Hall of Fame Class of 2017

[Tron]

GO WARNER!!1!!!! Well deserved!!!!! :cheers:

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...induct-seven-man-class-but-no-paul-tagliabue/

Hall of Fame to induct seven-man class, but no Paul Tagliabue
Posted by Darin Gantt on February 4, 2017

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The league’s all-time leading scorer and one of the all-time best stories in the history of America are going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A seven-man class was chosen to the Hall Saturday, with one at least moderate surprise keeping the class from being larger.

Kicker Morten Andersen, quarterback Kurt Warner, running backs Terrell Davis and LaDainian Tomlinson and defensive end Jason Taylor were the five modern-era candidates to emerge from a nearly nine-hour meeting.

They will be joined by seniors committee candidate Kenny Easley and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who entered in the contributor committee. But former commissioner Paul Tagliabue failed to get the required 80 percent of the vote, and was not elected.

Tagliabue becomes the first contributor candidate to fail to reach the Hall, and it’s the second time he’s reached an 80 percent yes-no vote and failed to make it (it happened when he was a modern era candidate in 2007).

Since then, only three seniors candidates (Dick Stanfel in 2012, Claude Humphrey in 2009 and Marshall Goldberg in 2008) had failed to get the 80 percent, and two of them (Stanfel and Humphrey) were elected in second chances as seniors.

Tagliabue might not get another chance, after his candidacy was discussed for over an hour early in the process.

It was a breakthrough for Andersen, who is just the second kicker in the Hall along with Jan Stenerud (though Lou Groza and George Blanda also kicked).

For Warner, getting in during his third year as a finalist caps a career which began in the Arena League and NFL Europe and ended with a pair of MVP honors, as he orchestrated one of the greatest offenses ever with the Rams, and then had a productive second act with the Cardinals, getting them to a Super Bowl.

Davis was also rewarded for a career that burned bright for a short time, as injuries derailed a career that saw him carry John Elway to a pair of Super Bowl titles.

Tomlinson and Taylor were in their first year of eligibility.

Wide receiver Terrell Owens, tackle Joe Jacoby, coach Don Coryell, wide receiver Isaac Bruce and guard Alan Faneca were reduced in the first cut from 15 to 10. Jacoby and Coryell made the final 10 last year but took a step back.

This year’s six-through-10 picks who become contenders next year include safeties Brian Dawkins and John Lynch, tackle Tony Boselli, cornerback Ty Law and center Kevin Mawae.

But next year will bring a star-studded cast of first-timers to eligibility, including Randy Moss, Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, among others.

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[Ram65]

It's great Kurt Warner gets in to top off a classic underdog story!!!

Never liked TO but look at the TDs he scored. Things just might be too political for induction.
http://www.nfl.com/player/terrellowens/2502377/profile

 

[T-REX]

 

[T-REX]

 

[Mr. Walker]

Congratulations Mr. Kurt Warner, very cool

 

[kurtfaulk]

View attachment 18680

That stat still amazes me.

.

 

[Mackeyser]

Terrell Davis???

Guy had 4 seasons worth a damn.

I don't get it.

They say they don't overvalue rings, but he's the proof they do.

How can you balance Terrell Owen's production over HIS career versus Davis'? It's cracked? Or Joe Jacoby's?

It's crazy. Is it the 2000 yard season?

 

[Mackeyser]

2018 Class Prediction
Randy Moss
Ray Lewis
Isaac Bruce
Joe Jacoby
Brian Dawkins

And yes, they'll screw TO again. I know some will get a vicarious thrill from that, but I believe in principle and on principle, it just ain't right.

The NFL wants players to remain anonymous under the helmets because it makes players more like commodities. Why do you think there's a penalty for taking off your helmet on the field of play, even during a dead ball?

Anyway, that's my prediction. My only doubt is Ike...because there's no doubt Moss will be a first ballot HoFer and I dunno if they go with 2 WRs and if they do, I can see them going with Ike in yet another TO snub. Not that Ike isn't deserving. 2018 is a tough class.

but 2017 isn't. Terrell Davis isn't a HoFer. Well, he is...but shouldn't be.

