Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Would you put Hopkins in the 'all time great' camp?
Because for many of those guys, they became all time greats by VIRTUE of their performance in their 30s. It's a self-selecting group; it's how they accumulated those numbers - by simply continuing to play at a very high level for another 3-4 years into their 30s.
For example, at 29 Chad Johnson looked for all the world like an 'all-time great' and then...wasn't. Nobody considers Roddy White an 'all time great' but through his late 20s he put up 6 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons and averaged almost 1,300 yards/season over that span.
He plays 3-4 more years at that level and his numbers land him in the top 15-20 of all time. But he didn't. He isn't considered an 'all time great' BECAUSE his didn't perform into his mid 30s.
Playing well into their mid-30s is what makes the majority of these guys fall into 'all-time great' status with notable exceptions like Julio Jones and Calvin Johnson who took the Sandy Koufax/Pedro Martinez route and were just so damn dominant in their primes that they didn't need longevity.
I don't think Hopkins falls into that latter category and I don't see anything to confidently state he'd qualify for the former.
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I would say he's an all-time great. The greatest ever, maybe not. But in the conversation for top -10 all-time? Just look at the list of QBs he's had to deal with, and he still posted six 1,000+ yard seasons, and another that was 40 yards short of 1,000 yards, with Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage as his QBs.
Give me another example of an all-time great WR that has had a worse group of passers to contend with, because I honestly can't think of one. And coaching. Holy Mother of God.
How many great WRs would do as well as Deandre, much less better, given the QBs and HCs/OCs that he's carried in his career?
He's been elite, in spite of his QBs and coaches, and unlike most great WRs, he's had to do it almost entirely by himself.