Sports Then and Now

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.

Based solely on his play on the field, it is hard to justify Dick LeBeau as a Hall of Famer.

I’m sure this article will not further endear me to members of the Steeler Nation, but the recent announcement by the Pro Football Hall of Fame Senior Committee of Dick LeBeau as one of their two “senior finalists” for 2010 further emphasizes why significant changes need to be made to the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection process.

Earlier this month I completed a two-month series that ran both on  Sports Then and Now and on Bleacher Report in which I looked at the Best Players Not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Read the rest of this entry →

No player has been a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame more times than Jerry Kramer without getting into the Hall.

After two months of painstakingly looking at each position to determine which players that have been overlooked by the Pro Football Hall of Fame are the most deserving, it is finally time now, on the eve of the 2009 induction ceremonies, to look at the 10 players that I believe to be the most deserving of induction into the Hall of Fame, but who are still waiting for that call.

To create the top 10, I again reviewed all 225 players that had earned mention in the top 25 lists for each position. I then narrowed the field based on overall career performance, perception when they retired (where they considered at the time a Hall of Fame caliber player), team performance and accolades received.

Read the rest of this entry →

In the opinion of the author, no member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is less worthy of the honor than Lynn Swann.

It has been quite interesting over the past two months analyzing the best players at each position who have not yet earned a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It has reaffirmed my belief that there are a heck of a lot of deserving football players who have yet to get a bust in Canton. It also has made me scratch my head over a few of the players that have received football immortality.

Overall, I will say that for the most part, the Hall of Fame voters have done a very good job of selecting top players for the Hall of Fame. While I believe there are as many as two dozen deserving players who have been overlooked, the number of players in the Hall of Fame that I question is significantly less.

Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to the new weekly Friday wrap-up column on Sports Then and Now. We’ll use this space each week to look back at this week in sports history, offer some insights and opinions on what is happening today and preview some of the big sporting events coming up over the weekend.

You Can’t Pick Your Relatives
San Francisco 49ers’ draft pick Michael Crabtree probably won’t be all that happy at his next family reunion. He and his agent, Eugene Parker, are now trying to distance themselves from comments made this week by the receiver’s cousin, David Wells. Wells told reporters that Crabtree is prepared to sit out this season and re-enter the NFL draft in 2010 if he doesn’t get what they believe to be “fair market value.”

Read the rest of this entry →

Brian Mitchell is the NFL's all-time leader in kickoff, punt and total return yards.

We conclude the position-by-position look at the best eligible players not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame by looking at the top special teams players who have not yet earned a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

While special teams has long been considered an important element of winning football, special teams players have never really received much recognition or respect.

It doesn’t take long to call roll for the special teams players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

There is only one player in the Hall of Fame, kicker Jan Stenerud, who never played on either offense or defense.

Read the rest of this entry →