fame needs to give some Fair Rubs to all the big men]
However, going back to the idea of roster limitations for positions, Quarterbacks have the highest percentage of making the Hall of Fame because fewer Quarterbacks were drafted between S01 and S13 than all but three other positions: Offensive Lineman, Tight Ends, and Kickers. More Wide Receivers have actually made the Hall of Fame than Quarterbacks. Yet, almost 2x as many Wide Receivers were drafted than Quarterbacks, so the Wide Receiver percentage of making the Hall of Fame is only the 5th highest. The three positions most represented in the Hall of Fame are actually Wide Receiver(8.5 players), Linebackers(8.5), and Quarterbacks(6.8). The three positions least represented are Offensive Lineman(0.3), Tight Ends(3), and Defensive Lineman & Kickers both at (4).
Again this is for fun and media $$, strongly encourage everyone to choose the position they would enjoy playing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-KsM_rk...sp=sharing
In comparison, despite having the most Hall of Fame players, the S01 class only has 2 HoF players drafted above round 3.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-OMRlVP...sp=sharing
How long have actual Hall of Fame players played? The average has been 10.5 seasons, a median of 10. The shortest Hall of Fame career so far is 7, and so far by only 1 player. 3 Hall of Fame players played 8 seasons. 6 Players played 9 seasons. 15 Players played 10 seasons. 12 Players played 11 seasons. 7 Players made it to 12 seasons. And only 5 Players made it to 13 seasons. To put a percentage on those numbers - 79.5% of all Hall of Fame players played for 10 or more seasons. However the first five Hall of Fame Ballots didn’t have a 3 seasons wait period before a player could be on the ballot. If we only count Hall of Fame Players from after the rule was established, the percentage of Hall of Fame players that played 10 more seasons jumps to 85.3%.
Yet, to actually get into the Hall of Fame is still tough, only 29% of players that played 10 seasons are in the Hall of Fame. To maximize your odds of getting in play at least 11 seasons, 60% of players who play 11 or more seasons get in. The percentage is even better if you get to 13 seasons. So far 100% of players that have played 13 seasons have made the Hall of Fame, but as previously mentioned there are only 5 such players - a tiny 0.5% of all Hall of Fame eligible players.
You caught me. I lied a teeny, tiny, little bit there. This media is not the first time someone looked into the statistics of Hall of Fame Players. Back in the old days of jcink, about a year and a half @majesiu published the media "NSFL Hall of Fame Standards" after the induction of the S16 Hall of Fame class. He looked at a similar number of metrics that I will be reviewing later in this media. However since it has been over a decade of seasons and an exponential increase of players in the league, his data is just a tad out dated. He did a great job comparing which Hall of Fame players had Rings and certain Awards and which Hall of Fame players didn’t.
At the end of S24 @Baron1898 posted media updating @JuOSus original media "History of Pro-Bowl Appearances". My numbers for this section come straight from Baron’s media. While his list includes a numerous number of players not yet eligible for the Hall of Fame, it will suffice.
Looking at total Pro Bowls, the all time record is 13 by Hall of Fame player Dermot Lavelle. The fewest Pro Bowls by a Hall of Fame player is 4, Linebacker Harrif Ernston who was on the 5th Hall of Fame ballot. The average Hall of Fame player has been to 7.4 Pro Bowls. Remember that almost 80% of all Hall of Players played 10 or more seasons. So the average Hall of Fame Player made roughly 70% of the Pro Bowls during their career.
For most positions the highest number of Pro Bowls made by a player is 8. There are a few positions where the most Pro Bowls by a player is 7 or 9. Then there are few notable outliers to this: Safeties and Cornerbacks, Defensive Tackle, Offensive Lineman and Tight Ends.
Returning to the previously mentioned rule changes, Safeties and Cornerbacks were once lumped together in Pro Bowls as Defensive Backs. 13x Pro Bowl selectee Dermot Lavelle belongs to this group. Since the split, the most Pro Bowls by a Safety or Cornerback is 4.
The opposite occurred for Defensive Tackles and Defensive Ends, for a few seasons they were merged together before being split again. According to Baron’s media, the most Pro Bowls by a player as a Defensive Tackle is 6 and the most by a player as a Defensive Lineman is 4. The most Pro Bowls by an Offensive Lineman is 3. Yes, just three. And finally the last outlier between the positions for most Pro Bowls is Tight End, Paul DiMirio has 12 Pro Bowl selections.
Comparing the Pro Bowl Selections by current Hall of Fame players, it seems that voters have an easier time determining if players of certain positions are eligible for induction than others. Take Wide Receiver for example. Of all the players that have made the Pro Bowl as a Wide Receiver, 21.9% (12 players) of them have made it to 6 Pro Bowls. Of those 12 players all, but 1 are in the Hall of Fame, and only because he isn’t eligible yet.
Comparing that to Defensive End and Defensive Tackle we see a very distinct bias by Hall of Fame voters for offensive players. At roughly the same percentage, only 25% of Defensive End players (9 players) have made 3 or more Pro Bowls as a DE. Yet only 2 of those 9 players are in the Hall of Fame. Those two players have 8 and 6 Pro Bowls. If such a high standard for DEs was equally placed on WRs, every Wide Receiver would need 9 Pro Bowls to make the Hall of Fame; removing Maddox, Garden, Oles, Valentine, Fyodorovich, LeClair, and Crush from the HoF and leaving only Westfield and Willie. Same unfair prejudice is placed on Defensive Tackles to an even larger degree. Of all the players to make Pro Bowl as a DT, only 18% made it to only 4 or more Pro Bowls. Yet there is only one player that has made the Pro Bowl as a Defensive Tackle and is also in the Hall of Fame.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-QDny0e...sp=sharing
Even Linebackers, the position that predominantly wins Defensive Player of the Year, have a bit of a prejudice against them regarding Pro Bowls and Hall of Fame. At a lower percentage than Wide Receivers, of all Linebackers that have made Pro Bowl only 18.4% manage to make 5 or more (12 Players). However, only 50% of those same players have made the Hall of Fame (includes 1 not yet eligible).
Quarterbacks have a very similar favorable bias for them as Wide Receivers. 30% of all Quarterbacks have made it to 5 or more Pro Bowls and 75% of those players are in the Hall of Fame. Once Bigsby and Armstrong are eligible to be on the ballot, I expect the second percentage will be 100%.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-QExhsO...sp=sharing
These numbers paint a very clear picture. Based on only Pro Bowls, Defensive Players have a harder time accumulating Pro Bowls, yet have been held to an equal or higher standard for entrance to the Hall of Fame compared to their Offensive counterparts.
That said I want to emphasize this is only based on Pro Bowl and not the additional merits (Ultimus, Awards, Records, etc.) that play a part in being inducted to the Hall of Fame. With the previously mentioned rule changes for many positions this becomes an even more complicated matter. All I can do is urge voters to weigh the value of a Pro Bowl by each position individually and not by a specific all encompassing “Pro Bowl” value.
Of the 21 players that have won MVP 10 are Quarterbacks, 5 Running backs, 1 Wide Receiver, 1 Defensive End, 1 Linebacker, and 1 Safety. On the surface this is not surprising. Offensive players especially, Quarterbacks, have an easier time winning MVP. However, when we dig deeper it turns out 5 of those Quarterbacks aren’t even eligible for the Hall of Fame yet. The most recent MVP inducted to the Hall of Fame is Safety Danny Grithead. Up to S16 when he won MVP, only 5 QBs had won MVP, which was only 1 more than the number of Running backs to have won MVP. The recent run of MVPs going to QBs is a new phenomenon in ISFL history. In the first 13 seasons of the league, only 6 MVPs went to QBs, and two of those MVPs were shared with other position players. Only 30% of MVPs were won outright by a QB. Comparatively 10 of the last 12 MVPs (S14-S25) have been won by Quarterbacks. Researching more into this stark contrast in league MVP history could be a great media topic.
Moving on. Only 5 players have won MVP more than once, and three of those players are not in the Hall of Fame. Granted, two of those multiple MVP winners are not yet eligible, which leaves Jayce Tuck as the only multiple MVP winner not in the Hall of Fame. Even worse is that he is the only defensive player to win MVP multiple times, yet he’s the only defense MVP player not to be inducted. I bet he got punished and stricken from the history books.
