We’ll have more on these selections later, obviously, but day jobs and travel are getting in the way at the moment…
But we wanted to provide a space to start discussion on the 2018 Senior nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame: LB Robert Brazile and G Jerry Kramer.
Both of these guys have been oft-discussed at this site. It seems to me, without having a full list in front of me, they are quality candidates, particularly in comparison with some more recent offerings.
With Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Jason Taylor, LaDainian Tomlinson, Kurt Warner, Kenny Easley and Jerry Jones set to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tonight, figured we were just a bit overdue for our annual Hall of Fame prediction for next year.
Of course, we start with the finalists that didn’t make the cut in 2017.
The final five cut:
Tony Boselli, T, Jacksonville Jaguars
Brian Dawkins, S, Philadelphia Eagles/Denver Broncos
John Lynch, S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Denver Broncos
Ty Law, CB, New England Patriots/New York Jets/Kansas City/Denver Broncos
Kevin Mawae, C, Seattle Seahawks/New York Jets/Tennessee Titans
Our take: No reason these five won’t be finalists again in 2018.
The first five finalists eliminated:
Isaac Bruce, WR, LA/St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers
Don Coryell, Coach, San Diego Chargers
Alan Faneca, G, Pittsburgh Steelers/New York Jets/Arizona Cardinals
Joe Jacoby, T, Washington Redskins
Terrell Owens, WR, San Francisco 49ers/Philadelphia Eagles/Dallas Cowboys/Buffalo Bills/Cincinnati Bengals
Tony’s take: Although interest in Coryell seems to ebb and flow, he has been a finalist for three straight years (4 overall), so it would seem unlikely that he will drop. It took Joe Jacoby years to make the finalist list, but after being a semifinalist seven times, he’s finally been a finalist the last two years. He faces his final year as a modern-era candidate, so he’s unlikely to drop.
Faneca and Owens have each made the finalist list twice, and although Owens’ attitude after last year’s “snub” could turn some more voters off, it’s unlikely to cost him his spot as a finalist. Isaac Bruce was a finalist for the first time last year—if anyone were to drop from the list this year, it’s likely him—but we don’t see that happening.
Andy’s take: I don’t agree on several of these. Bruce, to me, is not even the most worthy WR off the Greatest Show on Turf. Torry Holt, who dropped out as a semifinalist last year, deserves it more. I’ll predict voters realize the error of their ways and replace Bruce with Holt.
I also think, right or wrong, that Coryell will start to fade from view a bit. I still believe Jimmy Johnson should have been inducted before Tony Dungy and I’ll suggest the former Cowboys coach will knock Coryell from the final 15. It may be an argument for later, but I think coaches need to be considered with contributors or as their own separate category. There are a number of head guys and assistants who would be solid, legitimate Hall candidates who will never get noticed under the current system.
I also think there are others who could get bumped from this list, as there is a solid group of first-time eligible players coming up this year too. Jacoby jumps out at me. I think there’s a good chance it’s going to be up to the senior committee to ultimately determine his fate.
Semifinalists
There were actually 11 additional names cut between the Semifinalist and Finalist stage:
Steve Atwater, S, Denver Broncos/New York Jets (finalist in 2016)
Roger Craig, RB, San Francisco 49ers/Los Angeles Raiders/Minnesota Vikings
Chris Hinton, T/G, Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts/Atlanta Falcons/Minnesota Vikings
Torry Holt, WR, St. Louis Rams/Jacksonville Jaguars
Edgerrin James, RB, Indianapolis Colts/Arizona Cardinals/Seattle Seahawks (finalist in 2016)
Jimmy Johnson, Coach, Dallas Cowboys/Miami Dolphins
Tony’s Take: Despite what I’m guessing Steelers fans will say about Hines Ward, I personally see Holt, James and possibly Atwater as the most likely to ascend to the finalist stage — possibly with Jimmy Johnson as a wildcard, although in recent years I’ve backed off on my opinion of his worthiness to the Hall.
