Hall of Very Good - (NFL) Donald Driver \ stacker news ~Stacker

Last night I had the idea for an ongoing/semi-regular thread discussing some old and forgotten great players in various sports. These are players who were great, but are not in the Hall of Fame and may never be enshrined. The format of these will likely change overtime, and how often I post may vary. I hope to incorporate some of the sports I follow most closely (NFL/NBA/MLB) but may dabble into others. Or perhaps collaborate with community members who have more familiarity with other sports. I always love looking at stat reference pages and being amazed at how great some forgotten players were, so I plan to bring some up whenever I find the time.

Given its NFL Sunday, it naturally makes sense to begin with my favorite player of all time. Some may know that I am a die hard Green Bay Packer fan, so lets start with Wide Receiver Donald Driver.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DrivDo00.htm

Select Career Highlights: Drafted 213th overall in 1999 (Round 7) Entire Career spent with Green Bay Franchise Leader in Receptions (743) and Yards (10,137) 4x Pro Bowl Selection 7 Seasons of 1,000+ yards Won Super Bowl XLV Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame

Other Notes and memories: Tough as nails, would get hit up the middle, spring up like nothing happened Light up with a legendary smile Winning Dancing with the Stars Hosted the Packers charity softball game for years, even after retirement until passing the torch recently. Someone who really thrived through adversity as a child. Authored a number of books, including a memoir Driven.

My favorite play:

Why he'll likely never get into the NFL Hall of Fame: He was great, but never truly one of the top receivers of the era (Moss/Calvin Johnson/TO/Larry Fitzgerald). Driver's best seasons were also at a point of stagnation for the Packers near the end of the Favre era, when the team was very mid. Towards the end of his career he had other WRs on the Packers put up better stat lines (Greg Jennings) while finding the ultimate success in winning the Superbowl. Lastly, 10,000 yards is quite the achievement, but the value of that milestone was already being diluted by the time he reached it in an increasingly more pass heavy league.

At least he will have tons of fans that remember how great he was on and off the field, I still rep his jersey whenever I go to games.

Go Pack Go!