Your 2015 NFL Hall of Fame Class

[Hail Casares]

Jerome Bettis
Tim Brown
Charles Haley
Bill Polian
Junior Seau
Will Shields
Mick Tingelhoff(*)
Ron Wolf

*Senior Committee Selection

Charles Haley getting in is pretty surprising to me but deserved. Loved to see Bettis and Brown getting in.


Thoughts?

[Jeremy Crowhurst]

This was a now-or-not-until-he's-a-senior year for Tim Brown. Very happy to see him get in. All those years with all those gomers at QB, when the defense knew exactly where they were throwing it, and he still kept coming down with the ball.

[Hail Casares]

I was actually rather shocked that a guy like Haley made it with Kevin Greene on the ballot. Haley is pretty much despised by writers etc and Greene was FAR more productive and has a similar trophy case.

[bachslunch]

This was a now-or-not-until-he's-a-senior year for Tim Brown. Very happy to see him get in. All those years with all those gomers at QB, when the defense knew exactly where they were throwing it, and he still kept coming down with the ball.

Possibly. Though next year will be another clean-up year, and Brown likely would have made it in then if not this year. The following years might have been tougher, though Brown would still have about ten more eligible years by then. My guess is he could have snuck in somewhere along the line, though the addition of Owens, Moss, Holt, Bruce, and Wayne would make things difficult.

[bachslunch]

I was actually rather shocked that a guy like Haley made it with Kevin Greene on the ballot. Haley is pretty much despised by writers etc and Greene was FAR more productive and has a similar trophy case.

If memory serves, Haley had a year extra as finalist under his belt, and that extra year of seniority may have been the difference, as in Reed getting in over Brown last year. Will be very surprised if Green isn't elected next year.

[bachslunch]

This is as good a place as any to say congratulations to all those elected. Very glad for Tingelhoff especially. This was a clean- up year, and the voters again did a great job clearing some badly needed space. The voters continue to show the Baseball Hall voters how to get the job done with regularly-eligible candidates (though to be fair, the BBHoF voters did better than usual this year).

One good thing about the panel's efficiency is that they're reducing the potential 80s-90 s Senior backlog a good bit. Hopefully they can use those future slots on Super Seniors and such.

[PapaShogun]

From what I've heard a lot of folks have issues with Bettis getting in over Pace. I don't have a huge issue with Bettis being in, but I think if it came down to Pace and Bettis, I'm putting Pace ahead. Pace needs to get in next year. And if Warner gets in, which I think he will, then that should open up the flood gates for Terrell Davis.

[Hail Casares]

From what I've heard a lot of folks have issues with Bettis getting in over Pace. I don't have a huge issue with Bettis being in, but I think if it came down to Pace and Bettis, I'm putting Pace ahead. Pace needs to get in next year. And if Warner gets in, which I think he will, then that should open up the flood gates for Terrell Davis.

Betttis getting in this year IMO cleared the way for TD sometime real soon. Tough to put in TD if you don't put in the 6th leading rusher in league history. Now you don't have to argue TD over Bettis. TD is really the only RB with a case that the panelists like enough to put in. Might also open new chances for guys like Roger Craig.

[Bryan]

I was actually rather shocked that a guy like Haley made it with Kevin Greene on the ballot. Haley is pretty much despised by writers etc and Greene was FAR more productive and has a similar trophy case.

If memory serves, Haley had a year extra as finalist under his belt, and that extra year of seniority may have been the difference, as in Reed getting in over Brown last year. Will be very surprised if Green isn't elected next year.

That might also be the case of Brown over Harrison and Shields over Pace for this year, with both Harrison and Pace getting in next year.

Glad that Tingelhoff got in. I thought both Shields and Tim Brown were deserving. As someone else mentioned, it would have been kind of dumb to go through the trouble in creating a "contributor" category and not enshrine Wolf and/or Polian. Hope the category clears the way for one of my favorite characters in NFL history, Joe Thomas (I kid).

Kind of an unremarkable group, relatively speaking, with Seau being the only slam-dunk guy IMO.

[Hail Casares]

I was actually rather shocked that a guy like Haley made it with Kevin Greene on the ballot. Haley is pretty much despised by writers etc and Greene was FAR more productive and has a similar trophy case.

If memory serves, Haley had a year extra as finalist under his belt, and that extra year of seniority may have been the difference, as in Reed getting in over Brown last year. Will be very surprised if Green isn't elected next year.

That might also be the case of Brown over Harrison and Shields over Pace for this year, with both Harrison and Pace getting in next year.

Glad that Tingelhoff got in. I thought both Shields and Tim Brown were deserving. As someone else mentioned, it would have been kind of dumb to go through the trouble in creating a "contributor" category and not enshrine Wolf and/or Polian. Hope the category clears the way for one of my favorite characters in NFL history, Joe Thomas (I kid).

Kind of an unremarkable group, relatively speaking, with Seau being the only slam-dunk guy IMO.

I always thought it was a travesty that guys like Ed Sabol had to wait so long to be enshrined and that a guy like Steve Sabol STILL isn't in. You could make the argument that the Sabol's were the most important contributors to the NFL in the last 50-60 years.