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If you’re in agreement with ESPN staff writer Bill Barnwell, there are seven current Pittsburgh Steelers players who are potential future Hall of Famers. You can probably guess which player is a ‘100% lock.’ That would be Ben Roethlisberger, who has two Super Bowl rings and just a handful of wins from passing both Dan Marino and John Elway on the all-time career wins list.
According to Barnwell, there are no other Steelers who he regards as ‘likely’ to get in, which means they have “between a 70% and 99% chance.” He has two more who are “in the running”—with a 40% and 69% chance—those being outside linebacker T.J. Watt and center Maurkice Pouncey.
It’s still a little early to start putting T.J. Watt and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the same sentence, but another first-team All-Pro season like last year would certainly put him in the conversation.
Maurkice Pouncey and the Pro Football Hall of Fame
As for center Maurkice Pouncey, he’s a polarizing figure, at least when it comes to discussions relating to the Hall of Fame. Barnwell notes that Pouncey fits the “magic 8+2 formula” for getting elected to the Hall—the 8 referring to Pro Bowls and the 2 referring to first-team All-Pro honors—but he thinks there are other factors that could compromise Pouncey’s chances.
“The only thing likely to keep him out of Canton is an electorate that habitually underrates interior offensive lineman in favor of an endless stream of running backs,” quips Barnwell. Well, that and a Super Bowl appearance. (The Steelers went to the Big Game in Pouncey’s rookie year, but Doug Legursky started Super Bowl XLV at center.)
Yet there are data-oriented NFL analysts who believe that Pouncey has no business being mentioned in the same breath as the Hall of Fame, including the guys from Pro Football Focus, who recently placed him on their All-Average Team. For what it’s worth, Pouncey didn’t appreciate being called ‘overrated’ and fired back on Twitter, calling Sam Monson a “fake analyst.”
Steelers with ‘Work to Do’
Meanwhile, Barnwell gives four other Steelers a 10% to 39% chance of one day getting elected to the Hall of Fame. In my estimation, two of those—wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick—haven’t accomplished enough yet to warrant discussion.
The other two—guard David DeCastro and defensive end Cameron Heyward—have the Pro Bowl/first-team All-Pro commendations to warrant serious consideration, assuming they can continue to play at a high level for at least several more seasons.
As for DeCastro, he lands in the ‘work to do’ category because of an unfavorable comparison to former Steelers guard Alan Faneca.
“DeCastro has five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances and two All-Pro nods; if Faneca can’t get in with nine consecutive Pro Bowl appearances and five All-Pro shots, DeCastro still has a lot of work to do,” concludes Barnwell.
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