By the nature of these awards we should expect double the number of players to have won Offense/Defense PotY (O/DPotY) compared to MVP, and there has been. 39 different players have won the award. 8 of those players won it twice, only 2 have won it 3 times; no player has won it more than that. The two players to win it 3 times are Mike Boss and Mo Berry.
Of all the players to win the award, 17 are in the Hall of Fame, roughly 43%, only a slightly higher percentage than MVP. Just as with pro bowls, the value of a O/DPotY on a players resume should be reflective of the player's position. Majority of the players to win these awards come from the same 3 positions: QBs (7 players), RBs (8) and LBs (10). So we should be more impressed by the few Wide Receivers, Cornerbacks, Safeties, and Defensive Linemen in league history that have won it.
149 players have won a Position Award, making Position Awards the most awarded award, yet it should still be held with respect. Remember as of S26, 1761 players have been drafted to the ISFL, only 8.46% of all players have won an award for being the best at their position.
Incredibly of the 149 players to win one, 40% of them have won multiple. Hall of Fame players average 2.2 Position Awards during their career. Only 9 of the 49 Hall of Fame Players did not win a Position Award. The most Position Awards by a single player is 9, accomplished by Hall of Fame Kicker Kulture Fulture. Though kickers kind of cheat since they’re eligible for both Kicker and Punter each season. The most by a non-kicker is 7 by Hall of Fame Tight End Paul DiMirio. Altogether 29 players have won 2, 19 players have won 3, 7 players have won 4, 2 players have won 5, 2 players have won 6, and the two players to win 7 & 9 are already mentioned.
Performance of the Year (PerotY) has a higher correlation with the Hall of Fame than I expected to see when I started compiling award data. Roughly 30% of those that have won Performance of the Year are in the Hall of Fame. However, only 16% of all Hall of Fame players ever won the award in their career. So far only two players have won PerotY multiple times, both are QBs - Hall of Famer Mike Boss and Wolfie McDummy.
Breakout Player of the Year (BPotY) has the lowest tally among Hall of Fame Players. Only 5 players in the Hall of Fame won the award during their career. 31 Players have won the award, 16% of those players are in the Hall of Fame.
Finally the award with the lowest correlation with making the Hall of Fame. Only 13% of all Rookie of the Year winners are in the Hall of Fame. That said, there are 7 Hall of Fame players that did win the award, which is 2 more than those that won Breakout Player of the Year.
^*^It wasn’t until Monday or Tuesday did I find Roster Lists of every single Ultimus Champion Team in the wiki. I stumbled upon them when searching player names for the player comparison section. I link the page for S01 Ultimus Champions. However I’m 99% confident you can't get to them directly from the wiki home page. You have to actively search for them.
https://wiki.sim-football.com/view/Seaso..._Champions
There is the wiki page “List of Ultimus Bowl wins by players”, but that is about 9 seasons behind and only lists players that have won 3 or more Ultimus. As such it would be a bigger time sink for me than I want to commit. If anyone does think it would worth their time to do, Wiki Team would probably pay you a good sum to update the page “List of Ultimus Bowl wins by players”.
In light of that decision, this part will only give the tally of Rings for players already in the Hall of Fame. This is also the first section that I relied heavily on data already gathered in majesiu’s HoF sheet. However, I did have to do some research for all the Hall of Fame players inducted since the media was posted.
The 49 HoF players average 1.8 Ultimus wins during their career, a median of 2. 85.7% of HoF players won at least one Ultimus during their career. This leaves only 7 players with 0 rings: 3 Kickers, 2 Linebackers, 1 Defensive Lineman and 1 DB. Of the other 42 players 15 of them have 1 Ultimus win, 12 have 2 Ultimus wins, 11 have 3 Ultimus wins, 2 have 4 wins, and 2 have 5 wins.
If any one ever did finally compile all the players with the number of Ultimus’ they have won, I expect a similar trend with career length. While a large percentage of the Hall of Fame players have only one Ultimus, the percent of players with one Ultimus and in the Hall of Fame is still low compared to all players that have won a single Ultimus, maybe even lower than the percentages we saw for career length.
Unfortunately the index doesn’t make for intricate season or decade splits for stat comparisons very easy to do, and I’m not gonna attempt to do so. What I have done is tally the number of times a HoF Player was still listed on a Top 10 list when inducted to the Hall of Fame. I am talking about the Top 10 Season, Career & Career Playoff Records lists that can be found on the index. Lets use Errol Maddox as an example to ensure everyone is following along. Errol Maddox was on the S26 Hall of Fame Ballot. As of the end of S25 Errol Maddox was still named twice for Top 10 Career Records (#3 for Receiving TDs & Longest Catch), once for Top 10 Season Records (#3 for Longest Catch), and 4x for Top 10 Career Playoff Records (#10 Catches, #6 Receiving Yards, #6 Receiving TDs, and #8 Punt Return Yards).
I did not dive into each individual record list, but simply compiled the numbers for each of the three groupings - Career, Season, and Career Playoff. There are multiple HoF Players that did not make or were no longer on a Top 10 Season (6 players on 0 lists) or a Top 10 Career Playoff (4 players on 0 lists). However there has only been 1 player to enter the Hall of Fame and not be on any Top 10 Career list - Johnny Blaze who was a part of the S26 class.
Here's a full breakdown for each grouping.
Top 10 Career:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 1
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 4.77
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 4
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 1
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 10
Top 10 Season:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 6
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 4.83
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 3
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 1
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 28
Top 10 Career Playoff:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 4
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 3.97
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 3
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 1
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 11
Top 10 Career, Season & Career Playoff combined:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 0
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 13.59
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 10
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 2
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 47
There are a couple things to note. The first is that there is some overlap between the Career and Season lists as demonstrated by our example with Maddox and the Longest Catch Record lists. Secondly a player can be named multiple times on a Top 10 Seasons list, such as Mike Boss who still has 3 of the Top 10 Season Passing Completions, but can only be listed once for a Career or Career Playoff list. Thus it makes sense that the record for number of times listed on Top 10 Seasons lists is almost 3x higher than the record for number of times listed on a Top 10 Career or Career Playoff lists. Third is that of course those players who played during the league’s inauguration would hold more records at time of induction than players do now. As seen in the below graph all three trend lines are decreasing, with the Number of Times a HoF Player’s Name Appears on Top 10 Seasons list decreasing the fastest. This has come to an extreme in the S26 HoF class. Depicted in the graph as well, S26 HoF class had the fewest average number of times HoF player names appeared on Top 10 Career and Top 10 Season lists. From the S26 class, Johnny Blaze is the first player to not appear on a single list in 2 of the 3 Groupings. His only surviving records were on Top 10 Career Playoff Lists.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-QlYMZr...sp=sharing
Average HoF Player
Career Length: 10.5 seasons
Pro Bowls: 7.4
Ultimus: 1.84
Awards: 3
Top 10 List: 13.60
(Final Note: I kind of hurried this portion of the media trying to beat both the current HoF vote and family visiting this weekend. As such it is not as clear or as organized as I would prefer it to look. Sorry.)
*^*I selected HoF Players at each position trying to avoid players that switched positions, and choosing players whose names i recognized. There was no attempt to force a certain narrative such as "TEs must win at least 2 Ultimus to be in the HoF". Accolade totals were gathered together after selecting the players.
Mike Boss -S01
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 14
Top 10 Lists: 47
Borkus Maximus III - S06
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 24
Joliet L Christ - S09
Seasons Played: 7
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 12
Cooter Bigsby - S14
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 12
Corvo Havran - S14
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 9
Stan Francisco - S14
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 8
Poll Players:
Jay Cue - S18
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 7
Franklin Armstrong - S15
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 9
Brock Phoenix - S19
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 0
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 2
Marquise Brown - S09
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 15
Owen Taylor - S02
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 9
Top 10 Lists: 23
Darren Smallwood - S02
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 19
Apollo Reed - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 10
Farley Hank - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 0
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Ludicolo Bigby - S15
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 3
Michael Vincent - S18
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 0
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Ashley Owens - S17
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 13
Forrest Gump - S15
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 11
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 14
Mathias Hanyadi - S18
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 7
Top 10 Lists: 10
Josh Garden
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 19
Trey Willie
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 17
Kazimir Oles
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 10
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 15
In regards to James Bishop, I believe he too will not make HoF. His Pro Bowl count would be the lowest of any HoF WR. That said the committee may see something in his career stats that Bishop could sneak in by a slim margin, specifically his Receiving Yards numbers. Despite playing 7 seasons of only 13 games, he still clawed his way to #6 on the Top 10 list for Career Receiving Yards.
