Derrick Brooks HOF

[Turk182]

I'm sorry but when I think of HOF linebackers I think of Butkus, Lawrence Taylor, Singletary, Nitschke, Jack Lambert....... but not Derrick Fking Brooks!


It has nothing to do with him being a Nole and everything to do with being recognized as one of the best to every play the game and in my opinion, he's not in that select group.

I guess the Bar has been lowered in the past 20 years.

 

[78]

Absolutely disagree. This guy was brilliant over 14 seasons. If Jack Ham or Harry Carson or Rickey Jackson deserve to be the Hall, so does Brooks.

 

[GatorJ]

Absolutely disagree. This guy was brilliant over 14 seasons. If Jack Ham or Harry Carson or Rickey Jackson deserve to be the Hall, so does Brooks.

Yep. Brooks is significantly better than Rickey Jackson.

 

[MJMGator]

or not, dude had a great NFL career.

 

[Turk182]

All the names you mentioned prove that I was right in saying "the bar has been lowered".

 

[CGgater]

While I don't remember every nfl roster out there, db was probably the top LB of his time. I got no issues there and he's one of the few noles of note that doesn't turn my stomach when I see him. But yeah, he's still a

 

[GatorJ]

All the names you mentioned prove that I was right in saying "the bar has been lowered".

Not really. IMO, he belongs.

2X College All American
ACC Defensive Player of the Year
14 Years in NFL
11X Pro Bowl
9X All Pro
6X First Team All Pro
1 Pro Bowl MVP (2005)
1 (2002) NFL Defensive Player of the Year

It's very difficult to compare him against the players you mentioned though because the NFL didn't keep some stats such as sacks when some of them played. And tackles weren't officially maintained until the 2000s. But let's try:

	Brooks	Taylor	Lambert	Singletary	Nitschke	Junior Seau
Tackles	1,710	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1,846
Sacks	13.5	132.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	56.5
Forced Fumbles	24	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	11
Fumbles Recovered	4	11	17	12	23	18
Interceptions	25	9	28	7	25	18
Interceptions for TD	6	2	0	0	0	0

I think Junior Seau is a good comparison for him. Seau played one year less. Brooks is definitely lacking in the sacks area. But I don't know enough about Tampa 2 to know what his assignments were. The major sacks came from the Ends and the DTs in Tampa, so I'd expect that he'd hardly have any Sacks. He obviously dominated with Interception TDs and Brooks, Lambert, and Nitschke absolutely dwarf Taylor and Singletary in interceptions.

There's really nothing to compare tackles with, but I'd assume that tackles are probably roughly the same. Junior Seau out paces Brooks a bit per year for tackles.

We have no idea about sacks for Singletary, Lambert, and Nitschke but Singletary was a MLB and I would highly doubt that he was setting the world on fire with sacks.

Brooks sucked at fumble recoveries but he forced a crap load of fumbles.

From these stats alone, I'd say that Lambert is the closes to Brooks. But he was only 220 pounds. He'd have to weight 15 to 20 more pounds to play today.

 

[Turk182]

Hard to compare different eras in sports. Brooks is a good player but I just don't think he's one of the best ever..... Lambert shouldn't be in the Hall either.

 

[gardnerwebbgator]

I despise the Noles, but Brooks belongs, moreso than Sapp ever did.

 

[78]

Browsing through GatorJ's statistical comparison above, I am reminded of the inexact science surrounding rating linebackers' greatness. Do you base it on tackles? Sacks? Picks? Forced fumbles? Leadership? Staying power? Or do you take a little from all areas? I think the latter. Derrick Brooks showed up with his A game Sunday after Sunday for 14 seasons. His numbers aren't glitzy like Lawrence Taylor's and his best hits didn't always make the highlight reels. What he was, was an intelligent and high-motor guy with tremendous range and who rarely missed games due to injury. A ferocious tackler who could make all the plays and was a leader in the locker room. I'm not sure you can ask much more of a linebacker.

 

[GMDGator]

Brooks is All class! Only hof player to play his entire hs, college and pro career in Florida! Kudos to a great player!

 

[T REX]

Great LB...greater human being. Well deserved.

 

[kepler]

He was fearsome, didn't cause me as much anguish as Marvin Jones did, but he is overall deserving I'm sure.

 

[Turk182]

He's over-rated but still a Good Guy for a nole.

 

[TallyGator]

I don't know Turk...I love to pick on the Semis as much as anyone. But Brooks is not one of them...great player and a good man. Ponder got the babe, Brooks got the HOF.