The bigger issue that many in this list face are some of the first-time eligible players coming into the list:
Ray Lewis, LB, Baltimore Ravens – Basically a sure thing finalist, and by far the best bet to make it all the way to Canton in his first year. In fact, probably higher on the list than any of last year’s finalists.
Randy Moss, WR, Minnesota Vikings/Oakland Raiders/New England Patriots/Tennessee Titans/San Francisco 49ers – Likely a lock to make the finalist list, but not as sure of a lock to make the Hall in his first as many make him out to be. His attitude, combined with the uphill battle that many WR face in being elected may leave him on the outside for a few years, just like Owens.
Brian Urlacher, LB, Chicago Bears – I’m on the record repeatedly as saying that Urlacher was overrated, as he seemed to disappear when he didn’t have great defensive tackles clearing the path for him. That being said, he had a great career, and is likely to make the finalist cut at a minimum.
Ronde Barber, CB/S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Along with Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks (already both in Canton) and Lynch, Barber was part of the nucleus that brought a Lombardi Trophy to Tampa. Not sure it’s enough in year one, but his numbers will almost assuredly get him there someday—along with his brother Tiki (of course, Tiki will have to buy a ticket).
Steve Hutchinson, G, Seattle Seahawks/Minnesota Vikings – Hutch will not make the Hall of Fame this year, as there are several other Offensive Lineman ahead of him on the list, and interior lineman struggle in their first couple of years, possibly due to the anonymity of their job (heck, Hutchinson’s write up on the Hall of Fame site isn’t even accurate). He should crack the semi-finalist list, and might sneak into the finalist list, although it wouldn’t be a travesty if he had to wait a couple of years—even Randall McDaniel had to wait.
Richard Seymour, DL, New England Patriots/Oakland Raiders – Not likely to make the finalist list, but another solid semi-finalist that will likely start to make a push in a few years.
Other first-year eligible: Matt Birk, Keith Brooking, Plaxico Burress, Nate Clements, Leonard Davis, Donald Driver, Casey Hampton, Jason Hanson, Jeff Saturday, Takeo Spikes, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Adrian Wilson, Antoine Winfield
Our picks for Finalist:
Tony
Andy
Boselli
Boselli
Bruce
Atwater
Coryell
Johnson
Dawkins
Dawkins
Faneca
Faneca
Holt
Holt
Jacoby
Hutchinson
James
James
Law
Law
Lewis
Lewis
Lynch
Lynch
Mawae
Mawae
Moss
Moss
Owens
Owens
Urlacher
Urlacher
And our picks for the final five (who, per usual, will all be elected):
Tony
Andy
Lewis
Lewis
Dawkins
Dawkins
Lynch
Owens
Mawae
Faneca
Owens
Mawae
Andy’s take: Lewis is a no-brainer and Owens has probably served his time. Mawae was clearly the best center of his era. I’d be fine with Lynch but with the struggles safeties have getting in, I’m going to call it a victory as long as either he or Dawkins gets in. I’ll throw in Alan Faneca and his nine Pro Bowls as my one disagreement with Tony.
I’m sure several of you have left your thoughts on our other posts, but let’s hear it again in the comments–who does everyone have on their Class of 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame List?
With the breaking news that the four-letter network just can’t stop talking about–that Tony Romo is taking his ball and going home…or to the broadcast booth to replace another former NFC East quarterback, the inevitable question has come up multiple times today with said network on as background noise in the office (and with Stephen A. Smith, noise is the operative word):
DALLAS – DEC 14: Taken in Texas Stadium on Sunday, December 14, 2008. Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo on the sideline during a game with the NY Giants speaking with Jason Garrett.
Is Tony Romo a Hall of Fame quarterback?
His resume is impressive–at least for a non-drafted free agent playing the most important position under for the biggest brand in professional sports today. And if I’ve heard right, most of the blowhards have him going into the Hall at some point.
Romo started 127 games in his 13 year career (playing in 156), finishing with a 78-49 regular season record. He completed 65.3% of his passes, threw for 34,183 yards, and had a 248-117 TD to INT ratio. His career QB Rating was 97.1.
