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Pro Football Hall of Fame semi-finalists named
doubledragon
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in Sports Talk
The 25 semi-finalists in the 2021 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame have been named. Here is the list.
WARNING: I numbered them just for the heck of it, the numbers in no way reflect my opinion of who deserves to get into the Hall of Fame!
- LB Cornelius Bennett
- QB Peyton Manning
- CB/S Ronde Barber
- WR Calvin Johnson
- WR Reggie Wayne
- WR Hines Ward
- S LeRoy Butler
- G Alan Faneca
- T Tony Boselli
- WR Torry Holt
- S Rodney Harrison
- DT Bryant Young
- LB Clay Matthews
- RB Fred Taylor
- T Willie Anderson
- CB Eric Allen
- S John Lynch
- S Darren Woodson
- DL Richard Seymour
- LB Sam Mills
- LB Zach Thomas
- ST Steve Tasker
- DE Jared Allen
- LB Patrick Willis
- CB/S Charles Woodson
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Peyton Manning
Hines Ward
Clay Matthews
Steve Tasker
Boselli and @keets list
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
Steve Tasker is sort of like a 1970's version of the MLB relief pitcher: vitally important to a Team's success but never recognized because of the role he played. I remember in the old days when they had "The Taxi Squad" and a 40-43 man roster. players often had to distinguish themselves on Special Teams in order to gain a roster spot, something that Tasker excelled at and what gave him a chance at an NFL career. if he was only a WR he'd have been out the door early, but he did with excellence the thing nobody else wanted to do, the Gunner!! it even sounds cool!!
he deserves a spot in the HOF.
Manning
calvin johnson
woodson
matthews
boselli
ward
guess im a big hall guy. there are a couple of other names i could add too.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I'm not real up to date on the HOF bylaws, but I do believe only a maximum of 5 each year can come from the list of 25 names, with some additional inductees possibly being selected by a separate committee.
There are a lot of well deserving players on that list of 25, and definitely tough to pick only 5.
I would go with:
Peyton Manning
Calvin Johnson
Charles Woodson
Tony Boselli
Torry Holt
My vote would be:
Peyton Manning
Ronde Barber
Clay Matthews
Jared Allen
Charles Woodson
I would sub out Woodson and Holt and substitute Wayne and Matthews.
The top 10 NFL players eligible for the HOF in Approximate Value (an advanced metric I won't pretend to understand):
Wisniewski ranks 73rd on the all time list, ahead of a whole lot of HOFers. The name that really surprised me was Jim Marshall, who I would have bet good money just had to already be in the HOF. He had some sort of drug possession scandal a long time ago, but come on, if they let Cowboys in the HOF how do they keep out Marshall?
The names on the ballot are ranked as follows:
LB Cornelius Bennett - 248th
QB Peyton Manning - 2nd (behind Brady)
CB/S Ronde Barber - 75th
WR Calvin Johnson - not in the top 250
WR Reggie Wayne - 68th
WR Hines Ward - not in the top 250
S LeRoy Butler - 199th
G Alan Faneca - 110th
T Tony Boselli - not in the top 250
WR Torry Holt - 222nd
S Rodney Harrison - not in the top 250
DT Bryant Young - not in the top 250
LB Clay Matthews - 119th
RB Fred Taylor - not in the top 250
T Willie Anderson - 192nd
CB Eric Allen - 53rd
S John Lynch - 230th
S Darren Woodson - not in the top 250
DL Richard Seymour - not in the top 250
LB Sam Mills - 192nd
LB Zach Thomas - 87th
ST Steve Tasker - not in the top 250
DE Jared Allen - 205th
LB Patrick Willis - not in the top 250
CB/S Charles Woodson - 56th
So the top 5, by this metric, are Manning, Allen, C. Woodson, Wayne, and Barber.
I think it's interesting that nobody's mentioned Wayne in their ballots. I think he may suffer from the halo fans place on the QB. We give Manning more credit for the team's success than he deserves - as we do most every QB - and that means less credit than deserved for everyone else on the team. (Please note: even giving Manning the credit he does deserve still puts him near the top of the HOF. I'm just saying he didn't accomplish anything by himself - he had a lot of great teammates.)
