Patriots Hall of Fame 2022

Ferm Sheller

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Mar 5, 2007
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Vrabel, Wilfork, and Mankins are the three candidates for the Pats HoF in 2022. Fans will vote one player in. My questions: (1) Who wins? and (2) Who do you think should win?

I say Wilfork gets in, but that it's Vrabel's turn (Vrabel has been on the ballot for six years and his career with the Pats began 4-5 years before Wilfork's and Mankins's did). I think that all three should eventually get in, as all three are worthy.

https://www.patriots.com/news/patriots-announce-2022-hall-of-fame-finalists
 

mikeford

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Aug 6, 2006
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All 3 guys deserve to get in but I think Big Vince was the best of the 3 and he never played/went anywhere else. Vrabel definitely deserves it but it feels weird to put him in while he's head coach of a conference rival.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Mar 5, 2007
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All 3 guys deserve to get in but I think Big Vince was the best of the 3 and he never played/went anywhere else. Vrabel definitely deserves it but it feels weird to put him in while he's head coach of a conference rival.
Right, and he also seems to be a bit salty about how his time in NE ended (which, unfairly or not, is likely to be held against him).
 

Anthologos

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Jun 4, 2017
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All 3 guys deserve to get in but I think Big Vince was the best of the 3 and he never played/went anywhere else. Vrabel definitely deserves it but it feels weird to put him in while he's head coach of a conference rival.
Sadly, Vince did—two years with Texans I think.
Maybe putting Vrabel in will soften him up a bit…
I agree all are worthy.
 

Bowhemian

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Nov 10, 2015
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All 3 guys deserve to get in but I think Big Vince was the best of the 3 and he never played/went anywhere else. Vrabel definitely deserves it but it feels weird to put him in while he's head coach of a conference rival.
Wilfork played 2 seasons with the Texans-although in my mind that is irrelevant.
I agree with you on Vrabel.
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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There will definitely be a backlog of deserving candidates over the next several years. All 3 should be enshrined, but would give the nod to Wilfork first, as I think he had the most impactful career.

Over the next 4-5 years, Welker, Edelman, Adam, Ghost, Solder all become eligible. Then you’ll have Gronk, McCourty, Hightower 5 years after they call it a career, which could be this year.
 

MuppetAsteriskTalk

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Feb 19, 2015
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My vote is Vrabel. He was a monster on D in the regular season and playoffs in the early SB years, and also caught TD's in multiple SBs.
 

Ale Xander

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Oct 31, 2013
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I think Wilfork gets in before the other two. As he should. And I LOOOOOVED Vrabel.
 

rodderick

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To me out of the three guys Mankins was the better player at his position, but arguably his two worst games as a pro came in the two Super Bowls he played in and he didn't win a ring, Vrabel was the worst player of the three, but was involved in the most team success and had the most impact, memorable plays, even on offense. Vince to me has the best mix of having a great personality, being a part of multiple titles and being a great player, so if we can only pick one guy I'd choose him.
 

BigJimEd

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Jan 4, 2002
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All deserved but Vrabel is a distant third for me.
Wilfork would get my vote. Great player and personality. One of the all time great Patriots!

Fwiw, Pro Football Ref has Mankins with an AV of 114 over his 9 years with the Pats. Wilfork 101 over 11 years. Vrabel 66 over 8.
 
Apr 24, 2019
1,278
Vrabel has apparently somehow become underrated by Patriots Nation, which is crazy. All are deserving, all will get in, Vince will win this year, but my vote is for Vrabel, who was FANTASTIC, made a shit ton of big plays (on both sides of the ball), was a tremendous teammate and a champion.
 

E5 Yaz

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No one will get a bigger kick out of the photo of Vince carrying the football than Vince himself
 

jsinger121

@jsinger121
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Jul 25, 2005
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I love Vince. Happy for him. That Vrabel isn't in yet is ridiculous.
I mean Vrabel was always going to have to wait especially behind these guys.

