The Hall of Fame Case for Haloti Ngata

submitted by Jason Woolbert

It is Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend. The HOF Game between the Chargers and Lions took place last night, with former Raven Tony Jefferson and company feasting on Detroit’s junior varsity team as the broadcast crew interviewed this year’s class:  WR Sterling Sharpe, TE Antonio Gates, DE Jared Allen, CB Eric Allen, and Pete Rozelle Award winner Brent Musberger

By the way, the Chargers won outright as underdogs.  (Thanks Brent)

Despite averaging the most inductees per year – 7.8 from 2015 to 2024, before their recent rule change – football’s remains the stingiest hall in major North American team sport.  There are 382 player members of the PFHOF out of about 27,000 all time.  That means about 1.4% of all NFL players eventually make it to Canton.  This is slightly more exclusive than baseball (1.5%) and a lot more than basketball (3%) and hockey (3%).  It’s simply because there are more players on the field at one time; 22 starters between offense and defense.

With the new rules for induction, this year’s class is the smallest since 2005 – just four players.  This is bad timing for Ravens fans.  A lot of former Ravens have a chance to get in and the nozzle is tightening.  Some of us may be upset at Terrell Suggs and Marshal Yanda having to wait past their first year of eligibility.  I would like to make the case for a player that is being somewhat forgotten in all this, a player I believe had just as big an impact on the team’s considerable success while he was here:  Haloti Ngata.

Ngata not only played in the stingiest league for HOFers, but as a defensive tackles, he also played a position that at least until recently has been underrepresented in Canton.  One reason for this is that it is difficult for interior defensive linemen to last at an All Pro level.  It is understandably a physically demanding position.

It’s also been historically hard to quantify elite DT play using anything other than sacks.  For a long time, if you didn’t have the sack numbers, you weren’t getting in, even from the inside.  There were no stats for impact on run defense, and certainly none for  taking up blockers so teammates could be freed up for tackles and sacks.

There has lately been a concerted effort to get more big nasties in, resulting in the elections of Alex Karras (2020), Richard Seymour (2022), Bryant Young (2022), Joe Klecko (2023), and Steve McMichael (2024).  The chances of Ngata being enshrined one day may be greater that you think.

Haloti Ngata’s HOF Case

Ngata was the 12th overall pick in 2006 draft out of Oregon.  Opinions on him were mixed; in the week leading up to the draft, a rumor started that Ngata didn’t play hard.  He slid out of the top ten.  Ozzie Newsome traded up just one spot with Clevleand to select him.  It’s an odd move that indicates another team was talking to the Browns, presumably for Ngata.

Anquan Boldin puts the lazy narrative to bed in an interview with The OGs Show:

Anquan Boldin on playing with Haloti Ngata and Aldon Smith pic.twitter.com/qzg5g1rODm

— The OGs Show (@theOGsShow) June 26, 2025

When we were in training camp, they would let him sit out individual drills, like, offense and defense.  I’m like, ‘bro, why is he sitting out?  Like who is this dude?’  We go team, they let him sit out.  Man, we play the Jets the first game.  When I tell you, he is literally taking the ball out of the quarterback’s hand as he’s handing it to the running back, I say he legit bro.  If you don’t double team him, bro he’s gonna wreck your game… like, I played with Hall of Famers, you know what I’m saying?  But Haloti and Aldon [Smith], they were different bro.

Even with luminaries like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs behind him, opposing offensive coordinators had to game plan for Haloti Ngata.  He was routinely one of the most double-teamed defenders in the NFL.  Through that, he put up enough stats to accrue a wAV score of 100, which is in Hall of Fame territory.  That score, for example, is two points higher than Karras and three points higher than Cortez Kennedy.  It ties him with McMichael and is just two points below my chosen Hall of Fame comp for him – Dan Hampton.

Hampton, AKA The Danimal, got in the Hall of Fame because of word of mouth.  The people who knew the Bears defense of the 80s, playing either with them (his teammates and coaches) or against them as opponents, knew the impact he had when he was on the field compared to the noticeable difference when he wasn’t.  In a five-year period from 1984 to 1989, he was first team All Pro once and second team All Pro four times.  In those five seasons, the Bears had a 5-4 record in the playoffs.

The Bears of course had a remarkable run in January of 1986, giving up a total of 10 points in three playoff games.

Comparatively, in a five-year period from 2008 to 2012, Ngata made first team All Pro twice and second team All Pro three times.  In those five seasons, the Ravens had a 9-4 record in the playoffs.  Their opponents scored over 20 points in just five of those 13 games.

That run culminated in the Ravens’ second Super Bowl victory.  The score was 28-13 and San Francisco scored a TD on the very play on which Haloti Ngata was injured, with 4:59 to go in the third quarter.  If you include that play, the Niners outscored the Ravens 18-6 without Ngata.

Hampton played anywhere from 0 to 5 tech, something Ngata also did for the Ravens.  The 80’s Bears are often compared to the 2000s Ravens, and even though Ngata was far bigger than Hampton, I see the role they played as similar.  Neither could be run on, and both demanded constant double-teams.

All this is to say, yes, there is precedent for Ngata going to Canton.

If there’s something that will keep him out, it’s his meager sack total of 32.5.  Ngata managed just three seasons with five or more sacks (all three between 2010-2012, within the five-year run of dominance I am highlighting).

Everything else is HOF certified.  Multiple All Pros.  A championship ring.  Glowing praise from other players.  I believe Haloti Ngata would make a solid addition one day, but since he’s not a slam-dunk candidate, particularly with it getting harder to make it, those of us who understand his impact must continue to beat the table for him.

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