Back in August, we announced who we thought would be the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2009. Since then, there have been over 200 comments left on that post, and even more on subsequent postings about who might make it, and what senior candidates should be considered.
And today, we found out who made the cut:
Buffalo Bills DE Bruce Smith
Kansas City Chiefs LB Derrick Thomas
Buffalo Bills Owner Ralph Wilson
Minnesota Vikings G Randall McDaniel
Pittsburgh Steelers DB Rod Woodson
Dallas Cowboys WR Bob Hayes, senior candidate
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Oh my!!!!! Poor Kooch :( I think the writing is on the wall for him.
I got the Ralph Wilson Jr. selection right. But no Sharpe or Carter.
My hunch about Humphrey not having the goods was correct but I didn’t think the Voters would pull the plug. Kind of a shock. I know a lot of Falcon fans are bitterly disappointed. They thought they were getting their first inductee.
All in all a bit surprising but a deserving group. Seems like the voters are tightening up a little. Maybe they’ve heard the critics regarding Swann and Dean??
Tony, make a topic called 2010 hof nominees.
Humphrey was a surprise with his credentials and being a senior nominee. i wonder what they didn’t see in him??
Kuech may never get in now and that’s a shame
i thought Carter would get in over DT
the rest were how i thought it would go;especially happy for Bob Hayes!!!
this was a very strong class….CONGRATS TO THEM ALL!!
a couple of things we learned were that the committee, as was thought before, doesn’t like to put multiple players at the same position in the same class and they like a more minimum class than a max one.
i’m not sure how many seven man classes were going to see in the future.
Chad:
I’m not sure you can say we won’t see seven man classes in the future. It will surely depend on who the senior candidates are. One thing that I think is certain is that we will consistently see all five modern candidate slots be filed for the foreseeable future. I seriously doubt that many, if any, electors doubt that Cris Carter or Shannon Sharpe are hall of famers. It was simply that Smith, Woodson, Thomas, and McDaniel were more worthy candidates. There is simply a very large backlog, and the only way to keep pace is to elect five guys a year.
One simple correction the HOF could take would be to create a special category for contributors. Something similar to the senior committee nominees.
As for 2010, it is never too early to make a prediction or start lobbying for candidates. This year I got four of the five modern era candidates correct (I would have selected Kennedy over Wilson). For next year, I’ll take the following:
1) Jerry Rice
2) Emmitt Smith
3) Cortez Kennedy
4) Shannon Sharpe
5) Russ Grimm
Cris Carter (and probably Tim Brown) will be blocked by Jerry Rice (which honestly is for the best. They deserve to have their day in the sun unencumbered by Rice). There is a very good chance that a pass rusher takes the last spot over Grimm, but given that most years have at least one OL, I think Grimm (or Dawson) will make it.
Another intriguing player is Aeneas Williams. While he was an absolute beast, it appears the electors reserve “first ballot” status to a very select group of players.
So, what does everyone else think?
Justin….
Aeneas Williams will probably have to wait atleast a year because of the first-ballot stuff.
i also agree rice will be the only WR taken in the class next yr…Brown and Carter will eventually get in.
what hurt Sharpe was no TE had been elected on the first ballot.
what kept Humphrey out? i wonder if the other voters were sending the senior committee a message, as far as what kind of candidate to bring up in the future.
Humphrey was brought back awfully soon(after his modern eligibility was up)to be a senior candidate.
i wonder if him not being on the 70’s all-decade team while two other senior canididates were on it at the same position(Martin and Greenwood), hurt him with the voters.
again, to be a senior nominee so soon after not being elected in your modern time, maybe the other non-senior voters want the absolutely strongest candidate.
I still predict Humphrey makes it down the line, but with a longer wait as Hayes had to.
the seniors got another candidate in on the second try(Bob Hayes), so they still have a carrot to dangle down the line to probably get another senior nominee in, like Humphrey.
my five moderns to get in next yr:
Rice, Smith, Randle, Grimm and Sharpe
I have a 4 inch thick Total NFL Football Encyclopedia from 1996. One of the sections list the 300 top players of all- time giving a really nice history of each player. 300 players is a big slice. No where does it mention Russ Grim on the list. I just don’t see him making the HOF. A teammate Jacoby makes the list of the top 300 and I think he’s deserving.
