Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Looks at his averages per 16 games, especially compared to Branch, Pearson and Carmichael

compares very well to branch carmichael and pearson how would you rank them

rewing84 wrote:compares very well to branch carmichael and pearson how would you rank them

Physically he was a beast, I've seen some of him on film, big lower body, good leaping ability...very athletic.

It's hard to separate...I might go Pearson, Branch, Powell, Carmichael...but maybe could be convinced Powell is #1... too close to call

JohnTurney wrote:Physically he was a beast, I've seen some of him on film, big lower body, good leaping ability...very athletic.

It's hard to separate...I might go Pearson, Branch, Powell, Carmichael...but maybe could be convinced Powell is #1... too close to call

Interesting player. Probably a terrible analogy, but I think Art Powell is like the Len Ford of WRs...a guy who looks like he came out of a time warp from modern day football and is on black-and-white film. Powell led the AFL in receiving yards in consecutive years with different teams; I'm not sure if that has ever happened before or since. Al Davis' turnaround year with the Raiders saw Powell catching 73 passes for 1304 yards and 16 TDs while the other WRs on the roster combined for 33 catches. Powell was also part of one of the worst trades in NFL history when the Bills shipped Daryle Lamonica to the Raiders for him, and got an ROI of 6 pretty good games from Powell and nothing more.

I think its hard to compare per-game averages between Powell/Pearson/Branch because Powell played in a more WR-friendly era (and league). Also, Pearson and Branch have big postseason numbers while Powell doesn't have any. I think the closest thing to Powell is Otis Taylor. Put Otis Taylor against those early AFL defenses, and its possible that Taylor puts up numbers similar to Powell. Powell's last big year was 1966, a year in which the relative strength of the AFL rosters (and defenses) was starting to assert itself, and that was Otis Taylor's first big year. Powell had a 53-1026-19.4-11 TD statline, but Taylor was right there with a 58-1297-22.4-8 TD statline. As time went on, Otis Taylor had several good years, but nothing really to approach his big 1966 season (or any of Powell's big seasons). To me, the two questions about Powell and the HOF are: 1) how much do you 'penalize' Powell for putting up big numbers in the 1960-1965 'Hennigan/Taylor' AFL era? 2) how much do you 'penalize' Powell for having zero postseason credentials?

Bryan wrote:

JohnTurney wrote:Physically he was a beast, I've seen some of him on film, big lower body, good leaping ability...very athletic.

It's hard to separate...I might go Pearson, Branch, Powell, Carmichael...but maybe could be convinced Powell is #1... too close to call

Interesting player. Probably a terrible analogy, but I think Art Powell is like the Len Ford of WRs...a guy who looks like he came out of a time warp from modern day football and is on black-and-white film. Powell led the AFL in receiving yards in consecutive years with different teams; I'm not sure if that has ever happened before or since. Al Davis' turnaround year with the Raiders saw Powell catching 73 passes for 1304 yards and 16 TDs while the other WRs on the roster combined for 33 catches. Powell was also part of one of the worst trades in NFL history when the Bills shipped Daryle Lamonica to the Raiders for him, and got an ROI of 6 pretty good games from Powell and nothing more.

I think its hard to compare per-game averages between Powell/Pearson/Branch because Powell played in a more WR-friendly era (and league). Also, Pearson and Branch have big postseason numbers while Powell doesn't have any. I think the closest thing to Powell is Otis Taylor. Put Otis Taylor against those early AFL defenses, and its possible that Taylor puts up numbers similar to Powell. Powell's last big year was 1966, a year in which the relative strength of the AFL rosters (and defenses) was starting to assert itself, and that was Otis Taylor's first big year. Powell had a 53-1026-19.4-11 TD statline, but Taylor was right there with a 58-1297-22.4-8 TD statline. As time went on, Otis Taylor had several good years, but nothing really to approach his big 1966 season (or any of Powell's big seasons). To me, the two questions about Powell and the HOF are: 1) how much do you 'penalize' Powell for putting up big numbers in the 1960-1965 'Hennigan/Taylor' AFL era? 2) how much do you 'penalize' Powell for having zero postseason credentials?

Powell is close, but there are so many older candidates with better qualifications, it's going to be difficult for him. Bad timing for Powell to miss out on the rise of the Oakland Raiders, not having postseason credentials is definitely a minus. He wasn't dominant like Gale Sayers or Dick Butkus, a couple of players stuck on mediocre teams. The issue of having a slim postseason history and/or performance could be a problem with Brandon Marshall down the line. Henry Ellard and Harold Jackson are two receivers who needed more postseason production for their respective HOF cases.

L.C. Greenwood wrote: The issue of having a slim postseason history and/or performance could be a problem with Brandon Marshall down the line. Henry Ellard and Harold Jackson are two receivers who needed more postseason production for their respective HOF cases.

When I see Marshall play, I think I am seeing Hall of Fame stuff. The bouncing around from team to team and the lack of postseason action will hurt him. He also had problems with teammates.

JWL wrote:

L.C. Greenwood wrote: The issue of having a slim postseason history and/or performance could be a problem with Brandon Marshall down the line. Henry Ellard and Harold Jackson are two receivers who needed more postseason production for their respective HOF cases.

When I see Marshall play, I think I am seeing Hall of Fame stuff. The bouncing around from team to team and the lack of postseason action will hurt him. He also had problems with teammates.

Marshall is 33 already, and with all those off field problems, he's running out of time. Even if Marshall does finally reach the postseason, I'll need to see him excel for the Giants.

Umm, I have a question in the stats form shown in the first post how are games missed calculated? Because looking at Powell's games missed he could have only missed 20 all in 1967 & 1968 when he was in Buffalo and Minnesota. I don't know where the other 3 came from.

If he didn't appear in a game is that a game missed or did he actually have to be injured? Secondly if a player is signed halfway thru a season does those first 7 games get counted as a missed games?

If one bases HoF strictly on numbers, looking at the chart, Powell only has 900 less receiving yards than Fred Biletnikoff, 5 more receiving TDs, and better averages in most categories. The latter is in the HoF and Powell is not.

sluggermatt15 wrote:If one bases HoF strictly on numbers, looking at the chart, Powell only has 900 less receiving yards than Fred Biletnikoff, 5 more receiving TDs, and better averages in most categories. The latter is in the HoF and Powell is not.

Couple thoughts:

-they were two different types of receivers. Biletnikoff was a possession WR while Powell wasn’t.

-they’re from different eras, where direct comparison is always tricky, and the early AFL tended towards more wide open receiver play than Biletnikoff’s heyday.