A Hall of Fame candidiate no one talks about

Here's another Hall of Fame topic I meant to discuss months ago when I first learned of this. It got pushed aside because I was busy or writing other things, until last night when I was doing some COMC challenges and a card of the player in question popped up. I'd planned to write about a basketball set build but I'm going to push that aside and discuss some players who should be enshrined in Canton - including one who will never be honored and whose candidacy is never discussed despite being a top-ten player at his position.

When I came across this player I was researching something on Pro Football Reference. Similar to Baseball Reference, they've got a way of calculating a player's chances at making the Hall of Fame based solely on their on-field accomplishments:

The Pro Football Reference Hall of Fame Monitor (HOFm) is a metric designed to estimate a player's chances of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame using AV, Pro Bowls, All-Pros, championships, and various stat milestones. A score of 100 is around the average modern-era inductee.

So let's start with quarterbacks. At the top of the list there's the recently-retired (are you effing kidding me?) Tom Brady, followed by Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Johnny Unitas, and Joe Montana. Drew Brees is next, and he will certainly be enshrined in Canton as soon as he's eligible. John Elway, Dan Marino, and Fran Tarkenton are all certified legends and HOFers.

Unless you want to dispute the Canton case for Matt Ryan or Phillip Rivers, there's not much to argue with until you get below the 100-line, and in fact below the 90-line (Hall of Famers in bold):

I've mentioned Ken Anderson on this blog before. Once Eli gets in it will be hard to keep arguing that the Bengals signal-caller shouldn't be enshrined.

We're moving on to wide receivers now. Jerry Rice is unquestionably the greatest, followed by Randy Moss and Marvin Harrison. Is he really the third-greatest pass-catcher of all-time? Debatable. But he is undoubtedly a Hall of Famer. Larry Fitzgerald will join him when he's eligible, and Terrell Owens would have had his day much sooner if it weren't for his immature antics.

Four eligible receivers are right above or right below that "average inductee" score: Reggie Wayne, Torry Holt, Steve Smith, and Andre Johnson. All but Holt are recently eligible and will likely get greater consideration once the crowded ballot thins out a bit.

There's nothing significant keeping Torry Holt out of the Hall. He had a relatively short career and he was never the Rams' best offensive weapon. I'm not seeing any off-the-field issues in his bio, and I've never heard anything negative about Torry since his pro career began in 1999. I have to believe he'll get a bust in Canton someday soon.

Let's check out the running backs, shall we? (Sorry, I'm skipping tight ends.) Walter Payton tops the list, followed by Jim Brown and Barry Sanders. Makes sense to me. Emmitt Smith is the fourth-greatest rusher in NFL history, despite what his inflated yardage totals might tell you. Two of my favorites - LaDainian Tomlinson and Eric Dickerson - bookend a player who had a Hall of Fame career by all statistical measure and earned his gold jacket without any backlash whatsoever.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has no character clause. And it isn't possible to rescind enshrinement

once it is given. Which makes the story of one of O.J.'s contemporaries all the more fascinating to me. 

It's easy to compare statistics for the NFL's skill-position stars. It's a little harder - but still very possible - to compare the accomplishments of defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs. Offensive linemen don't have many measurables: things like number of starts, Pro Bowls, and All-Pro teams apply to all players. The only stat I can think of that might separate great offensive linemen from good or average blockers would be sacks allowed. Luckily Pro Football Reference has that handy formula.

I'm going to start with the centers. Four of them are above that magical '100' line, and everyone over 90 is in Canton. In between HOFers Jim Langer and Mick Tinglehoff you'll find recent stars Maurkice Pouncey and Jeff Saturday. I'm not sure if one or both will get in. Saturday has been waiting a while, and Pouncey isn't yet eligible.

Taking a look at the guards you'll see eight players with a Hall Monitor score of over 100 - and all eight are Hall of Famers (but it sure took them forever to induct Jerry Kramer.) Every eligible guard with a score of 80 or higher is inducted, and Jahri Evans will be eligible next year. I'm surprised Steve Wisniewski isn't a Hall of Famer, I heard about him all the time when I was young, and he's a close comp of Oilers great Mike Munchak - who is enshrined.

This just proves that I don't know a whole lot about offensive linemen, and even less about blockers who played before 1990.

Finally, we'll tackle the tackles. Anthony Munoz is arguably the greatest Cincinnati Bengal of all-time, and statistically the greatest offensive tackle of all time. Forrest Gregg, Jim Parker, and Willie Roaf are next on the list. They've all got busts in Canton. Joe Thomas will join Jahri Evans on the 2023 ballot. Viking blockers Ron Yary and Gary Zimmerman are in, as are Bob Brown and Jonathan Ogden.

But wait.. who's that guy just below Zimmerman?

Jim Tyrer is the eighth-ranked tackle in NFL history, according to the Pro Football Reference formula. He's not in the Hall of Fame. For comparison, Tony Boselli was just elected to Canton and he's 17th on the list. Tyrer ranks higher than the average HOFer at his position. So.. why doesn't he have a bust?

1980.. the year I was born. No wonder I've never heard this story. Please, tell me more.

Oh. That's horrible.

This tragic act likely was a result of head trauma we now know as CTE. It may have been the first murder-suicide involving an NFL player but sadly, it would not be the last. Sigh... I hate that I love this game.

 

~