2024 HOF Class

[JohnTurney]

I think the 2024 Class is be very hard to predict.

2023 was pretty easy because of 2 first-ballot guys and Ware moving up---then THomas with long wait
and him being in top 10 - the "guy in waiting" . . .

2024--to me seem more fluid. Hester went from top 10 to not making the cut to 10

Jared Allen made top 10 but Peppers is coming up. Though Peppers has as good a
case as Jason Taylor, there is sentiment among at least a few voters that
Taylor was a first-ballot mistake and that Peppers is not a first-ballot guy
in the league of a Gino, Deacon, Reggie or Bruce.

Willis didn't make cut to 10, but he is someone who could, IMO, actually
be inducted in 2024.

Then the issue of WRs, I could see 2 getting in. Pro Johnson and Holt
but could be any combo of the two, Holt and Wayne, Wayne and Johnson

Freeney is another who could leap Allen and keep Peppers out.

It's a wide open year, I think

[Brian wolf]

I dunno John ... unlike Ed Jones and Ron McDole, whose height made them less quick to get to the QB, Peppers was an excellent pass rusher who made many plays and won a championship. With his sacks, interceptions, tipped passes-defensed, TDs and longevity despite huge size, he should easily be a first-ballot enshrinee but then again, some of these voters favored Covert over Wistert, so who knows what goes through their heads?

[JohnTurney]

I dunno John ... unlike Ed Jones and Ron McDole, whose height made them less quick to get to the QB, Peppers was an excellent pass rusher who made many plays and won a championship. With his sacks, interceptions, tipped passes-defensed, TDs and longevity despite huge size, he should easily be a first-ballot enshrinee but then again, some of these voters favored Covert over Wistert, so who knows what goes through their heads?

It is not what we think. It is about what the voters think. We can recite stats all day long, but it only takes a few to think that maybe Freeney was more impactful or that Jared Allen has waited longer or that they made a mistake putting Taylor on the first-ballot.

I am not saying he won't get in first-ballot, I am saying he is not a lock like Joe Thomas and Revis. A lot of voters were in Phoenix and spoke to quite a few and it's not a sure thing, not like people are saying. Could go either way.

[rewing84]

would anyone blame me at all if im not sold on sharpe as a hall of fame senior nominee im more sold on the following

Ed Budde

Roger Craig

Harold Jackson

George Kunz

Lemar Parrish

Al Wistert

[sluggermatt15]

I dunno John ... unlike Ed Jones and Ron McDole, whose height made them less quick to get to the QB, Peppers was an excellent pass rusher who made many plays and won a championship. With his sacks, interceptions, tipped passes-defensed, TDs and longevity despite huge size, he should easily be a first-ballot enshrinee but then again, some of these voters favored Covert over Wistert, so who knows what goes through their heads?

I think at least part of it is recency bias.

Covert was a good player, but I also find it very hard to deny Wistert, who has been named to an all-pro team in seven distinct seasons. I don't get it either, Brian.

[Bryan]

I am not saying he won't get in first-ballot, I am saying he is not a lock like Joe Thomas and Revis. A lot of voters were in Phoenix and spoke to quite a few and it's not a sure thing, not like people are saying. Could go either way.

I would consider Peppers to be more of a first-ballot lock than Revis, but I get what you are saying. Peppers was one of the best defensive players I ever saw. He was surprisingly durable and very effective in his advancing age. I am looking at all the first-ballot DEs....a very select group aside from Jason Taylor. Not sure if Peppers is on that level, but he would be closer to that level than Taylor. The first ballot DTs is kind of weird...Warren Sapp among the elite group but no Alan Page.

As for the other eligible DEs, here is how I would rank them:

Peppers

<gap>

Jared Allen (borderline HOF level)

<slight gap>
Simeon Rice (HOVG)
Dwight Freeney (HOVG)

[JohnTurney]

I am looking at all the first-ballot DEs....a very select group aside from Jason Taylor. Not sure if Peppers is on that level, but he would be closer to that level than Taylor.

That is the problem with Taylor getting in.

First-ballot DEs was special. They were not only first-ballot they were first-names - Gino, Deacon, Reggie, Bruce.

Jason does not fit.

Neither Taylor nor Peppers on that level, though Peppers closer than Taylor.

Page was punished for Super Bowl losses, specifically vs Miami, and head-to-head vs Langer, where
Miami and Langer got the better of Page and Langer went in in 87 over Page - and
example of the bad old days.

Sapp, at his peak, was dominant. faded out badly. last four year ranks PSI - 112, 72, 63, 164 - or just look at
stats...7-year peak, 13-year career . . . IMO, not-first ballot, but . . .voters sometimes not into nuance
for big-name players and maybe I get too far into the weeds, for good and bad.

[Brian wolf]

Just curious Bryan ... did you agree on Ware getting elected? I thought he had as much an argument for first ballot as Revis, though Revis had a lot of publicity throughout his career and deservedly so, despite switching teams ...

[Brian wolf]

Different people believe first ballot status is overrated or too subjective but its as close to best-of-the best status, or cream of the crop, that you can find ...

Its understandable that players like Rosey Brown, Len Ford, Dick Lane, Joe Schmidt and others had to wait for election because the PFHOF started in the 60s and had to put in alot of deserving players, spanning many decades but by 1977, the classes needed to have been firm on who the best ever players were and were starting to show that in first-ballot choices but how in the world did players like Carl Eller, Jack Youngblood, Jim Ringo, Johnny Robinson, Bob Brown and others had to wait so long?

I counted at least 29-30, players I subjectively felt, deserved to be first-ballot worthy players but also felt another 23-25 players could have waited, rather than first-ballot selections, so its a difficult process to say the least with each class standing on its own merits based on player eligibility.