25 current NFL players who will end up in the Hall of Very Good

Quarterbacks garner a lot of attention, so much so that every quarterback who even has a really good career is going to get a lot of love. Then, of course, the busts at quarterback never fall from our minds. As such, to be a quarterback and to make this list, basically you have to be pretty good and play for a while, but you can’t do much more than that. Also, you can’t have started a Super Bowl. That’s Dalton to a tee. He was a second-round pick, made three Pro Bowls with the Bengals, and then started bouncing around as a backup and spot starter. Now with the Panthers, Dalton’s career has been totally fine, and he’s made enough starts that his name will be remembered, even if he doesn’t come up often.

Montgomery has had a 1,000-yard season with the Bears, and then he had one with the Lions. For a bit there with the Lions, he was part of a fun pairing with Jahmyr Gibbs. The thing is, pretty quickly Gibbs became the standout of that duo, so much so that it has started to feel less like a duo. Hey, at least Montgomery got to be part of the era of the Lions being good. Otherwise, he might have ended up too obscure even to be a “that guy.”

Hopping around from team to team in the NFL and playing in front of more fan bases on a regular basis definitely helps you carve out a slice of the occasional conversation about NFL remembrances. Cooks has played for five NFL teams. Also, he’s had 1,000-yard seasons with four of those teams (take that, Dallas). He was never a Pro Bowler, but four teams in four different divisions saw him play quite well.

Playing for the Giants doesn’t garner you attention like the Yankees or Knicks, but that helped Engram to some degree. He was solid as a tight end in New York, but the best season of his career was with the Jaguars. Engram is now with Denver, where he remains a good receiving tight end. The blocking is a different story, but only the diehards remember the guys best known as really good blocking tight ends.

The threshold for offensive linemen to be remembered is higher, even for tackles. However, you still can’t be too good, because then you end up in the “one of the best ever” conversations and the Hall of Fame conversations. Even Willie Roaf, who played almost his entire career with the Saints, is a legendary name mentioned in virtually every offensive line conversation among NFL fans. Decker is quite good. He’s been a Pro Bowler once and he has played left tackle for the Lions during the recent run. However, he’s not even the most-acclaimed tackle on his own team, so shout out to Penei Sewell. He’s probably headed for the Hall so he’s omitted.

With defensive ends (or outside linebackers in defenses that use three down linemen), it’s all about sacks. You’d have to be an all-timer at defending the run to even be a “that guy” in a pass-rushing position. Of course, you can’t rack up a ton of sacks, and getting over 100 sacks probably takes you to too lofty a level. Chubb has been to two Pro Bowls, and he's had two seasons with double-digit sacks. However, while he’ll top 50 sacks in his career, there’s no chance he gets to 100.

Defensive tackles have to be really good, and they can even be great, to qualify for this list. They just can’t be, say, Chris Jones. Buckner has actually been a first-team All-Pro, but he’s likely to settle for doing that once. He’s never been terribly flashy, and we feel fairly confident he falls short of the Hall. People will say, “You know who was really good? DeForest Buckner.” Nobody is going to ask that question just to name-drop Chris Jones, though.

Van Noy would have been forgotten had he stayed with the Lions (this was in the bad old days with questionable coaching). Both the Patriots and the Ravens figured out better, different ways to use the linebacker. Sometimes he’s been an off-ball linebacker, and sometimes he’s been a pass rusher. Van Noy won two rings with New England as well, which helps, but he wasn’t important enough to those defenses to be too well-remembered. More the kind of guy you get to, like, 12th when going through a title-winning roster.

There was a time when it seemed like Ramsey might be heading to the Hall of Fame, and his early career made him splashy and registered him in the minds of NFL fans. That’s even though he started his career with the Jaguars. Things have fallen off for him, though. He’s started to bounce around the league, and he’s now a Steeler. In 2024, he failed to make the Pro Bowl for the first time since he was a rookie. Ramsey’s greatness put him on the radar, but his decline happened before he got etched into the list of great defenders.

It’s hard for a safety to thread the needle. They tend to either be Hall of Famers or forgotten. Bates seems like he might manage to do it, though. He’s definitely not going to the Hall, but he’s been second-team All-Pro twice. Bates also made a big move in going from Cincinnati to Atlanta as a sought-after free agent. That helped garner more attention for a good safety who never wows you.

We’re only doing one kicker and one punter, because it’s a position where you tend to either be one of the best to ever do it and remembered, or you get forgotten. So many really good, even great, kickers have fallen by the wayside. To get to this level, you have to kick for a long time, and kick well, but you can’t be an all-timer. A Robbie Gould type, in essence. Folk is such a kicker. It also helps him that in his 18-year career, he’s kicked for both the Cowboys and Jets.

With punters, you’re either Ray Guy, or maybe Shane Lechler, or you get forgotten. Hekker may avoid that fate, though. It’s not as much for his punting skills, even if Hekker has been a first-team All-Pro four times. He’s also known as the punter who was called on to throw on fakes more than any other punter we can think of. That quirk will go a long way.

