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The 5 Biggest 49ers Hall of Fame Snubs in the Modern Era

By JD Leidy

Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; Former San Fransisco players (L to R) Charley Haley and Steve Young and Ronnie Lott and Jerry Rice and Joe Montana pose with former owner Edward De Bartolo Jr. (third from R) during the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; Former San Fransisco players (L to R) Charley Haley and Steve Young and Ronnie Lott and Jerry Rice and Joe Montana pose with former owner Edward De Bartolo Jr. (third from R) during the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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No. 1: Terrell Owens (81)

In examining the greatest modern-era 49ers Hall of Fame snubs, many of the names hail from ’80s and early-’90s, the period during which the team was collecting its five league championships.

However, since that last Super Bowl victory in 1995, there has been one 49ers player so extraordinary that he tops the HoF snub list: Terrell Owens.

Admittedly, Owens was many things apart from a dominant receiver; He was a braggart, a diva and at times, a downright classless provocateur. All characteristics that have undoubtedly contributed to his receiving the NFL’s equivalent of the Barry Bonds treatment.

But like Bonds, “T.O.” was a generational talent, and without question belongs in Canton alongside the rest of the game’s greatest:

Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens /

Behind only his one-time teammate Jerry Rice, Owens is the second all-time in yards by a receiver (15,934). In terms of touchdowns, he sits No. 3 all-time, behind only Randy Moss and the aforementioned Rice.

A hulking brute with the speed to go the distance every time he touched the ball, few wide receivers have ever come close to matching T.O.’s physicality and game-breaking ability.

Owens’s physique alone probably qualifies him to be bronzed in Canton, but take his epic numbers into account and the fact that he has not already been enshrined in the HoF is asinine.

The Associated Press and the league obviously want to make Owens sweat, alleged comeuppance for his behavioral transgressions throughout his career. Further, some might point to his lack of championships as proof that he was never a true team player.

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Save that argument for the guys on the bubble. Hall of Famer Barry Sanders never won a championship. Neither did Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, or O.J. Simpson.

When it comes to a singular talent like T.O., inarguably one of the best to ever play the game, excluding him from the HoF is as or more childish than Owens’s own impish antics that the press is so staunchly protesting.

Perhaps KNBR’s John Lund put it best by simply reading off the all of the receivers currently in the Hall of Fame and then posing the very simple question, “Where would you rank T.O. among these names?”

Here are the 25 pass catchers currently enshrined in the HoF:

HoF Receivers Table
HoF Receivers Table /

So where does Owens rank among these names? No.2? No. 3 perhaps? Certainly nowhere below No. 5.

How can excluding the fifth best receiver to every play the game from the Pro Football Hall of Fame be justified? It can’t.

Terrell Owens belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. End of story.