Leslie O'Neal is overlooked because of the Defensive Ends in his era included Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Richard Dent and Chris Doleman. I think the knee injury he had in his rookie year had a role in why he is not inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Leslie suffered a major knee injury week 13 of the 1986 season, but didn't play again till week 7 of the 1988 season due to that knee injury.

Its safe to say without that knee injury, he would've had anywhere in the 140 -145 career sack range instead of 132.5 career. I think that difference in amount of sacks might've been enough for him to get inducted.

The other problem was his prime happened on the Chargers. The Chargers weren't exactly good for a good part of of career and the same is true when he went to Rams. To top it off, the first player people though of with the Chargers in his era was Junior Seau. The Chargers in his era had some good defensive players, but that offense didn't have a franchise quarterback in his time although had good running backs. When Leslie was drafted in 1986, Dan Fouts was near the end of his Hall of Fame Career.

Posted by EJ on 07/31/2025 @ 18:47pm