Antonio Brown, wide receiver, Pittsburgh Steelers
Statically speaking, Brown is already a borderline Hall of Famer. He’s averaging 90 receptions, 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns per season. Give him 12 or 13 years of that type of production, and we’re talking about an all-time great here.
There is, however, more than just stats that need to be taken into account here. First off, Brown is playing in an NFL where the rules for defensive backs would have allowed the likes of Jerry Rice to put up an average of over 2,000 yards per season. Now add in the fact that today’s NFL is the most pass happy in the history of the league, and the opportunity to put up huge numbers increases ten-fold.
After all, Brown has seen 150-plus targets in each of the past four seasons. For comparison’s sake, Rice saw 150-plus targets six times in a 20-year career. No wonder Brown is on pace to shatter his yardage record.
With all that said, the numbers are too mind-boggling for us not to consider Brown a Hall of Famer in waiting. When your numbers are even on the same stratosphere as Rice, you need to start fitting yourself for a jacket in Canton.
We’re not too sure how the remainder of Brown’s career will play out. Ben Roethlisberger has only committed to playing for one more season. The Steelers don’t have a legitimate franchise quarterback behind him on the roster. And it sure looks like this offense will be run through Le’Veon Bell (literally) from here on out.
That could all impact Brown’s ability to keep up at this current pace. Even then, from what we’ve seen thus far, he already seems to be a sure-fire Hall of Famer.