 

[Loyal]

I'm so proud of Kurt and so deserved. The story of the NFL would be less, without his addition.

 

[RamDino]

I realize Terrell Owens caught more TD's than Ike, but Ike WON the super Bowl. And if TO had Torry Holt on the other side, not to mention Faulk and the others... he would not have had so may TD's. Honestly.. they BOTH deserve to be in the hall.

 

[Legatron4]

Terrell Davis???

Guy had 4 seasons worth a damn.

I don't get it.

They say they don't overvalue rings, but he's the proof they do.

How can you balance Terrell Owen's production over HIS career versus Davis'? It's cracked? Or Joe Jacoby's?

It's crazy. Is it the 2000 yard season?

I disagree. Look at his stats compared to Gale Sayers who is also in the HOF.

Sayers: 4956 yards 39 tds
Davis: 7607 yards 60 tds

Not to mention it's difficult to ignore two Super Bowl wins and a Super Bowl MVP. Also the guy had the most rush yards in playoff history.

His first 4 seasons totaled 6413 yards. If he didn't blow out his knee who knows what could have happened. They looked at his dominance and saw a guy who belonged amongst the best of the best. I'm okay with it.

As for Owens, it's straight garbage. The dude is one of the best WRs in NFL history. They legit just don't like him. It has nothing to do with stats or productivity. It's just a bunch of a old, fat, stuffy guys who sit there and say "Back in my day, we didn't need to celebrate like that. He would have gotten his ass kicked every game. Blah blah blah." It's completely personal and they didn't like how he handled himself on and off the field. That's all it is.

 

[DaveFan'51]

They could have cut one of the RB's Elected and put " Bruuuuce" In!!

 

[Prime Time]

View: https://twitter.com/terrellowens/status/828026492051402752

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/02/09/should-t-o-be-in-the-hall-of-fame/

Should T.O. be in the Hall of Fame?
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2017

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Should Owens be in the Hall of Fame?

Yes. 75.04% (5,274 votes)

No. 24.96% (1,754 votes)

Total Votes: 7,028

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ams-couldnt-wait-to-get-rid-of-t-o-narrative/

Exploring the “teams couldn’t wait to get rid of” T.O. narrative
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2017

Setting aside for now (but perhaps not for long) whether the not-so-subtle admonition from Hall of Fame quarterback and Hall of Fame voter Dan Fouts to Terrell Owens about criticizing the process proves that his omission from the Hall of Fame is less about whether he deserves a spot in Canton and more about whether the panel “likes” him, it’s time to unwrap an increasingly common theme.

If the journalists on the selection committee who are opposed to Owens aren’t going to do it, then a sort-of journalist who will never be on the selection committee needs to.

Here’s a quick caveat: I’m not doing this because I “like” Terrell Owens. I’m ambivalent at best about him as a person. In 2013, he called me “Satan,” so depending on T.O.’s personal worship habits it’s safe to assume he doesn’t like me.

That said, I’d like to think after following the NFL for more than 40 years and working in this business for nearly 17, I know a Hall of Famer when I see one. Owens, in my opinion, is a Hall of Famer, and it’s not close.

I also have developed a very strong aversion over the years to BS. There seems plenty of it going around regarding Owens.

The biggest potential pile comes from the narrative that multiple “teams couldn’t wait to get rid” of Owens. First publicly articulated a year ago by Gary Myers of the New York Daily News when being properly grilled by Ross Tucker for specific proof that Owens was too disruptive to be enshrined, the presumption that the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills, and Bengals all lined up to dump Owens continues to emerge as a knee-jerk mantra for justifying keeping him out of Canton — and possibly as a pretext for the fact that the folks voting to snub him simply don’t like him.

This year, the “teams couldn’t wait to get rid” of Owens narrative is back. Fouts echoed it in explaining T.O.’s omission. So did Hall of Fame voter Ira Kaufman of JoeBucsFan.com.

