11-06-2023, 04:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-15-2023, 02:54 PM by xenosthelegend. Edited 1 time in total.)
Ranking every HOF TE
Yes, I’m doing another one of these and I will keep doing them until I finish every position. TE is a pretty weak position all time with only 5 HOF TE’s (assuming I didn’t miss anyone, if I did tell me) so compared to my other articles in this series ( RBs and WRs and I kind of did QBs) the concept is the same but the scoring is different. I am judging TE’s in 7 categories: catches, receiving yards, receiving TD’s, pancakes, positional awards/all-pros, pro bowls and ultimus wins. Catches, receiving yards and receiving TD’s are going to be worth their rank x4. First place out of 5 is 20 points while last place out of 5 is 4 points. Pancakes are going to be worth their rank with no multiplier, so first is 5 and last is 1. Pro Bowls are going to be worth 1.5 points while positional awards are worth 3.5 points. Lastly, an ultimus win is going to be worth 7 points, about twice as valuable as an all-pro and worth around 5 pro bowls. I have all the data in a spreadsheet if anyone wants to see. One last note, I think the scoring still fairly ranks the TE’s but I made it higher scoring to properly evaluate each part of what makes a good TE so expect higher scores and larger margins between TE’S. Ok now that the scoring is set up, time to rank the TE’s.Number 5: Austin McCormick (42)
Austin McCormick is the first TE on this list, and for good reason. He is a worthy HOFer, but he doesn't stack up well against his peers. McCormick is last in almost every stat compared to other HOFers. He’s last in yards, TD’s, positional awards, pro bowls and ultimus wins. The only thing he really excels at is that he was a better blocker than most of the other TE’s as he has 245 pancakes, the 3rd most of the 5 TE’s. He had a very good career, but isn’t on par with some of the other guys on this list. He just doesn't have the accolades that everyone else has. But, despite that, it’s still worth looking into his HOF career. McCormick spent his entire career with the Second Line and is a franchise legend. He started his career in S19 and had an average rookie season with only 300 yards and 1 TD. But he had a good sophomore season with 600 yards and 3 TD’s as the Second Line were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. McCormick came back in his 3rd season with 680 yards and 6 TD’s as the Second Line went on an Ultimus run as McCormick caught the opening touchdown of Ultimus bowl XXI as the Second Line went on to win 33-13 in McCormick’s only ultimus win. He was very consistent, always having at least 600 yards after his rookie season. He only reached one 1,000 yards season in S27 with 1,002 yards on 86 catches for 2 TD’s and a pro bowl nod. He also won two TEotY awards in the two years after the ultimus win. That pro bowl in S27 was McCormick's 6th and final pro bowl with wins in S21-24 and S26-27. He decided to retire with NOLA after S28 ending his HOF career.
Number 4: Johnny Blaze (64.5)
Johnny Blaze comes in at 4th on this list because he has the accolades but is probably the 2nd worst player here statistically. Like all the other TE’s on this list he has a ton of pro bowls (8 pro bowls) and a couple TEotY awards (3) but Blaze is last or 2nd last in catches, yards and TD’s. He is also the worst blocking TE with only 150 pancakes, almost 100 less than any other HOF TE. But, Blaze is tied for the most Ultimus titles of any HOF TE with 3 which boosts him in the rankings.Now let's look at his HOF career in more detail. Blaze had a great rookie season with a solid 450 yards and 7 TD’s, the 3rd most of any season in his career and enough to make the pro bowl as a rookie. He then followed it up with a 900 yard season in S15 and another pro bowl. His best season statistically was S16 with 94 catches for 1,128 yards and 11 TD’s, making his 3rd pro bowl and winning his first TEotY award. Blaze was also a key part in the Otters 3-peat in S17-19 as he had 3 900 yard seasons, 2 TEotY awards and 3 pro bowls during the 3-peat. He also contributed in the ultimus bowls themselves, catching the game sealing TD in S17 and a 30 yard TD to start the S18 ultimus. I do find it a little funny that two of Blaze’s best seasons were not during the 3-peat and did not win TEotY. In S20 and S21 he had over 1,000 but didn’t win TEotY because of Jammerson Irving. Blaze then spent one season on the Sailfish before retiring and making the HOF in S26.
