2015 Prof Football Hall of Fame Semifinalists

[Rain Man]

First-time nominees are in bold, and Chiefs-related nominees are in red.

Two "contributor" nominees still need to be named. Also, Mick Tinglehoff is the sole senior nominee. The last time we saw him, the Chiefs defensive tackles were destroying him in the Super Bowl, but he was still pretty good.

My takes on the list will be posted in the thread. And boy, do I have opinions.

Quarterbacks: (4) – Randall Cunningham, Rich Gannon, Phil Simms, Kurt Warner

Wide Receivers: (9) – *Tim Brown (also KR), Isaac Bruce, Gary Clark, Henry Ellard (also PR), *Marvin Harrison, Torry Holt, Sterling Sharpe, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith

Tight End: (1) – Mark Bavaro

Running Backs: (14) – Shaun Alexander, Ottis Anderson, Tiki Barber, *Jerome Bettis, Roger Craig, Stephen Davis, Terrell Davis, Eddie George, Priest Holmes, Edgerrin James, Daryl Johnston, Jamal Lewis, Herschel Walker (also KR), Ricky Watters

Offensive Linemen: (23) – Willie Anderson (T), Tony Boselli (T), Jeff Bostic (C), Lomas Brown (T), Jim Covert (T), Bill Fralic (G/T), Jay Hilgenberg (C), Chris Hinton (G/T), Kent Hull (C), Joe Jacoby (T), Jon Jansen (T), Mike Kenn (T), Jim Lachey (T), Kevin Mawae (C/G), Mark May (G/T/C),Tom Nalen (C), Nate Newton (G), Orlando Pace (T), Chris Samuels (T), Mark Schlereth (G), *Will Shields (G), Tra Thomas (T), Steve Wisniewski (G)

Defensive Linemen: (12) – Al “Bubba” Baker (DE), Jerome Brown (DT), Carl Hairston (DE/DT), *Charles Haley (also LB), Jevon Kearse (DE), Dexter Manley (DE), Charles Mann (DE), Steve McMichael (DT/NT), Fred Smerlas (NT), Greg Townsend (DE), Ted Washington (DT/NT), Bryant Young (DE)

Linebackers: (13) – Cornelius Bennett, Tedy Bruschi, *Kevin Greene (also DE), Ken Harvey, Clay Matthews, Willie McGinest (also DE), Karl Mecklenburg, Matt Millen, Sam Mills, Junior Seau, Chris Spielman, Darryl Talley, Zach Thomas

Defensive Backs: (16) – Eric Allen (CB), Steve Atwater (S), Joey Browner (S), LeRoy Butler (S), Thomas Everett (S), Rodney Harrison (S), Ty Law (CB), Albert Lewis (CB), *John Lynch (S), Terry McDaniel (CB), Tim McDonald (S), Frank Minnifield (CB), Shawn Springs (CB), Troy Vincent (CB/S), Everson Walls (CB), Darren Woodson (S)

Kickers/Punters: (5) – *Morten Andersen (K), Gary Anderson (K), Jason Elam (K), Sean Landeta (P), Nick Lowery (K)

Special Teams/Position Players: (2) – Brian Mitchell (RB/PR/KR), Steve Tasker (also WR)

Coaches: (14) –Don Coryell, Bill Cowher, *Tony Dungy, Tom Flores, Mike Holmgren, Jimmy Johnson, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Richie Petitbon, Dan Reeves, Lou Saban, Marty Schottenheimer, Clark Shaughnessy, Dick Vermeil

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Gadzooks

This does not seem to be a valid argument for Mecklenberg over Seau but data doesn't seem to be a factor in the HOF selections.

BTW - Leslie O'Neal is tied for sacks with Lawrence Taylor with 132 1⁄2 yet he's not even under consideration, (Karl "****in'" Mecklenberg is though...)

If he hadn't had that knee injury early in his career, I'm convinced that Leslie O'Neal would've been one of the top two or three pass rushers ever. He was scary as a rookie. Even with the knee injury he was very, very good.

My favorite Chargers ever are:

1. James Brooks
2. John Jefferson
3. Leslie O'Neal

I think Brooks should be a borderline HoF candidate, but he's never even gotten a whiff. He was one of those guys that scared me to play against.

The same is true for Jefferson and O'Neal. Jefferson's career just wasn't long enough for serious consideration, and I think O'Neal is more deserving than many of the DL semifinalists this year.

[Gadzooks]

I'm afraid that following the HOF inductions will only increase your overall disappointment in the NFL.
Although, if we were to leave it up to you, Karl Mecklenberg would be giving a speech about all of the crap he's been doing with kids to promote literacy.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Gadzooks

I'm afraid that following the HOF inductions will only increase your overall disappointment in the NFL.
Although, if we were to leave it up to you, Karl Mecklenberg would be giving a speech about all of the crap he's been doing with kids to promote literacy.

Oh, I would never vote for him no matter how much he deserved it. He was a Bronco.

[Gadzooks]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Oh, I would never vote for him no matter how much he deserved it. He was a Bronco.