“Teams couldn’t wait to get rid of him at his peak,” Kaufman said regarding Owens during a Wednesday appearance on Chris Russo’s SiriusXM radio show. “He was suspended twice, he was told, ‘We don’t want you around.’ The Eagles said, ‘Goodbye, we don’t want you. Get out of here.’ The 49ers said, ‘We don’t want to see you anymore. . . . This is about a guy who teams couldn’t wait to get rid of.”

That’s a gross oversimplification of the situation at best. It’s a flat-out misrepresentation at worst. (It’s not Ira’s fault; he’s simply passing along the things he’s being told by members of the committee who oppose Owens’ enshrinement.)

Lets’ start with the 49ers. Owens had the ability to void the final two years of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent in 2004. Based on some of the information gathered by PFT (i.e., sort-of journalism), it is believed that the 49ers would have gladly kept Owens beyond his eight years with the team if he hadn’t voided his contract.

However, they weren’t interested in signing him as an unrestricted free agent, given that the team was young and rebuilding — and that it would have been very expensive to sign him in competition with the open market.

Ultimately, an error in the filing of the paperwork voiding his contract resulted in an effort by the 49ers to trade Owens to the Ravens, a grievance filed by the union, and a settlement that resulted in Owens being shipped to the Eagles under a seven-year, $42 million contract with a $10 million signing bonus. (The Ravens reportedly would have paid him $17 million to sign, but Owens reportedly wanted to play with Donovan McNabb, not Kyle Boller.)

Owens delivered immediately in Philadelphia, with 1,200 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns in 14 regular-season games. He suffered a broken ankle during a December 19 win over the Cowboys, missed two regular-season games, missed two playoff games, and somehow returned for Super Bowl XXXIX, catching nine passes for 122 yards and arguably performing better than any other player on the field in a 24-21 loss to the Patriots.

Due to earn a base salary of $7.5 million in 2005 and looking for a more significant financial reward for his efforts in 2004, Owens asked for a raise. The Eagles, notorious at the time for putting their ability to manage the salary cap and to sign young players to long-term deals they would likely outperform over winning, refused. Repeatedly.

So Owens opted to utilize the leverage available to him. Instead of holding out, however, he chose be disruptive in the hopes of getting paid or getting traded to a team that would pay him. An ill-advised tactic to be sure, the reality is that the Eagles wanted to keep Owens under the terms of the contract he signed. Only after a season of squabbles and suspensions and grievances and exasperation did the Eagles give Owens his freedom.

If Owens hadn’t decided to take a stand and try to get the Eagles to adjust his contract based on what he did in 2004, the Eagles would have been happy to keep him around. Put simply, they “couldn’t wait to get rid” of Owens only after Owens made it clear that, without a new contract, he couldn’t wait to leave.

Beyond the 49ers and Eagles, it’s likewise a stretch to say teams “couldn’t wait to get rid of” Owens. In 2006, the Cowboys gladly embraced Owens, signing him to a three-year, $25 million deal. Two years later, the Cowboys didn’t cut him. They signed him to a new contract, worth $34 million over four years with a $12 million signing bonus.

Yes, the Cowboys cut Owens in 2009. But if they “couldn’t wait to get rid of” him, why did they sign him to a new deal following only two seasons with the team?

After leaving Dallas, Owens signed a one-year deal with the Bills, for $6.5 million. He wasn’t cut or suspended or otherwise gotten rid of before the contract ended and he became a free agent once again.

Ditto the following year, in Cincinnati. Owens signed a one-year deal, played one year for the Bengals, tore an ACL in the process, became a free agent again at the age of 37, and ultimately never played in another regular-season game.

To summarize, Owens spent eight years with the 49ers, and they would have kept him if he hadn’t had the ability to void the remaining years of his contract. He then spent two years with the Eagles, and they gladly would have extended the stay if he had gladly accepted the terms of a contract he quickly outperformed.