Shane Weston - S01
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 6
James Bishop - S12
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 5
The third example is a player who switched positions from WR to QB. Compared to HoF QBs, Dexter Banks II accolades wouldn’t look too out of place. However compared to HoF WRs Banks is well short of the standard for Pro Bowls. It leads to a tough discussion about which half of his career is more important. Both of his Ultimus wins came as WR, but his awards came as a QB. Comparing him to the HoF player examples for both positions, I don’t think Banks will make HoF when he appears on the ballot.
Nate Swift - S13
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 4
Sunnycursed - S11
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 5
Dexter Banks II - S17
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 3
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 5
Paul DiMirio
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 12
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 7
Top 10 Lists: 11
Verso L’Alto
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 11
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 3
Johnny Blaze
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 2
Jordan Yates - S02
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 12
Fuego Wozy - S01
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 4
ILove Gimmy - S18
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Dan Miller - S09
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 6
Freezer Riposte - S12
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 3
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Thorian Skarsgard - S12
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 4
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 3
Bubba Thumper - S17
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 2
Nero Alexander - S15
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 5
Big Edd - S22
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 0
Johnathon Saint - S01
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 7
Julian O’Sullivan - S03
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 5
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 4
Austin Roenick - S06
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 5
Raymond Vans - S12
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 4
Lanzer Grievous - S15
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 3
Mo Berry - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 9
Top 10 Lists: 2
Tyron Brackenridge - S17
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 3
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 1
Quenton Bode - S15
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 7
Kolby Deringer - S09
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 1
Antoine Delacour - S01
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 14
Marc Spector - S02
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 5
Benson Bayley - S03
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 5
AJ Lattimer - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 2
David Rector - S18
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 1
Korrin Abernathy - S18
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 2
Jim Waters - S22
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 0
Blackford Oakes - S04
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 9
Dan Schneider - S10
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 5
Lennox Garnett - S11
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 10
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 10
Mason Blaylock - S19
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 1
Richard D’Attoria V - S15
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 0
Fatih Terim - S15
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 1
Turk Turkleton - S01
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 32
Dean Jackson - S05
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 11
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 17
Kulture Fulture - S11
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 12
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 9
Top 10 Lists: 19
Alex Dasistwirklichseinnachname - S15
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 17
**I started this in the middle of S26, just after the new HoF class was announced, but before the Ultimus. So S26 Awards and Pro Bowl info is not included.
****There is a lot of data compiled for this and not all of it is used for each part or section. I attempt to explain what exactly the data in each section encompasses, but if anything is unclear please don’t hesitate to ask questions
ISFL Hall of Fame Standards
Step One: Make a Player
Step Two: Earn TPE
Step Three: ?
Step Four: Enter Hall of Fame
Sounds easy enough, but what exactly does one must do at Step Three to make the Hall of Fame. Over the next several thousand or so words I will dissect current Hall of Fame players to help you, the current player, determine if you have enough merit for the Hall of Fame committee to induct you into the International Simulation Football League Hall of Fame!
Before we dive into this I want to say this. No two players' careers are alike, and while nothing says you can’t recreate as soon as you think your player isn’t Hall of Fame material, I strongly urge you not to determine the success or failure of your career by whether you will make the Hall of Fame or not. Especially in the early seasons of your career. Retiring early is a sure fire way of preventing your player from reaching the Hall of Fame. While if you wait and stay the course you could succeed. I know of several potential future Hall of Famers who had the career they had because someone else retired early.
What was my goal in this? Well initially it was for personal reasons, my player Walt Green is retiring (now retired) and I was curious how he stacked up against past Safeties of the league. I thought additionally it could be fun to compare non-Hall of Fame players to current Hall of Fame players, so I invited the league to submit requests for any player they wanted me to compare to current Hall of Fame players. Finally, I hope this helps the Hall of Fame committee remain consistent in their votes as we, the league, enter a new era. As we migrate to a new sim, those that played before the migration, or even before a 16 game season existed, will have a honest chance of making the Hall of Fame by being compared to their peers, and not the current meta.
Odds of Making Hall of Fame
As we dive into the Hall of Fame let’s start by looking at it as a whole. What are the requirements and what percent of players are actually inducted? To be added to a Hall of Fame Ballot your player must have played at least 5 seasons in the ISFL and have not played for at least 3 seasons. That’s it. Play for 5 seasons and then wait 3 and you will be added to the ballot. We are currently in S26^ and the League has drafted 1761 players in its history. Of those players only ~16% of them have made it on the ballot, with only ~2.7% of all players voted into the Hall of Fame. ^again a reminder that I started this and wrote most of it during S26.
However 45% of all players in the league were drafted in one of the last 8 seasons (think about that - 45% of all players in the league were drafted in the most recent 30% of league history). So really only an estimated ~955 players are currently eligible to be on the ballot which increases a player’s odds to ~30% to be on the ballot and ~5.1% to be voted into the Hall of Fame. These numbers have fluctuated over the course of the league’s history. When the Hall of Fame first began the induction rate was 0%, seriously this isn’t a math joke. The league went through two Hall of Fame ballots (S8 & S9) before finally inducting the first two players (Ian Bavitz and King Bronko) to the Hall of Fame on the third ballot in S10. Comparing our percentages for total vs eligible and ballot vs HoF, as the league continued adding more players to the Hall of Fame the percentages grew from 10% league total & 7% eligible to make the ballot and 0.5% league total & 0.39% eligible to make Hall of Fame in S10 - to - 37% league total & 20% eligible to make the ballot and 5.2% league total & 2.8% eligible to make Hall of Fame in S18. Since S18 those percentages have decreased over the last decade of seasons to their current percentages. Below is a table visualizing what I just said.
Table 1.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-4IMtBr...sp=sharing
Knowing that 45% of the league’s total number of players only started playing in the most recent 8 seasons, it is not a surprise that the percentage of Hall of Fame inductees increases with every Hall of Fame ballot from the first one in S8 to its highest marks at S17-S19. Currently the process has averaged 3 inductees a season with a standard deviation of 1.67; even in S12 which had the largest Hall of Fame ballot with 43 players (13 more than the next biggest), the Hall of Fame still only inducted 4 players. Since the average draft class from S03 to S14 was 31, the league was adding 1 player to the Hall of Fame for every 10 players getting drafted - a whopping 10%. With the large draft classes from S15 and on now becoming eligible for the The Hall of Fame we should see the percentages for ballot listing and Hall of Fame induction continue to decrease if the Hall of Fame committee maintains the average.
Where to Start?
Position
So you currently have a ~2.7% chance of making the Hall of Fame, but you still want to try. First step of starting any career is choosing a position. As the rookie guide mentions there is some of a roster limit for how many players of each position can be viable in the league since our players never get hurt. However we always support anyone to play whatever position you want to be. My first player was a safety and my new player is a wide receiver. But for the purpose of this media we might as well take a look at what positions have had the highest rate of making the Hall of Fame. During this segment our percentages might seem a bit more favorable than we’ve already seen, and that’s because I only pulled the position numbers for the draft classes that have had a player inducted to the Hall of Fame: S01 - S13. For those 13 classes specifically there were 610 players drafted and so far 51 of those players have been inducted, that’s 8.3% making the Hall of Fame. Before breaking this down even more, we need to note that multiple players change positions mid career. For such Hall of Fame players I assumed their careers were exactly half of each position. I know this isn’t realistic, but at a certain point I gotta take short cuts. So a QB/K player would count as half a QB and half a K. For the rare triple position player, ^^Avon Blocksdale, I counted each position he played as 0.3.
