This could be turning into a pretty good year for big-name retirements. There’s Jason Taylor for sure. Seems LaDainian Tomlinson is considering hanging it up. And if reports from around the Interwebs are true, Steelers wideout Hines Ward is about to say goodbye to the NFL, as well. (EDIT: Or perhaps not …)

Taylor and Tomlinson would seem to be sure thing inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame at this point. But Ward is an interesting case. He’s close — right on the borderline either way. His numbers were very, very good, but was he that good? Or did he benefit from playing in the NFL as the game — and the long-time run-heavy Steelers — transitioned more and more toward the pass?

You can find many of the arguments and much of the discussion on Ward here at a post we did on Ward a couple years ago. The folks over at Behind The Steel Curtain also made a pretty good case for his ultimately deserving enshrinement in this post here, which also is a couple years old.

If Ward does call it a career, he closes with 1,000 catches for 12,083 yards and 85 receiving touchdowns (he added another rushing TD), which according to profootballreference.com puts him at eighth, 18th and 13th all-time (the 86 total touchdowns puts him 39th there).

Ward was the MVP of the 2005 Super Bowl win and he was selected to four Pro Bowls, which is a somewhat middle-of-the-road number. He also never made the Associated Press First-Team All-Pro list, though he was named to the second team three times. And he did make first-team on the Pro Football Weekly team once.

As the Behind The Steel Curtain post points out, Ward was a devastating blocker and a great team leader, intangibles that can only help and not hurt his efforts to make the Hall of Fame.

I honestly don’t have a clue whether voters will see fit to enshrine Ward or not. If I’m a Steelers fan, I’m hoping at least a couple of Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed get in soon, or Ward runs the risk of getting caught up in that wash.

Don’t forget also that neither Randy Moss nor Terrell Owens played this year. They reportedly weren’t the great leaders and teammates Ward has been in Pittsburgh, but their numbers eclipse those put up by the Steeler great. And if they stay out of the game, they’d be eligible a year earlier than Ward — and from what I’ve read, few expect them to go in on the first ballot, despite their individual accomplishments.

All this leaves Ward right on the borderline, in my opinion. I certainly wouldn’t be offended if he was elected, but there are other people not currently in the Hall whose cases I think are stronger. What are your thoughts?

Is Hines Ward a Hall of Famer?

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