Pro Football Hall of Fame 2011 Breakdown Part 3 of 3

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.

Pro Football Hall of Fame 2011 Breakdown Part 2 of 3

11. Jerome Bettis. This is his first year of eligibility. Nothing about Jerome Bettis screams "First Ballot Hall of Famer" to me. The good news is, he will get in eventually. If for no other reason than he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and went out of the game Elway-style, as the last game of his career was a Super Bowl 40 victory. Also, he's number five on the All-time rushing list. On the other hand, Floyd Little retired as the seventh All-time leading rusher and it took 35 years to get him in the Hall of Fame.

8. (tie) Richard Dent, Chris Doleman, and Charles Haley. I debated for some time about which of these pass rushers was most Hall-worthy. Doleman played 15 seasons, compiled 150.5 quarterback sacks, made 8 Pro Bowls, and was twice named 1st Team All-Pro. Haley played 14 seasons, has 100.5 sacks to his credit, was selected to 5 Pro Bowls, and was also twice named 1st Team All-Pro. And when you add his two Super Bowl rings, he pretty much had an equal career to Doleman. And then there's Richard Dent. 15 seasons, 137.5 sacks, two Super Bowl rings, 4 Pro Bowls, 1 All-Pro.

So that's three pretty comparable guys, and I can't really put one ahead of the other. I imagine Hall voters have the same problem. I think it's clear that Richard Dent will be the first one of these three to get in - this is his 7th time as a finalist. The fact that he was MVP of Super Bowl 20 probably puts him slightly ahead of the others.

What finally convinced me that none of them should go in right now is that they failed the Neil Smith Test. Neil Smith was a contemporary of the aforementioned defenders who played 13 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos. He had 104.5 career sacks, made 7 Pro Bowls and one 1st-Team All-Pro. Plus he won two Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos. You can't tell me that Doleman, Dent, or Haley are clearly better candidates than Smith. Yet you never hear of Neil Smith getting a sniff at the Hall of Fame. It doesn't make sense to me.

As a result, I had to say no to all three. If your career was basically the same as a guy who doesn't get mentioned, then I think that seriously weakens your case.

So if I was forced to rank the three, I think it would go like this:

10. Charles Haley
9. Chris Doleman
8. Richard Dent

But I'm not forced to do anything, because it's my blog. So they remain tied.

Pro Football Hall of Fame 2011 Breakdown Part 1 of 3

I've always wanted to break down my thoughts on the vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which takes place the day before the Super Bowl. However, this vote coincides with the time of year when I'm really starting to get busy at work, so I don't have much time for writing such a piece.

This year, I made time. For you.

You're welcome.

There are 15 finalists. Ultimately, 5 will be chosen to be inducted this coming summer in Canton, Ohio. In this series of posts, I will rank these candidates from 15 to 1 according to my book. In this post, I will cut the first four. In my next post, I will cut another four. In the final post, I will give you my top seven, along with the five who I feel should be chosen. And then we'll have the fun of finding out on February 5th how closely my thoughts align with those of the Hall voters.

Let's begin.

15. Ed Sabol. The only non-player on the list, the founder of NFL Films looks like a strong sentimental choice this year. I don't think players and non-players should be on the same ballot. I think they should choose 5 former players, and 1 former non-player. No more Ralph Wilson edging out Shannon Sharpe, which happened last year. Sorry, Ed.

14. Tim Brown. The former WR spent most of his 17 seasons with the Raiders. He put up some good numbers by hanging around so long, and was selected to 9 Pro Bowls. He was consistent, catching at least 75 passes every year from 1993 through 2002, but he was never selected AP 1st Team All-Pro. And as the voters love to remind people, it's the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Very Good.

13. Curtis Martin. The argument against this former Jet and Patriot RB is the same as the one given above. He was consistent - enjoyed 10 straight seasons of 1,000 yards rushing. But he was never great. Only one AP 1st Team All-Pro. No Super Bowl rings. Plus he fails the name recognition test. It just doesn't seem like Curtis Martin belongs in company with Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, and Eric Dickerson. He'll eventually get in, because somehow he wound up as the fourth All-time leading rusher in history. And he spent most of his career in New York.

12. Andre Reed. The former Buffalo Bills WR is a fifth-time finalist this year. He probably deserves to get in at some point, with 951 career receptions. But again, although he was selected to seven Pro Bowls, he was never selected AP 1st Team All-Pro. He did play in four Super Bowls, but the Bills lost them all. Sorry, Andre, but I have to let you go.

In case you haven't noticed, I really like AP 1st Team All-Pro selections as a measuring stick.

The number of Pro Bowls is often cited, but it is kind of a distorted statistic. Because no one actually wants to play in the Pro Bowl, this is how it usually goes. They name the Pro Bowlers, then after half the team elects not to go, they name a bunch of alternates. And there are separate teams for the AFC and the NFC. So the actual Pro Bowl selection list becomes a bit bloated. In one year I looked at, there were 8 Pro Bowl quarterbacks. That's 25 percent of the league's starting quarterbacks! It's hardly a measurement of the truly elite.

With the AP 1st Team All-Pro designation, you know that the player was either THE BEST at his position or ONE OF THE TWO BEST at his position. And it includes the entire NFL - no separation of NFC and AFC.

So check back soon as I make the cut from 11 to 7.

You've GOT to be kidding me

Shannon Sharpe was not selected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligiblity. I don't even know if it is worthwhile to rant and rave about it.

In one way, I can kind of understand where the voters are coming from. I mean, how can you have a Hall of Fame without Ralph Wilson Jr., the owner of the Buffalo Bills? He's contributed so much owning a franchise that has sucked for the past 40 years except for the four-year stretch when the Bills lost four Super Bowls in a row. Actually, he's probably contributed more than that I just have no clue what.

Until yesterday, I had never really contemplated the idea that Shannon Sharpe would not be voted in this year. I mean, eight Pro Bowls, four times first-team All-Pro, three Super Bowl rings, and he retired as the all-time leader in receptions and yardage for a tight end. Pretty good career.

But last night I was reading the Denver Post and began to feel a little doubt. Bruce Smith and Rod Woodson were sure to be voted in. Randall McDaniel and Cris Carter also seemed likely selections, which supposedly left the fifth and final spot up for grabs between Derrick Thomas and Sharpe. Whaaaat?

So, sure enough, Thomas beat out Sharpe. Cris Carter, the no. 2 all-time in receptions, was also snubbed, I guess in favor of Ralph Wilson Jr.

I've given up trying to understand the process. The voters are obviously all biased idiots. The supposed reason none of the stars from the Broncos' Orange Crush defense of the 1970's were not selected to the Hall of Fame was because they won no Super Bowls. The Steelers of the seventies, on the other hand, won four Super Bowls, so basically their whole team gets in.

And so now you have Shannon Sharpe and his three Super Bowl rings, and he can't get in.

Bruce Smith - played in four Super Bowls, won zero.
Ralph Wilson Jr. - his team played in four Super Bowls, won zero.
Rod Woodson - played in two Super Bowls, won one.
Randall McDaniel - played in zero Super Bowls
Derrick Thomas - played in zero Super Bowls.
Bob Hayes - played in two Super Bowls, won one.

So Shannon Sharpe has more championships than all of the guys that were selected, and yet that's still not good enough. I guess it's not about winning Super Bowls after all.

I'm sure he'll get in next year. . . maybe.