^^Again, this is based on the players positions listed on the HoF list in the wiki.
https://wiki.sim-football.com/view/List_..._inductees
So during this period, S01-S13 classes produced 6.8 QBs, 5 RBs, 8.5 WRs, and etc. Between Offense (QB, RB, WR, TE, OL) vs Defense (DL, LB, CB, S) it has been Defense that has a higher rate of players making the Hall of Fame - 8.29% vs 8.03% for Offense positions. The 3 positions with the best percentage of making the Hall of Fame are Quarterback(14.17%), Linebacker(11.64%), and Kicker(11.43%). The three worst positions for making the Hall of Fame are Offensive Lineman(0.67%)[Blocksdale position switched so only counted as 0.3, if he counted a full 1 player, OL percentage would be 2.22%, still the lowest], Defensive Lineman(4.17%), and Tight End(6.98%). [Think Hall of Fame needs to give some Fair Rubs to all the big men]
However, going back to the idea of roster limitations for positions, Quarterbacks have the highest percentage of making the Hall of Fame because fewer Quarterbacks were drafted between S01 and S13 than all but three other positions: Offensive Lineman, Tight Ends, and Kickers. More Wide Receivers have actually made the Hall of Fame than Quarterbacks. Yet, almost 2x as many Wide Receivers were drafted than Quarterbacks, so the Wide Receiver percentage of making the Hall of Fame is only the 5th highest. The three positions most represented in the Hall of Fame are actually Wide Receiver(8.5 players), Linebackers(8.5), and Quarterbacks(6.8). The three positions least represented are Offensive Lineman(0.3), Tight Ends(3), and Defensive Lineman & Kickers both at (4).
Again this is for fun and media $$, strongly encourage everyone to choose the position they would enjoy playing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-KsM_rk...sp=sharing
Draft
Next goal is to be drafted in the first round of your ISFL Draft. Of the current 49 Hall of Fame players, 44% of them were drafted in the first round. Unfortunately this is kind of a self fulfilling prophecy: Teams take the most active players in the draft first. While there’s debate about which is better, discord activity vs tpe earning activity, generally the players that earn the most tpe are the most active and are drafted first. The most active users tend to have the longest careers and most playing time, so they have a better chance of accumulating Hall of Fame worthy accolades. Since activity can be quantifiably measured by tpe, to a degree, the chances of Hall of Fame potential players falling in the draft is low. Coupled by the fact a majority of the leagues history drafts were lucky to reach 5 rounds (despite only having 8 teams), it is not a surprise that when one looks through draft classes beyond S02 the lowest any Hall of Fame player has been drafted has been round 3. Combined, there have only been 5 Hall of Fame players in Classes 03-13 that did not get drafted in the first round. As more of S15 and soon S18 becomes eligible for the ballot it’ll be interesting to see if any Hall of Fame players were drafted after round 03 in those classes, it would be a first since S02.In comparison, despite having the most Hall of Fame players, the S01 class only has 2 HoF players drafted above round 3.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-OMRlVP...sp=sharing
Career Goals
Your player has made it to the ISFL, and hopefully on a team you like. You are enjoying the position you picked, you are staying active and earning as much TPE that you can, and you surprised yourself and everyone else by being picked in the first three rounds - maybe even round one. Now what? What should be your goals to make the Hall of Fame? Specific stats like catches, yards, tackles are going to be wildly variable dependent on your position. While other goals such as Ultimus, Awards and Career Length can be obtained by any position. So I’ll start with the things any player regardless of position can accomplish. Career Length
We’ve already established the minimum: 5 seasons to actually be on a ballot; but what’s our Max? The regression chart in the Rulebook ends at 15 seasons. If we take a look at the ISFL peak TPE leader chart, the number 2 and number 4 players on the list have both retired - Kazimir Oles and Errol Maddox both played 11 seasons. The 5th highest player on the list, Nero Alexander, has continued to max earn tpe in his regression seasons, is currently playing season number 12 and could play a 13th. As of this point in league history no player has played more than 13 seasons. So there’s our Max.How long have actual Hall of Fame players played? The average has been 10.5 seasons, a median of 10. The shortest Hall of Fame career so far is 7, and so far by only 1 player. 3 Hall of Fame players played 8 seasons. 6 Players played 9 seasons. 15 Players played 10 seasons. 12 Players played 11 seasons. 7 Players made it to 12 seasons. And only 5 Players made it to 13 seasons. To put a percentage on those numbers - 79.5% of all Hall of Fame players played for 10 or more seasons. However the first five Hall of Fame Ballots didn’t have a 3 seasons wait period before a player could be on the ballot. If we only count Hall of Fame Players from after the rule was established, the percentage of Hall of Fame players that played 10 more seasons jumps to 85.3%.
Yet, to actually get into the Hall of Fame is still tough, only 29% of players that played 10 seasons are in the Hall of Fame. To maximize your odds of getting in play at least 11 seasons, 60% of players who play 11 or more seasons get in. The percentage is even better if you get to 13 seasons. So far 100% of players that have played 13 seasons have made the Hall of Fame, but as previously mentioned there are only 5 such players - a tiny 0.5% of all Hall of Fame eligible players.
Intermission One
There is an overwhelming amount of data about the Hall of Fame never before published in this manner. This media has become a monstrosity. I felt it may be beneficial to stage a few mental breaks from the main narrative to discuss sidebar topics.You caught me. I lied a teeny, tiny, little bit there. This media is not the first time someone looked into the statistics of Hall of Fame Players. Back in the old days of jcink, about a year and a half @majesiu published the media "NSFL Hall of Fame Standards" after the induction of the S16 Hall of Fame class. He looked at a similar number of metrics that I will be reviewing later in this media. However since it has been over a decade of seasons and an exponential increase of players in the league, his data is just a tad out dated. He did a great job comparing which Hall of Fame players had Rings and certain Awards and which Hall of Fame players didn’t.
Pro Bowl
Discussing a Players merit for Hall of Fame based on their Pro Bowl selections, and in the next section Awards, is a tad tricky due to the variable changes made to the Pro Bowl and Awards between S17 and S23. For several seasons the league was discovering the advantage of Safeties playing at the LB position *coughGritheadcough*. This discovery eventually resulted in multiple different rules to make Pro Bowl and Awards more fair to all positions. Rules implemented included DB being split into CB and S for Pro Bowl and Awards, Safeties can no longer play at Linebacker, creation of Flex position for Offense and Defense in the Pro Bowl, and probably a couple of other rules I'm forgetting/missed. I cannot say exactly how the Hall of Fame committee plans to adjust their expectations for potential Hall of Fame players from this time period. What I can do is provide a picture of how many Pro Bowls a player should strive for to make the Hall of Fame. At the end of S24 @Baron1898 posted media updating @JuOSus original media "History of Pro-Bowl Appearances". My numbers for this section come straight from Baron’s media. While his list includes a numerous number of players not yet eligible for the Hall of Fame, it will suffice.
Looking at total Pro Bowls, the all time record is 13 by Hall of Fame player Dermot Lavelle. The fewest Pro Bowls by a Hall of Fame player is 4, Linebacker Harrif Ernston who was on the 5th Hall of Fame ballot. The average Hall of Fame player has been to 7.4 Pro Bowls. Remember that almost 80% of all Hall of Players played 10 or more seasons. So the average Hall of Fame Player made roughly 70% of the Pro Bowls during their career.
For most positions the highest number of Pro Bowls made by a player is 8. There are a few positions where the most Pro Bowls by a player is 7 or 9. Then there are few notable outliers to this: Safeties and Cornerbacks, Defensive Tackle, Offensive Lineman and Tight Ends.
Returning to the previously mentioned rule changes, Safeties and Cornerbacks were once lumped together in Pro Bowls as Defensive Backs. 13x Pro Bowl selectee Dermot Lavelle belongs to this group. Since the split, the most Pro Bowls by a Safety or Cornerback is 4.
The opposite occurred for Defensive Tackles and Defensive Ends, for a few seasons they were merged together before being split again. According to Baron’s media, the most Pro Bowls by a player as a Defensive Tackle is 6 and the most by a player as a Defensive Lineman is 4. The most Pro Bowls by an Offensive Lineman is 3. Yes, just three. And finally the last outlier between the positions for most Pro Bowls is Tight End, Paul DiMirio has 12 Pro Bowl selections.
Comparing the Pro Bowl Selections by current Hall of Fame players, it seems that voters have an easier time determining if players of certain positions are eligible for induction than others. Take Wide Receiver for example. Of all the players that have made the Pro Bowl as a Wide Receiver, 21.9% (12 players) of them have made it to 6 Pro Bowls. Of those 12 players all, but 1 are in the Hall of Fame, and only because he isn’t eligible yet.
