I need to get this thing posted before Saturday arrives. At this point, I think I will count up, rather than count down, the candidates. So I'll start with the individual I think has the best case for the Hall of Fame, and I will work my way down, finishing with the two players who barely miss out.
1. Marshall Faulk. Maybe we should penalize him because he played his college football in a non-BCS conference? Because, you know, inferior competition. He wasn't playing the SEC every week, so he must be a total fraud. Seriously, though, I think he has the best case of anyone on the list. He's not as high on the all-time rushing list as Bettis or Martin, but if you look at his combined rushing and receiving yards, he is fourth all-time with 19,154. He also scored 136 career touchdowns. He won an NFL MVP award, played in two Super Bowls, won one of them, was a 7-time Pro Bowler, and was three times 1st Team All-Pro.
2. Deion Sanders. Most people will probably tell you that he is the one "lock" from this years class. And it's hard to argue with that. He was an 8-time Pro Bowler, and six times was 1st Team All-Pro. He has a couple of Super Bwols rings. Despite the fact that he was not an offensive player, he scored 18 career touchdowns - 9 on interception returns, 6 on punt returns, 3 on kickoff returns, and 1 on a fumble return. And he was the NFL defensive player of the year in 1994. One of the drawbacks is that you don't strongly identify him with any one team. He played for the Falcons, the 49ers, the Cowboys, the Redskins, and the Ravens over a 14-year career.
3. Willie Roaf. He was an offensive tackle, and there is no real great way to value offensive lineman other than the honors they were given. He was selected to 11 Pro Bowls over a 13-year career. I know I kind of devalued the meaning of a Pro Bowl selection earlier, but if you were selected 11 out of 13 years, then you were an elite player. Additionally, he was selected 1st Team All-Pro three times.
4. Shannon Sharpe. He should already be in, so I suppose I should put him at #1. I will put him first among those who are not first-time candidates. Three Super Bowl rings, 8 Pro Bowls, 4 times 1st Team All-Pro. He had 815 career receptions as a tight end. Not bad for a former 7th round draft choice. The only possible explanations for why he's not already in are that the voters lump him in with wide recievers and the fact that he played most of his career in Denver.
5. Cortez Kennedy. I'll take the former defensive tackle as my fifth and final inductee. It only seems fair since I denied the other defensive linemen. He made 8 Pro Bowls, was three times 1st team All-Pro, and was the 1992 AP Defensive Player of the Year.
6. Dermontti Dawson. The former center just missed my cut. He was a seven-time Pro Bowler and was named 1st team All-Pro 6 times, which is more than anyone else on the list. I'm sitting here wondering if maybe he should make it instead of Kennedy. The tiebreaker is that I already have Willie Roaf on my list as an offensive lineman, and I'm trying to spread it out among the positions.
7. Cris Carter. Like Tim Brown and Andre Reed, he had a long, productive career as a wide receiver. Although he never played in a Super Bowl, his stats are pretty remarkable. He caught 1,101 passes for 130 touchdowns over his 16-year career. He had at least 75 catches every year between 1993 and 2000, and had at least 10 touchdown catches every year from 1995 to 1999. He also made 8 Pro Bowls and was twice 1st team All-Pro. I think he's clearly the most qualified wide receiver on the list.
So there you have it. Keep in mind, that's my take on how I think it SHOULD go. But am I going to be surprised if they announce the 2011 Hall of Fame class as Deion Sanders, Jerome Bettis, Richard Dent, Ed Sabol, and Cris Carter? Not really.
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