Bledsoe 2011
Troy Brown 2012
Bruschi 2013
Law 2014
McGinest 2015
Kevin Faulk 2016
Raymond Clayborn 2017 (long overdue)
Matt Light 2018
Rodney Harrison 2019
Richard Seymour 2020
 

jsinger121

@jsinger121
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Jul 25, 2005
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He had to wait over - and I love these guys, but come on - Kevin Faulk and Matt Light???
Matt Light was a 3 time pro bowl LT including a first team all pro in 2007 vs Mike Vrabel who only reached the pro bowl in 2007 with an all pro that year as well. Matt Light was way more important protecting Tom Brady’s blind side IMO. Vrabel will get in but he has to wait behind other players because you know there was many during a 20 year dynasty that are deserving. And let’s not forget that Vrabel didn’t end on good terms with New England either on his way out to Kansas City after the trade. The fans (who are the ones who vote) remember that stuff.
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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Faulk played 161 games for the Pats over 13 seasons; Light played 155 over 11 seasons. Both were with the team for their entire playing careers. Vrabel played 125 games over 8 seasons, and played for 2 other teams as well. I certainly think Vrabel belongs in the Pats Hall of Fame, but I cannot criticize the fans for voting for Faulk and Light over him.

Of the players in the queue, Vrabel, Mankins, and then Welker are the ones most deserving. At least those 3 players have the benefit of a small gap before the next phase of players (plus Adam) from the 2nd dynasty start becoming eligible. And, as much as I hate to bring it up, there is also the Bill Parcells question, but they may need to do a special "contributors" vote for that to happen. Still, Parcells may not have that much time left; he's nearly 81 and there were reports he wasn't in the best of health.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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Faulk played 161 games for the Pats over 13 seasons; Light played 155 over 11 seasons. Both were with the team for their entire playing careers. Vrabel played 125 games over 8 seasons, and played for 2 other teams as well. I certainly think Vrabel belongs in the Pats Hall of Fame, but I cannot criticize the fans for voting for Faulk and Light over him.

Of the players in the queue, Vrabel, Mankins, and then Welker are the ones most deserving. At least those 3 players have the benefit of a small gap before the next phase of players (plus Adam) from the 2nd dynasty start becoming eligible. And, as much as I hate to bring it up, there is also the Bill Parcells question, but they may need to do a special "contributors" vote for that to happen. Still, Parcells may not have that much time left; he's nearly 81 and there were reports he wasn't in the best of health.
Agree with every bit of this.

Look at the list from the last 10 years. 8 of the guys won multiple rings. The only two who didn't were Drew, who saved the franchise and also contributed to the 2001 title, and Raymond Clayborn, who wasn't part of the dynasty but was obviously deserving.

So then we have Vrabel, who played less than Mankins, but won 3 titles and moreover had some absolutely huge moments during those title runs (I'd argue he should have been the MVP of SB 38, with 2 sacks (including a strip sack that set up the first TD), and scoring a TD himself.

Then we have Mankins, who was outstanding for 9 years but never won a title (and had a hand in one of the SB losses, fair or unfair as that may be).

And then we have Welker, who was outstanding for 7 years but also never won a title (and had a hand in one of the SB losses, fair or unfair as that may be).

Re: Parcells, we've been over this before, but he is obviously a tricky candidate due to how he left the team. I'm indifferent as to whether they let him in as a special contributor or something like that. But I don't see the fans ever voting him in, especially with how many more players need to be voted in over the next 10-15 years.
 

BigJimEd

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Jan 4, 2002
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Yeah, I don't see it with Parcells anytime soon. Too many ahead of him. He was only in NE for four years. Got them to a SB but was .500 overall. A case could probably be made for Raymond Berry over him.

For Vrabel, he'll get his due but with only one per year, some guys in this group are going to have to wait.

To me, as said, I think all finalists were deserving but Wilfork was a no-brainer.
 

Ralphwiggum

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Jun 27, 2012
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Wilfork was clearly the most deserving (IMO) so glad to see him get the nod. One of my favorite Patriots of all time, and by all accounts also an awesome human being.

In terms of Vrabel, I don't think it is some great injustice that he's not in yet. Definitely a key cog in the first dynasty with some signature plays, but if he wasn't used on offense I'm not sure he stands out as much from some other guys. And I don't know that a handful of plays on offense should move the needle for him (although admittedly two TDs in close SB victories do matter). He'll get in eventually but I'm fine with him waiting until Wilfork, Light and even Mankins are in.