Comparing that to Defensive End and Defensive Tackle we see a very distinct bias by Hall of Fame voters for offensive players. At roughly the same percentage, only 25% of Defensive End players (9 players) have made 3 or more Pro Bowls as a DE. Yet only 2 of those 9 players are in the Hall of Fame. Those two players have 8 and 6 Pro Bowls. If such a high standard for DEs was equally placed on WRs, every Wide Receiver would need 9 Pro Bowls to make the Hall of Fame; removing Maddox, Garden, Oles, Valentine, Fyodorovich, LeClair, and Crush from the HoF and leaving only Westfield and Willie. Same unfair prejudice is placed on Defensive Tackles to an even larger degree. Of all the players to make Pro Bowl as a DT, only 18% made it to only 4 or more Pro Bowls. Yet there is only one player that has made the Pro Bowl as a Defensive Tackle and is also in the Hall of Fame.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-QDny0e...sp=sharing
Even Linebackers, the position that predominantly wins Defensive Player of the Year, have a bit of a prejudice against them regarding Pro Bowls and Hall of Fame. At a lower percentage than Wide Receivers, of all Linebackers that have made Pro Bowl only 18.4% manage to make 5 or more (12 Players). However, only 50% of those same players have made the Hall of Fame (includes 1 not yet eligible).
Quarterbacks have a very similar favorable bias for them as Wide Receivers. 30% of all Quarterbacks have made it to 5 or more Pro Bowls and 75% of those players are in the Hall of Fame. Once Bigsby and Armstrong are eligible to be on the ballot, I expect the second percentage will be 100%.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-QExhsO...sp=sharing
These numbers paint a very clear picture. Based on only Pro Bowls, Defensive Players have a harder time accumulating Pro Bowls, yet have been held to an equal or higher standard for entrance to the Hall of Fame compared to their Offensive counterparts.
That said I want to emphasize this is only based on Pro Bowl and not the additional merits (Ultimus, Awards, Records, etc.) that play a part in being inducted to the Hall of Fame. With the previously mentioned rule changes for many positions this becomes an even more complicated matter. All I can do is urge voters to weigh the value of a Pro Bowl by each position individually and not by a specific all encompassing “Pro Bowl” value.
Awards
Awards are an interesting metric as some awards are more valuable than others. I have decided to organize this by the value of each award. I believe we can all agree it is more valuable to win MVP than Offense or Defense Player of the Year, and that Individual Positional Awards are more valuable than Rookie or Performance of the Year Awards. Thus awards are organized in the order of importance as I believe we would agree on. All Award information is pulled from the Wiki up to the S25 awards.MVP
Through 25 seasons the Most Valuable Player Award has been won 28 times by 21 players. Won 28 times? How? Well S5 had two MVPs - Mike Boss and Eric Kennedy, and S13 had three MVPs - Joliet Christ, Marquise Brown and Julian O’Sullivan. Now you can impress all you ISFL friends during trivia night. Of those 21 players to win MVP, 9 have been inducted to the Hall of Fame. That equates to 42%. Of course 6 players are not yet eligible, so 60% of eligible MVP players are in the Hall of Fame. Of the 21 players that have won MVP 10 are Quarterbacks, 5 Running backs, 1 Wide Receiver, 1 Defensive End, 1 Linebacker, and 1 Safety. On the surface this is not surprising. Offensive players especially, Quarterbacks, have an easier time winning MVP. However, when we dig deeper it turns out 5 of those Quarterbacks aren’t even eligible for the Hall of Fame yet. The most recent MVP inducted to the Hall of Fame is Safety Danny Grithead. Up to S16 when he won MVP, only 5 QBs had won MVP, which was only 1 more than the number of Running backs to have won MVP. The recent run of MVPs going to QBs is a new phenomenon in ISFL history. In the first 13 seasons of the league, only 6 MVPs went to QBs, and two of those MVPs were shared with other position players. Only 30% of MVPs were won outright by a QB. Comparatively 10 of the last 12 MVPs (S14-S25) have been won by Quarterbacks. Researching more into this stark contrast in league MVP history could be a great media topic.
Moving on. Only 5 players have won MVP more than once, and three of those players are not in the Hall of Fame. Granted, two of those multiple MVP winners are not yet eligible, which leaves Jayce Tuck as the only multiple MVP winner not in the Hall of Fame. Even worse is that he is the only defensive player to win MVP multiple times, yet he’s the only defense MVP player not to be inducted. I bet he got punished and stricken from the history books.
Offense/Defense PotY
By the nature of these awards we should expect double the number of players to have won Offense/Defense PotY (O/DPotY) compared to MVP, and there has been. 39 different players have won the award. 8 of those players won it twice, only 2 have won it 3 times; no player has won it more than that. The two players to win it 3 times are Mike Boss and Mo Berry.
Of all the players to win the award, 17 are in the Hall of Fame, roughly 43%, only a slightly higher percentage than MVP. Just as with pro bowls, the value of a O/DPotY on a players resume should be reflective of the player's position. Majority of the players to win these awards come from the same 3 positions: QBs (7 players), RBs (8) and LBs (10). So we should be more impressed by the few Wide Receivers, Cornerbacks, Safeties, and Defensive Linemen in league history that have won it.
(Insert Position*) of the Year
*including Returner
149 players have won a Position Award, making Position Awards the most awarded award, yet it should still be held with respect. Remember as of S26, 1761 players have been drafted to the ISFL, only 8.46% of all players have won an award for being the best at their position.
Incredibly of the 149 players to win one, 40% of them have won multiple. Hall of Fame players average 2.2 Position Awards during their career. Only 9 of the 49 Hall of Fame Players did not win a Position Award. The most Position Awards by a single player is 9, accomplished by Hall of Fame Kicker Kulture Fulture. Though kickers kind of cheat since they’re eligible for both Kicker and Punter each season. The most by a non-kicker is 7 by Hall of Fame Tight End Paul DiMirio. Altogether 29 players have won 2, 19 players have won 3, 7 players have won 4, 2 players have won 5, 2 players have won 6, and the two players to win 7 & 9 are already mentioned.
Performance of the Year
Performance of the Year (PerotY) has a higher correlation with the Hall of Fame than I expected to see when I started compiling award data. Roughly 30% of those that have won Performance of the Year are in the Hall of Fame. However, only 16% of all Hall of Fame players ever won the award in their career. So far only two players have won PerotY multiple times, both are QBs - Hall of Famer Mike Boss and Wolfie McDummy.
Breakout Player of the Year
Breakout Player of the Year (BPotY) has the lowest tally among Hall of Fame Players. Only 5 players in the Hall of Fame won the award during their career. 31 Players have won the award, 16% of those players are in the Hall of Fame.
Rookie of the Year
Finally the award with the lowest correlation with making the Hall of Fame. Only 13% of all Rookie of the Year winners are in the Hall of Fame. That said, there are 7 Hall of Fame players that did win the award, which is 2 more than those that won Breakout Player of the Year.
Bring it All Together
Obviously looking at the winners of each individual award doesn’t give a full picture of how important awards are for Hall of Fame consideration. Remember when I said only 8.46% of all players have won a Position Award? That percentage only improves by 3% when we talk about winning any award. Only 11.8% of all players drafted in league history have won any ISFL award. A total of 209 different players have won at least one award (does not include S26). Of those 209 players 20% have made the Hall of Fame. The average Hall of Fame player has won 3.4 different awards during their career. The surprising thing out of all this is that 6 of the 49 Hall of Fame players never won an award in their entire career. All 6 of those players played defense positions.Ultimus
While I would have liked to give as in depth a look at all Ultimus winners as I did for awards, career length, Pro Bowls etc, but I am not. The wiki readily had available a list of players who had won awards, made pro bowl each season, and their draft season and for most players final season of play. ^*^Unfortunately there is currently no wiki list that I could find that lists every user player on each Ultimus winning team. ^*^It wasn’t until Monday or Tuesday did I find Roster Lists of every single Ultimus Champion Team in the wiki. I stumbled upon them when searching player names for the player comparison section. I link the page for S01 Ultimus Champions. However I’m 99% confident you can't get to them directly from the wiki home page. You have to actively search for them.
https://wiki.sim-football.com/view/Seaso..._Champions
There is the wiki page “List of Ultimus Bowl wins by players”, but that is about 9 seasons behind and only lists players that have won 3 or more Ultimus. As such it would be a bigger time sink for me than I want to commit. If anyone does think it would worth their time to do, Wiki Team would probably pay you a good sum to update the page “List of Ultimus Bowl wins by players”.
