State Your Case: Del Shofner

There is more to succeeding at wide receiver in the NFL than just catching the football.

I’ve observed the NFL for six-plus decades and served on the Hall of Fame selection committee for more than three of those decades. No, I didn’t see Don Hutson … but I was able to watch just about every other great receiver in the game’s history – from Raymond Berry to Jerry Rice to Larry Fitzgerald.

I have a simple measuring stick for receivers – what did they do after they caught the football? For that reason, catches don’t excite me. If you are a wide receiver in the NFL, you are expected to catch the football. Marvin Harrison’s NFL-record 143 catches in 2002 are far less impressive to me than Jerry Rice’s record 22 receiving touchdowns in the 15-game strike season in 1987. Or Calvin Johnson’s record 1,964 receiving yards in 2012.

When I look at a wide receiver, I’m looking for impact – and yardage and touchdowns translate into that impact. What did they do after they caught the football?

For that reason, Del Shofner’s exclusion from the Hall of Fame puzzles me.

For a span of six seasons – from 1958 through 1963 — Shofner was the best receiver in the NFL. He went to five Pro Bowls during that stretch and, more importantly, was named first-team all-pro five times as well.

Now understand the difference between Pro Bowl and all-pro. The Pro Bowl is voted by the players and the all-pro team by the media. There are six wide receivers voted to the Pro Bowl each season, three in each of the AFC and the NFC. But there are only two wide receivers voted first-team all-pro each season.

In 2024, because of injury and Super Bowl replacements, there were 12 players with the designation of “Pro Bowl receiver.” But there remain only two first-team all-pro selections at wideout each season. First-team all-pro is clearly a more prestigious fraternity than Pro Bowl.

So Shofner’s five first-team all-pro selections demand attention – and discussion — from the Pro Football Hall of Fame committee.

Tim Brown and Andre Reed have busts in Canton. Neither was ever a first-team all-pro selection. Hall of Famers Michael Irvin and Charley Taylor were named first-team all-pros once apiece, Cris Carter and Art Monk twice each and Calvin Johnson and Sterling Sharpe three times.

Randy Moss was named to the NFL’s 100^th anniversary team and he was only a first-team all-pro wide receiver four times in his 14 seasons. Shofner was a first-team all-pro in half of his 10 seasons as an NFL wide receiver.

Shofner did it all at Baylor in 1956 on his way to All-Southwest Conference acclaim. He led the team in rushing, receiving, scoring, interceptions, kick returns and punting and was the MVP of Baylor’s Sugar Bowl victory over Tennessee. Shofner also ran track for Baylor – and that speed (and football productivity) made him a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams in 1957, the 11^th overall selection of the draft.

Shofner spent his rookie NFL season on defense, starting at cornerback where he intercepted a pair of passes and recovered a fumble. He moved over to offense in his second season in 1958 and became the only player in the league with a 1,000-yard receiving season. He caught 51 passes in that 12-game season for 1,097 yards and eight touchdowns to earn his first all-pro acclaim.

Shofner caught 47 passes for an NFL-runnerup 936 yards and seven touchdowns in 1959 for his second consecutive first-team all-pro designation. But leg injuries and an ulcer limited him to just 12 catches and a touchdown in 1960, so the Rams traded him to the New York Giants in 1961.

Shofner posted three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in New York, earning three more first-team all-pro honors. He caught 68 passes for a league-runnerup 1,125 yards and 11 touchdowns in 1961 and 53 passes for 1,133 yards and 12 touchdowns in 1962. The Giants played in the NFL championship game both seasons but lost twice to the Green Bay Packers.

Shofner caught 64 passes for 1,181 yards and nine more touchdowns in 1963 – becoming the first receiver in NFL history with four 1,000-yard seasons. That record stood until 1981 when Hall-of-Famer Charlie Joiner joined him in the feat.

Raymond Berry was a first-team all-pro selection in both 1958 and 1959 and Lenny Moore a first-teamer in 1961. Bobby Mitchell was a first-teamer in 1962 and Bobby Joe Conrad in 1963. In each of those seasons, the other first-team all-pro wide receiver was Shofner. Berry, Moore and Mitchell are now in the Hall of Fame…while Shofner’s career has never once been discussed by the selection committee.

Injuries in 1964 limited Shofner to six games and ended his run as a first-team all-pro wide receiver. An inability to stay healthy from that point limited him to only 22 starts in his final four years before he decided to retire after the 1967 season. Shofner was still selected to the 1960s NFL all-decade team.

Now go back to my criteria – what did Shofner do after the catch? He averaged 21.5 yards per catch in 1957 with the Rams and 21.4 yards per catch for the Giants in 1962 despite missing two games with a broken shoulder. In 1962, he caught 11 passes for a franchise record 269 yards in a game against the Washington Redskins.

Shofner averaged 18.5 yards per his 349 career catches and scored a touchdown every 6.8 receptions. As a point of reference, Hall of Famer Jerry Rice averaged a touchdown every 8.3 catches. Shofner had three touchdown receptions of 70 yards or more.

Shofner also spent three seasons as the Rams punter, averaging 42 yards per kick with three in excess of 60 yards. He has been inducted in the Baylor and Southwest Conference Halls of Fame and was voted the 23^rd greatest Giant of all-time during the franchise’s 100^th anniversary season in 2025. Shofner passed away in 2020 at the age of 85.

His career and accomplishments have now been lost in the pages of history. They shouldn’t be.