NFL hall of fame 2013: Former Eagle Cris Carter inducted

All he does is catch touchdowns... and now he's in the hall of fame. After 3 years on the ballot, former Eagle Cris Carter was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this evening.

"Those years I didn't make it, I took 2-3 hours to cry and mourn. Then I went back to work. This year I believed I was going to get in the Hall. With these receivers, eventually one of us had to get in," Carter said on Saturday.

"I'm forever humbled," Carter said. "For me to end up right here ... I mean this is the happiest day of my life."

Of course Carter will enter the hall remembered as a Minnesota Viking, which is where he really made his name and put up the stats that got him into Canton. However, his career did start in Philadelphia, where he came in as 4th round pick in the 1987 Supplemental draft. He would go on to catch 19 touchdowns over the next 3 seasons.

However, he was cut after a falling out with then Eagles coach Buddy Ryan, who infamously said "all Cris Carter does is catch touchdown passes."

Ahh Buddy....

All that said, there was more to it. Carter admitted later that he had gotten heavily into drugs at the time and his life was a bit out of control. He has often cited the fact that Buddy Ryan cut him as the catalyst that helped him turn his life around.

So had Buddy just kept him, would he have been a hall of fame WR for the Eagles? It's really hard to say.

In his time with Minnesota, Carter was named first team All Pro twice and made 8 Pro Bowls. He was later named to the 1990s all decade team.

He finished his career with 130 touchdown catches, 4th on the all time list.

Also making the hall this year are coach Bill Parcells, left tackle Jonathan Ogden, defensive tackle Warren Sapp & guard/tackle Larry Allen. The veterans committee also chose defensive tackle Curley Culp and linebacker Dave Robinson.