Will all three members of the Steelers’ Killer B’s end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? That’s the question hanging over 2027, when Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are all eligible for induction.
For Steelers fans, this is the kind of Hall of Fame class that turns Canton into familiar territory. When one of their own gets in, Steeler Nation shows up loud. With the Hall so close, the place can feel like one giant Steelers tailgate.
Bell has the toughest argument of the trio. The former Michigan State back made three Pro Bowls and was named an All-Pro twice, with most of that resume built during his five seasons in Pittsburgh.
In three of those years, he topped 1,000 rushing yards, and he added 312 catches with the Steelers as well. At his peak, he was one of the NFL’s most dangerous backs.
Still, the arc of his career works against him. His contract situation shouldn’t erase what he produced on the field, but he was not the same player after sitting out the entire 2018 season. There are players with shorter careers who have made the Hall, but Bell doesn’t quite fit the profile of an all-time great who forces the issue.
Antonio Brown is a different story. Brown, in this view, is a Hall of Famer.
Twelve seasons gives him plenty of runway, and six of those years were as dominant as any receiver has ever put together. He made the All-Decade Team for the 2010s, earned seven Pro Bowl selections and picked up four All-Pro nods.
From 2013 through 2018, his numbers were outrageous: more than 1,500 receiving yards, more than 114 catches and 67 touchdowns on average over that six-year stretch.
Brown also built a reputation as one of the hardest-working and most demanding players in the league, which won him plenty of admirers. But his exit from Pittsburgh was ugly, and his own behavior drove that split.
He became the model for the “Diva Wide Receiver,” and that likely cost him a chance to be a first-ballot pick. He later won a Super Bowl ring with the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers, though that run ended badly too.
Even so, the belief here is that Brown gets into Canton - just not in 2027.
Roethlisberger’s case is just as clear on talent. There’s no real debate that he belongs in the Hall.
He sits seventh all-time in passing yards and should remain inside the top ten for years. He was a six-time Pro Bowler, won Rookie of the Year and captured two Super Bowls in three trips.
His résumé also includes back-to-back 500-yard passing games and 41 fourth-quarter comebacks, which ranks third.
The complication is first-ballot status. Roethlisberger was never a first-team All-Pro, and the off-field issues from the early part of his career are impossible to dismiss.
No matter how anyone frames that period, it left a stain on both him and the organization. Whether he gets in immediately may come down to how voters handle those kinds of issues.
Terrell Owens is the obvious example of how much that can matter.
There’s another wrinkle coming in 2028, when Tom Brady becomes eligible and is a lock for first-ballot induction. He’ll be joined by J.J.
Watt, Matt Ryan and A.J. Green.
Brady and Watt are easy calls, while Ryan and Green don’t match Roethlisberger’s résumé. The bigger question is whether the Hall would want Brady’s moment crowded by another huge name, especially with Steelers fans expected to show up in force and drown out the New England crowd.
The bottom line is simple: Brown and Roethlisberger are going in. The only real mystery is when.
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