Here are three Andre Johnson deserves to go into the Hall of Fame before Anquan Boldin.
Separated by only one round in the 2003 NFL draft, both Andre Johnson and Anquan Boldin were some of the most productive wide receivers the league has ever seen. To think that the likes of Charles Rogers and Bryant Johnson were both selected before Andre Johnson and Boldin is funny when we look back on it.
Regardless, it worked out for both teams as both benefitted from the star power that they used to change the game around them. But Andre Johnson deserves to go in first into the Hall of Fame (this is a moot point if they go in together, but I digress). Here are the three reasons that it should happen.
Included are the quarterbacks who threw him the ball, their head-to-head stats, and their impact on the team. This is not a disrespect to Boldin at all, as he was one of my favorite players growing up, and what he did cannot be denied. This is Johnson’s case to be in before Boldin.
Andre Johnson holds the slight statistical edge over Anquan Boldin
When compared head to head, both of their career stats are very similar. Not only did these two get drafted in the same year, but they also had their final season in 2016. That’s crazy enough on its own.
Starting with Boldin, receptions and touchdowns are the main difference makers over Johnson. Yet, Johnson managed to have more yards than Boldin career-wise, and also had a slight edge in career yards per game than Boldin (73.5 to 68.2).
This could be splitting hairs, but the Hall of Fame committee is going to look at everything. Even when comparing their time with their first team, the difference is only 1.5 yards in that same yards per game (80.5 for Johnson to Boldin’s 79.2).
| Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | From | To | Rec | Yds | TD | Y/R | Lng |
| 1 | Anquan Boldin | 2003 | 2016 | 1076 | 13779 | 82 | 12.8 | 79 |
| 2 | Andre Johnson | 2003 | 2016 | 1062 | 14185 | 70 | 13.4 | 77 |
Johnson additionally has 2 All-Pro list selections, one of the few accolades that Boldin does not. I’m not sure if that carries the same weight as it did anymore, but we’ve seen the HOF committee keep guys out for weird (or sometimes) no reason at all.
Andre Johnson had it worse than Boldin did when it came to quarterbacks.
Let’s take a look back at the quarterbacks that each of these two has had. It’s going to be quite a list, so I hope you’re ready for a trip down memory lane.
Johnson’s quarterbacks:
- David Carr
- Tony Banks
- Dave Ragone
- Sage Rosenfels
- Matt Schaub
- Case Keenum
- Ryan Mallet
- T.J. Yates
- Matt Leinart
- Andrew Luck
- Marcus Mariota
- Matt Cassel
Boldin’s quarterbacks:
- Jeff Blake
- Josh McCown
- Shaun King
- John Navarre
- Matt Leinart
- Kurt Warner
- Joe Flacco
- Colin Kaepernick
- Matthew Stafford
Not to mention that Johnson’s offensive line was horrible and left Carr out there to fend for himself amongst the turnstiles in front of him. While Boldin’s wasn’t the greatest either, it was nowhere near the torment that Carr endured.
To have your quarterback get sacked as many times as Carr did (a record 76 times in 2002) and still put up those numbers is impressive. Boldin also got way more help with Hall of Famer Kurt Warner on his side along with Flacco, Kapernick, and Stafford all in the prime of their careers.
Andre Johnson didn’t want to leave, but the Texans wanted to move on.
When it comes to the impact that they had on their teams, both were tremendous. Johnson gave the city of Houston something to cheer for and an offensive weapon. Boldin helped the Cardinals reach Super Bowl XLIII, even after his outburst at offensive coordinator Todd Hayley.
Now somewhere with Boldin things got so bad with his contract that he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens, where he did get a ring. The way Boldin left still stings Cardinals fans to this day as the Cardinals organization didn’t get him the contract he wanted.
Houston Texans
Meanwhile, Andre Johnson did prolong his time in Houston and was valued enough to even have a role in the organization after he retired. He recently walked away from that role last year, but the point still rings true. Johnson has a place in the team’s ring of honor, Boldin does not.
Correlation does not equal causation, and just because someone isn’t in a ring of honor doesn’t mean that they can’t be in the hall of fame. Yes, Boldin has done lots of work outside of football for charities and other good-natured groups.
This just all goes back to the selection committee and what they’ll look at when considering these very close (in terms of stats) careers. We’ll see what happens down the road, and best of luck to both of these men as they wait to get “the knock”.