Is Carnell Lake a Hall of Famer?

by Blitzburgh on Jun 16, 2008 2:56 PM EDT Comment 9 comments

Time for some more speculating, as we still have about a month or so before training camp kicks off in Latrobe, PA for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Today's question: is Carnell Lake a Hall of Famer?

The credentials:

PRO BOWLS (5): 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
ALL-PRO SELECTIONS (1): 1997

Here are the safetys currently in the Hall of Fame: Ken Houston, Paul Krause, Yale Larry, Ronnie Lott, Mel Renfro, Emlin Tunnel, Larry Wilson, Willie Wood.

Of those 8 players, all had more interceptions than Lake. By a long shot, in fact. Even guys like Yale Larry, who played in the 50s predominantly, when passing the ball was certainly not done with the same type of regularity that it is today, had more career interceptions than Lake.

Despite the meager interception totals, Lake's tackle totals are very sound. His three year stretch from 1991-1993, where he had 83, 85, and 91 tackles respectively, is a tremendous accomplishment. Compare that to Ed Reed's best season (also a SS) of 71 tackles and Troy Polamalu's best season of 74 tackles and suddenly the debate becomes a little more interesting.

However, at the end of the day, Carnell Lake will probably fall short of reaching the Hall of Fame. The interception total of 16 is just too skimpy I'd guess for him to warrant serious consideration from the voters. That said, he was one heckuva football player that was as sure a tackler as there was in the game during the pinnacle of his career in the early to mid 1990s.

What do you think? Memories of his greatness?

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Comments

Lake's probably in the Hall of Very Good

In my mind at least, he was always a very solid player but I never thought of him as truly game changing. His best ability was that he was very versatile but outside of that, I think of him like a better version of Chris Hope. That may be reducing Lake but that was always the feeling that I got.

Revenge of the Birds

by cgolden on Jun 16, 2008 4:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

I very good player, who would be whatever for the team, but I don’t think HOF worthy. I would love to have seen him play alongside Polamalu

by WPIALkid22 on Jun 16, 2008 6:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

nah

he wont make it. I agree with ya, his ints are just too low. Tackles wont help, since the NFL doesn’t recognize them as an official stat.

by steelerark on Jun 16, 2008 7:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

37

Great team player. Not HOF. I always felt that Lake was HUGE during the Steelers run to XXX by stepping in for an injured Rod Woodson and playing out of position all year at CB. He made the Pro Bowl that year! He did get the Steelers into the SB before O’Donnell ruined our Sunday.

When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen

by 5020 on Jun 16, 2008 9:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No

There’s no way Lake gets into the HOF. I doubt that he even gets any serious consideration.

1. Safeties don’t get into the HOF base upon tackle totals. And while I think that Lake was a very good player and I appreciated his unselfishness and team oriented play, and aside from his 5 Pro Bowls, he just doesn’t have anything on his resume to catch your eye: no Super Bowl wins, few interceptions (16). He was never even the best player in his own secondary (Rod Woodson). He was never known as a leader in a Jack Lambert or Ronnie Lott kind of way. There’s no highlight reel plays that stand the test of time and become etched in legend.

2. And while he does have 5 Pro Bowls, 25 sacks and one Super Bowl appearance on his resume, look at how many good safeties aren’t in the HOF:

- Donnie Shell (5 Pro Bowls, 4 Super Bowls, 51 int, hit on Earl Campbell)
- Kenny Easley (5 Pro Bowls, 32 int, 1981 AFC defensive ROY, 1983 AFC defensive POY, 1984 NFL defensive POY)
- Deron Cherry (6 Pro Bowls, 50 int)
- Joey Browner (6 Pro Bowls, 37 int)
- Nolan Cromwell (4 Pro Bowls, 37 int)
- Dennis Smith (6 Pro Bowls, 30 int)
- Cliff Harris (6 Pro Bowls, 29 int, 2 Super Bowls)
- Steve Atwater (8 Pro Bowls, 2 Super Bowls, 24 int, hit on Christian Okoye)
- Jack Tatum (3 Pro Bowls, 1 Super Bowl, 37 int, nicknamed “the Assassin”, he’s the guy who knocks the helmet off Sammy White in those Super Bowl XI clips, hit on Earl Campbell, hit on Daryl Stingley, hit on Fuqua on Immaculate Reception)
- Leroy Butler (4 Pro Bowls, 38 int, 20.5 sacks, 1 Super Bowl)
- Eugene Robinson (3 Pro Bowls, 57 int, 1 Super Bowl)
- Dick Anderson (3 Pro Bowls, 2 Super Bowls, 34 int)

Again, none of these guys are in the HOF, and I doubt any of them ever get in. Is Lake clearly better than these guys? I don’t think so. In fact, I would consider many of these guys before I would consider Lake.

