During his years with the Bills, Steve Tasker was widely regarded as the NFL’s best special teams player. But while Tasker has been a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame nine times, he still hasn’t made it, and he may never get in.
Tasker, however, thinks someone else is eventually going to get into the Hall of Fame purely off his special teams contributions: Matthew Slater.
Slater, the Patriots’ longtime special teams captain, ought to be a lock for the Hall given his 10 Pro Bowl selections, Tasker said on Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen’s podcast.
“I don’t think there’s any question he’ll get in when his time comes. He may not be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but he’ll be a guy they have to address,” Tasker said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.
Two kickers -- Andersen and Jan Stenerud -- are in the Hall of Fame, and so is one punter, Ray Guy. But so far no one has made it from the less glamorous work of blocking and tackling on special teams, which is the specialty of Slater and was the specialty of Tasker. If Tasker never makes it, perhaps Slater will be the first.
