HOFame Senior Cuts: You make the call!
Here are my picks and your ballots. Closest to actual nine wins a prize.
(Editor’s Note: This is part of a series on the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s quest to select the Class of 2025 with a new process and personnel. Written by Frank Cooney, a Seniors Blue Ribbon Selection Committee member in his 32nd year as a selector. Chart in this post is best viewed on a computer screen rather than a phone)
This week, the Pro Football Hall of Fame opened the online polls for selectors to continue trimming the list of candidates for the 2025 Class. Seniors must go from 31 to nine, and the Modern-Era list from 50 to 25.
In this post, I reveal my cutdowns on the 2025 Class of Seniors from 31 to 9 and explain why.
We provide a ballot for you to select your nine survivors. Whoever is closest to the actual HOF selection results wins a prize. We will do the same with the Modern-Era cut from 50 to 25 another day. Stay tuned.
Seniors: Select nine of 31
You make the call!
Fill in your picks on our survey, picking nine from the 31 players listed alphabetically. Your vote is confidential. Only numerical results will be shared, although you may say something in comments if you want. The closest to the actual cut by selectors wins a Total Access subscription to Hall of Football for one year.
Your ballot awaits here
Here is some intel for your consideration. You may want to check it out before voting.
Charting the remaining 31 Seniors
TURNEY TABLE RATINGS BASED ON HONORS WON
This shows players across eras and positions in a context based on common award factors. It is one perspective and not intended to be a singular determining factor any more than raw statistics determine a player’s worthiness for the HOF.
John Turney chart points system for all charts in this post: All-Decade = 5 points, Consensus All-Pro = 3, MVP/DPOY or All-Conference = 2 points each, Years played, Second-team All-Pro, Second-team All-Conference = 1 point each.
Turney is a long-time football historian and first-year member of the Seniors Blue Ribbon Selection Committee.
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Frank’s Nine
Here are my nine selections with explanations. Yes, others are worthy — many others — but these are the ones I am most interested in right now. We must start somewhere.
The overriding reason for selecting these players is to get them “in the room” so the Senior Blue Ribbon selectors can discuss their candidacy. The specific reasons vary.
Art Powell, WR
He is exactly the player the Senior Committee seeks, an overlooked star who made an impact but was for some reason forgotten. Powell was a finalist last year but did not get 80 percent approval in the final meeting. The Seniors Committee got this one right, but the overall committee was still unfamiliar with him.
Jim Tyrer, OT
This is a tragic story. Tyrer was a strong first-ballot candidate in 1980 and, during the period that his candidacy was being discussed, he shot and killed his wife and himself. It took years to realize he was plagued by CTE, the horrific brain disease caused by concussions. He was a great player, citizen and family man until he spiraled downward because of the disease. He should not be kept out of the Hall of Fame because of something caused by playing football — and damned well.
Jim Plunkett, QB
Former Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 draft pick who was horribly misused for the first half of his career by the Patriots and 49ers. Given time to heal physically and emotionally, Plunkett won two Super Bowls and one SB MVP. The Seniors Committee should discuss this unusual career. Plunkett is the most consistently discussed player on social media regarding being overlooked by the Hall of Fame. This is the first time he is close to being in a discussion by selectors.
Cecil Isbell, TB/QB/RB
He had a short career with the Green Bay Packers (1938–42), but he amassed modern day statistics in his final two years before getting a job that paid real money. Hall of Famer Ron Wolf is on the committee, and we should hear what he thinks. Did Isbell make an impact or just compile gaudy stats?
Roger Craig, RB
There is a clamor among selectors and fans — I hear them because I live in California — not unlike what we hear for Plunkett. His late Hall of Fame coach, Bill Walsh, invited a few selectors for lunch at his house. It was during Walsh’s final months, and he wanted promises to induct Roger, who was famously the first running back to gain 1,000 yards both running and receiving in a single season. Good player and a great guy with lots of support among fans and players. I will mention RB Ricky Watters among Modern-Era candidates and compare the production of these two backs.
Sterling Sharpe, WR
His career ended with a neck injury after seven years of putting up Jerry Rice-like numbers. Did he make enough of an impact in those seven years? Let’s talk.
Lester Hayes, CB
He was half of the best cornerback tandem in NFL history with Hall of Famer Mike Haynes, who insists Hayes belongs in the HOF. We are often reminded of his 13 interceptions in 1980. But he had five more in the playoffs to help the Raiders become the first wild-card Super Bowl champion. (he had five more that were nullified by penalty (three not on him, so that is 21 interceptions worth counting.) Don’t tell me about stickum. Hall of Fame Raiders receiver Fred Biletnikoff used it. And those sticky gloves everybody uses now are behind the proliferation of one-handed catches.
Stanley Morgan, WR
Morgan was a prolific wide receiver for the Patriots who led the NFL in yards per catch for three straight seasons (1979–81), averaging a gaudy 19.2 yards per reception over his 14-year career. Yet, he never seemed to receive the respect to go with his impressive stats. Why was that? I want to hear from Seniors Selector Ron Borges.
I am conflicted on the final selection … at the moment I will go with:
Everson Walls, CB
An undrafted standout, Walls had some great seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He was hotly debated in his final years as a Modern-Era candidate but fell into the abyss anyway. We are constantly reminded that he is the defensive back at the feet of Dwight Clark in “The Catch,” which launched a 49ers dynasty. Forgotten are the two interceptions and fumble recovery he had in that game, to go with a then-Dallas-record 11 interceptions (he still shares the mark) during that 1981 season, his rookie campaign. I want to hear Seniors Selector Gary Myers on this — again.
Will I change my mind? Possibly, especially after getting more input from our Seniors Blue Ribbon Selectors.
Watch for more in this series, including a similar treatment with the cutdown from 50 to 25 with Modern-Era HOF prospects for the 2025 Class.