State Your Case: Geno Atkins

The Hall of Fame candidacy of Geno Atkins began in 2026 without a ripple.

The former defensive tackle of the Cincinnati Bengals was not one of the 20 finalists for the Hall’s Class of 2026, which will be enshrined in August. He wasn’t even one of the 26 semifinalists on the ballot. He wasn’t even chosen by the Hall’s screening committee as one of the 52 players worthy of consideration for the Class of 2026.

Geno Atkins and his career deserve better.

Atkins arrived in the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick out of Georgia in 2010. He made the team as the fourth defensive tackle and spent his rookie season as a backup. He played 11 years in the NFL but in his final season in 2020 he spent both the first and last month on injured reserve with a bum shoulder. He did suit up for eight games in October and November but did not start and played sparingly. He retired at year’s end.

But let’s examine those nine years that Atkins did start in between those two bookend seasons he wasn’t in the lineup. From 2011 through 2019, Atkins started 133 of a possible 144 games. He was voted to eight Pro Bowls – and in the one season he missed out, Atkins spent the final seven games on injured reserve with torn knee ligaments. He also was voted first-team all-pro twice in a decade that Aaron Donald always seemed to be the other tackle.

Atkins collected 75 ½ sacks in his career with three seasons in double figures. He posted 12 ½ sacks in 2012, 11 in 2015 and 10 in 2018. He also had a pair of nine sack seasons (2016 & 2017). Not bad for a 6-1, 300-pound interior lineman.

Atkins was one of four defensive tackles selected to the NFL’s 2010s all-decade team along with Donald, Fletcher Cox and Ndamukong Suh. His eight Pro Bowls were more than either Cox (six) and Suh (five) and his two all-pros were one more than Cox. His 75 ½ sacks were also more than either Cox or Suh, who both played more seasons and more games than Atkins. But Donald, Cox and Suh will all be on a faster track to Canton than Atkins.

That’s because Donald, Cox and Suh all played on Super Bowl championship teams – Cox with the Eagles in 2017, Suh with the Buccaneers in 2020 and Donald the Rams in 2021. Atkins never won a Super Bowl. He never played in a Super Bowl. He never even won a playoff game in five post-season appearances with the Bengals.

Does that matter? Yes it does.

There are 331 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Almost 62 percent of them played on championship teams. The Hall loves winners – and Atkins did not win. The Bengals posted an 81-92-3 record during the Atkins era. But Cincinnati was a better team with Atkins on the field than off. In his 134 career starts, the Bengals played .500 ball (66-66-2) and qualified for the playoffs five times in those nine seasons with two AFC North titles.

There’s one other complication with his candidacy. Atkins played defense. Only 37 percent of the players in the Hall of Fame lined up on that side of the ball. So if you played defense and didn’t win a championship, you rank among the longest of longshots for the Hall of Fame.

Ask Jack Butler, Alex Karras, Robert Brazile and Kenny Easley. All failed to win championships but were selected to all-decade teams. All had to wait for the senior committee to resurrect their candidacies after their 25-year windows of modern-era eligibility had expired. Butler waited 50 years for his bust, Karras 45 years for his, Brazile 29 and Easley 25.

Great players on great teams belong in the Hall of Fame. So do great players on not-so-great teams. But too often they have been punished by a Hall-of-Fame selection process that favors winners. Ken Riley was a great player for the Bengals who suffered that fate. Only one pure cornerback in NFL history intercepted more passes than Riley – yet he had to wait for the senior committee to end his 35-year wait for Hall-of-Fame enshrinement.

Atkins was a great player, a dominant player, for a franchise that has never won a Super Bowl. His career is worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. He belongs in the discussion. Here’s hoping the committee recognizes that all greatness does not wear rings.