Number 3: James Angler (75.5)
James Angler is ranked 3rd on this list because of his stats. He’s 3rd in catches and TD’s and 2nd in yards. He also has 2 ultimus wins to pair with 2 positional awards and 2 all pros. (In the spreadsheet it only says 3 because he was all-pro and won a positional award in the same season and he shouldn’t benefit from playing in like the 3 years there were both awards.) Angler also made 6 pro bowls which is actually tied for last among HOF TE’s because of the lack of competition. Angler started his career faster than Blaze or McCormick with a 900 yard rookie season as Blaze’s replacement on the Sailfish. His 2nd season was even more impressive with almost 1,400 yards and 8 TD’s and got robbed of a pro bowl and TEotY. (Heath Evans had 317 less yards and 3 fewer TD’s but somehow won the award.) Angler had another great season with 1,200 yards and 5 TD’s and made his 2nd pro bowl. (This time Angler shouldn’t have won TEotY as Jeffery Phillips caught 12 TD’s.) Angler then had a down year for his standards with only 870 yards and 5 TD’s but rebounded with 1,170 yards and 8 TD’s as the Sailfish went on an ultimus run. The Sailfish rewarded Angler’s great year with a win over the Second Line in the ultimus to win Angler his first ultimus. Angler then had two more good years in S28 and S29 before regression started to hit. Aside from the fluke of not making a pro bowl in S24 he made pro bowls in S23-S29. Angler was able to win one more ultimus in S30 during the twilight of his career and retired with the Sailfish after S31.
Number 2: Verso L'Alto (92)
Verso L’Alto had a very different career from the other TE’s previously mentioned. Unlike the other 3, his career is less highlighted by dominance and more by insane consistency. L’Alto never had more than 850 yards or a season with 9 TD’s but played 13 years with only one really bad season. Partially because of his consistency and the weakness of TE at the time L’Alto won a pro bowl every year from his 2nd season to his 2nd last season, an insane 12 pro bowls in a row. His consistency led to 950 catches, almost 8500 yards and 57 TD’s. Those numbers allow him to be the 2nd best HOF TE, now let's dive into his career.L’Alto started out with a bang, going for 729 yards on 92 catches for 8 TD’s in his rookie season, even winning offensive rookie of the year. He took a step back in his sophomore season as he only had 600 yards and 4 TD’s. This started a touchdown slump of 3 straight years with less than 5 TD’s in a season. Even though he had struggled to reach the personal success of his rookie year the team excelled in S9 all the way to the Ultimus, but lost 37-24 to NOLA, with the Hawks still looking for their first championship. L’Alto’s S10 was especially interesting with 89 catches for 880 yards but only able to cash one into the end zone. Even with the lack of TD’s, L’Alto was still a major factor in getting the Hawks back through the playoffs to an Ultimus rematch with the Second Line. This time the Hawks prevailed, beating the Second Line 29-23 for L’Alto’s first Ultimus win. S10 also kicked off what you could describe as the prime of L’Alto’s career as he followed up that season with 3 750 yard, 5 TD seasons and two TEotY awards. The Hawks were also good enough to make it back to the Ultimus, starting to form a championship rivalry with the Second Line after 3 straight Ultimuses against them. The Hawks came up just short at defending their crown in a 42-36 OT loss to the Second Line.
After one more year on the Hawks in S12 he joined the Colorado Yeti in S13, just in time for their playoff run. They made it almost all the way but came up just short of an Ultimus win losing 24-21 to the defending champion otters. After his one season on the Yeti he returned back to the Hawks and won back to back TEotY awards for the second time (S11,S12 and S14,S15). L’Alto was also able to win one more Ultimus in S15 as the Hawks smoked the Sabercats 49-0 in the largest blowout in Ultimus history and tying the record for most points in an Ultimus and setting the record for fewest points allowed in an Ultimus. L’Alto would make one more Ultimus appearance in S17 but the Hawks were no match for the Otters as they lost 28-17 as the Otters kicked off their three-peat. L’Alto would have one more solid season in S18 making his last pro bowl. He finished his career as age got the best of him after S19. He finished his career as possibly the best playoff TE ever with the most catches of any player in a postseason career. He retired as a sure fire HOFer and lands as my 2nd best HOF TE of all time.
