Senior Nominees

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Senior Committee has decided on their nominees for the 2018 Hall of Fame Class.

Jerry Kramer
Robert Brazile

Both will move straight to the Finalist stage of the election process.

Jerry Kramer has been the poster-boy for the long-neglected deserving Hall of Famer. This will be his 11th trip to the finalist circle. His last trip was in 1997. His absence from Canton has never made sense. He was an integral part of a Green Bay Packers team that ripped off five NFL titles from 1961-67. Five titles in seven years. Five titles in seven years! Three Pro Bowls. Five 1st Team All-Pro nods. Actually that 3:5 Pro Bowl:1st Team All-Pro imbalance never made sense either. NFL 1960s All-Decade Team. He was named one of the guards on the NFL's 50-Year Anniversary Team. His NFL career reads like that of a player that's long been in the Hall of Fame. About the time that many were using the "too many Lombardi Packers in Canton" argument for Kramer's exclusion was when Dave Robinson was inducted. Kramer has waited far too long. Hopefully, the wait ends the first week in February.

This is Robert Brazile's first time as a finalist. The easiest way to start Brazile's case for Canton is to say that he was Lawrence Taylor before Taylor made it to the NFL. Brazile was the first of the havoc-causing, pass rushing outside linebackers that came out of the 3-4 defenses. The Houston Oilers selected Brazile out of Jackson State with the sixth pick of the 1975 NFL Draft. That was two picks after the Chicago Bears had selected Brazile's Jackson State teammate Walter Payton. Rickey Young was on that team as well. That's some dynamite football talent out of one itty-bitty college. Brazile was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975. He went on to collect a Hall of Fame-worthy list of accolades during his ten-year career with the Oilers. Seven Pro Bowls, 5x 1st Team All-Pro, 1x 2nd Team All-Pro, and 1970s All-Decade Team. He was one of the best linebackers of his era. Hopefully, he and Jerry Kramer will be enjoying Canton next August.

Congratulations Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.