LARAMSinFeb. Henry plays a Hall-friendly position and just won a rushing title. • Can Baker Mayfield's game be fixed? Peters has All-Pro and even Hall of Fame ability. Quarterbacks like Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason and Steve McNair won league MVP without earning enshrinement. Mathieu is a great player and just turned 28, so he still has plenty of time, but he probably needs four or five more Pro Bowl seasons or a DPOY victory to really get in the discussion. A healthy, available Garrett is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate and could rise quickly. Gronk has five first-team All-Pro appearances. But history suggests that his on-field performance makes him a Hall of Fame lock. He has been one of the five best players at the second-most lucrative position in football over the past five years, and the fact that he was traded for two first-round picks and then delivered a wildly successful season with all of that attention in 2018 helps him. While injuries have cost Watt 32 games over the past four seasons, his unprecedented four-season peak from 2012 to 2015 locked up things. In the running (40% to 69%): QB Cam Newton, CB Stephon Gilmore. He was excellent in his third season, but since then, his production has roughly been in line with that of Robby Anderson. While he has made six Pro Bowls, that's not typically enough for interior linemen to make it into the Hall. If Wagner makes it to another Pro Bowl or two, I don't think Willis' status will matter. I don't care what PFF says about Peters. People in favor of him will point to his stats, which are clearly better than those of Eli Manning, but that ignores the point; Manning isn't getting into the Hall because of his regular-season stats. No offensive lineman is ever a lock when guys like Faneca still aren't enshrined, but Smith plays the most prominent position on the line for the most popular team in the league. Prescott has made two Pro Bowls over his first four seasons, but his best résumé point is winning Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2016. Wentz's injury history this early in his career also doesn't bode well for his chances of playing deep into his 30s. Seymour has a better résumé and more Super Bowl rings and hasn't made it in, but he peaked earlier in his career; if Campbell can stay productive and win a ring or two with the Ravens, it might push him into more significant consideration. He'll have a better shot once reunited with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. He turned 32 on Friday, and while there could be more left in the tank, he probably needs another Pro Bowl season or two to ensure he makes it. Work to do (10% to 39%): S Tyrann Mathieu. While guys like Franco Harris and Champ Bailey managed to make it to the Hall with similar starts to their careers, standouts like Chris Hinton, Ricky Watters and Donovan McNabb have come up short without getting to that next level. While the Ravens looked like they got the better end of the trade they still had to pay Peters. He's ahead of guys like Von Miller, Dwight Freeney, Terrell Suggs and Bruce Smith, and while he played more games than all but Suggs, the fact that he was a productive pass-rusher from the jump as a 21-year-old is a positive. Returning to form and earning a seventh Pro Bowl nod in his first season with the Ravens got Thomas back on track. Video by Terez A. Paylor (tpaylor@kcstar.com). Elliott has already won two rushing titles across his first four seasons, and that might be enough on its own. Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame monitor ranks Edelman 110th among wide receivers, and that gives him credit for winning three Super Bowls. His 2016 season was one of the most impressive years we've ever seen from a quarterback, as he dominated during the regular season and won league MVP. As he turns 30 in September, Gilmore probably needs at least two more seasons in which he has a credible case as the best cornerback in football -- or a really long peak. Edelman's career as a starter really didn't begin until he was 27, so while his case is built on postseason performance, I still don't think he has the regular-season production needed to supplement a case. While Witten, 38, is years removed from his peak, he's going to finish his career with 11 Pro Bowl appearances and two first-team All-Pro nods. Collins was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 2016 and has three Pro Bowls across his first five seasons. Jets favored to land No. "Once you go through something like that and you experience the worst of it, you know you don't want to go down that dark road ever again.". My lasting memory of Jones is from September of 2015 at the Oakland Coliseum when he straddled Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper on the ground after a play. Getting traded for peanuts had to be an eye opener too. Like Campbell, Heyward didn't earn widespread notoriety until he was approaching 30, with the Steelers star becoming a first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler for the first time in his seventh season. Fuck Marcus Peters. In the running (40% to 69%): RB Todd Gurley. Xavien Howard made the Pro Bowl in 2018 and would be the best candidate, but he has missed an average of six games per season across his four pro campaigns. Last season, Thomas became the second wide receiver to win Offensive Player of the Year. Ten years after he retires, we're more likely to look at his two first-team All-Pro nods and forget those times he guessed wrong and gave up touchdowns with the Chiefs and Rams. 69 overall. Jackson and teammate Kyle Fuller both slipped last season, but each earned Pro Bowl nods, and that's going to matter more to voters 15 years from now than how either player actually performed in 2019. • Postponed CFB seasons » | Opt-outs » 4 overall pick will start his career at left tackle after Nate Solder opted out of this season. • Making sense of Mahomes' deal » Since there have been only 346 people elected to the Hall of Fame (some of whom aren't even players), we don't always have great measures or estimates for what players at each given position have to do to make it. But in 2012, LSU head coach Les Miles announced that Mathieu was dismissed from the team after failing too many drug tests. Lock (100%): QB Drew Brees. Work to do (10% to 39%): C Alex Mack, DT Grady Jarrett. Work to do (10% to 39%): TE George Kittle, DE Nick Bosa. (Justin Simmons, who was one of the NFL's best safeties a year ago, is still waiting for his first Pro Bowl appearance.). Bell's case as a scheme- and personnel-transcendent back fell apart in an ugly 2019 season, with the former Steelers playmaker averaging just 3.2 yards per carry. Stafford posted gaudy numbers earlier in his career when the Lions had him lead the league in attempts, but he has made it to one Pro Bowl and hasn't won a playoff game in 11 seasons. Maybe he can call Mathieu, who learned his lesson and once again carries a cell phone. JAX | KC | LAC | LAR | LV | MIA | MIN Lock (100%): QB Patrick Mahomes. That was in 2007. Pouncey fits that magic 8+2 formula I mentioned earlier with regard to Atkins, and at 31, he should still have a couple more Pro Bowls in him. He was 77. If he recovers and returns to his 2017-18 form, he still has plenty of time to get back on the Canton track, given that he turned 26 this week. OBJ hasn't made a Pro Bowl since 2016, and while this could be a bounce-back year for the former Giants star, another middling campaign would push him into the "Work to do" tier.