A Step Closer

The modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015 were announced last night on the NFL Network. The league televises everything now. Gold Jacket Finalists was the name of the show.

Here are the 15 finalists:

first-year eligible finalists
Orlando Pace, OT (1997-2009)
Junior Seau, LB (1990-2009)
Kurt Warner, QB (1998-2009)

the rest
Morten Andersen, K (1982-2004, 2006-2007)
Jerome Bettis, RB (1993-2005)
Tim Brown, WR (1988-2004)
Don Coryell, head coach (1973-77, 1978-1986)
Terrell Davis, RB (1995-2001)
Tony Dungy, head coach (1996-2008)
Kevin Greene, DE/LB (1985-1999)
Charles Haley, DE/LB (1986-1996, 1999)
Marvin Harrison, WR (1996-2008)
Jimmy Johnson, head coach (1989-1993, 1996-1999)
John Lynch, S (1993-2007)
Will Shields, G (1993-2006)

Starting with this class, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has added a contributor category. The deserving nominees are dealt with in the same manner as the Senior nominees. They sail right through to the final selection process and are voted on separately from the modern-era finalists. This year, being the first year, brings two contributor nominees:

Bill Polian, general manager (1978-1982, 1984-2011)
Ron Wolf, general manager/scout (1963-1974, 1976-2001)

With two contributor nominees this year, there is only one senior nominee:
Mick Tingelhoff, C, (1962-1978)

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015 could be as large as eight. Five from the modern-era finalists, the two contributor nominees, and the senior nominee.

Here is the Flea Flicker stab at that 8-member class:

Junior Seau
Don Coryell
Tim Brown
Kevin Greene
Terrell Davis
Mick Tingelhoff
Ron Wolf
Bill Polian

Junior Seau is the only first-year eligible lock. It's a damn shame that he won't be on that Canton stage in August. There will be a ton of debate over the merits of Kurt Warner. He had one of the more unusual quarterbacking careers in league history. A late start, dynamite for a few years, a weak middle, and dynamite again at the end. The hole in the middle and the inability to initially win and hold the Cardinals quarterbacking gig over Matt Leinart keeps him out of the Hall in his first year of eligibility. The unfortunate thing for Warner is that this possible rejection will be carried out on the air with his TV job on NFL Network. I saw this sort of thing play out for six years with Cris Carter. It isn't pretty. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Warner makes it this year. I just don't think that he should but a lot of people love his story. As for the rest of  my picks, Coryell should have made it years, nay decades, ago. He didn't win titles but he did as much for the passing game as anyone in league history. The question is asked of all possible Hall of Fame inductees. "Can you write the history of professional football without them?" Well, without Don Coryell, we don't have the Dan Fouts, Kellen Winslow-led Chargers offenses of the late 1970s and early 1980s. We don't have the Norv Turner-directed Cowboys offenses of the early 1990s. Pretty much every offensive coach that diagrams a pass pattern and every quarterback that throws it is impacted by Don Coryell. I wouldn't be surprised if Marvin Harrison makes it into this class ahead of Tim Brown. The Hall of Fame voters created quite a logjam at the receiver position. Cris Carter, Art Monk, and Andre Reed had to wait far too long for their deserving call. Harrison should have to wait in that line as well and not leap over the very patient Brown. Kevin Greene might have been the best pure pass rusher in the league during a stretch in the 1990s. This was at a time with Bruce Smith and Reggie White. Greene sacked enough quarterbacks to sit third in the shaky all-time sack rankings (sacks have only been an official stat since 1982). Terrell Davis was the best running back in the league for three years. Like Gale Sayers, Davis' running career was cut short by injuries. Three years may not seem like much time but those three years were brilliant. Besides, three years for a running back is like ten years for a quarterback.

While I personally think that NFL founding father Carl Storck should have been the first nominee of the new contributor category, I think that Wolf and Polian are very deserving of the honor. Wolf should be in the Hall of Fame simply for working with Al Davis for more than 20 years.

Tingelhoff should become the 13th former Minnesota Vikings player to be honored in Canton.