What is the earliest Elway could have retired and still make the HOF?

[sneakers]

I would guess after he passed the 40000 yard mark

[MOtorboat]

He was in after the third Super Bowl appearance, IMO.

[BroncoJoe]

He was in after the third Super Bowl appearance, IMO.

/thread

[Al Wilson 4 Mayor]

He was in after the third Super Bowl appearance, IMO.


/thread

Yep

[Dean]

That is a tough question. With all of Randy Gradishar's accomplishments he is not in the HOF and through no fault of his own may not get there.

[weazel]

Birth

http://www.wickedwearshirts.com/products/2/18652074.png

[MOtorboat]

That is a tough question. With all of Randy Gradishar's accomplishments he is not in the HOF and through no fault of his own may not get there.

I think that's just different than a No. 1 overall pick who was tagged as the greatest prospect ever and then dragged three teams to the Super Bowl and eventually won two more. To me, and I would think to most voters (although I realize I am speculating here), because he's a quarterback, because he was drafted No. 1 and because he had played in three Super Bowls that's when he became a lock.

[Joel]

I think that's just different than a No. 1 overall pick who was tagged as the greatest prospect ever and then dragged three teams to the Super Bowl and eventually won two more. To me, and I would think to most voters (although I realize I am speculating here), because he's a quarterback, because he was drafted No. 1 and because he had played in three Super Bowls that's when he became a lock.
Rightly or not, I think that's pretty much the case, especially the last one. How many once-in-a-lifetime players are effectively disqualified if they never win a SB? If we exclude QBs, the answer is "almost ALL of them." It wouldn't bother me so much if the same people making that argument didn't turn around and reject key contributors to multiple championships for lacking the sustained dominance deemed insufficient for non-champions. Obviously post-merger induction's not restricted to guys who defined their position for a decade AND won multiple championships, else we'd have a maximum of a little over a dozen inductees every 10 years.

Elway came in with a TON of buzz (not hype) though, and sustained it with The Drive and winning every other AFCCG of his first 7 seasons. That was probably enough unless he'd fallen off a cliff after 1990, though one could argue that the '97 season was what really clinched it (even though he'd begun declining and Terrell Davis was SB MVP and the ONLY person to run for 3 TDs in a single SB: Rings matter more at the Hall than HOW they were obtained.)

[Rick]

Conception.