Many NFL fans have an affinity for a journeyman backup. Taylor has played for seven teams, though obviously, he hasn’t played a ton. His case is helped a bit, though, by a three-year run as the starter for the Bills. A brief starting career. A lengthy backup career. That’s a ticket to being a fondly remembered “that guy.”

Swift may only be in his sixth NFL season, but he’s also a running back. He’s not an elite running back, either, so he probably has four or five seasons left at most. Drafted by the Lions, Swift never fully worked out there. He’s been better with the Bears as of late, but there’s something crucial here. In one season with the Eagles, Swift ran for 1,000 yards. That season probably gets Swift over the hump. Plus, the fact that he’s a running back with the last name “Swift.”

Eventually, Ridley's suspension for a season for violating the NFL’s gambling policy is going to be forgotten. In truth, it already mostly has. In a few years, it’ll be, “Remember when Calvin Ridley was suspended for gambling or whatever?” On the field, though, Ridley has had a 1,000-yard season for three different organizations. He’s a bit underrated as a player, but of course, being underrated means you aren’t being discussed as much as some others.

Maybe having the name “Jonnu” would have been enough, or the jokes about Arthur Smith’s seeming obsession with employing the tight end. The 2024 season helped Smith out, though. Out of nowhere, he was a Pro Bowler. Previously, he had merely been a pretty good tight end. Ultimately, he’ll be remembered as a pretty good tight end, but with enough other bits of detail to make him stand out.

With an interior offensive lineman, you can be great, but you can’t be considered one of the best ever. You pretty much have to be great to make a splash, honestly. Otherwise, you get forgotten fast. Case in point, how many times in 2026 do you think NFL fans will mention Frank Ragnow? Dickerson has been to three Pro Bowls, and he will likely make more. However, he’s also overshadowed in Philly by Lane Johnson and even the specter of Jason Kelce. Dickerson is a great guard for an NFL team with a big, passionate fan base. He won’t be in the guard pantheon, though, which will tamp things down.

Burns has been a Pro Bowler twice, but both times with Carolina. He’s never been on an All-Pro team, either. Now, Burns will get to 100 sacks if he sticks around long enough, but a certain kind of pass rusher actually can still become a “that guy” while doing that. What evidence do we have? John Abraham, Simeon Rice, Justin Houston, etc.

What about guys who got a lot of hype in college and coming out of college? Well, you can’t be a first-overall pick, you can’t fully live up to the hype, and you can’t be a bust. That’s Oliver. He made people pay attention to Houston Cougars football! The defensive tackle ended up being drafted ninth, in part due to the nature of the position. Oliver has never made a Pro Bowl, but he’s always been good for the Bills. That’ll work.

Tackles are vital to a defense, but if the primary thing you do is tackle guys, it’s hard to have too much of an impact on the collective imagination of NFL fans. Davis has been second-team All-Pro four times and first-team once, but it’s not because of sacks or interceptions or what have you. It’s because he’s been an inside linebacker who gets a lot of tackles. Enough tackles that people know his name, but no amount of tackles is enough to be an oft-discussed defensive great.

Joseph, a safety for the Lions, has shown a real nose for interceptions. Well, to the extent anybody can really generate sustainable interception numbers. It may sound odd, but that’s about all he does. Yes, interceptions are big and splashy, but Joseph isn’t necessarily seen as one of the best safeties in the NFL. If the picks start to dry up, then he’ll be just another guy.

We wanted to include a rookie and plant a flag, and it feels tough that after we had already landed on Skattebo in our minds he suffered a brutal ankle injury. Nothing about our expectations have changed, though. He’s exactly the kind of back that excites people but not in a way commensurate with his talents and his upside. Skattebo tries to run over guys and also, um, there is an undeniable racial component to the situation. Skattebo will likely be done as a notable player in the NFL within five seasons, but he will always be in the back pocket of football fans talking about old players in a decade or so.

Had Higgins opted to leave Cincinnati, he might be on pace to leave this list. Instead, he signed up to remain the number-two receiver behind Ja’Marr Chase. Chase looks like a future Hall of Famer at wide receiver. Higgins has four seasons with over 900 yards and has never been to a Pro Bowl. Playing with Higgins gets him more attention, but leads to less production and less love.

We’re going to end with a couple of quarterbacks, because, c’mon, we know quarterbacks are the stars of the show in the NFL. For a while, it seemed like Smith wouldn’t even do enough to make this list, with the only argument being “He starts for the Jets and the Giants.” Then, Smith went to Seattle and turned his career around. Suddenly, he was a two-time Pro Bowler. Things seem to have headed in the wrong direction again with the Raiders, but his spot on this list, and at this level of NFL memory, is now secured.

We’re getting our call in early on Nix. It’s only Nix’s second season, but it seems clear to us. He’s decent at least, pretty good at best, but Sean Payton seems to like him. Maybe he will be the Broncos’ starter for as long as Payton is there. We never see Nix making a Pro Bowl, or he will make it as the fifth option at quarterback. He’ll probably play a dozen years in the NFL and start for, oh, eight or nine of those. Get used to seeing a lot of Bo Nix, but never being wowed by Bo Nix.