Former Patriot Stanley Morgan named Hall of Fame semi-finalist

Former Patriots wide receiver Stanley Morgan has advanced to the semifinals of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Seniors category.

This category is for players who have been retired for at least 25 years, and were not inducted into the Hall of Fame when on the modern era ballot.

Morgan is one of nine semifinalists this year, with the others including: Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, Henry Ellard, L.C. Greenwood, Joe Jacoby, Eddie Meador, Steve Tasker and Otis Taylor.

The former first-round pick spent 13 seasons in New England from 1977-1989, and is a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame. During his tenure with the Patriots he caught 557 balls for 10,716 yards, along with 72 touchdowns.

He is still the Patriots’ all-time receiving yards leader, a convincing 2,500 yards ahead of Rob Gronkowski in second. Gronkowski was able to pass him in touchdowns, with Morgan still second in that category.

Morgan also holds the NFL record for yards per reception (19.2) among players with at least 500 career catches.

Morgan will hope this year’s vote goes better than his 2023 and 2024 Hall of Fame runs did, in which he also made it to the semifinals.

The list of nine will be narrowed down to three next week, when the Hall of Fame’s nine-person Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee will meet and vote on who makes it to the finals. The winners will then be announced during the week leading up to the Super Bowl.