The Hall Of Fame Gets Worse
First off, congratulations to the 4 new Hall of Fame inductees: Sterling Sharpe, Jared Allen, Eric Allen, and Antonio Gates. All deserving choices. I look forward to seeing Jared Allen’s speech the most, and I hope his bust has the mullet. I assume Antonio Gates’ bust will be a basketball.
But what got most people taking this year at the NFL honors show wasn’t the actual choices the NFL made. It was who they didn’t pick. This is always a point of discussion, but it was worse than normal because the hall decided to make things extremely stupid. They tightened the voting to require each candidate from the final groups to have 80% of the votes from the selection committee. This means that Hall of Fame classes might not even reach the current cutoff of 5 players per class, and might even drop as low as 3. This was met with a lot of confusion because the Hall of Fame already has a massive logjam. They just made it worse.
I’ve never been a fan of the hard 5 guy limit for the hall. Football is a sport with a lot of personnel in it. You can have a significant amount of hall of fame players playing ball at all of the positions at any given time. There are 22 starting positions, and also Kickers/Punters (A different issue we can get to later). That’s a lot of dudes who are worthy of the hall at any given time, and each year, only 5 of those dudes get picked. The rest have to sit there and wait, sometimes for decades, such as Sterling Sharpe and Eric Allen, until the votes swing their way. It’s nonsense. We have a ton of guys who are more than deserving of the hall of fame. Does anyone think Luke Kuechly shouldn’t get in? Why not just fucking…put him in? Torry Holt should be in. There was no reason Jared Allen shouldn’t have gotten in his first chance. The stupid logjam the limit caused there to be a sort of second, higher unspoken hall of fame class: the first balloters.
Of course, looking at this year, zero inductees were first ballot. Maybe, you could argue, the Hall of Fame is trying to reduce the logjam by tightening restrictions, sending some of of the more borderline cases into the dust. For one thing, that does not help all the borderline cases that already got in, and will now potentially keep people out who have better resumes than people who made it in before the change. That sucks. Secondly, that wasn’t well represented by the voting at all! Look at Eric Allen. I do not want to take away credit from Allen, he was mostly before my time, and I do not remember him too well. I looked at his case, and it’s borderline. I see why it took as long as it did to give him his due. But why did Eric Allen get in now? Eric Allen was first-team all-pro just once, a 6time pro bowler, 2x second team all-pro, and a Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Famer. Compare that to Luke Kuechly. Luke was first-team all-pro 5X, second team 2x, a 7x pro bowler, all-decade team, defensive rookie of the year, defensive player of the year, etc. Outside his relatively short career, Kuechly is a more deserving choice over Allen in basically every metric. So the hall isn’t even making the right decisions? So why the fuck make it harder to get in if you aren’t going to make the right choices anyway.
The hall should not be constricting the players. It should be expanding. If a dude is making the top 15 candidates year in and year out, just fucking put him in! In case anyone from the Hall committee is reading, here is my proposal:
-Expand the spots to 7 max. 5 minimum.
-Take the top 7 guys by vote tallies. If you need a % threshold to meet, make it something like 60% of voters, much lower than 80.
This should help get some logs that are perpetually edging the needed lube to slip in. It’ll also help the cause of stranger cases, like Adam Vinatieri. Vinatieri is one of the greatest and most famous kickers in all of NFL history. Kickers are a vital part to an NFL team. Keeping a guy out of the hall “because he’s a kicker” is the stupidest fucking shit on the planet, and if you believe that, go jump in front of a bus. Kickers belong in the hall of fame, and Vinatieri deserves it more than almost all kickers. Punters too. I’m so glad Ray Guy made it before he died.
There is another thing the HoF could do to help the current logjam problem. Expand the slots to 7, but then reserve some of the slots for fresh eligibles, as in became eligible in the last 1o years. Maybe 4 of the slots. So if you are newly eligible, like Kuechly, you are separated into that new voting group, against other guys who are relatively new nominees. The remaining slots are reserved for guys who have been waiting for a while, maybe 10 years have passed since they became eligible. They are their own voting block. Under this system, for example, Sharpe and Eric Allen would have been in the latter group, while Gates and Jared Allen the former. This will help the cases of those guys who are just a little more borderline, like Eric Allen, to stay relevant in the conversation every year as part of the “old block” instead of constantly being gently pushed aside against the constant incoming flood of new eligible talent. If they have a small number of reserved slots, a couple long-deserving cases that have been ignored can get their due every single year and ease the logjam. This way guys will generally more or less be voted for within their own peer group and era, instead of these generational gaps where guys most zoomers didn’t know existed are in constant direct voting competition with guys who retired 5 years ago that we all remember very well. This system might have the unfortunate effect of making the hall in the “New Block” it’s own special honor to argue about, but we already have this problem with the First Ballot thing, so fuck it.