In light of that decision, this part will only give the tally of Rings for players already in the Hall of Fame. This is also the first section that I relied heavily on data already gathered in majesiu’s HoF sheet. However, I did have to do some research for all the Hall of Fame players inducted since the media was posted.
The 49 HoF players average 1.8 Ultimus wins during their career, a median of 2. 85.7% of HoF players won at least one Ultimus during their career. This leaves only 7 players with 0 rings: 3 Kickers, 2 Linebackers, 1 Defensive Lineman and 1 DB. Of the other 42 players 15 of them have 1 Ultimus win, 12 have 2 Ultimus wins, 11 have 3 Ultimus wins, 2 have 4 wins, and 2 have 5 wins.
If any one ever did finally compile all the players with the number of Ultimus’ they have won, I expect a similar trend with career length. While a large percentage of the Hall of Fame players have only one Ultimus, the percent of players with one Ultimus and in the Hall of Fame is still low compared to all players that have won a single Ultimus, maybe even lower than the percentages we saw for career length.
Player Stats
Player Stats is probably the hardest to quantify for two main reasons. The first is fairly obvious, what constitutes a Hall of Fame career statistically for one position isn’t translatable to another. Initially you are thinking yeah, well of course we shouldn’t compare a QB’s career stats vs a LB’s career stats. However I'm speaking even deeper in that the career stats of a career MLB may not even resemble the careers stats of a career SLB or a career LB at NB. Another example would be a speed back like Torenson vs a receiving back like Owens. The second reason is due the plethora of rule changes to help balance the system between positions. At the end of season 26 nearly half of the Top 10 Interceptions Seasons occurred in the first 4 seasons of the league. 5 of the Top 6 Sacks Seasons occurred in the first 3 seasons of the league. Wilf had a monster season of 20 sacks in S24, yet was still 12 sacks short of the record. In fact he is the only player on the Top 10 Sacks Seasons list after S16 - when the league switched to 13 games seasons.Unfortunately the index doesn’t make for intricate season or decade splits for stat comparisons very easy to do, and I’m not gonna attempt to do so. What I have done is tally the number of times a HoF Player was still listed on a Top 10 list when inducted to the Hall of Fame. I am talking about the Top 10 Season, Career & Career Playoff Records lists that can be found on the index. Lets use Errol Maddox as an example to ensure everyone is following along. Errol Maddox was on the S26 Hall of Fame Ballot. As of the end of S25 Errol Maddox was still named twice for Top 10 Career Records (#3 for Receiving TDs & Longest Catch), once for Top 10 Season Records (#3 for Longest Catch), and 4x for Top 10 Career Playoff Records (#10 Catches, #6 Receiving Yards, #6 Receiving TDs, and #8 Punt Return Yards).
I did not dive into each individual record list, but simply compiled the numbers for each of the three groupings - Career, Season, and Career Playoff. There are multiple HoF Players that did not make or were no longer on a Top 10 Season (6 players on 0 lists) or a Top 10 Career Playoff (4 players on 0 lists). However there has only been 1 player to enter the Hall of Fame and not be on any Top 10 Career list - Johnny Blaze who was a part of the S26 class.
Here's a full breakdown for each grouping.
Top 10 Career:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 1
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 4.77
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 4
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 1
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 10
Top 10 Season:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 6
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 4.83
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 3
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 1
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 28
Top 10 Career Playoff:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 4
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 3.97
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 3
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 1
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 11
Top 10 Career, Season & Career Playoff combined:
Players whose name was on 0 lists: 0
Average Times Player’s name was on a list: 13.59
Median Times Player’s name was on a list: 10
Fewest Times Player’s name was on a list (above 0): 2
Most Times Player’s name was on a list: 47
There are a couple things to note. The first is that there is some overlap between the Career and Season lists as demonstrated by our example with Maddox and the Longest Catch Record lists. Secondly a player can be named multiple times on a Top 10 Seasons list, such as Mike Boss who still has 3 of the Top 10 Season Passing Completions, but can only be listed once for a Career or Career Playoff list. Thus it makes sense that the record for number of times listed on Top 10 Seasons lists is almost 3x higher than the record for number of times listed on a Top 10 Career or Career Playoff lists. Third is that of course those players who played during the league’s inauguration would hold more records at time of induction than players do now. As seen in the below graph all three trend lines are decreasing, with the Number of Times a HoF Player’s Name Appears on Top 10 Seasons list decreasing the fastest. This has come to an extreme in the S26 HoF class. Depicted in the graph as well, S26 HoF class had the fewest average number of times HoF player names appeared on Top 10 Career and Top 10 Season lists. From the S26 class, Johnny Blaze is the first player to not appear on a single list in 2 of the 3 Groupings. His only surviving records were on Top 10 Career Playoff Lists.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-QlYMZr...sp=sharing
Intermission #2
I don’t have any fun little sidebar topic for this intermission. However we are almost done. Take a deep breath and look at this adorable puppy and his seal friend.Interposition Comparisons
We’ve made it a long way. Having sifted through many career variables we are ready to do some player comparisons, which I assume most of you are truly interested in. I shared a poll in discord a few times for player suggestions for comparison to current HoF players and maybe give my opinion on if they are HoF worthy. The S27 HoF class voting has commenced and I will include those players as well. So this will be broken down by position. The key career stats I’ll be comparing is career length, pro bowls, Ultimus rings, total awards won, and time name appears on a Top 10 list. First let’s see what the average HoF Player scores in each of those categories. Career Length is seasons played in the ISFL. Pro Bowls are total Pro Bowl listings (reminder my numbers came from Baron's media covering S01-S24). Ultimus is the number of Ultimus wins. Awards are total awards won. And Top 10 List is the total times their name appeared on a Top 10 List the season they were first on a ballot. If a player is still playing then it is the S26 index.Average HoF Player
Career Length: 10.5 seasons
Pro Bowls: 7.4
Ultimus: 1.84
Awards: 3
Top 10 List: 13.60
(Final Note: I kind of hurried this portion of the media trying to beat both the current HoF vote and family visiting this weekend. As such it is not as clear or as organized as I would prefer it to look. Sorry.)
*^*I selected HoF Players at each position trying to avoid players that switched positions, and choosing players whose names i recognized. There was no attempt to force a certain narrative such as "TEs must win at least 2 Ultimus to be in the HoF". Accolade totals were gathered together after selecting the players.
