Hall of Fame nominees for 2014 reduced to 25 semifinalists

by | Nov 20, 2013 | Hall of Fame

Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Logo courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Six coaches and contributors are among the 25 finalists in the running for induction in the 2014 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Super Bowl winning coaches Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson join Eddie DeBartolo Jr., George Young, Paul Tagliabue and Don Coryell as semifinalists.

The list’s next most prominent role is the position of pass rusher, where five men who played linebacker, defensive line or a hybrid between the two moved on to the next round.

Among the prominent first-time candidates are wide receiver Marvin Harrison, tackle Walter Jones and linebacker Derrick Brooks. Harrison joins long-time finalists Andre Reed and Tim Brown at the receiver position where, until Cris Carter was inducted this year, Reed, Brown and Carter each received enough support where their votes seemed to cancel each other out.

Other areas of intrigue are on the offensive line, where newcomer Walter Jones and returning semifinalist Will Shields are strong contenders for enshrinement, and safety, where Steve Atwater and John Lynch move to the next step at a position where voters have not inducted many previous candidates. (more…)

Modern-era list of 126 Hall of Fame candidates announced

by | Sep 12, 2013 | Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL Network teamed up Wednesday night to unveil the complete list of modern-era PFHOF Logo-mcandidates for the Hall’s class of 2014.

The list consists of 126 candidates, including 16 who are in their first year of eligibility. Players must have been out of the game for five years before they are eligible, so this year’s group played their last games in 2008.

The Hall of Fame Selection Committee will trim this list to 25 candidates who will be named semifinalists. They will be announced in November. The semifinalist list will be reduced to 15 finalists via mail ballot. That will be announced in January.

The finalists and two senior candidates, Ray Guy and Claude Humphrey, will be considered by the committee during Super Bowl week in New York City.

We made our predictions on who will be inducted here.

Can Fitz or Megatron challenge Rice’s records?

by | Sep 10, 2013 | Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts

One of the things I wrote I would be watching last weekend was the level to which playing with Carson Palmer can get the career of Larry Fitzgerald back on track. No, no, I’m not saying Fitz has been terrible, by any stretch. But through largely no fault of his own, he hasn’t had anyone throwing him the ball who could help him achieve what he had been early in his career. If game one is any indication, expect the Cardinals’ number one wideout’s numbers to fall back in line with what they looked like during the first six years of his career.

Fitz caught eight passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns, including a perfectly placed over-the-shoulder job heading into halftime. Fitzgerald gave way in the second half a bit, as Palmer spread the ball around to Michael Floyd and Andre Roberts, but it was an encouraging sight for those who took a flyer on #11 during fantasy football drafts.

My curiosity with Fitzgerald was piqued when I compared the stats he put up during his first half-dozen years to those put up by Calvin Johnson during that same period of his career – which culminated with Megatron’s record-setting season in 2012.

Last year when Johnson was chasing down Jerry Rice’s single-season yardage record, we took a look at how the young Lions receiver was trending compared with Rice’s career marks, since the Hall of Famer holds almost all of them. (more…)

2014 Football Hall of Fame Inductees

2014 Football Hall of Fame Inductees

by | Aug 27, 2013 | Hall of Fame

PFHOF Logo-mPro Football Hall of Fame voters charged with selecting the honorees for 2014 may think they made their job easier by selecting Cris Carter as part of the 2013 class. But the strong first-year candidacy of retired Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison means they’ll be trying yet again to break a logjam at that position.

Carter emerged as the first of three solid candidates – Andre Reed and Tim Brown being the others – who seemed to cancel each other out for years before the 2013 class was announced.

Who they’ll choose between the trio of Harrison, Brown and Reed is just one of the questions that the panel will face as another strong group becomes eligible for the first time.

So who joins senior candidates Ray Guy and Claude Humphrey as the 15 finalists who’ll be debated before the Super Bowl? Then who will the committee ultimately honor with gold jackets in Canton, Ohio next August?