Personally, I would only vote for anyone who was better than Ken Anderson and Jim Marshall, so my ballot would only have Manning on it.
I believe I did have Wayne on mine. Can't believe Calvin Johnson not in top 250. Most likely because he retired at such a young age. I'm guessing the metrics don't take that into account.
>
I found this to be very interesting. AFL people have long felt that Jim Tyrer deserved to be in the HOF and in fact that he was an even better tackle than Ron Mix. The thing apparently keeping him out is that he died in a murder/suicide in which he killed himself and then his wife. But recently people began questioning the possibility of CTE accounting for an action by someone who, by all accounts, was a wonderful person and great family man.
That's interesting about Tyrer, I didn't know that. Since there's no way to know for sure at this point, that probably means he'll never get in. Sad case if it was CTE or something along those lines.
Top 10 QBs eligible for the HOF, including those already in:
Manning
Favre
Tarkenton
Marino
Elway
Young
Moon
Montana
Fouts
Anderson
Next 10
Hadl
Unitas
Dawson
Testaverde
Griese
Krieg
McNabb
Bledsoe
Bradshaw
Jurgensen
There's only one QB in the top 10 not in the HOF, and a whole bunch of HOFers in the next 10, and if you travel down the list far enough you can still find mediocrities like Aikman who are HOFers. Best advice for any QB who wants to make the HOF: get great teammates. If you don't have them, nobody will recognize how great you are. I will say for the 2,438th time - Ken Anderson being excluded from the HOF is absurd.
Manning and Ward
Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!
Ignore list -Basebal21
Nice to see Jim Marshall getting mentioned. As an OLD Vikings fan, I can say the guy should have been in years ago. Page and Eller were better, but Marshall was very, very good.
The NFL’s All-Time Career Sack Leaders, Updated with John Turney’s pre-1982 Numbers puts Marshall at #23 with 127 career sacks.
There's no way of proving this, but with Page and Eller making All-Pro every year, I suspect Marshall got snubbed a few times by writers who wanted to vote for other good players, and there were some great defensive ends during those years.
Also interesting information on Jim Tryer. I remember he was a great player. I didn't know about his death.
I have mixed feelings about him. If he wanted to commit suicide, he could have done that without killing his wife.
Ken Anderson is another no brainer. GREAT QB!
Al switch the events. That most likely is why he never gets serious consideration.
I would guess that when Tyrer was blacklisted nobody had ever heard of CTE. You can add Mike Webster and probably Junior Seau to the list. When the lady MD came up with this she was frowned upon by nearly every medical association and the NFL Now it can explain what would normally be inexplainable.
Poor Jim Marshal who is the football version Bill Buckner of baseball. One play defines a career.
Speaking of Minnesota players....I can't ever figure out why Chuck Foreman never gets any attention.
He is a better version of Thurman Thomas and Roger Craig....IMO
Certainly better than Frank Gore
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
Foreman was an absolute beast but the Vikes used him up in just a few years. I think he's the only 1,000 yard rusher to lead the league in pass receptions, so he'll always have that, but the toll that accomplishing that took on his body was a heavy one.
The Vikings did win that game.
Foreman was ahead of his time. The NFL still liked the big tough running backs, Foreman was graceful and elusive. Then he hurt his knee (if I remember right) and was never the same.
Look at Robert Smith's numbers! Retired at the peak of his career. More yards and much higher yds per carry than Chuck, and he also gets no love.
He is a guest on the local sports talk station from time to time, one of the most intelligent people I have ever heard speak on the radio.
You may want to read this again for a possible mistake.
I’m surprised that not everyone agrees that Charles Woodson is a total lock and will he be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
I think Manning and Woodson our locks this year and beyond that we can debate who else will be enshrined.
HOF SIGNED FOOTBALL RCS
Would like to see P. Willis go in, very good player.
I think I found it. ;-)
Todd, just having a little fun. LOL.
I didn't remember Tyrer doing that and I'm a Chiefs fan. I guess maybe I blocked it out
of my mind because I'm sure I would have heard about it back then. Terrible thing.
