I hear that "he only played seven years" excuse all the time and it just doesn't hold water for me. You know who else only played seven years? Terrell Davis. Gale Sayers played six. Sterling was the Terrell Davis of receivers during his playing time. As he put it, put every receiver's seven best years, including Calvin Johnson, against his career and see who deserves the Hall of Fame more. If he hadn't got hurt, I firmly believe he would've gone down in history as the second best receiver of all time.