When trying to determine if former Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason is worthy of consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it's tough to pin it down to pure statistics. Mason finished 11th in NFL history with 943 receptions and only one guy with more catches than him is currently enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

Former San Francisco 49ers WR Jerry Rice is at the top of the list and has been mentioned as one of the best players of all-time, regardless of position. Of the other nine players with more catches than Mason, none of them are in the Hall of Fame, including Former Minnesota Vikings great, Cris Carter, who is annually overlooked despite being generally considered worthy of induction.

There are 21 wide receivers in the Hall of Fame and other than Rice, none of them have as many receptions as Mason and only former Washington Redskins WR Art Monk is even close. Therefore, it is pretty obvious that a receiver's impact on the game appears to be more important than the number of receptions or yards in his stats, which makes it tough to be objective in determining "Hall Worthiness."

BaltimoreRavens.com posted an earlier story asking the same theoretical question.