Former longtime Raiders punter Shane Lechler officially retires from football, is he a Hall of Famer?

Can you believe it’s been six years since Shane Lechler was launching moonshots for the Raiders? I still remember when the Raiders made him their pick in the 5th round of the 2000 NFL draft. I remember attending his rookie camp and hearing the crowd on hand gasp in awe at his spectacular punts — myself included.

Now 19 years later, Lechler is hanging them up. Texans teammate JJ Watt tweeted out the news of his retirement part. Yes, that’s Lechler on the right, looking like he retired a while ago.

For 13 years, Lechler wore Silver & Black and was the best punter in football before leaving to sign with his hometown Houston Texans in 2013 and spent five seasons in Houston. He was cut prior to the 2018 season and spent the year out of football. Now he will spend a lot more than a year out of football.

Leg-ler was an All Pro six times and a Pro Bowler 7 times; all for the Raiders. His career 47.6 yards per punt average is the NFL’s all time best.

A few years back, Raiders legendary punter Ray Guy was named to the Hall of Fame, though it required the Senior Committee to get him in. Lechler beat all of Guy’s records and quite a few others as well from his own era. That leads to the inevitable question.