Owens then spent three years with the Cowboys, who ripped up the final year of a three-year deal and gave him a four-year contract one year before moving on. The Bills then signed him for a year, the Bengals signed him for a year, and that was that.

Was Owens a disruption at times? Yes. Should that be considered when assessing his Hall of Fame credentials? Yes, as long as the issues are being fully and properly fleshed out — and as long as the voters are considering the disruptions created by other players who made it to Canton in past years, including but not limited to the stabbing of a teammate in the neck with scissors on team property.

Absent an objective look at T.O.’s career and a comparison of his locker-room characteristics to other players who previously have made it to Canton, it appears that the narratives preventing Owens from enshrinement are nothing more than a lazy and convenient excuse for keeping Owens out, apparently because those who oppose him simply don’t care for him.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/02/09/jason-taylor-plenty-of-players-are-disruptive/

Jason Taylor: Plenty of players are disruptive
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2017

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During a Thursday appearance on PFT Live, Hall of Famer Jason Taylor expressed surprise that receiver Terrell Owens didn’t make it, too. Taylor also provided some important perspective regarding the apparently disqualifying notion that Owens was disruptive.

“Trust me, there’s a lot of people that don’t know 98 percent of what goes on in the locker room out in the public,” Taylor said. “There are plenty of guys that are disruptive in their own way or have a different type personality in the locker room [and] sometimes you have to make that work.

That’s the head coach’s job and the locker room’s job, the leaders in the locker room, to massage that, so to speak, and make those different personalities fit.

“I played with guys that were strong-minded and strong personality and that marched to their own beat sometimes and that’s part of what makes them great,” Taylor said. “Some of those teammates that I loved that people think could be ‘disruptive’ maybe.

I played with Joey Porter. You know, I love Joey Porter to death; he was a great teammate. One of those guys you want on your team but you hate playing against, and you hear some of these stories. Ritchie Incognito, I played with him and he’s the same way.”

For every Terrell Owens, whose traits became well known because of the intense media coverage he attracted, there surely are dozens of other players whose divisiveness or selfishness wasn’t widely known. Surely, plenty of those guys have made it to the Hall of Fame over the years.

“Most of the things that happen in the locker room deserve to stay in the locker room,” Taylor said. “They should not be out and it’s all easily worked out in there. Unfortunately, sometimes people use the media platform to vent or to air out some dirty laundry and that becomes a distraction for everybody and then that continues to grow and fester and maybe that’s what happened in T.O.’s case.”

It’s an important perspective from a guy who spent 15 years in the NFL. It’s a perspective that the Hall of Fame voters who oppose Owens need to keep in mind when searching their hearts for the answer to the question of whether they’re keeping T.O. out because he’s not worthy or because they simply don’t like him.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...erves-to-be-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame/

Jason Taylor: “T.O. deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame”
Posted by Michael David Smith on February 9, 2017

New Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Taylor is disappointed that Terrell Owens won’t be with him on enshrinement day in Canton.

Taylor said this morning on PFT Live that he’s baffled that Owens wasn’t selected.

“I don’t get it,” Taylor said. “His numbers, football wise? Come on. He stacks up for sure. He can wreck your team on Sunday. His all-time numbers stand and show he’s one of the top receivers and I think a Pro Football Hall of Famer. People have different agendas, people have different opinions.

The people who have the votes are the ones who matter, and for whatever reason, they keep — I don’t want to say picking on T.O., but they keep beating him up a little bit for some of the off-the-field stuff, the distractions, he’s left teams and all this stuff.”

Taylor said from what he’s heard, Owens wasn’t the disruptive presence that people made him out to be.

“I was talking to Jerry Jones a little bit about it and he said the same thing: T.O. was great in Dallas,” Taylor said. “He understands T.O., he got T.O., and T.O. deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he wasn’t these things that some people are saying.

It’s a shame, I hate to see it, it’s disappointing because his on-field play was so amazing. But sometimes the things we say or do off the field rub people wrong and unfortunately people hold that against him.”