Quarterback
When looking at HoF Quarterbacks a large percent of them switched positions at some point in their career. At least according to the HoF Wiki page, the only HoF QBs that did not switch positions are Mike Boss, Bokus Maximus III, and Joliet L. Christ. I will use those three as our prime examples of the HoF’s expectations for a QB. With Mike Boss he is the league’s ultimate historical standard for the league. While Bronko may have entered the HoF first, Boss beats him in every other metric - more awards, more records, more pro bowls, more seasons. Borkus Maximus III is probably the best basic standard for a QB. Christ is an extreme outlier in regards to having the shortest ISFL Career in the HoF. Mike Boss -S01
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 14
Top 10 Lists: 47
Borkus Maximus III - S06
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 24
Joliet L Christ - S09
Seasons Played: 7
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 12
S27 HoF Ballot QBs
There are three QBs on the ballot this season and a real treat for the voters as two of them are pure QBs. The last time a class inducted two pure QBs was 2035 with the induction of Borkus and Christ. Looking at the three candidates the only one to check off all the key points is Bigsby, he should be guaranteed a first ballot and possibly unanimous inductee. Looking at Havran and Francisco both could be on the chopping block. Havran has everything except an Ultimus. If he had won at least one, based simply on the very superficial number tallys here, he’d be a sure fire Hall of Fame Player. If the committee is willing to look deeper into his career Havran would be used as a testament to how freaking impressive the Wraiths were at the time. Havran has a MVP, Off Player of the Year, and 3-peat QB ot Year, yet was routinely knocked out of the playoffs by Yellowknife. It might take multiple ballots, but I can see Havran being the first QB to enter the HoF without an Ultimus Ring. Stan Francisco had a position switch from TE to QB after a few seasons. While Stan has the Ultimus that Havran is missing, he is lacking the awards and low Pro Bowl count hurts. Stan might make it to a second ballot, but ultimately I see him missing the HoF.Cooter Bigsby - S14
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 12
Corvo Havran - S14
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 9
Stan Francisco - S14
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 8
Poll Submission QBs
We’ve got a great selection of players submitted here. Armstrong stands out here from his peers. He hits all the check marks we are looking for. There is no doubt he will be a first ballot HoF, and possibly unanimous. Both Jay Cue and Brock Phoenix have had great careers, I expect both will be in their respective team’s Hall of Fame, but don’t expect either to make the League HoF. While comparisons could be made between Cue and Havran, whom I just supported to make HoF, Cue doesn’t have an elusive MVP to compensate for not winning a Ultimus. Both Brock and Cue are still playing, but would need some incredible final seasons to change their HoF fortunes.Poll Players:
Jay Cue - S18
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 4
Top 10 Lists: 7
Franklin Armstrong - S15
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 9
Brock Phoenix - S19
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 0
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 2
Running backs
The three HoF Running backs I selected to be our examples are Marquise Brown, Owen Taylor, and Darren Smallwood. I believe Brown and Smallwood were RBs their entire career. Owen Taylor played Defensive End a few seasons, even making the Pro Bowl as a DE, however the majority of his career was at RB making it to 8 Pros Bowls as a RB for a total of 9 Pro Bowls during his career.Marquise Brown - S09
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 15
Owen Taylor - S02
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 9
Top 10 Lists: 23
Darren Smallwood - S02
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 19
S27 HoF Ballot RBs
The Running back position has a larger selection of payers compared to QB, but I anticipate only one of these four players will be voted in. Apollo Reed is the clear standout in this group. The main thing he has going for himself are his 3 Ultimus wins. Comparatively his number of Pro Bowls and Awards is fairly behind our three HoF RB examples. Being honest I could see the committee go either way with Reed, but I believe he will be inducted as a HoF player this ballot by a slim margin of 2-3 votes. Vincent and Hank do not have enough accolades to be considered. Ludicolo Bigby has a solid resume and a very successful career, even being tied for most Career Playoff Rushing TDs. Despite his accomplishments I do not expect him to make HoF.Apollo Reed - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 10
Farley Hank - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 0
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Ludicolo Bigby - S15
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 3
Michael Vincent - S18
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 0
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Poll Submissions RBs
The names of 8 different running backs were submitted for comparison. I’m only gonna look at three of them though. All three are top running backs of their generation. As of right now I think all three would make the HoF. Unfortunately all three can’t be on the ballot for another 3 seasons at minimum. During that time they may lose their places on a few Top 10 lists. While not something Gump should be too worried about thanks to his other accolades, especially his 11 Pro Bowls, it could hurt Owens chances. In comparison to our 3 HoF RB examples Owens is behind in Pro Bowls and Awards by several margins. If he gets knocked off a few too many Top 10 lists over the next several seasons Owens will go from borderline HoF to missing it. The same could be a concern for Hanyadi as well, however Hanyadi’s Awards resume is at another level compared to his RB peers. Having a MVP in his accomplishments will give him leeway with voters concerning his stat records and career length shorter than most HoF players, I expect we will see Hanyadi in the HoF in 3 seasons.Ashley Owens - S17
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 13
Forrest Gump - S15
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 11
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 14
Mathias Hanyadi - S18
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 7
Top 10 Lists: 10
Wide Receivers
Wide Receiver position has a pretty good distribution of making the HoF with a new WR being added almost every other season. Josh Garden and Trey Willie are both from the very beginning of the league while Kazimir Oles is our example from the second half of league history. Here we see an interesting change specific for the position. In comparison to their RB and QB HoF peers all three of our example WRs have extremely high Pro Bowl count, but a low Award tally. While all Garden and Oles supplemented their Pro Bowl counts with special team appearances, both still made it to 7 Pro Bowls as WRs. Josh Garden
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 19
Trey Willie
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 17
Kazimir Oles
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 10
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 15
HoF Ballot WRs
We have an interesting player on the ballot this season. Shane Weston is a S01 player that was on the S15 HoF Ballot. This is the same ballot that two of our HoF example players were on - Josh Garden and Darren Smallwood. At the time Weston received 1 vote for HoF. It will be very interesting how the current committee will vote on this player a second time around. Weston was also submitted by several users on the Poll for me to do a comparison of. For each player the number I used for Top 10 Lists is the number of times their name occurred on the lists the season they were on the HoF ballot. Since Weston is now appearing on the ballot 23 seasons later, it’d be wise to see what his split is. In the S26 index Weston’s name still appears on 5 Top 10 lists. So his records have really stood the test of time in the league. However his low pro bowl count compared to current HoF WRs and no Ultimus win or Awards I don’t see the committee changing the initial ruling.In regards to James Bishop, I believe he too will not make HoF. His Pro Bowl count would be the lowest of any HoF WR. That said the committee may see something in his career stats that Bishop could sneak in by a slim margin, specifically his Receiving Yards numbers. Despite playing 7 seasons of only 13 games, he still clawed his way to #6 on the Top 10 list for Career Receiving Yards.
Shane Weston - S01
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 6
James Bishop - S12
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 5
Poll Submissions WRs
Including Shane Weston I received submissions to compare 8 different WRs. Sorry not sorry I won’t be doing all of them. I picked the three names I was most interested in checking accolades for. Two of these players are very similar to each other. The third is different from what we have seen so far. Sunnycursed was already on the S23 HoF ballot and received 0 votes to make the HoF. Despite having a high number of Pro Bowls and 2 Ultimus wins, it appears the committee was pretty critical of him not earning any Awards. Nate Swift is in a similar boat, but has yet to be on a HoF Ballot. Will the committee be more lenient given he has 1 more Ultimus and 3 additional seasons compared to Sunnycursed, or will Nate suffer a similar fate. If I was on the committee I would be hesitant to vote Swift into the HoF given the standard set by not voting in Sunnycursed. The third example is a player who switched positions from WR to QB. Compared to HoF QBs, Dexter Banks II accolades wouldn’t look too out of place. However compared to HoF WRs Banks is well short of the standard for Pro Bowls. It leads to a tough discussion about which half of his career is more important. Both of his Ultimus wins came as WR, but his awards came as a QB. Comparing him to the HoF player examples for both positions, I don’t think Banks will make HoF when he appears on the ballot.
