On Thursday, the MLB Hall of Fame locked the doors to Cooperstown for the rest of the year, as no one was admitted into the hallowed halls of baseball history. On Friday, the NFL came out with its list of its 15 finalists, somewhere between four and seven of which will be headed to Canton as members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The difference between the list that baseball put out and the list that football put out though, is that a strong argument could be made for all 15 finalists to ultimately be in the Hall of Fame.
The newcomers on the Hall of Fame ballot this year include DE Michael Strahan, T Jonathan Ogden, OL Larry Allen, and DT Warren Sapp. Arguments could certainly be made for each of the four. Strahan is the single-season all-time sack leader with 22 ? in 2001, and he is fifth all-time with 141 ? career sacks. Ogden was picked fourth in the 1996 NFL Draft and made the Pro Bowl in each of his final 11 seasons in the league before retiring. Allen made the Pro Bowl 11 times between 1995 and 2006, only missing out in 2002. Sapp finished his career with 96 ? sacks, and the argument could be made that he was one of the most dominating interior defensive linemen in NFL history.
And yet, if we had to guess, none of the four will ultimately be brought to Canton this year.
RB Jerome Bettis, WR Cris Carter, WR Tim Brown, WR Andre Reed, DE Charles Haley, DE Kevin Greene, G Will Shields, DB Aeneas Williams, Head Coach Bill Parcells, owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. and owner Art Modell are also Hall of Fame finalists this year. DT Curley Culp and LB Dave Robinson were added onto the ballot as senior nominees.
Bettis is sixth all-time in career rushing yards with 13,662 and is one of the 13 men in NFL history that has at least 90 rushing touchdowns. Carter is fourth all-time in career receptions (1,101), ninth in receiving yards (13,899), and fourth in receiving touchdowns (130). He might be a stellar choice for the Hall, but it?s not like Brown (100 TDs, 14,934 receiving yards) and Reed (13,198 yards, 87 TDs) are lousy choices either. There is no doubt in our minds that all four of these players will eventually see their busts put up in Canton.
Haley and Greene both had remarkable careers. Haley is the only player in NFL history that has five Super Bowl rings, and he finished his career with 100 ? sacks. Greene had 160 sacks in his time, and he is the only man who isn?t already in the Hall of Fame who has at least 150 sacks.
Shields was a dominating offensive lineman for years with the Kansas City Chiefs. He played 14 seasons and made the Pro Bowl 12 times.
Williams is tied for fifth all-time in non-offensive touchdowns with 13, and he finished his career with 55 picks. There are a total of 39 players in NFL history that have at least 50 INTs to their credit, and 16 of the 39 are in the Hall of Fame. Six of the 16 finished with at least 60 interceptions.
The coaches and owners are a bit harder to judge. No one doubts that Parcells is one of the best coaches in the history of the league. The ?Big Tuna? coached for 22 years and finished 11th all-time with 172 wins. He captured three conference titles and won two Super Bowls in his days with the New York Giants. Parcells made the postseason 10 times in his career, winning 11 games.
DeBartolo Jr. was instrumental in the creation of the dynasty of the San Francisco 49ers as the owner of the team. He is already in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, and he figures to ultimately make it to the Hall at some point. Modell is probably most known for his controversial move of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. There is no doubt he was the catalyst of bringing football back to Baltimore after the Colts left town for Indianapolis.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference
Click Here to see the full 2013 NFL Hall of Fame Ballot
Adam Markowitz is a staff writer living in the Orlando area. An accountant by day and a sportswriter by night, Adam has a knack for the numbers like no other. Analyzing the stats and trends have made him a champion all across fantasy sports, making him a must read for fantasy sports enthusiasts.
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