Hall of Fame Nominees Profile: Andre Reed

Andre Reed-Buffalo Bills-Kutztown-1982-2000


To me, the fact that Andre Reed isn’t already a Hall of Famer is absolutely ridiculous. There is no argument that can deny his credentials, no legitimate argument anyway. However, for the sake of those who actually think that his stats are a product of a system or that he simply wasn’t dominant enough, let’s compare him to another receiver in the Hall of Fame. No, I will not make the oft made comparison to Michael Irvin, I believe to do so is unfair to Irvin who pales in comparison to Reed as a receiver. I am going to compare him to former all-time leading receiver in the NFL, James Lofton. IN comparing the two there are some things we do need to specify here. One is that Lofton played for to fewer seasons than Reed and did so for several teams while Reed played mostly for the Bills with his final season coming with the Redskins. With the exception of his first, last and an injury plagued 1995 season, Reed never failed to top 50 catches in a season. Lofton failed to achieve this feat in seven seasons. Lofton did have more career receiving yards (14,004 to 13,198) a higher overall yards per reception average (18.3 to 13.9) and 1000+ receiving yards seasons than Reed (6 to 4). However Reed had more receiving touchdowns by 12 (87 to 75), a ten touchdown season (which Lofton never had) and almost two hundred more receptions for his career. There was never a season where Andre Reed didn’t catch a touchdown pass, while Lofton had two such seasons. Reed did have 7 consecutive Pro Bowl appearances and was 4-times an All-AFC receiver. One thing that many may complain about in this comparison is that Reed was more of a possession receiver while Lofton was a blazer. This is true enough, reflected in their stats, however being one or the other does not preclude one from the Hall of Fame. Reed suffers from being a part of the Bills team that went to four straight super bowls and all people remember of the Bills of that era is losing those games. This hinders Reed’s case as does the upcoming election of Jerry Rice and the further logjam created by Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Shannon Sharpe. This Logjam will hopefully be removed soon and allow Andre Reed to pass safely into the Hall. Note: to compare these receivers numbers or just look into other players, check out NFL.com, ESPN.com and http://www.pro-football-reference.com/ to get more great information about these and other players.