Arizona Cardinals, 2004-2020
You know, if the Chargers had just taken this guy with the No. 1 overall pick in 2004 — instead of selecting Eli Manning before flipping him for Philip Rivers — San Diego would have had triplets of Drew Brees, LaDainian Tomlinson and Larry Fitz. And Antonio Gates. Oh, man — what could have been! Instead, Larry went third overall to Arizona, where he made 11 Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro three times (receiving one first-team honor and two second-team nods). The man twice led the league in receptions (103 in 2005; 107 in 2016) and did the same in receiving touchdowns (12 in 2008; 13 in ’09), while also providing one of the greatest postseason runs ever for a receiver (30 catches for 546 yards and seven touchdowns in the 2008 playoffs). Not to mention, he was the 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year. The Hall of Fame’s had a wideout logjam for quite some time, but I expect Larry to jump the line.
I believe Brees and Fitzgerald will be the only first-year eligibles from the player pool to make the cut. Now if you’re asking me about Bill Belichick, I would certainly add him to the class as a Coach/Contributor selection. Absolute no-brainer. Then again, Ichiro Suzuki wasn’t a unanimous choice for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which makes me want to mistrust all Hall of Fames forever.
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