2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists

Offensive line voting is very sketchy unless there are first ballot guys.

Recent voting is littered with guys who waited far too long than they had to.

Willie Roaf and Randall McDaniel waited until their second year
Dermontti Dawson waited until his fourth
Russ Grimm and Gary Zimmerman (who was on TWO all-decade teams) waited until their fifth.

Shields, about to be on his fourth try, also got screwed because he got passed by three first-ballot guys in a two-year span.

Before last year with Ogden and Allen, the voters hadn't put an offensive lineman in his first try in five years and only one in a stretch from 2004-2012.

Brown, unfortunately, got caught in the WR vortex with Reed and Carter. With those two gone, the vortex will include Harrison and maybe Isaac Bruce. Since they could never agree on which of the three to get in, Brown continues to suffer.

 

I really like this class. Three defensive linemen, a corner, a punter ...

 

First five cut — Andersen, Brown, DeBartolo, Jr., Dungy, and Lynch
Second five cut — Bettis, Greene, Haley, Harrison, and Shields

If I had to bet on the five inductees next year — Harrison, Haley, Shields, Seau and Bettis.

 

Sapp got Strahan in

 

I knew Williams would get in. This was his third year as a finalist and the voters like being able to diversify the positions inducted when they can.

 

So do all 15 have to be in the Super Bowl city for the weekend? That's got to be kind of brutal.

 

Some tidbits from Twitter:

Discussions for 11 of the 17 candidates last at least 20 minutes.
Brooks was the shortest at 10.
Dungy was the longest at 45.
Both Guy and Humphrey were at least 40.

 

I'd like to see Andersen get in eventually. Does Guy getting in as a punter possibly pave the way for a second kicker at some point? Though kicking in a dome his whole career doesn't help his cause

 

You'd have to think if Andersen can get to the final 15, and rightly so, Vinatieri's going to at some point.

He's top five in points and top 7 in extra points and field goals made.
Even if he slipped a little bit next season at 42 and made say 20 field goals and 30 extra points, he would move up to fourth in points, fifth in extra points and sixth in field goals but 11 from fourth.

Not to mention the big playoff moments and his overall playoff numbers -- 51 field goals (in 61 attempts) and 60 extra points

 

My two bucks' worth (it was two cents when I was a kid, so I'm adjusting for inflation):

Marvin Harrison>>Andre Reed, but Reed was considered "next in line" and Harrison, as noted, has some shady stuff lurking that probably hurt him as bit.

Morten Andersen should be in. So should Will Shields.

Happy that Guy made it. Like Joe Namath, he's one of those guys who get scoffed at by people who look back and wonder what the big deal was, but those of us who were around at the time knew then what the big deal was.

 

Crikey, some careers don't last that long.