Agreed. He wasn't a great player, however, his literacy training may help some future HOF speeches:

[tk13]

Pretty good list. Although I'd probably disagree on the WR position. I think I'd take Tim Brown and Marvin Harrison over Bruce, Holt and Rod Smith. Harrison is top ten if not top 5 in almost every category... and the only WR with more receptions is Jerry Rice. The only guys with more all purpose yards than Tim Brown are Rice, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and Brian Mitchell. The other three guys deserve to get in too though... they may all end up hurting each other, too much competition. Plus Harrison might get docked for his off the field stuff.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Guys that deserve to be in:

Charles Haley
Tim Brown
Kevin Greene
Orlando Pace
Kurt Warner
Joe Jacoby
Wil Shields
Phil Simms
Roger Craig
Karl Mecklenberg
Morty



That is all.

[milkman]

Karl Mecklinberg was about the most overrarted piece of shit in the league when he was playing.

Junior Seau, for all of his antics, and his tendency to overrun plays at times, was a great player who impacted games in much the same way as Ray Lewis did.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ViperVisor

Ricky Watters

My suspicion is that Ricky Watters will never get in as long as a majority of voters were alive to hear him interviewed after games. And I'm not joking about that.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by milkman

Karl Mecklinberg was about the most overrarted piece of shit in the league when he was playing.

Junior Seau, for all of his antics, and his tendency to overrun plays at times, was a great player who impacted games in much the same way as Ray Lewis did.

Mecklenburg? Seau? Muderin' Ray? This whole conversation is making me feel dirty.

But I should say that Mecklenburg had far more sacks in 12 years than Seau in a 20-year career and produced more turnovers per year on average (interceptions plus forced fumbles).

If you look at the first 12 years of their careers as a comparison of peak performance, their stats are:

Mecklenburg: 1104 tackles, 79 sacks, 21 turnovers
Seau: 1227 tackles, 45.5 sacks, 24 turnovers

Seau padded his stats by hanging on for another eight years, but none of those years were strong. His best stats in those last eight years were 66 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and 3 turnovers (and none of those were in the same season).

Their top three seasons (as viewed by me) were:

Mecklenburg:

1991 - 130 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 1 turnover
1985 - 65 tackles, 13 sacks, 5 turnovers
1986 - 127 tackles, 9 sacks, 1 turnover

Seau:

1991 - 129 tackles, 7 sacks, 0 turnovers
1994 - 124 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 1 turnover
1993 - 129 tackles, 0 sacks, 3 turnovers

Unless you want to reward Seau for loitering on rosters for eight additional years, I think Mecklenburg is the better candidate.

[Demonpenz]

If Sanders runs the ball in for a touchdown normally he still gets in the hall of fame first ballot.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

It boggles my mind on an annual basis that Kevin Greene is not elected. He is number 3 all time in sacks. How can someone #3 in the NFL all time in any major category not be in the Hall of Fame?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by thurman merman

It boggles my mind on an annual basis that Kevin Greene is not elected. He is number 3 all time in sacks. How can someone #3 in the NFL all time in any major category not be in the Hall of Fame?

And he is in coaching now, which usually means that he has teams' support.

I heard one theory once that since he split his career between two or three different teams, no individual sports writer will go to the wall for him. they all want to support a guy who played a decade or more on their own team.

[suzzer99]

Albert Lewis deserves to be in. He's getting screwed because he went to the Raiders so no one in KC will champion him.

[Ming the Merciless]

yah maybe i should add warner and brown and greene to my original list , then whittle it down to 5

damn this is hard

[EyePod]

I can't believe Morten Andersen doesn't make it first ballot.

Talk about one of those guys who was a league staple.

Here are his NFL records per Wiki:
Most games played (career) – 382
Most consecutive games played by a placekicker – 248
Most field goals attempted (career) – 709
Most field goals (career) – 565
Most points (career) – 2,544
Most seasons, 75 or more points (career) – 24
Most consecutive seasons, 75 or more points (career) – 23
Most seasons, 90 or more points (career) – 22
Most seasons, 98 or more points (career) – 18
Most game winning field goals (career) – 103
Games with 1+ field goals (career) – 299
Games with 2+ field goals (career) – 178
Oldest player to score 14 points in a game – 47 years, 133 days (for Atlanta Falcons vs. Seattle Seahawks, December 30, 2007)
Oldest player to kick 4 field goals in a game – 47 years, 42 days (for Atlanta Falcons vs. Houston Texans, September 30, 2007)
Oldest player to kick 5 field goals in a game – 46 years, 43 days
Most field goals attempted of 50 or more yards (total) – 84
Most field goals (50 or more yards) in a game – 3 (vs. New Orleans, December 10, 1995) (tied with Neil Rackers, Connor Barth, Kris Brown, Sebastian Janikowski, and Josh Scobee)
Most consecutive games scoring (career) – 360
Most games scoring (career) – 379
Most consecutive seasons scoring (career) – 23 – tied with Gary Anderson
Most consecutive calendar years scoring (career) – 26

He's also the highest scorer for both the Falcons and the Saints (Only player to hold career statistical franchise record for two NFL teams)

Honestly, if we decided to replace Santos, I couldn't be made if we got Andersen. Dude would kick 35 yard FGs in a walker.