The Los Angeles Rams just added a surefire Hall of Famer with the Myles Garrett trade, and one of the hottest Hall of Fame debates around the league in recent years is Matthew Stafford’s worthiness (which was certainly aided by his 2025 MVP campaign).
But there’s another Ram whose Hall of Fame candidacy needs to get more attention as his career winds down: Davante Adams.
He’s not necessarily on his way out the door imminently. He may not be a Ram forever, but Adams has a game that’s built to last.
Still, there’s no denying he’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning. And, to this point, he’s built an extremely compelling case for a spot in Canton.
There’s a couple different ways to look at this. One is using Pro-Football-Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor tool. Adams currently sits 30th all-time in that metric with a score of 83.87, right above Andre Reed (in the Hall) and right below Calvin Johnson and Drew Pearson, both legends and Hall of Famers as well. That’s good company.
The average Hall of Famer according to the HOFm is 102, although that’s skewed slightly by Jerry Rice’s outrageous 311.99 score. Adams is definitely in good shape there.
How about overall accolades? Adams hasn’t been a first-team All-Pro since his first season with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022, but that was the third-consecutive season he achieved that honor. Only 21 wide receivers have ever earned three first-team All-Pro nods, 11 of whom are in the Hall of Fame.
That’s not an incredible ratio, but considering some of those players were predominantly getting credit for their return abilities (like Cordarrelle Patterson) and others played mostly in the comparatively primitive pre-Super Bowl era (no disrespect meant to Rams legend Del Shofner, among others), it’s still a good spot for Adams to be in.
And of course, there’s just good, old-fashioned counting stats. He’s 26th in all-time receiving yards and, barring calamity, will be knocking on the door of the top 20 by season’s end. He’s 16th in receptions in NFL history and will jump another Rams legend, Isaac Bruce, for 15th within the first few weeks of 2026 (they’re only separated by seven catches).
Maybe all you care about is touchdowns. Points are the goal, right? Perfect, because Adams is seventh in NFL history in receiving touchdowns. He’s also led the league in receiving touchdowns three different times in his career, each with a different primary starting quarterback.
That’s a special, special player.
Wide receiver has been the No. 1 “log jam” position for the Hall of Fame recently, with so many deserving candidates waiting to hear their name called while other greats have retired in the last few years. But even if Davante Adams hasn’t been the highest-profile receiver at any point in his soon-to-be 13-year career, he’s posted numbers as good as anyone.
Winning a Super Bowl ring before he’s done would certainly help. But as is, and making only conservative projections for this season, the case for Adams to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame should still be in fantastic shape.
