Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I recently wondered why Leroy Butler wasn't in the conversation about safeties who belong in the HOF.

Ron Wolf and Bill Parcells wonder, too. They agree that Butler and Darren Woodson are more deserving than Atwater or Lynch.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/ ... d-position

I can think of at least ten safeties I think were better and more deserving than Darren Woodson.

Johnny Robinson

Lynch

Atwater

Joey Browner

Kenny Easley

Eddie Meador

Bobby Dillon

Patton

Jack Tatum

Donnie Shell

Dennis Smith

Tim McDonald

I think Cliff Harris was at least as deserving as Woodson.

Jake Scott was as well.

Woodson was a great player, but I think he gets a lot of mileage off his SB rings, and being on the Cowboys.

Butler was a great player as well; however, he, too, is not more deserving than those guys above, IMO.

Lets get Easley and Robinson in before any other safeties are talked about.

What's 'funny', and sums up the PFHOF, is that for all intents and purposes there's a zero percent chance of those two being the next two safeties to go in.

Meanwhile, Lynch seems likely to get in one of these upcoming years. I never once thought of him as a HOF'er. Never thought of Atwater as a HOF'er either.

Then when it comes to seniors, I could easily see Donnie Shell being the choice. Especially since Tony Dungy is evidently going to have Shell be his presenter - which I'm sure Dungy's speech will include a push for Shell being a HOF'er. Throw in that he played for the Steelers and 2017 nominee? Wouldn't surprise me.

So instead of the next four HOF safeties being something like: Easley, Robinson, Reed and Polamalu. It'll probably be along the lines of Lynch, Atwater, Shell and Carnell Lake ...

Reaser wrote:Lets get Easley and Robinson in before any other safeties are talked about.

What's 'funny', and sums up the PFHOF, is that for all intents and purposes there's a zero percent chance of those two being the next two safeties to go in.

Meanwhile, Lynch seems likely to get in one of these upcoming years. I never once thought of him as a HOF'er. Never thought of Atwater as a HOF'er either.

Then when it comes to seniors, I could easily see Donnie Shell being the choice. Especially since Tony Dungy is evidently going to have Shell be his presenter - which I'm sure Dungy's speech will include a push for Shell being a HOF'er. Throw in that he played for the Steelers and 2017 nominee? Wouldn't surprise me.

So instead of the next four HOF safeties being something like: Easley, Robinson, Reed and Polamalu. It'll probably be along the lines of Lynch, Atwater, Shell and Carnell Lake ...

I don't think of Lake as a HoFer, but I was a big fan of his and consider him the best of those four. Very capable at safety and corner.

I forgot Deron Cherry.

John Maxymuk wrote:I don't think of Lake as a HoFer ...

Neither do I.

He has a better shot than Easley and Robinson, though. In my opinion - which is basically my opinion of the HOF voters and not the players.

Yes, Dungy endorsing Shell will be like Woodson talking up LeBeau....and probably the same result.

Versatile John wrote:Yes, Dungy endorsing Shell will be like Woodson talking up LeBeau....and probably the same result.

Yes, that's pretty much exactly how it crossed my mind as well, John.

I'm a big Carnell Lake fan, but he's no HOF'ER. Great player, teammate, very versatile and an intelligent player, but just not there. Also don't think Donnie Shell belongs in, early Wagner was probably as good as later Shell, but neither of them should be in.

The travesties are Easley being out and Lynch and Atwater likely getting in. As per the list above, there's a long list I'd take over each of those last two including guys like Dennis Smith, Jake Scott who don't get much acclaim and the afore mentioned Cherry, Robinson, Browner, etc.

Are we being myopic here or does there legitimately seem to be a lot of Safety talk lately?

Going 5-10 years out, how many RB's will we be discussing? James still feels borderline to me then AP is in, but will anyone pound the table for Stephen Jackson, Chris Johnson, Corey Dillon, even Marshawn Lynch. I think only the latter is a legitimate candidate, we could have a decade long period with 2 RB's, sad.

NWebster wrote:Going 5-10 years out, how many RB's will we be discussing? James still feels borderline to me then AP is in, but will anyone pound the table for Stephen Jackson, Chris Johnson, Corey Dillon, even Marshawn Lynch. I think only the latter is a legitimate candidate, we could have a decade long period with 2 RB's, sad.

Adrian Peterson is getting in, no question -- he's got a massive peak and is closing in on 12K yards lifetime.

The most likely RB to get in from the 00s-10s (after Edgerrin James and '90s guy Terrell Davis do) otherwise is probably Frank Gore, who has already crossed the magic 12K career yards mark and likely has a couple more seasons left in the tank barring injury. Like Jerome Bettis, he hasn't got much peak but likely enough productive longevity -- which means he'll probably get the same complaints against him that Bettis did.

Not sure any of the rest will be elected.