Isaac Bruce might never have been a dominant wide receiver, but he was he was still one of best to ever play.
His former Kurt Warner had this to say about Bruce. “Isaac was the consummate pro. He was one of the guys, early in my career, who showed me what it meant to be an NFL player and how to work to become the best. Along with his great character and work ethic, he was one of the most gifted athletes I have ever been around.”
“I always use him as a role model in terms of talking to receivers about how to approach the game,” said former offensive coordinator and coach Mike Martz. “He’s one of the most competitive people I’ve been around. He’s fiercely competitive. His passion for playing the game is as good as anybody’s. You’d have to give him high marks in everything he did.
Some say that Bruce lacked elite speed or wasn’t big enough to succeed. Mike Martz disagreed.
“This is a guy who played the game at the highest level. He had no nicks or flaws. Guys will say, ‘Well, he wasn’t very fast, or he wasn’t very big.’ That touchdown in the Super Bowl would give you a pretty good indication of his speed, and he’s fast enough to do whatever he needed to do. He caught a lot of deep balls in his career to win games for us.”
Bruce was a very modest pro. He never talked too much to media like fellow wide receiver Randy Moss and Terrell Owens.
“He’s not very talkative, kind of quiet. But his actions speak volumes. That’s what I like about Isaac,” said former wide receiver coach Henry Ellard. “He kind of reminds me of myself. I was the same way. I didn’t say a whole lot, just kind of went on about my business. And he was really good about that. He didn’t care for all the hoopla and all the rest of it. It was like, ‘Let me go out and do my job, and I’m happy.’
Now that Bruce, the last remaining player to play for the L.A. Rams has hung up the cleats after a stellar 16-year career, all the talk show shifts on if, or when, he will enter Canton.
Kurt Warner seems to think it’s a foregone conclusion he will get in the first time he is on the ballot. “When he enters the Hall of Fame in five years, I will be the first one to stand up and cheer, as a proud friend and teammate,” Warner said.
However, I wouldn’t book my hotel quite yet Kurt.
Bruce certainly has numbers. He ranks fifth all time in receptions (1,024), second all time in yards (15,208), and ninth all time in touchdowns (91).
Despite those gaudy numbers, it doesn’t guarantee a Canton induction, at least not right away.
Just ask Chris Carter, who has been on the ballot for three years and hasn’t heard his name called. Or Tim Brown aka “Mr. Brown”, who missed out in his first year of eligibility despite being fourth all time in receptions and receiving yards.
How voters judge theses receivers that played in the 90’s through now, will be one of the most interesting trends to watch.
Where do they draw the line for these receivers?
If any of these guys put up these numbers in the ‘70s, they would be a slam-dunk for the Hall of Fame.
However, the game has changed, which has inflated these receivers’ numbers to an extent. Yes, they are all phenomenal players, but it would be naïve to say that they would have put up these types of numbers if they played 30 years ago.
In the end, I think we’ll see the likes of Bruce, Carter, and Brown enshrined in the Hall, but I don’t know if there is room enough for everybody.
And that’s going to leave some great receivers getting shut out of Canton’s doors.
