The Hall of Fame

[Neophyte]

So, I'm watching the KC - Buffalo game late this afternoon and Jim Nance says something about this game featuring 2 HOF quarterbacks. The comment kinda snapped my head back, if I'm honest.

Mahomes is given at this point. At least I think so. Likely not much debate there.

Josh Allen though...when did he do something to separate himself from the rest of the above-average QBs who haven't won the Super Bowl? What has he done to be proclaimed the equal even of Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, Dan Fouts and Fran Tarkington, or the rest of the guys who never won a Super Bowl?

He hasn't even played in the Big Game. He has never been First Team All-Pro. He has not set any records that I am aware of or been a physical talent that some OC built a new and unique offensive concept around.

All of which got me thinking, is the Hall of Fame overrated now? Has it been reduced to the Hall of the Very Good by the need to induct the maximum number of players every year?

Or is it really more the Hall of Fame for Quarterbacks and a Few Others, where we have a different standard for QBs than we do for LTs or MLBs?

And I'm not picking on Josh Allen here either (although I think he might be a bit overrated). I've heard people throw around HOF with other names like Russell Wilson (borderline for me but probably in), Justin Herbert (hard no at this point), and Lamar Jackson (probably not unless he wins a Super Bowl).

Granted, all this might be eager media voices trying to get a jump on stumping for guys they like. Or media types trying to look smart.

There are a lot of brilliant talents out there who didn't play QB but likely deserve to be enshrined for all posterity. What say we give them an invite first?

 

[Primus Porcus]

As annoying as Deion has been in the past, he was 10000% spot on with this.

Deion Sanders takes scathing shot at the Pro Football Hall of Fame: It's not the 'Hall of Fame' anymore

Deion says it's become too easy to earn a gold jacket

www.cbssports.com

The HOF has gotten watered down to a point.... Though I'm not in a position to make an argument against an individual guy, I do think it's not truly fair to speak the name Edgerrin James in the same breath as Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. James had a pretty damn good career, but he's not even top 10 in rushing yards, and he retired 6000 yards behind the top dog. Now, it's not an end all be all, but it has to be acknowledged. The Hall of Fame, at one point, was about players who influenced and changed the game, whether that be by changing an offensive scheme, or that they were just so different, offenses and defenses (and teams for that matter) had to change their entire though process to account for them. Additionally it was about guys who were just DIFFERENT. Gale Sayers obviously never got to a statistical level he could have, but he was just different. One other aspect was about statistical longevity. Art Monk comes to mind. The guy just came to work. On 3rd down and 7, 81 was gonna get you 8. When you needed a play, a big time player made a big time play, and he also had the statistical backing at the time he retired.

The NFL 'sells' the HOF game and speeches, so they're not going to be as selective as they should be.... but I'm kind of with Deion, they may need to build a new 'room' and move 'those guys' into another 'level' of the HOF to set them apart.

 

[Boone]

The bottom line is, no matter what the 'criteria' for inclusion is, it is by definition subjective. There are always going to be players we feel should be in the Hall of Fame and players we feel shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. Nothing will change that. Even if you took his idea of having the top 11 players all-time it's unworkable. Are you going to 'demote' the greatest of all time when a modern player supposedly 'surpasses' him? How would one even determine it?

Those comments are about one thing only - Deion Sanders ego.

I guess if you pressed me, I would say that it's far more important to have broader inclusion so that players who had special careers GET RECOGNIZED than it is to keep players who had great NFL careers out in the interest of making it a super exclusive club. I would much rather have guys like Joe Jacoby get their amazing careers validated than having some ego-stroking incredibly restrictive inclusion approach just so that the guys who are inducted can feel extra special.

The ship on this sailed long ago. There are plenty of players who do not have unanimous support of fans and NFL experts who've already been inducted. Does Sanders want them thrown out? And who gets to decide who those guys are?

 

[Chris]

Sounds like a Hall of Fame Hall of Fame might be needed.