Ray Guy: Not the NFL Hall of Fame, Part One

February 14, 2011   ·   Richard O'Hagan   ·   Jump to comments

The purpose of Not the NFL Hall of Fame is to highlight players who are not in the Hall of Fame proper, but who would be if the 44 voters for Canton had any sense at all. Where better to start than with one of the greatest injustices of all:
If Ray Guy hadn't been a punter, they would've had to invent the role for him.
Quite frankly, up until that time there had never been a player like him. Pre-Guy, punters were the guys (no pun intended) who came onto the pitch to mark failure—you hadn't made ten yards and so you were giving the ball back.
Guy turned punting into both a science and an offensive weapon. By concentrating not only on distance, but accuracy and hang time, he was able to pin opponents back further than any punter before him.
He remains the only punter selected in the first round of a draft. Without him, Shane Lechler would not be earning $5 million a year. Without him, the video screen at the Louisiana Superdome would still be only 90 feet off th...

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