Here’s one opinion about Bob Kuechenberg taken from the South Florida Sun Sentinel:) not sure who wrote it. It ranks Kooch as the 9th best Dolphin of all-time.
No. 9 — Bob Kuechenberg
(Getty Images)
How is this man not in the Hall? With Langer and Little, he was part of the best middle of the line in NFL history. Longevity? He blocked in Super Bowls for Griese and Marino, playing the most games in franchise history until Marino passed him. Talented? He played tackle and guard in 1978, earning post-season awards at each position from different selectors. And a big-game player? With a metal rod in his broken arm, he beat up Minnesota defensive tackle Alan Page (then the NFL Defensive Player of the Year) in the 1974 Super Bowl to the point Page lost his cool and was ejected from the game. Plus, for kicks, he would mix friends drinks at his home as he told them the story of the metal rod and Super Bowl game. Inevitably, one would ask what happened to the rod. ?I just stirred your drink with it,?? Kuechenberg would say.
Hey Tony Parslow, did you get my email?
I thought this was a great class!
Bruce Smith and Rod Woodson were locks, Wilson should’ve been in a long time ago, DT got in about when he should and Randal McDaniel went to 12 pro-bowls.
For those doubting Hayes’ inclusion, think about this: his 71 receiving TD’s were top 10 in NFL history when he retired in 1975 and his 76 total TD’s were top 15 in NFL history when he retired;every player ahead of him on those two lists are in the HOF except for Art Powell.
Also, hayes’ 76 TD’s averaged 41.5 yards a score(almost half a football field everytime he scored a TD) and he has 53 career TD’s of atleast 30 yards, that’s third all time behind Jerry Rice and Randy Moss. Hayes had 371 career catches(20ypc) with one every five of them going for a TD(Wow).
For that and many other reasons, i thought he was a great nominee and much deserved his inclusion into the HOF.
I can’t say the same about Claude Humphrey, who i thought was a rare poor choice by the senior committee.
First of all, I thought he was brought back way too soon as a first time senior nominee considering he was just last eligilbe as a modern nominee i think in 2005; He had been voted down as a finalist three times in his last four years of modern eligibility.
Also, Humphrey’s falcon teams were rarely any good and those falcon defenses he played on were also mainly subpar too. So he didn’t have impact on his teams by making them better like the way Bob Hayes did with the cowboys when he arrived.
Humphrey also arguably quit on his team in 1978 when he retired during the season because of a conflict with the coaching staff. Despite his absence, the falcons still went on to make the playoffs two of the next three years, losing to the cowboys both times in 1978 and 1980.
Humphrey later came out of retirement the next year to join the eagles as a part-time player pass rush specialist, helping them go to the SB in 1980 on what was an up and coming eagles team even without him.
Then in that SB vs the raiders that the eagles lost, Humphrey had an infamous moment when after he was flagged for a late hit on Jim Plunkett, he picked up the flag and out of frustration, threw it at the ref about 10 yards away, hitting him in the back with the flag.
Claude Humphrey was not an all-time player that had to be put into the HOF and add to that his retirement fiasco in Atlanta and the SB incident with the eagles, i can see why the committee voted down his nomination. Canton will not miss the bust of Claude Humphrey.
Great point about Humphrey’s lack of impact. I pointed that out by revealing the Falcon’s fairly low Defensive rankings when he was at his best. Of course sometimes the Offense not staying on the field long enough will kill even the better defense. And their were some really sorry Offenses in the 70’s.
That said I remember MNF really building up Humphrey the year they were decent at 7-7. Just to pump up sorry game that envolved the Falcons. I think Bob Lee was the QB and Hampton was a 1,000 yd rusher who took one last carrythat season and wound up with 996 for the season. Funny story!! Usually the best action was wathing the Dutchman’s antics on the sidelines. :) Tommy Nobis or their tackle Kenn should be the first in the HOF.
Hey, maybe with Deon Sanders coming up they are desparate to get a Falcon into the HOF so they picked Humphrey. Someone is pushing it?