3. Look at some sateties that will be HOF eligible in the coming years:

Darren Woodson (5 Pro Bowls, 3 Super Bowls, 23 int, 12 FF, 11 FR )
Brian Dawkins (6 Pro Bowls, 33 int, 18 sacks, 26 FF, 15 FR)
Troy Polamalu (4 Pro Bowls, 1 Super Bowl, 10 int)
Ed Reed (4 Pro Bowls, 34 int)
Adrian Wilson (1 Pro Bowl, 16 sacks, 16 int, 11 FR, 6 FR)
Bob Sanders (2 Pro Bowls, 1 Super Bowl)
John Lynch (9 Pro Bowls, 1 Super Bowl, 26 int, 16 FR, 9 FR)
Rodney Harrison (2 Pro Bowls, 2 Super Bowls, 33 int, 14 FF, 9 FR)
Darren Sharper (4 Pro Bowls, 53 int)
Roy Williams (5 Pro Bowls, 19 int, 9 FF, 8 FR)

Except for Darren Woodson, these are all active players. It’s possible that players like Polamalu and Reed, who both already have 4 Pro Bowls on their resumes, still have several more Pro Bowls in their future. Or maybe Sharper tallies 60 int, which would put him in the top 10 all time. But few safeties get into the HOF, so it’s likely that most of these guys won’t get in either. Again, how will Lake stack up against the guys that don’t get in? Would Lake get in ahead of Brian Dawkins, who I also don’t think will get in?

At the end of the day, Lake was a very good football player, but so were many others. He isn’t a HOFer by a long shot. Sorry.

By the way, I do realize that noting how many Pro Bowls someone has made can be misleading. I mean, are John Lynch and Roy Williams really deserving of Pro Bowls the past couple of years? Seriously. Conversely, serious football fans know that Adrian Wilson has been one of the finer safeties in the game over the past 3-4 years, even if he only has 1 Pro Bowl to show for it. Unfortunately for him, he plays for Arizona.

For those of you that are too young to remember Kenny Easley, he was truly a great safety. In my estimation, he was every bit the player Ronnie Lott was, except that he played for Seattle and his career was cut short (7 years) due to kidney disease. Here’s a decent article about him in anyone cares:

http://dwb.thenewstribune.com/sports/seahawks/archive/story/5437283p-3574332c.html

by steeler1275 on Jun 17, 2008 4:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

good thoughts

Agreed, he’s not close.

Question: why’s it seem so hard from where I’m sitting for safetys to make the HOF? There are only a handful of them in Canton.

by Blitzburgh on Jun 17, 2008 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Safeties vs. CBs

Probably because the best cover guys are almost always cornerbacks, instead of safeties. I’m shocked to see that Steve Atwater is not in the HOF.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Jun 17, 2008 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The NFL HOF is pretty selective

Not everybody gets in. There are a lot of deserving players that don’t get in. I learned this growing up when I was shocked that LC Greenwood wasn’t getting in. I figured that being the main pass rushing threat on the greatest defense of the decade (and probably of the Super Bowl era when you consider that it was very good over a period of years), while also making 6 Pro Bowls and playing superbly in Super Bowls IX and X would guarantee enshrinement.

But it wasn’t only LC. There were other players from other teams that I thought should get in but didn’t. Fans who grew up with the Steelers in the 90s probably will feel the same way about Dermontii Dawson.

Also, offensive skill players have a slightly easier time getting in because you can better quantify and assess their stats, even if it’s not foolproof. How do you quantify the career stats of a safety, or cb or offensive lineman? After all, the cb with the most interceptions is not necessarily the best cb by a long shot.

by steeler1275 on Jun 17, 2008 6:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs