Did Earl Campbell deseve to be put into Canton
mdharper posted the dead-on response, in my opinion. It's not just about numbers, be it by productivity or by longevity. It's about domination, and Earl Campbell just dominated pro-football during his career.
Just to play devil's advocate here, if its about domination more than produtivity and longevity, why isn't Bo Jackson in the HOF? He totally dominated games and to top it off, iirc he wasn't even the starter, Marcus Allen was. Here are some per carry numbers for some of the guys talked about, or the ones being voted on for 07 HOF. The one's with a * are already in the HOF.
Jackson - 5.4 per carry average
Brown* - 5.2 per carry average
Sanders* - 5.0 per carry average
Sayers* - 5.0 per carry average
Simpson* - 4.7 per carry average
Barber - 4.6 per carry average
Davis - 4.6 per carry average
Payton* - 4.4 per carry average
Dickerson* - 4.4 per carry average
McAllister - 4.3 per carry average
Dorsett* - 4.3 per carry average
Thomas - 4.2 per carry average
Smith - 4.2 per carry average
Walker - 4.2 per carry average
Allen* - 4.1 per carry average
Harris* - 4.1 per carry average
Watters - 4.1 per carry averag
Craig - 4.1 per carry average
Riggins* - 3.9 per carry average
Note: This is just me asking a question, not saying its what I think should happen.