A guess at the 2014 class starts with a look at the 2013 finalists and who were ultimately not selected to the Hall’s 2013 class. Those who survived the cut down from 15 to 10 were Michael Strahan, Jerome Bettis, Charles Haley, Andre Reed and Aeneas Williams.

I go back and forth on Bettis’ qualifications at times, given that for the last few years of his career he was really a short yardage and goal line complement to guys like Willie Parker. But he did have six consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, make six Pro Bowls and finish his career 13,662 rushing yards, which still ranks him sixth all-time. Strahan, I am guessing, missed out because the voters selected Warren Sapp instead. The other three are multi-time finalists. So let’s start with the assumption that all five of these guys will rejoin at least the round of 15.

The five candidates who made finalist status but did not crack the final 10 were Tim Brown, Will Shields, Kevin Greene and two owners, Ed DeBartolo and Art Modell. Let’s start with Shields. There probably isn’t a current day candidate out there that I think more warrants induction than him. In addition to the fact that he played the glory-less position of guard (where even Randall McDaniel had to wait three years for election), he’s had the unfortunate bad luck to be eligible in the same years that Willie Roaf and Dermontti Dawson were selected in 2012 and Larry Allen and Jonathan Ogden made it in 2013. Shields will get inducted and, with McDaniel as a barometer, I think this is his year. (more…)

Claude Humphrey, Ray Guy named 2014 Senior Hall of Fame candidates

by | Aug 21, 2013 | Hall of Fame

With the class of 2013 enshrined in Canton, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s senior committee Wednesday got started on naming its class of 2014.

Ray Guy, the Oakland punter who earned seven Pro Bowl nominations, three First Team All Pro awards and spots on both the team of the 1970s and the 75th anniversary team, was joined by Atlanta defensive end Claude Humphrey, a six-time Pro Bowler who was All Pro twice in his 13 years.

Guy has been a finalist seven times. He is bound to be the more controversial of the two candidates because he is a punter. Supporters say his ability to boom high punts with long hang time reduced potential returns and allowed the Raiders to play a field position game previously unseen in the NFL. Detractors point to a low net average and say guys like Tommy Davis or Jerrel Wilson were equal or better to Guy.

Humphrey, a three-time finalist, is an oft-mentioned name on this site. Though he was just All Pro First Team twice, his Pro Football Reference page also indicates he won AP All Conference honors several additional times. (more…)

Which senior candidates will the Hall of Fame voters consider for 2014?

by | Aug 7, 2013 | Hall of Fame

With the 2013 induction ceremony in the books, it’s time to start looking into who the 2014 class will include. The list of modern-era nominees is likely a ways off, but the senior committee will likely be announcing its pair of contenders sometime within the next few weeks.

The Pro Football Researchers Association, led by Ken Crippen, plans to promote four candidates:

Al Wistert, an offensive tackle who played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1943 to 1951. Pro Football Reference lists him as a one-time Pro Bowler and a four-time First Team All-Pro on the Associated Press list. His overall resume is even more decorated when you take into accounts organizations like United Press International, Pro Football Illustrated and others.

Laverne “Lavvie” Dilweg, an end with the Milwaukee Badgers in 1926 and the Green Bay Packers from 1927 to 1934. Dilweg was an AP First Team All Pro five times and he graded out well compared with the best players of the era, including Don Hutson, according to a fact sheet published by the PFWA.

Frederick Wayman “Duke” Slater, a tackle who played 10 years of pro football after a stellar college career at the University of Iowa. He played for the Badgers in 1922 and then with Rock Island Independents from 1922 to 1926 and then joined the Chicago Cardinals in the NFL as one of just five black players in the league. He lasted in the NFL through 1931, often as the only African American player in the league. He participated in a game during which Ernie Nevers scored six touchdowns and achieved All-Pro status six times, though his playing days preceded the Associated Press list.

Mac Speedie, an end with Cleveland during a seven-year run from 1946 to 1952. Speedie was a two-time Pro Bowler and a three-time AP All Pro first teamer who led the league in catches four times in that span. (more…)