MoLewisrocks

This is the list of voters, most of whom like supreme court judges vote for life. One of whom we know in our experience doesn't even primarily cover the sport any more. Boxing and recently golf garner a good deal of his attention. Among the 33 voters represending NFL franchise cities (and frankly if the Jets and Giants can share a stadium they should be fine sharing a vote and not two) you should at minimum have to remain primarily an NFL mediot and not some commentator at large. Speaking of which the 11 at large delegates and the PFWA rep should be replaced with an equal number of true football historians and current members of the HOF. A group I'd wager would be less suseptible to hype and spin.

Don't know who Guy is referring to but there have certainly been cases in the past including here on Will McDonough's watch when deserving players candidacy didn't reveive the necessary support from the outset and opportunity was lost. Borges actually had to come back and revisit and refocus the committe on Tip. Many present day voters didn't have the exposure to great players playing outside their geographical area or playing before their time because the games weren't as widely available back in the day. And there was no concept like fantasy football then, either. Just as an example, and I think he's an otherwise bright guy, it's not that long ago Mike Sando was a blogger in the Seattle area whose claim to fame was outing Borges as a plagerer...

There certainly remains a bias among hall voters. King alludes to it regularly. Safeties are a tough sell and place kickers and punters certainly remain the step children of the process. If guys and positions get voted to pro bowls and garner all pro selections, they should have an equal selection shot when it comes to the pro football HOF.

Being a truly dominant force at your position for a sustained period of time should also carry more significance in the deliberation than mere longevity or cumulative stats based largely on that longevity. Impact relative to your peers during the 8-12 year period that most players perform during should be the over riding consideration. Not every player who reaches some statistical plateau is truly HOF worthy. And that is going to become more evident as this modern era progresses.

I hear Dwayne Bowe has backtracked from his earlier grumblings about wanting to be traded from KC. Now he wants to finish his career there and go into the Hall as a Chief... Give me an effin' break.


Selection Process

patsfan13

HOF players are players who change how your team or the other team play the game. In the case of kickers if affects whether you go for it on 4th down or take the FG, do you play for FG position at the end of the game or become more aggressive looking for a chip shot/TD at the end of the game?

Do you have the confidence to punt on 4th cause you Guy can pin the other team deep late in the game?

ST's are 1/3 of the game, along with the O & D, there are certainly ST players who change how you play the game tactically.

For positions players they are the guys the opposition HAVE to game plan around. Longevity and Stats don't tell the whole story. I think of the segment on the 2009 season (BB Football Life) where Brady and BB talk about Ed Reed, and how account ing for Ed influenced HOW the O needed to play. THAT is what being a HOF player is all about.

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

AndyJohnson

Its the Hall of Fame. Its for the best of the best, not the best role players.
You simply cannot put a guy who was good at covering kicks but not good enouhg to have a real position in the HOF while leaving out excellent, but not 'best of best' players. Matthew Slater is not a better football player than Logan Mankins.

JoeSixPat

Heck - given the role he played in the Giants Super Bowls, when it comes to kickers I think Scott Norwood should be a shoe in for induction.

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MoLewisrocks

I disagree with your first premise, and it would seem Bill does as well. They're all real positions and role players and each role has it's significance. The HOF should always be reserved for the best of the best. It is not the Hall of the Very Good. I don't see it shaking out this way due to the nature of the beast, but if Slater turned out to be such a premier gunner that he hung around for a decade and was an impact player and all pro or pro bowl selection more often than not...and he exhibited that level of play in both regular and post season performances, then he might in fact be more deserving than a LG who has struggled in post seasons and is already experiencing substantial durability issues. A better analogy might be Adam and Logan, and to this point in time Adam is way more deserving based on his impact on two franchises as well as 4 rings.

AndyJohnson

I could not disagree more.

Armchair Quarterback

Problem is the selection committee consists of the likes of Ron Borges, Peter King and John Clayton and they basically have a lifetime appointment.

Selection Process

Deus Irae

Special teams are a part of the game. If people are going to insist that punters and kickers somehow don't belong in the HOF because they're somehow not "real" or valuable football players, then that part of the game needs to be removed from the sport.

Either give them a fair shake in HOF balloting, or get rid of special teams play. Anyone who watched the Patriots-Giants Super Bowl this past season, and didn't get how important the ST play in that game was, is clueless about the sport.

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"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

Avenger

Steve Tasker is HOF worthy

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VrabelJr

So then lets put Bo Jackson and countless others in the HOF too then?