Of course, the flip side of things–he was 2-4 in the four playoff appearances he led the Cowboys to. He did throw for 8 TDs to 2 INTs in the playoffs, but his completion % dropped to 61.6%, and his rating dropped to 93.0.
Perhaps even more telling–he had just four Pro Bowl appearances (in an era when some questionable names appeared in the Pro Bowl), and had zero All-Pro selections. Whie his career passer rating ranks as 4th all-time (behind Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady), his career numbers also put him at 29th all-time in Yardage and 21st in touchdowns. He averaged less than 10 starts per season in his career (partly due to injury, partly due to not starting until his third season), starting all 16 just four times–and only three times in his career did he lead the team to more than 8 wins (and four more seasons at 8 wins–two of which were injury shortened).
At the end of the day, when you look at the era he played in, it would be my opinion that Romo doesn’t stack up to the competition to make the cut for the Hall–Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are locks, Rodgers almost certainly is, and there is still Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger (multiple time Super Bowl winners), not to mention younger guys like Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco with a lot of years left to pad their profiles.
Romo had a decent career, that had he not spent a lot of the last few years injured, may have warranted more of a look–but the more I look at it, I’m not even sure why their is as much coverage being devoted to it as their is–at the end of the day, we’re talking about a guy that started fewer games, won fewer playoff games, appeared in fewer Super Bowls and won fewer MVPs than Rich Gannon–so where is the Gannon for Hall of Fame discussion?
That said, the enshrinement of one of those players – Terrell Davis – should be the best thing that ever happened to the case for one of the most dominant, but way too forgotten, dominant wide receivers of the late 1980s and early 1990s: one Sterling Sharpe.
I’ve seen his name come up a couple times in the comments section of our Hall posts. And I think it’s rightfully so. Here’s why:
A few years ago, we did a post looking at the then-stalled candidacies of Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed. All three appeared deserving of consideration for the Hall, but their resumes seemed to be canceling each other out.
Now, they all eventually got in. And each of them warranted enshrinement. But in studying that post again and comparing each of their respective cases to the numbers posted by Sharpe during his injury-shortened seven years, I think if Sharpe had stayed healthy, he’d have been the best of the group.(more…)
In recent years, I think the Hall of Fame voters have done a pretty decent job. They haven’t selected every player I would have preferred to see, but their choices have, by and large, been defensible. They’ve cleared some backlogs, notably at the WR position. And they’ve, for the most part, left off fringe borderline guys in order to get some truly qualified players enshrined.
But this 2017 class is the most disappointed I’ve been in several years. It’s not just that they didn’t follow my desired ballot. And it’s not that I think the candidates selected this year were uniformly not qualified for enshrinement in the Hall.
It’s more that this year’s entrants just feel like a collection of compromise candidates. Among my issues:
Terrell Davis was a great RB and he may deserve to be in the Hall. But the short tenure of his career, against someone like Terrell Owens, makes Davis a questionable pick.
Though he is one of the great kickers of all-time, Morten Andersen was on the field for, what, 10 to 12 plays per game most of the time? He belongs in the Hall as one of the League’s all-time highest scorers, but not until voters solve the safety position – which is flush with qualified candidates from first-time-eligible Brian Dawkins to multi-year candidates like Steve Atwater and John Lynch. Let’s sum it up this way: Despite the plethora of qualified candidates, the voters have now selected two special teamers in the last four years (Andersen and Ray Guy in 2014) while not adding a single one of the safeties.
Kurt Warner was the best QB among modern-era candidates. And he had great moments and he’s a great story, but his was an up-and-down career. He’s waited a few years. But offensive linemen like Joe Jacoby are equally qualified and running out of remaining eligibility. Warner’s resume is not so overwhelming that he couldn’t wait in favor of an equal candidate with fewer years left.
