New England Patriots
Diggs is certainly one of the top wide receivers of his era, but the Patriots star might have a hill to climb to make the Hall of Fame.
Players’ legacies are always on the line in a Super Bowl, and Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs certainly knows that.
Diggs was pretty blunt about his desire to become a Hall of Famer ahead of the Patriots’ matchup against the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.
“I don’t think about it too much because it’s an individual accolade, and I know this is a team sport. I just know that it [would] help my case a little bit. I always wanted that, though,” Diggs told reporters this week when asked about his desire to become a Hall of Famer. “I’m never gonna shun or run away from wanting to be a Hall of Famer or wanting to be a guy that played this game and be respected, so I don’t run from that. But I know this would help your case a little bit.”
A win on Sunday would certainly check a major box for Diggs’s potential Hall of Fame resume. It would be the 32-year-old’s first Super Bowl win, giving him nearly every big accolade possible. Of course, there’s also the possibility that Diggs could win Super Bowl MVP, making Offensive Player of the Year the only major award that he hasn’t received in his career.
But even winning Super Bowl MVP might not be enough for Diggs to get into the Hall of Fame. Diggs has been named a Pro Bowler four times in his career to go with one first-team All-Pro honor and a second-team All-Pro nod. While that’s certainly impressive, there have only been seven wide receivers who have been named a Pro Bowler seven times or fewer in the Super Bowl era who have made the Hall of Fame. All of them played before 1990.
That group of seven includes the likes of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, who each won four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s. Drew Pearson is also on that list, but he won a Super Bowl with the Cowboys and had a relatively shorter career for a Hall of Famer.
In terms of All-Pros, Diggs’s two total All-Pro nods are in the same ballpark as a handful of wide receivers in the Hall of Fame. Larry Fitzgerald, who will be inducted as a first ballot Hall of Famer in 2026, only had three total All-Pro nods in his career. But he was an 11-time Pro Bowler as well. He’s also second all-time in receiving yards.
Diggs is 38th all-time in receiving yards (11,504), but could potentially climb his way into the top-15 if he has a couple of more seasons like the one he just had with the Patriots. He’s also 43rd all-time in receiving touchdowns (73), and it isn’t inconceivable to think he could climb into the top 15 in that stat before his career is over, too. He’d need 18 more touchdowns to do that.
However, there are a handful of other active wide receivers who are around either around Diggs in those stats or are on pace to surpass those numbers in the coming years. Diggs seemed to recognize that, as he hopes a Super Bowl title might help him stand out compared to some of his peers.
“I know a player like Mike Evans — who has been to [a] Super Bowl, has had a lot of success in this league, in my eyes — is a Hall of Famer,” Diggs said. “Everybody realizes he should be a Hall of Famer. I just know that I’m chasing a lot of great receivers.”
To Diggs’s point, Evans is a Super Bowl champion, a six-time Pro Bowler, and splits the record for the longest streak of 1,000-yard receiving seasons (11) in NFL history. But in Pro Football Reference’s Hall of Fame monitor, Evans has a lower monitor score than seven wide receivers who aren’t in the Hall of Fame who are eligible for induction. There are also four wide receivers who aren’t eligible for Hall of Fame induction who have a higher monitor score than Evans.
Diggs’s Hall of Fame monitor score is even lower than Evans’s. He has 22 wide receivers ahead of him that aren’t in the Hall of Fame (including those who aren’t eligible for induction yet) in Pro Football Reference’s monitor score.
Obviously, Diggs still has time in his career to make up some ground. And as we mentioned earlier, Diggs could win Super Bowl MVP on Sunday. But even that’s not a surefire way to get into the Hall of Fame. Only two wide receivers (Jerry Rice, Lynn Swan) who have won Super Bowl MVP have made their way into the Hall of Fame.
So, even if Diggs has a dominant performance on Sunday, he likely has some work to do to become a Hall of Famer. But after what’s transpired with the Hall of Fame voting in recent weeks, Diggs recognized it might be tough to forecast who might be getting a bust in Canton in the future.
“I hope this would be a little boost,” Diggs said. “Shoot, you never know. Hall of Fame is getting a little weird these days. You never know.”
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