Nate Swift - S13
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 4
Sunnycursed - S11
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 5
Dexter Banks II - S17
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 3
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 5
Tight Ends
This is one of the few positions that doesn’t have a player on the current HoF Ballot or had any players suggested in the Poll. So this will be a pretty short part. I’ll just share the accolade numbers for three HoF Tight Ends.Paul DiMirio
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 12
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 7
Top 10 Lists: 11
Verso L’Alto
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 11
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 3
Johnny Blaze
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 2
Offensive Linemen
Not a surprise that there are no Offensive Linemen on the current ballot, am a bit surprised no one suggested any in the Poll. Even if someone did I am not sure how i would compare them to current HoF players as every HoF player had been a Offensive Lineman position switched very early in their career. So I will use this space to consider a player that was suggested that doesn’t really fit in anywhere else. Jordan Yates made it to Pro Bowls at three different positions - 4 as RB, 2 as OL, and 1 as WR. It is no longer awarded and thus I have not been including it in Award tallys, but for the first 10 seasons of the league there was the Most Outstanding Player Award. Jordan Yates won it in S05. Based on this simple overview of Yates’ career, and that he was on the 4th ever HoF ballot, I am actually surprised he didn’t make it. In addition his name still appears on three Top 10 lists. After 26 seasons he is still #3 for Catches, #1 for Receiving Yards, and #4 for Receiving TDs in a Season. I believe he is a top candidate to be reconsidered for HoF by the committee.Jordan Yates - S02
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 12
Defensive End
There are only three players on the wiki Hall of Fame page listed as Defensive End, and only one player has DE as their only position. It took Fuego Wozy three ballots before finally being voted into the HoF.Fuego Wozy - S01
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 4
HoF Ballot DEs
I am all for the HoF committee to have more relaxed standards for certain positions such as DE, but ILove Gimmy falls a bit too short of even the basic comparison to Wozy. Gimmy will not be in the HoF.ILove Gimmy - S18
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Defensive Tackle
In a similar vein as DEs, there is only one player on the HoF list that is noted to have played only Defensive Tackle - Dan Miller. Dan Miller was inducted to the HoF before the 3 season wait period. Dan Miller - S09
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 6
HoF Ballot DTs
We are graced with two players on the ballot listed as only DTs! How exciting is that? We could have not just one, but two pure DTs make the HoF on a single ballot. Skarsgard should be unanimous to make the HoF, in comparison it could be argued Skarsgard accomplished more than Miller. The real question is if the committee will induct Riposte. In comparison to some current star DTs, Riposte’s accolades feel lacking with 0 awards and 0 records. However given that in 26 seasons only one pure DT has made the HoF, perhaps the committee should consider giving the position some leeway. Unfortunately I’m doubtful of that occurring and anticipate Riposte will miss HoF. Freezer Riposte - S12
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 3
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 0
Thorian Skarsgard - S12
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 4
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 3
Poll Suggestion DT:
From the Poll suggestions I received names for exactly three DTs. Bubba Thumper and Nero Alexander have a list of accolades that would rival probably half of the players currently in the HoF. Super impressive careers and anyone who was concerned for them should have no doubts about their HoF candidacy. Regarding Big Edd, he is still in the middle of his career having barely passed the 5 season minimum to even make a ballot. Not having a Ultimus and zero records hurts his case, but his two Pro Bowls were as defensive tackle and not “defensive lineman”. If he continues his career playing 4-6 more seasons he may gather the additional accolades needed to boost him into the HoF. As of this moment though I would vote ‘No’ if I was on the committee.Bubba Thumper - S17
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 2
Nero Alexander - S15
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 5
Big Edd - S22
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 2
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 0
Linebackers
Once again we have a little bit of a position specific expectations for HoF - get the Pro Bowls and don’t worry about awards.Johnathon Saint - S01
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 7
Julian O’Sullivan - S03
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 5
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 4
Austin Roenick - S06
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 5
HoF Ballot:
We have three top tier players on the ballot for this position. For Raymond Vans this is his third time being on the Ballot. 100% of all HoF Players were on their first ballot, but only 17% of all players make the HoF on their first ballot. For those who make it to two ballots, the odds of making HoF jump to 39%. There have been 10 players to be on 3 HoF ballots, 50% of those players were voted into the HoF on the third ballot. Those who made it to a 4th ballot, only 25% of them got into the HoF. So it is a do or do not ballot for Vans. This is Grievous and Berry’s first HoF ballot. Expect Berry to get in unanimously. Compared to our HoF examples Grievous is short on Pro Bowls and Seasons Played, but is a 3x Ultimus Champ. In Vans defense, while he only has 1 Ultimus, his awards are of better quality. Vans has a Def Player ot Year and two LB ot Year awards, while Grievous has only one LB ot Year and his second award is Def Rookie ot Year. Given how similar Vans and Grievous’ accolades look, I think if one gets in both will get in, and it is hard to vote ‘No’ on a 3x Ultimus Champ.Raymond Vans - S12
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 4
Lanzer Grievous - S15
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 3
Mo Berry - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 9
Top 10 Lists: 2
Poll Submissions LBs:
Tyron and Quenton are both still playing. Deringer has already been on multiple HoF Ballots. Tyron did start his career as a Safety, but most of his seasons played at SLB and switched positions to LB when the rules changed. Both Tyron and Quenton glaringly are missing awards, thankfully two of our HoF examples only have 1 award each, so not too big of a concern. Unfortunately both are very short on Pro Bowls. With Deringer having been on three very recent ballots and the HoF Committee not voting him in, both Brackenridge and Bode should be concerned about their chances. Of the three players here Bode probably has the best argument to make the HoF with his 7 records. His most impressive one is holding the record for Career Tackles, which he has a 156 tackle lead over 2nd place. If the committee ultimately votes ‘No’ on Vans this season, then the chances for these three players to make it in is slim. Tyron Brackenridge - S17
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 3
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 1
Quenton Bode - S15
Seasons Played: 13
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 7
Kolby Deringer - S09
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 5
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 1
Corner back
I know, I know. I didn’t include Dermot Lavelle in our Cornerback HoF Player examples. Lavelle is the Mike Boss of not just Cornerbacks, but of Defense. Lavelle is the epitome of a HoF player and sometimes I think Dermot maintains the wiki just to remind people how good his player was.Antoine Delacour - S01
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 8
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 14
Marc Spector - S02
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 5
Benson Bayley - S03
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 6
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 5
HoF Ballot CB:
Lattimer is the lone CB on the ballot this season, and he is a tricky case. The obvious thing that sticks out are his three Ultimus’. The second thing is that he switched positions from DT to CB after S17. So all four of his Pro Bowls came as a CB and why I have listed him here instead of with the DTs. He does have some Special Teams Stats, but I don’t think there’s enough to make a large difference on the committees judgement. Again as I said with Grievous, it is hard to say ‘No’ to a 3x Ultimus Champ. I think this will be a very close vote and will be decided by a slim margin either way. The tipping point might be that his two records are related to being a returner and not related to being a Cornerback.AJ Lattimer - S15
Seasons Played: 9
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 2
Poll Suggestions CBs
Again I only received three CB player names from the Poll. All three players are still playing, one of which barely pass the 5 season requirement to be on a ballot. Unfortunately for all three the lack of Pro Bowls hurts their HoF case. Maybe it has been even tougher in the recent seasons for CBs to break out and get noticed, something I am sure the committee will consider. Based on their current accolade counts, I expect all three will not be in the HoF.David Rector - S18
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 1
Korrin Abernathy - S18
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 2
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 2
Jim Waters - S22
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 0
Safety
Oh boy is Safety such a difficult position to compare. Remember all of those rule changes we talked about in previous sections? Without doing a position change Schneider has been to Pro Bowls as a DB, Safety & LB. It just shows how versatile a safety was during a period in the league history. GMs were lining up safeties in their depth charts at CB, NB & SLB; positions that could rack up the PDs, Sacks, Tackles and INTs typically better than safeties positioned at FS and SS. Regardless, we can’t dismiss that Schneider has accolades as good as one of the first Safeties to make the HoF. Blackford Oakes - S04
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 9
Dan Schneider - S10
Seasons Played: 10
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 5
Lennox Garnett - S11
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 10
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 1
Top 10 Lists: 10
Poll Suggestions Safeties:
With no safeties on the ballot this season I will jump straight into the Poll Suggestions. As of right now Mason Blaylock will have the best chance to make the HoF. He is still playing and could gather a few more accolades to set him apart. However, given our HoF examples, the standard is set pretty high and I don’t think Blaylock or D’Attoria will impress the committee once they’re on a ballot. Terim simply didn’t play long enough. He had a good start to his career, but it ended way too short to be considered.Mason Blaylock - S19
Seasons Played: 8
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 2
Top 10 Lists: 1
Richard D’Attoria V - S15
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 4
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 0
Fatih Terim - S15
Seasons Played: 6
Pro Bowls: 1
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 0
Top 10 Lists: 1
Kicker
Kicker is a special position. It is the only position that you can make it to the Pro Bowl in two positions or win two position awards each season without needing to be a returner. This is how Fulture has more Pro Bowls than he has seasons played. Notice two of our three HoF example Kickers have 0 Ultimus wins. For most kickers the goal is Awards and Records.Turk Turkleton - S01
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 9
Ultimus: 1
Awards: 6
Top 10 Lists: 32
Dean Jackson - S05
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 11
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 5
Top 10 Lists: 17
Kulture Fulture - S11
Seasons Played: 11
Pro Bowls: 12
Ultimus: 0
Awards: 9
Top 10 Lists: 19
Poll Suggestion Kicker:
With no kickers on the current HoF ballot we jump right into the players suggested in the poll, of which we have one. Mr. Alex Longest Last Name In The League debunks the usual kicker trend of not trying to win Ultimus’ and went and won himself three of them. While he only has half as many Awards as his HoF counterparts, he has a good number of Pro Bowls and currently plenty of records. We will see if those last after another two seasons when his name can finally be on a ballot. Currently if I was on the committee I would vote ‘Yes’. Alex would have the most Ultimus’ of any HoF Kicker - by 2.Alex Dasistwirklichseinnachname - S15
Seasons Played: 12
Pro Bowls: 7
Ultimus: 3
Awards: 3
Top 10 Lists: 17
End