Number 1: Paul DiMirio (127.5)
Anyone who has been around the league long enough knew who was coming up. Paul DiMirio has the consistency of L’Alto with a peak similar to Angler. Paul DiMirio made 12 pro bowls in 12 years. That's right, DiMirio made a pro bowl in every single one of his seasons in the ISFL. Not even L’Alto can match that consistency. DiMirio also had an insane peak with 7 TEotY awards in a row between S3 and S9 which is just unparalleled by anyone else at any position. Even counting special teamers, no one else has ever won more than 6 TEotY awards, distancing himself from every other player in ISFL history. I haven’t even gotten into the raw career numbers yet which are also insane. 1,110 catches (most in ISFL history) 11,500 yards (16th all time when including WR’s) and 72 TD’s which is 15 more than the 2nd most for TE’s. DiMirio was a monster and now it's time to get into his career.DiMirio was drafted by the Philadelphia Liberty in S2 and started off pretty well. DiMirio had 600 yards and a touchdown to start his career which was enough for a pro bowl in a weak year. DiMirio also was able to avoid a sophomore slump with a 800 yard 4 TD season which won DiMirio his first TEotY award. But DiMirio really kicked off his success and dominance in S4 with his first 1,000 yard season. He kept it up with an even better 1,200 yard 7 TD season, possibly the best season of any TE up to that point. But either way, DiMirio immediately one upped himself in S6. DiMirio’s S6 is likely the best TE season in ISFL history. The numbers just don’t make sense for a TE: 135 catches (2nd most ever for one season) 1,600 yards and 10 TD’s. That looks like a Kai Sakura season, not a TE season. DiMirio was a massive reason for the Liberty reaching their first Ultimus during his historical season but the Liberty lost to the Otters 23-17 as Mike Boss and co. finished the Otters 3-peat. But DiMirio came back after the disappointing loss with another insane season. DiMirio would catch 104 passes for 1,150 yards and a career high 11 TD’s. DiMirio was again able to get the Liberty to Ultimus where they would rematch the Otters. This time the Liberty were able to defeat the greatest dynasty in ISFL history in a 28-19 win over the Otters.
DiMirio was in the middle of another great season in S8 when he got traded to Second Line in a blockbuster deal with the Liberty getting a boatload in return. But DiMirio carried on into another 1,000 yard 10 TD season (though he would never do either of those again) as the Second Line made a push for the Ultimus. Sadly they came up short in a 24-13 loss to the Wraiths but DiMirio and the Second Line would definitely be back. DiMirio regressed a little from one of the best players in the league to a normal pro bowl caliber player. Despite the drop in production below 1,000 yards (900 yards) and 10 TD’s (7 TD’s) the Second Line made it back to the Ultimus and cruised to a 37-24 Ultimus win. In S10 the Second Line were back as DiMirio continued his long, consistent decline. DiMirio was still able to put up good numbers though as the Second Line rematched the Hawks in a agonizingly close 29-23 loss as the Hawks lifted their first trophy. The Second Line had a borderline dynasty during this period, as they made it to their 3rd straight Ultimus as they rematched another borderline dynasty in the Baltimore Hawks. The Second Line got the better of them this time though, winning 42-36 in OT in the wildest Ultimus Bowl ever. This was the Second Line’s last hurrah with a lot of veterans retiring and the organization falling out of relevancy. DiMirio himself would play two more productive pro bowls years with the Second Line before retiring as the best HOF TE.
Thanks for reading! Here is the spreadsheet one more time with my other sources (ISFL Index, ISFL Wiki and Wolfie Bot)
SAVE THE WIKI!