The Pro Football Hall of Fame is highly exclusive, and many legendary players find themselves stuck behind a bottleneck in the voting process. Some of them seem to get passed over year after year.
One of those players is former Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith, who enjoyed a long and successful career but has yet to get the call to the Hall. Smith believes his body of work is worthy of induction.
“I feel I’m deserving, but I don’t get to vote,” Smith said, via Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette.
In his career, Smith recorded eight seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards, and he played a key role on two Super Bowl winners. He led the league with 113 receptions in 2001, and he was named to three Pro Bowls and earned two first-team All-Pro selections.
Smith also compiled 11,389 career receiving yards, which ranks 34th in NFL history. That figure is higher than the career totals of Hall of Fame wideouts such as Lance Alworth, Raymond Berry, Harold Carmichael and Fred Biletnikoff, but those receivers played before 1990.
Smith’s best Hall of Fame argument might be those two Super Bowl titles, as he led Denver in receiving yards nine times, including during their championship seasons in 1997 and ’98.
“We had a 1,000-yard rusher every year I was there (except for one),” Smith said. “You’ve got to look at my complete body of work. During my era, we won more games than just about anybody. At the end of the day, what I cared about more than anything was winning, and they can’t take the Super Bowls away from me.”
Those Broncos offenses have multiple players currently in the Hall of Fame including John Elway, Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe, but none of the team’s wide receivers has been inducted.
Smith is a member of the Broncos Ring of Fame, as the team gave him the honor in 2012, but he is still hoping to be immortalized in Canton.