Taylor said that great football players can sometimes be difficult people, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good teammates. Owens, in Taylor’s view, was a player whose greatness easily overshadows his sometimes difficult personality.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/02/09/steve-young-t-o-belongs-in-the-hall-of-fame/

Steve Young: T.O. belongs in the Hall of Fame
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2017

Some Hall of Fame voters who hope to justify the snubbing o Terrell Owens have chosen to toss around false narratives and hollow arguments, opting for a now-familiar “many people are saying” approach without pointing out with specificity those who are actually saying that Owens was a cancer to a football team. Meanwhile, some of the guys who actually played with him are speaking out.

For Owens’ eight years in San Francisco (yes, eight years; not bad given that the 49ers “couldn’t wait to get rid” of him), few voices are more authoritative than quarterback Steve Young’s, since Young was T.O.’s quarterback for three-plus seasons.

“Yeah,” Young told KNBR regarding whether Owens should be enshrined in Canton. “Because I played with him, I felt like I knew him. I knew the abilities he had. There’s no question he’s struggled with a lot of things, but in the end, yes. . . .

“In ’97-’98 he would say, ‘Yes sir.’ I said, ‘Terrell, call me Steve . . . I know I’m old, c’mon.’ But he was very respectful. He worked as hard as Jerry Rice — I’ve never said that about anyone else by the way. He was willing to stand next to Jerry and work, and I’ve never seen that before. So to me, what I saw were his physical abilities were incredible. The work ethic, incredible, and a very respectful guy.”

Young added that, once he and other veteran players left after 1999, Owens “stepped into shoes he clearly wasn’t ready to step into, and you got a sparkler shooting all kinds of ways.” The 49ers nevertheless kept Owens for four more years (i.e., the opposite of “couldn’t wait to get rid” of him).

Hopefully, more voices with direct knowledge of Owens’ abilities and behavior will speak up. Even more hopefully, those voters who oppose T.O.’s candidacy will be willing to take a step back and be fair and objective about the situation, even though they may be tempted to cross their arms and scowl and continue to prove the adage that no power is abused more than hardly any power at all.

 

[Prime Time]

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/...rell-owens-didnt-make-the-hall-of-fame-020817

Voter Dan Fouts explains why Terrell Owens didn’t make the Hall of Fame
Nick Schwartz

ESPN via 104.5 The Zone:

Terrell Owens is one of the most polarizing players in NFL history, but from a purely statistical standpoint, the five-time All-Pro should have been a shoe-in to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Owens is second in all-time receiving yards (15,934), third in career receiving touchdowns (153), and eighth in receptions (1,078), yet Owens was surprisingly snubbed for a second consecutive year after becoming eligible in 2016. Hall of Famer and selection committee member Dan Fouts told 104.5 The Zone that he thinks Owens was given a fair shot by the committee, but his reputation as a bad teammate kept him out of Canton.

“I think his numbers are very worthy, but again on the other side of it, I think his actions on and off the field, on the sidelines, in the locker room, and the fact he played for so many teams and was such a great player. The question that comes back to me is if he was such a great player, why did so many of those teams get rid of him? And I think we all know the answers.

“I think he did receive a fair evaluation of his career, both pros and cons. But obviously ripping the Hall of Fame in the process, what good is that going to do. I just don’t understand that. I didn’t understand a lot of things he did in his career.”

A number of current and former NFL players were shocked when Owens was left out of the class of 2017. Shannon Sharpe said on “Undisputed” that he believes Owens is the second-best receiver to ever play the game, and that he considers it an “injustice” Owens wasn’t a first-ballot selection.

Sharpe also called for living Hall of Famers to be a part of the voting process. Currently, only two Hall of Fame players are able to vote on each class out of 48 total selectors, most of whom are members of the media.

 

[OldSchool]

It's very funny that a lot of national media and fans that are making excuses for how TO acted on and off the field during his career are the same people who hold it against Curt Schilling for his views he expressed after his playing career.