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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/HowieLongDonkeyKong on 2025-02-20 18:17:33+00:00.

Previous Posts: Charlie Garner

It may be a stretch to call Patrick Kerney “Hall of Very Good.” Instead, we’ll call him “Hall of You Were Damn Good for a few Years” (wait, that doesn’t roll off the tongue…).

Kerney was a 1st round pick of the Falcons in 1999-- immediately after the Falcons lost to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII. At University of Virginia (UVA), Kerney had a respectable 24 sacks in three seasons, enough to warrant 1st round consideration (his number was retired there).

With the Falcons, Kerney became their 3rd highest all-time leading sack artist with 58.5 (behind Chuck Smith and John Abraham). With Abraham, they formed a formidable duo that overlapped from 2006-2009.

Kerney produced three 10+ sack seasons with the Falcons, earning him 2nd Team All-Pro honors in 2004 when he got to the QB 13 times. In his final two years in Atlanta, he produced 11 sacks total (suffered a torn pec and ended a 100+ game iron man streak).

In 2007, Kerney opted out of his contract with Atlanta and signed with Seattle for $40M (with $19M in guarantees). He got a career high 14.5 sacks in his first year in Seattle, complete with 1st Team All-Pro honors. That Seahawks team went a respectable 10-6 and made it to the divisional round before getting decimated by Green Bay.

I put him on the “Forgotten Players” list, because even though he got two All-Pro honors (which is no small feat) and finished a respectable 76th all time on the career sack leaders list, Kerney isn’t a player folks will remember 10 years from now, especially when measured against some of his peers from that era including John Abraham, Jason Taylor, Julius Peppers (GREEN PEPPERS, BABY), Michael Strahan, Simeon Rice, Dwight Freeney, Jared Allen, and others.

But Kerney had a great pro career as a late 1st round pick, and was as good a defensive player as many of his HoF peers from the 2000’s was when he was at his (brief) peak.