The list where they use the metrics is just absurd. How they come up with any of that is just plain silly. Totally meaningless. Calvin Johnson not in the top 250??? There would be some that would argue he was the greatest WR of all time. He just retired early. Detroit seems to do that to some. Horrible organization to say the least.
If you are referring to the Approximate Value list, the list is absolutely not "absurd". It does a couple of things that makes a lot of sense; ignores championships and gives credit for having a long productive career.
What the list can show (IMO) are players that get overlooked, Jim Marshall and Ken Anderson along with Tryer are all good examples of players who were HOF worthy and didn't make it in for one reason or another. Tryer's case is tragic, but he certainly was a great player.
I would agree that Calvin Johnson was a great receiver, but he played for only 9 seasons. In looking at his stats, he didn't have a great year every year. Playing for Detroit didn't help.
Longevity has to count, so he gets "punished" for a short career. I have no doubt he will get in, it will depend on the other guys up for induction.
Was Calvin the "Best" WR of all time? He certainly had the toolset. Talent-wise, he might have been the best, I would still say Jerry Rice was better.
He didn't have to retire because of playing for a horrible team. He could have become a free agent and gone elsewhere.
You say "he just retired early" as if that wasn't really, really important. The list is a career total, and Johnson's career wasn't very long. Johnson's AV per game is about .7, which is higher than Art Monk, who is in the top 250 because he played almost 100 more games than Johnson. As for those who would argue that Johnson was the greatest WR of all time, they sound unstable; you should probably keep your distance from them.
I'm not saying that I believe he is the best. Rice had the best career of them all. Although, in his prime (Johnson) may have had the best skill set of all WR's. 2nd highest yards per game average in NFL history is not too shabby. I'm not a Detroit or Johnson fan. By every single account Tryer should have been in long ago. His resume is outstanding. His demise has kept him out.
Ron Mix had one holding penalty called on him in his entire career. He went to the referee and asked if he maybe called the wrong #. Lol
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
He was under contract and couldn't have gone elsewhere. And he retired because his body was wrecked. His hands were a mess and that was just the tip of it.
Johnson sure had it all going for him!
I thought Moss was going to shatter all the WR records after his first couple years here in Minnesota, but he decided that wasn't going to be his priority. Even though he will go down as one of the best, I view him as a disappointment as a competitor. :-(
Yes, I am sure he was under contract during his time with Detroit. He could have become a free agent and played elsewhere had he wanted to. He decided to retire abruptly and that was his choice.
It would seem he did the smart thing in retiring when he did. He has claimed that he suffered "at least" nine concussions during his career.
How does one "become a free agent" when they're under contract? Only way he was going elsewhere would have been to get traded.
He retired because he was hurt. Much like Andrew Luck last year, he could maybe have kept playing, but he was tired of the injuries.
You become a free agent by playing out your current contract and not signing a new one. He was 4 years into a 7 year extension when he retired, so he didn't have many good options. Detroit sued him and Calvin had to return some of his signing bonus. He wouldn't have become an unrestricted free agent until 2020.
My response that you seem to have taken offense to did not address his injuries, but that if he didn't want to play for the Lions, he could have at some point, played elsewhere.
As I stated, he made the best decision for his health by retiring when he did. Robert Smith retired sooner than he could have and that was a wise move too.
The NFL cares little about the health of the players. It's up to the individual to decide when to quit. I have seen at least one clear helmet to helmet hit in the last several games that hasn't been called and those hits are not reviewable.
If the NFL was serious about reducing head injuries they would allow those to be challenged/reviewed.
Although, in his prime (Johnson) may have had the best skill set of all WR's.
this may be true, but his "Prime" just like his career was short compared to the other elite WR's. for comparison, Jerry Rice had a longer "Prime" years than Johnson's entire career. comparing them is ludicrous.
In the end, Rice was the far superior player to not just Johnson, but Moss, Davis and all the rest.
Marvin Harrison may just be the #2 WR.
And if you don't agree, he'll bust a cap in ya.
Well then he gets my vote.
Self-preservation, ftw.
It won’t bother me if Calvin Johnson is a HOF’er. As far as any conversation about him being the best ever it’s simply not true. I think Moss and TO were better.
They were. No shame in that.