Luke Kuechy, Vinatieri, Torry Holt, etc will be automatically gunking up the system next year and be forced to compete with guys coming out like Larry Fitzgerald, Drew Brees, Jason Witten, Frank Gore, and more. Frankly…all of these dudes feel worthy. We need a system that just puts them in instead of wasting our time, and more importantly, their time.
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So I know all of you are probably wondering why I have suspiciously avoided saying one particular name this entire post, and what my thoughts are on him.
I was very hopeful Eli would get in first ballot, but I was pretty sure he’d just miss the cut. Judging from reports, he didn’t make the final cut from 10 to 7. I was hoping he’d get in not just because he’s my favorite player of all time, but because if he didn’t make it this year, I knew he’d just start getting stuck in the logjam. Brees comes out next year, nobody is voting for Eli over Brees. Big Ben the year after that, and Ben is basically just Eli’s resume but slightly better. Brady the year after that. Also in this cluster are other similar borderline cases like Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan. With the new voting bullshit, Eli might not get in at all. I know some people are shocked at that idea, but I don’t know why. I took a hard look at his case from as unbiased a perspective as I could years ago, and I mostly stand by it. I do think that Eli has a Hall of Fame case. I do think he’s done just enough, through certain passing records and accumulation stats, his playoff accolades, his ironman streak, his Walter Payton award, and yes, his work in the media and the league helping grow the game since he retired (that does matter!) to claim a spot in Canton. But anyone who thought he was some shoe-in because of his two rings was, quite frankly, not paying attention.
Giants fans like myself want him in the hall and believe him to be a hall of famer because to us he already is. Eli is in the hall of fame in our hearts. His case rides the line. Anyone who says he’s absolutely not a hall of famer is also wrong, by the way. The entire problem is how borderline he is. There are a lot of valid reasons to put him in. There are also a lot of valid reasons to set him aside for other guys while voting. He was never an MVP or All-pro. You think that shit doesn’t matter? It does. He never led the league in touchdowns or other volume passing stats outside interceptions. That’s not great! Eli was never the best guy during his career peak years. He was always a bit down the list of top QBs every year, even in his 2011 season, unquestionably his best. I think his playoff successes are what make up for this, but it’s not enough to make him some surefire choice. Many modern hall voters are also part of this new wave of stat nerd dorks like Aaron Schatz or PFF writers, and those spreadsheet data masturbators do not appreciate stories like Eli. I disagree with that viewpoint and I think the rise of data has had a detrimental effect on appreciating stories of people, but analytics are currently the big thing everyone cares about, and that’s not the stronger part of Eli’s case. I knew if he didn’t get in immediately, he was going to be waiting for a long time. I do hope he gets in one day. If they hadn’t changed the voting system, I believe he would. Now I’m not even sure of that. Just another reason to punt the Hall of Fame committee into the Cuyahoga River and set it on fire.
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ALSO! Next week will feature the 3rd annual CHAOS AWARDS! It’s time to start thinking of your nominations. I will likely open the discussion on Monday, and the awards will be on Friday. Start thinking about your choices! Here are last year’s awards to jog your memory. As a reminder, here are the categories:
MOST CHAOTIC PLAYER
MOST CHAOTIC TEAM
MOST CHAOTIC MOMENT OR SEQUENCE
MOST CHAOTIC GAME
MOST CHAOTIC FRONT OFFICE MOVE
MOST CHAOTIC OFF-FIELD DRAMA
MOST CHAOTIC INJURY
MOST UNWATCHABLE TEAM
Don’t comment your ideas quite yet, the post on Monday will be a better place for it.
Does a rape allegation count to make Roethlisberger’s resume weaker than Eli’s? I think there’s room for character considerations… Or am I dreaming of the NFL I want, not the one I have?
If anything hurts Big Ben’s case it’s his personal problems. Nobody seems to like Ben as a person. Even Steelers fans are mostly just “thanks for the success you gave us, you’re an asshole” I don’t think it’ll be enough to keep him out though.
