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| Reggie Wayne may never undo the hit his legacy took this season. |
There's been no shortage of career damage in Indianapolis this year. After an 0-13 start, last week's win may not be enough to save the jobs of coach Jim Caldwell and his staff. Peyton Manning lost one of the few prime years he has left in his career. And Bill Polian's sparkling reputation has been exposed for irresponsibly ignoring the backup quarterback position for a decade. What's gone largely unnoticed, however, is the damage done to the legacy of one of the greatest Colts of all-time, Reggie Wayne.
A free agent after this season, Wayne has admitted that tonight's game might be his last in Indianapolis. As he enters the twilight of his career at age 33, conversations about him will inevitably address whether or not he deserves to be in The Hall of Fame. Wayne is currently 19th on the all-time career receptions list, and 22nd on the receiving yards list. Torry Holt and Randy Moss retired at 33, but I could see Wayne lasting another three seasons before finally bowing out at 36, the same age that his teammate Marvin Harrison left the game. If Wayne can average a respectable 800 yards in those final three seasons, he'll retire with over 14,000 receiving yards, putting him right behind Harrison at seventh on the all-time list. But if you think that statistic is enough to get him into The Hall, you're forgetting that Chris Carter retired with the second most catches and third most yards of any receiver, and yet is still waiting for his call from Canton.
The obstacle for Carter and Wayne is the same one I noted when I analyzed Hines Ward's Hall of Fame odds a year ago. As the NFL passing game becomes more prolific, receiving stats become devalued. When Wayne's name comes before the Hall of Fame selection committee in eight years, he'll not only be compared to his contemporaries like Harrison, Holt, Moss, Steve Smith and Terrell Owens, but also his successors like Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Roddy White and Wes Welker. With such a strong group of candidates fighting for a limited number of spots, the slightest argument can make or break a player's case for enshrinement.
And that's where this season comes in. Wayne has been one of the most accomplished receivers of the past decade, but he's always had the benefit of catching passes from one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. This season, without Manning, Wayne is on pace to catch 67 passes for 892 yards and 4 touchdowns, his worst output in eight years. And even though Curtis Painter is at the opposite end of the quarterback spectrum, that excuse doesn't hold much water when Johnson, Fitzgerald, and others mentioned above have all consistently shined with a hodgepodge mix of strong and weak passers.
Right now, it's just too easy to make the argument that Wayne is a very good receiver who Manning made great. The good thing for Wayne is that he still has some time to dispel that notion, perhaps on a team other than the Colts. But if he doesn't, then we can look back on 2011 as the year that Reggie Wayne lost his chance at football immortality.
Pick - Texans
Against the Spread - Texans (-7)
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Odds courtesy of USA Today.
Image found here.
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