As the NFL gets set to kick off the beginning of another season with its annual Hall of Fame induction weekend, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s board made a decision Friday that will affect – and potentially increase – enshrinement classes for at least the next five years.
In a much needed addition, the board added a “contributor” category, meaning owners, broadcasters and others who didn’t play the game but helped the NFL. There will be a subcommittee of voters selected to make the nominations for the new category. The nominees will still need 80 percent support on finalist voting day.
It’ll give guys like NFL Films Co-Founder Steve Sabol, former owners like the late Art Modell and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. former executives like George Young and retired commissioners such as Paul Tagliabue a better chance to earn induction since they will not be compared against modern-era players.
I’m in favor of the move – hugely in favor. There are some folks who deserve to be in who are having a hard time getting traction because of the backlog of players – who should take priority, I would think.
Details are still flowing in – there have been some media posts, but nothing official from the Hall yet that I have found. One detail I don’t understand is that contributors will get two slots every other year, at least for the next five years — I’d be fine with that except it comes at the expense of one of the senior candidate nominees. While I agree that contributors should have their own category, the backlog of senior Hall of Fame player candidates is much longer, particularly since, as I understand it, coaches are remaining in the same pool as modern-era players. Each group will get two selections one year, then two the next. At least off the top of my head, anyway, I can count 20 senior candidates that get regular discussion here at our blog to every three or four “contributors.”
If that’s the case it’s not a perfect change. But it’s a step in the right direction. It’ll definitely put some deserving candidates on equal footing so their cases can be considered when modern-era finalists are – and that is a good thing.
Among veteran WR storylines this offseason, Andre Johnson’s dissatisfaction with his situation in Houston dominated the headlines. But the preseason angle I’ll be keeping an eye on over the next couple weeks is Reggie Wayne’s recovery from his 2013 ACL tear.
Wayne is a key to the chances Indianapolis carries to keep building a team that might be one of the AFC’s best and only competitors to a Denver repeat appearance in the Super Bowl. And getting a couple more solid seasons in could solidify Wayne’s run toward an eventual enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
Prior to getting hurt last year, Wayne had played in every game for 11 straight seasons, along the way putting up numbers that have him eighth all-time in receptions (he’s the active leader now that Tony Gonzalez has retired).
His father-in-law, who also happens to be Head Coach Tom Coughlin, had nothing but great things to say about Snee, who was a second round draft pick in 2004. Solid, stand-up guy who never got in trouble and always showed up in shape, ready to do his job. Quotes from QB Eli Manning leave me wondering if he’s not taking it hardest of anyone.
It sounds like he was a great guy and a superb teammate – and hopefully he continues to be a fantastic family man as he transitions to his next phase in life. It sounds like he’s the type of guy fans should love to cheer for.
But those characteristics, unfortunately at times, don’t make a player a strong candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (more…)
I can understand where Johnson is coming from – he’s approaching his mid-30s and the Texans have not had a ton of success in his years as one of the league’s top wide receivers.
But I’m not sure a trade is in the best interests of either the team or Johnson … in fact I’m really not sure the Texans are that far from getting back on a winning track.
Sure, Houston had the top pick in the draft this year after a brutal 2-14 season that ended with a 14 game losing streak. But the two years prior a solid defense and a decent offense had this team in the playoffs – and into 2013 the Texans were a Super Bowl favorite.
It’s been 40 years since Jim Tyrer’s career ended at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams, who beat Washington in the first round of the 1974 playoffs. Despite his six All-Pro nominations, the end of his career merited little mention – nary a word in the Sporting News.
Tyrer played for Washington in 1974, primarily as a backup, squeezing one last season out of a top-notch career that included nine invitations to the Pro Bowl or AFL All-Star Game. The first 13 years of his career were spent with the Kansas City Chiefs/Dallas Texans franchise that was among the AFL’s strongest, at least during the years he played.
It’s been 34 years since his name popped up in the last item of Sports Illustrated’s Sept. 29, 1980 Roundup section, where remembrances of his nine All-Star games and two Super Bowl appearances were followed by mention that he had died by suicide after fatally shooting his wife, Martha.
Tyrer did merit mention again a couple times in the early 1980s. His one year as a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist was 1981 and another when he also made a list SI’s Paul Zimmerman compiled – an informal poll of the all-time best offensive linemen.
Though voters are not supposed to consider character and conduct as part of whether or not someone should be enshrined, Tyrer has not made it into the Hall – this statement alone sparking some irony because during his playing days, by most accounts I could find, his character was never in question.
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