The Pro Football Hall of Fame will announce the inductees for the class of 2014 on Saturday. Here is a list of the fifteen modern era candidates.
*notes first year of eligibility
Morten Andersen (K)
Jerome Bettis (RB)
Derrick Brooks (LB)*
Tim Brown (WR)
Edward DeBartolo (EXC)
Tony Dungy (HC)*
Kevin Greene (LB)
Charles Haley (DE/LB)
Marvin Harrison (WR)*
Walter Jones (OT)*
John Lynch (S)
Andre Reed (WR)
Will Shields (OG)
Michael Strahan (DE)
Aeneas Williams (DB)
As a quick refresher, I put all the hall of fame previews I did back in July and early August below that you can go through at your leisure. I profiled everyone in the list except for DeBartollo. Here's the hall of fame's website's entry on him.
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Offensive Linemen
Part 1 of the Defensive Players
Part 2 of the Defensive Players
Special Teams Players and Contributors
Head Coaches
In addition to the names above, punter Ray Guy and defensive end Claude Humphrey are the two veterans' selections for enshrinement.
And now, here are my picks for the five modern candidates that will enter the hall of fame. (I'm not going to bother with the veterans because I don't know how the voting is going to shake out. With the modern candidates, it's at least guaranteed that some of them will make it in.)
Derrick Brooks (LB)*
Charles Haley (DE/LB)
Marvin Harrison (WR)*
Walter Jones (OT)*
Michael Strahan (DE)
Brooks, Harrison and Jones were all dominant at their positions respective to the eras in which they played and are all but locks. Strahan ranks fifth all-time in sacks and doesn't have any viable competition from incoming defensive linemen. Haley was one of the best defensive players of the late 80s and 90s, and from what I've been reading, support for his induction has been slowly but surely gaining momentum.
That leaves the snubs. I want to make it clear that every finalist has a strong case for induction (they wouldn't be finalists if they didn't). I just felt that the five names above had the best cases.
Dungy I feel will go in at some point, but coaches have a hard time making it in the hall of fame and I don't think the voters will induct four candidates in their first year of eligibility.
Reed and Brown will likely be passed over in favor of Harrison.
Lynch and Williams may cancel each other out or will be left out entirely in favor of other candidates.
Bettis has the same hurtles to overcome that have plagued him since he's been eligible- he raked up impressive stats, but was never dominant year to year. Until there's an incoming set of eligible candidates that doesn't wow anyone (and that may not be for a while), I don't think he has much of a chance of getting in.
DeBartollo also has hurtles to overcome, namely that he's a contributor. If head coaches have a hard time gathering votes while competing with players, then contributors have the hardest time with their potential inductions.
Greene ranks third all-time in sacks and should have been inducted years ago. However, his nutty and volatile personality has kept him on the outside looking in. If voters are going to induct a headcase like Haley, they may pass on an equally deserving guy like Greene.
Anderson had the misfortune of being a kicker and the hall of fame has pretty much said that every special teams player except for Jan Stenerud is not worthy of induction (despite taking up one-third of the game).
Shields is a more than worthy candidate for induction, but his teams didn't have much playoff success. As ridiculous as that sounds, that's going to keep him out until there isn't an offensive linemen with plenty of hardware or big-game appearances on the ballot.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the hall of fame. Starting Tuesday, I'll begin my extended look at the Super Bowl with a look at the history of the Denver Broncos.
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