Owens could not even make it into the final five? We’re talking about a WR some believe to be the second best ever. Even now, seven years removed from the game, Owens is third in receiving TDs with 153, second in yards with 15,934 and eighth in receptions with 1,078. I get that he was a jackwagon at times, that he wasn’t always a model citizen or a great guy. And sure, some will argue that if Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed had to wait, Owens can too. But … HE DIDN’T EVEN MAKE THE FINAL 10. To me he’s the second or third strongest candidate in the final 15, but that aside, there is ZERO cogent argument for him not making the final 10.That is purely a vengeful play by writer/voters.
It’s not getting as much attention as the Owens snub, but the enshrined seven all also will get their gold jackets before Kevin Mawae and Alan Faneca, two guys who easily were nearly peerless during their playing days. Consider this: Both Mawae (eight) and Faneca (nine) played in more Pro Bowls than Davis played seasons. Faneca also had six first-team AP All Pro awards and, in his down years, added two second-team AP awards. Mawae had three firsts and four seconds.
The non-election of Paul Tagliabue only further illustrates the folly that is alternating years between two seniors and a contributor with two contributors and a senior. I believe Tagliabue is Hall worthy for his ability to maintain labor peace for his entire tenure, after players strikes interrupted play twice in the last seven years of Pete Rozelle’s tenure. But if voters find him borderline, there are better candidates than him and, frankly, Jerry Jones, whose candidacy feels ridiculously rushed when there are guys like Bobby Beathard out there waiting. That said, there are far fewer contributors who are must-have Hall enshrinement candidates than there are senior candidates. Let’s get the Chuck Howleys and Johnny Robinsons and Jerry Kramers and others who actually helped build the game on the field in while they are, for the most part, still around and wait on forcing more questionable contributors onto the annual ballot.
Some question how Jason Taylor got in on his first try while Michael Strahan had to wait. That I don’t have as much a problem with, as Strahan was a victim of numbers when Warren Sapp, Jonathan Ogden and Larry Allen also were eligible for the first time. Not all first-time warranted candidates are going to get in right away and that class has to rank as one of the most impressive in Hall history. Jason Taylor just happened to retire in the right year.
You tell me which would be the stronger enshrinement class of 2017: (more…)
Word is trickling out on social media about who has officially been voted in as the 2017 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class.
Reports are that Morten Andersen, Kurt Warner, LaDanian Tomlinson, Terrell Davis and Jason Taylor were elected from the modern era. Jerry Jones was elected as a contributor, and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue reportedly missed election by a single vote. Senior candidate Kenny Easley also reportedly was inducted.
Warner and Davis were the only two who made the final 10 in 2016 voting, a noticeable difference from year’s past. Joe Jacoby, John Lynch and Don Coryell were the others in the final 10 from 2016 who missed the cut again this year. Tomlinson and Taylor were both eligible for the first time in 2017.
Davis and Tomlinson being elected together marks the first time since 1977 that two RB were elected together in the modern ballot, when Frank Gifford and Gale Sayers were elected.
Andersen’s election is the first for a full-time kicker since Jan Stenerud was elected in 1991.
The 15 finalists had been announced at the beginning of January. Tony Boselli, Isaac Bruce, Coryell, Brian Dawkins, Alan Faneca, Jacoby, Ty Law, Kevin Mawae, Lynch and Terrell Owens were the 10 finalists not elected.
Lynch, Dawkins, Law, Boselli and Mawae were reportedly the final five eliminated before final voting (thanks to Commenter Rob for the head’s up). This would seemingly put a serious damper on Coryell’s recent push to get in, as well as Jacoby, who was in his 19th year of eligibility.
From our predictions, I managed to get 3 of the 5 modern era candidates (Tomlinson, Davis, Warner). Only 2 of Andy’s predictions (Taylor and Tomlinson) were elected.
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I guess what I am saying Andy P is that transparency is great, just doubt that it improves the results
So what do you mean where you say transparency?
Paul I don’t know what are you trying to say
Let’s say we had a lot more transparency during class of 2025 election - would it have changed outcome?
Paul what do you mean it doesn’t improves outcome