Big Ben’s case feels almost identical to Eli, in the sense that he’s probably not a first ballot HOF with 5 going in each year at best, and there’s going to be a modern QB logjam that’s going to be very difficult to resolve.
I’m admittedly a Steelers fan, but one thing I do think Ben did was show genuine remorse and change his behavior. He’s still a diva that makes sure the refs knows he got hit just like Mahomes does now, but you stopped hearing about off the field issues after 2010.
I will admit that I don’t think Eli is a hall of famer, but this isn’t some anti-Eli bias. It’s an over reaction to Devin Hester getting in. I’m worried that the best kicker ever, Adam Vinatieri; or the NFL’s true ironman, Jim Marshall (60s Vikings DT, wrong run way, happy black guy from those late 90s/early 2000s NFL Films pieces on the 60s), gets screwed out just because of Devin Hester.
Also, I think that the NFL should have at least 1 gurranteed spot for players who retired a long-time ago, like Jim Marshall, John Brodie (the best 49ers player before Montana/Lott), Ken Anderson (70s Bengals QB), & Tom Jackson (70s/80s Broncos linebacker, NFL Primetime co-host for 20 years) that wouldn’t otherwise get in.
Yeah, I’m of the opinion having 6-7 open spots, a legacy spot, and maybe a non player spot for when they want to do coaches or owners. Maybe reserve one or two spots for new ballot individuals instead of just straight open spots.
That’s what the senior committee is for, you do get a guaranteed pathway for a player who played a long time ago. It’s how Sterling Sharpe got in…
The senior committee only provides a pathway to nomination, though — they still have to compete with the modern candidates for those five spots each year.
Kind of surprised you didn’t have Tom Brady in a bad fake mustache behind this as his final revenge on Eli.
Looking forward to watching the LoB get sidelined every single year for no good reason. Earl Thomas got the shaft this year, I don’t they even ever looked at Kam Chancellor, and Richard Sherman will be joining them next year.
Earl Thomas end of career scandals is what made them hesitate about putting him, Sherman is a Surefire Hall of Famer, although he won’t make it first ballot.
I hope Eli still gets in soon despite the future chaos. What can be said for HOF committee, they’re like currency machines, they don’t make cents.
That said for a controversial take, Tyrer should have been in decades ago.
The HoF is one of my favorite things to discuss in all of sports, but also one of the most most frustrating because there’s no transparency in a lot of what goes into this. That’s what the HoF needs to fix. The criteria are so all over the place that it makes it hard to define what is a HoF player?
Is it Individual success? Clearly not because guys with insane amount of All-Pro/All-Decade team selections are not in. Kuechly has 5 1st Team All-Pros, an All-Decade team, and a DPOY, but has to wait. Hell, DT Kevin Williams has 5 1st Team All-Pros and an All-Decade Team, but hasn’t even been a finalist.
Is it statistical excellence? I made a big long post about it earlier this week, but stats are so inflated nowadays that I don’t think that’s a proper measure of “greatness” either. Guys like Rivers and Frank Gore have an insane amount of statistical production, but neither one of them were the best at their position ever. Between the two of those guys they have…..1 2nd Team All-Pro. For as statistically productive as those guys were…they never won anything.
Like anything, it takes a mix of statistical production, individual achievement, and mythical status to get in. I just wish the HoF would at least enumerate their criteria/discussions fro transparency-sake. At the very least we deserve to know WHY guys like Kuechly/Cris Carter/Holt have to wait
Woah woah woah. Wait a minute. Dave. Why do we have busts for the HoFers?
We need a hall of Roman-esque full body, fully nude, bronze and marble statues of the HoFers.
We need a comic of a guy walking through that fantasy hall of fame and admiring all the football statues and then tripping/getting clotheslined by the big ol’ dong on Reggie Whites statue.
Nudity is absolutely the answer
If they tried this, though, they’d have to give the hall a new wing if the unimaginable happens and Cousins gets in. Just to fit his ass, of course.
That’s a dangerous precedent you’re setting. What if Nick Foles gets in someday?
I still think that the Baseball Hall of Fame voters are the stupidest people on the planet, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame easily has the dumbest system. I generally like Baseball’s system, I just think all the writers are 9 1/2 miles up their own ass.