Why Patriots Fans Should Root For Steve Tasker To Make the Hall of Fame

Dear New England Patriots Fans:

Are you a fan of Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead and Julian Edelman? Of course. You like them for their grit, their playmaking abilities, their chemistry with quarterback Tom Brady, and their ability as kick/punt returners. You also like them because they’re shorter than normal football players, and have found success in the NFL regardless of the freakishly large men around them.

If you adore what Welker, Woodhead and Edelman do for your team, then you need to cross team allegiance lines and thank the man who blazed their path twenty years ago: Steve Tasker.

Those who have read this blog for a while know my feelings on Tasker. I think it is honestly ridiculous that the legendary Buffalo Bill is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He, along with his special teams minded coaches, made the position of kick returner/punt returner/wide receiver what it is today.

The 5-9, 183 pound Tasker defined the idea of a shorter statured wide receiver finding success in special teams. He used his short-and-stout body type as a positive and plowed over, around and through defenders double his size. He returned kicks and punts for touchdowns. He blocked kicks and punts, took down other kick returners, and mired the Bills’ opponents deep in their own territory or gave the Bills’ offense back the ball immediately. Tasker would just throw himself in front of whomever had the ball – the kicker, the kick returner, whomever – and make their life at that moment in time a living hell. He also had grit and determination that showed on every play – no matter if his team was dominating the early 1990s AFC or in the midst of being embarrassed by the Dallas Cowboys in a Super Bowl. One of football’s most influential football minds, Bill Parcells, once admitted that he had to change his entire special teams game plan specifically for Tasker.

Tasker made seven Pro Bowl teams, seven All Pro teams, and is considered one of the top ten players never to make it into the Hall of Fame. Voters are hesitant to elect him to Canton because he only played on special teams, though it is well documented that the main reason Bills’ head coach Marv Levy held him out of the offense because he feared injuring their key special teams player. You can see Levy’s logic at work: because of his work defending kickoffs and punts, Tasker got his offense the ball back much quicker, giving them more opportunities to score each game.

I’ll grant you that Tasker was used differently than Welker, Edelman and Woodhead are on the Patriots’ offense and special teams. The three aren’t used as much defensively as Tasker was. But had Tasker not been used the way he was, and had he not been so valuable to the Buffalo Bills, NFL coaches might not be so inclined to use smaller wide receivers and kick returners the way they currently do. In the lineage of NFL offensive players, Tasker begat Welker, Edelman and Woodhead. The three would have had less of a chance to succeed had Tasker not given opponents fits and his team such an advantage in the 1990s.

So Patriots fans, cross those party lines and give credit where credit is due. Steve Tasker made the quick, gritty and short wide receiver who can make an impact on special teams a desirable commodity. If Hall of Famer Levy is to be celebrated for his creation and curation of modern special teams play, then Canton should induct the pen with which Levy wrote his special teams manifesto: Tasker.

Sincerely,

Kat

P.S. Need video proof? Here’s some for you:

NFL Network’s package on Tasker as the ninth best player not in the Hall of Fame