So who is going to be next?
Which former Pitt player will follow Darrelle Revis into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Correction:
Which former Pitt players — that’s plural — will follow Revis?
I find it amazing that Pitt has 10 Hall of Famers, more than any school but USC (14), Notre Dame (14) and Michigan (11). Ohio State also has 10.
I would match Pitt’s bunch against anyone. Start with Dan Marino, one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time. Go to Mike Ditka, maybe the greatest tight end. Throw in Revis, who was inducted on Saturday and goes down as one of the best cornerbacks. Tony Dorsett, the best high school and college running back I’ve ever seen. Joe Schmidt. Russ Grimm. Rickey Jackson. Chris Doleman. Curtis Martin. Jim Covert.
That is an incredible group, but it should become even stronger in 2026, when Larry Fitzgerald and LeSean McCoy will be eligible for enshrinement. Fitzgerald is an absolute first-ballot lock. McCoy belongs.
Aaron Donald also will be voted in the second he retires and his five-year waiting period is up. He became a lock when he won his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018. He added a third for good measure in 2020, joining Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt as the only three-time winners. His 103 career sacks are an astonishing number for an interior defensive lineman.
Donald, a seven-time first-team All-Pro, also has a Super Bowl win on his resume. He sacked Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow twice in Super Bowl LVI after the 2021 season and forced an incompletion with a pressure on a late fourth-down play that secured the Los Angeles Rams’ 23-20 win.
I could go on and on about Donald, but I think you get the point. He is a fabulous player.
So, of course, was Fitzgerald with the Arizona Cardinals. The numbers tell the story.
Fitzgerald finished his career with 1,432 catches for 17,492 yards. Only Jerry Rice had more catches for more yards in NFL history.
Unlike Donald, Fitzgerald doesn’t have a Super Bowl ring. He came close in Super Bowl XLIII against the Steelers after the 2008 season when he had six catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns in the second half, including a 64-yard touchdown that gave the Cardinals a 23-20 lead with 2:37 left. That was the Ben Roethlisberger-to-Santonio Holmes game, a 27-23 win for the Steelers. Why the Arizona coaches didn’t use Fitzgerald more in the first half, when he had one catch for 12 yards, defies logic.
Then, there’s McCoy. Talk about an impressive resume.
McCoy was named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 2010s along with running backs Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch. He had better stats than all of them, ranking first in touches, rushing yards, scrimmage yards and touchdowns during that decade. He had the most rushing touchdowns in the NFL in 2011 with 17 and won the rushing title in 2013 with 1,607 yards. He still ranks 26th in career carries, 22nd in rushing yards and 30th in rushing touchdowns.
Pitt fans always will remember McCoy for the magical night he had against West Virginia in 2007, when he rushed for 148 yards on 38 carries. Pitt’s 13-9 win — the biggest upset in school history — denied West Virginia a chance to play for the national championship.
NFL fans should remember McCoy as a Hall of Famer. I’m not sure he will get in on the first ballot when he is eligible in 2026. That will be a strong class with Fitzgerald, Gore, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and Jason Witten all on the ballot for the first time, as well as Maurkice Pouncey. But McCoy will get in. Delays aren’t denials. It took Jerome Bettis until his fifth year of eligibility to make it.
Fitzgerald, Donald and McCoy will make it 13 Hall of Famers for Pitt.
I am even more amazed just thinking about that staggering number.
Which former Pitt player will follow Darrelle Revis into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Correction:
Which former Pitt players — that’s plural — will follow Revis?
I find it amazing that Pitt has 10 Hall of Famers, more than any school but USC (14), Notre Dame (14) and Michigan (11). Ohio State also has 10.
I would match Pitt’s bunch against anyone. Start with Dan Marino, one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time. Go to Mike Ditka, maybe the greatest tight end. Throw in Revis, who was inducted on Saturday and goes down as one of the best cornerbacks. Tony Dorsett, the best high school and college running back I’ve ever seen. Joe Schmidt. Russ Grimm. Rickey Jackson. Chris Doleman. Curtis Martin. Jim Covert.
That is an incredible group, but it should become even stronger in 2026, when Larry Fitzgerald and LeSean McCoy will be eligible for enshrinement. Fitzgerald is an absolute first-ballot lock. McCoy belongs.
Aaron Donald also will be voted in the second he retires and his five-year waiting period is up. He became a lock when he won his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018. He added a third for good measure in 2020, joining Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt as the only three-time winners. His 103 career sacks are an astonishing number for an interior defensive lineman.
Donald, a seven-time first-team All-Pro, also has a Super Bowl win on his resume. He sacked Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow twice in Super Bowl LVI after the 2021 season and forced an incompletion with a pressure on a late fourth-down play that secured the Los Angeles Rams’ 23-20 win.
I could go on and on about Donald, but I think you get the point. He is a fabulous player.
So, of course, was Fitzgerald with the Arizona Cardinals. The numbers tell the story.
Fitzgerald finished his career with 1,432 catches for 17,492 yards. Only Jerry Rice had more catches for more yards in NFL history.
Unlike Donald, Fitzgerald doesn’t have a Super Bowl ring. He came close in Super Bowl XLIII against the Steelers after the 2008 season when he had six catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns in the second half, including a 64-yard touchdown that gave the Cardinals a 23-20 lead with 2:37 left. That was the Ben Roethlisberger-to-Santonio Holmes game, a 27-23 win for the Steelers. Why the Arizona coaches didn’t use Fitzgerald more in the first half, when he had one catch for 12 yards, defies logic.
Then, there’s McCoy. Talk about an impressive resume.
McCoy was named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 2010s along with running backs Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch. He had better stats than all of them, ranking first in touches, rushing yards, scrimmage yards and touchdowns during that decade. He had the most rushing touchdowns in the NFL in 2011 with 17 and won the rushing title in 2013 with 1,607 yards. He still ranks 26th in career carries, 22nd in rushing yards and 30th in rushing touchdowns.
Pitt fans always will remember McCoy for the magical night he had against West Virginia in 2007, when he rushed for 148 yards on 38 carries. Pitt’s 13-9 win — the biggest upset in school history — denied West Virginia a chance to play for the national championship.
NFL fans should remember McCoy as a Hall of Famer. I’m not sure he will get in on the first ballot when he is eligible in 2026. That will be a strong class with Fitzgerald, Gore, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and Jason Witten all on the ballot for the first time, as well as Maurkice Pouncey. But McCoy will get in. Delays aren’t denials. It took Jerome Bettis until his fifth year of eligibility to make it.
Fitzgerald, Donald and McCoy will make it 13 Hall of Famers for Pitt.
I am even more amazed just thinking about that staggering number.
