Sports Then and Now

As usual, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will not be opening its doors to the most deserving candidates come August.

Given their past track record, I guess it should come as no surprise that the voters for the Pro Football Hall of Fame made some bad decisions during their annual selection meeting on Saturday. They didn’t mess up the selection of two deserving first ballot candidates in Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, but in my opinion the rest of their choices were seriously lacking.

In addition to Rice and Smith, the other members of the 2010 Hall of Fame Class will be Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm, Floyd Little, Dick LeBeau and John Randle.

Of those other five, in my opinion only Randle was the best player at his position who is not already in the Hall of Fame. Little is among the ten best running backs previously excluded from the HOF, but there are a plethora of more deserving players at the respective positions than Grimm, LeBeau and Jackson.

As has become common place, the Hall of Fame voters overlooked some clearly deserving candidates while selecting others that most people would consider borderline. Read the rest of this entry →

Jerry Rice could be the greatest player of all-time and should get voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon all-time rushing leader Emmitt Smith and all-time receiving leader Jerry Rice should officially be able to add the words “Hall of Famer” to their resume. The question is which of the other 15 finalists will be joining them on the platform in Canton.

In addition to Smith and Rice, the other player selected as a finalist in his first year of eligibility is wide receiver Tim Brown.

Last summer I ran an in-depth series looking at each position and breaking down the top 10 players at each position who are not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Below is a rundown of all finalists and my opinion of their worthiness and likeliness to be among the Class of 2010. At the end is my prediction for who I think should be selected in 2010 as well as who I expect the Hall of Fame voters to honor.

Breaking Down the 2010 Nominees (likelihood is gauged only for 2010):

Tim Brown – Wide Receiver/Kick Returner – 1988-2003 Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, 2004 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Overall Worthiness: B+     Likelihood for 2010: 15%

Tim Brown was an exciting receiver for the Oakland Raiders and ranks fourth all-time in receptions (1,094) and receiving yards (14,934). My biggest struggle with Brown is that while he was always very good, he was never considered the best player in the league. His statistics are impressive, but I struggle with believing he was better than Cliff Branch, Drew Pearson and Harold Carmichael, all of whom were great receivers in an era before receiving stats became inflated. I have no doubt that Brown will eventually get into the Hall of Fame, but given that better receivers (Art Monk, James Lofton, Don Maynard, Charlie Joiner)  waited for years before getting the call, I find it difficult to believe Brown will be selected  in his first year of eligibility. Read the rest of this entry →

Emmitt Smith should earn induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Unless the members of the Football Hall of Fame selection committee have a collective meltdown (which isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility given some of their past decisions), the 2010 class for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame will have the distinction of including the top statistical running back and wide receiver in league history.

Many consider former San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks receiver Jerry Rice to be the best football player in NFL history while former Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals back Emmitt Smith is certainly on the short list of all-time great running backs.

They highlight the list of 17 finalists for the Hall of Fame announced on Friday.

Former Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Tim Brown is also a first-time nominee.

The other finalists include Cris Carter (receiver – Eagles, Vikings, Dolphins), Andre Reed (receiver (Bills, Redskins), Shannon Sharpe (tight end – Ravens, Broncos), Roger Craig (running back – 49ers, Vikings, Raiders), Dermontti Dawson (center – Steelers), Russ Grimm (offensive line – Redskins), John Randle (defensive line – Vikings, Seahawks), Cortez Kennedy (defensive line – Seahawks), Richard Dent (defensive line Bears, 49ers, Colts, Eagles), Charles Haley (linebacker/def. line – Cowboys, 49ers), Rickey Jackson (linebacker – Saints, 49ers) and Don Coryell (head coach – Cardinals, Chargers). Previously, senior nominees Floyd Little (Broncos) and Dick LeBeau (Lions) were announced.

Last summer, I spent two months analyzing the best players not in the Hall of Fame at each position. Click here to read my column on the Best Players Not in the Hall of Fame as well as the position by position breakdowns.

Because I looked only at players already eligible, Smith, Rice and Brown were not included on my list. Of the other 14, seven were included among my list of the top 25 players not in the Hall of Fame while many of the others were among the top 10 at their respective positions.

I will break down the finalists and provide my predictions for the Hall of Fame class of 2010 as we get closer to the announcement on February 6th.