10 Best NFL Players Not in the Hall of Fame

Kevin Mawae, Center

Perhaps an even more difficult position to evaluate for the Hall of Fame is that of the offensive line, but some players just rise above the muddiness of the process and provide perfect examples of excellence: one of those players is former center/guard Kevin Mawae.

Aside from Mawae’s placement as one of PFR’s top-10 offensive linemen of all time (152 AV over 16 years), he helped pave the way for running back Curtis Martin from 1998 to 2004 with the New York Jets. Martin turned in an impressive 13th-most rushing yards on runs up the middle during this span (23rd-most yards per attempt) among the 35 players to top 200 attempts during these years.

Mawae also anchored the Tennessee Titans’ offensive line during the beginning of Chris Johnson's career, where Johnson was easily tops in the league in rushing yards per attempt (5.15) among running backs with at least 100 attempts up the middle from 2006 to 2009. For those four years – two of which were without Johnson – Tennessee was fifth in the NFL in rushing yards per attempt.

Perhaps even more impressively, the Jets allowed the seventh-lowest sack rate to opponents during Mawae’s tenure, and the Titans allowed the third-lowest.

While his impact cannot be measured independent of his line-mates, we can attest that many other players in the league felt the impact of his career, and he deserves a nod for a bronze bust.