First-year Eligibles
Tony Romo
Steve Smith
Andre Johnson
Anquan Boldin
Robert Mathis
DeMarcus Ware
Vince Wilfork
Chad Greenway
Mario Williams
DeMarcus Ware tops the list. He should make it through. Then there’s Steve Smith. He had a Hall of Fame career. Was it a first-ballot career? Was it the sort of career that moves him to the front of the receiver queue? Reggie Wayne, Torry Holt, and Hines Ward have been waiting. In my opinion, Smith had a better pass-catching career than those three. Over the past couple decades the voters have shown a reckless eagerness to rush players into the Hall. Calvin Johnson made it in his first year this past year. If he and Smith came up together, I’d put Smith’s career ahead of his. I think that Smith did more to make his team better. If I were to guess what the voters will do, Smith’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. If it was up to me, despite his being right there with Larry Fitzgerald as my favorite non-Vikings receivers of recent decades, Smith waits. Making it in the first year has to mean more than it currently does.
When thinking about the next Hall of Fame Class a good place to start is with the players that didn’t quite make it in the last Class.
2021 Finalists:
Jared Allen
Ronde Barber
Tony Boselli
LeRoy Butler
Torry Holt
Clay Matthews
Sam Mills
Richard Seymour
Zach Thomas
Reggie Wayne
2022 has to be the year for Tony Boselli. I’ve said that for a few years. I’d like to see Jared Allen in Canton next summer but I think that he waits another year. If he’d received the 2011 Defensive Player of the Year that went to Terrell Suggs, I think that Allen might make it in his first year of eligibility. Hitting 22 sacks usually gets that sort of award. It’s amazing how the whims of voters for a season award might impact the whims of voters for a career honor. While I’d like to see Allen make it, I think that Boselli, LeRoy Butler, and Richard Seymour are more deserving of a 2022 Canton call.
I also like Hines Ward in the Class of 2022. I hate setting positional quotas for a Hall of Fame Class. That nonsense drove me nuts during the five years that Cris Carter waited. A receiver must be a part of this Class. Perhaps I’m being influenced by Troy Palomalu speaking of him but I like Ward over Reggie Wayne and Torry Holt in this Class. “I’m not like any other receiver.” Ward was a different sort of receiver. He might not have the stats of the other great receivers of this century but he did some things that they never did. Things that they never thought to do. Things that don’t fill a stat sheet.
As for modern players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022, I have:
DeMarcus Ware
Tony Boselli
LeRoy Butler
Richard Seymour
Hines Ward
For the Class of 2022, the Hall is going with a senior player, a coach, and a contributor. The day that they get back to more than one senior candidate will be a great day. Today isn’t that day. It’s one person in each of the three categories.
Senior:
I’m guessing that the senior committee will tap another player from the 1970s. There’s still work to be done on the early decades of the NFL. That takes some work. That takes some research. The voters appear to prefer picking a player that they saw, that they remember. Until they finally get in, I’m sticking with players like Lavvie Dilweg, Verne Lewellen, and Al Wistert.
Coach:
It’s Buddy Parker for me.
Contributor:
I’ve seen Bucko Kilroy and Art McNally mentioned. Good choices. I like the idea of founding fathers Ralph Hay, Leo Lyons, and Carl Storck being honored for the work that they did in creating and building the league. The current owners just make money. Those owners fought just to stay afloat. Making a dollar was a dream. It would’ve been more appropriate if one or more of Hay, Lyons, or Storck were part of the Centennial Class. That didn’t happen.
At present, my Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 looks something like this.
DeMarcus Ware
Tony Boselli
LeRoy Butler
Richard Seymour
Hines Ward
Lavvie Dilweg
Buddy Parker
Ralph Hay
The actual Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 will probably look something like this.
DeMarcus Ware
Steve Smith
Anquan Boldin
Andre Johnson
Tony Romo
Cliff Branch
Buddy Parker
Art McNally
That’s a load of receivers and a good quarterback but the voters sure like those first-ballot guys.
Two questions. Patrick Willis has been eligible for two years. 1) How is he not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? 2) How has he not even made it to the finalist stage? A lot of players have received mysterious Hall of Fame treatment. Duke Slater, Fritz Pollard, Benny Friedman, Al Wistert, Alex Karras. Willis has received mysterious Hall of Fame treatment. It makes no sense and needs to change. Willis is one of the best linebackers of my lifetime. He was the best linebacker of his generation. If he’s finally treated properly and makes it to the finalist stage, he’s part of my Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022.
No comments:
Post a Comment