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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Doug Farrar

The 20 best candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2020 class

It’s officially been announced that in 2020, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will expand its class to 20 members. The candidates will include five modern-era players, 10 senior candidates, three contributors and two coaches. It’s a great way to reduce the backlog of deserving candidates. I recently compiled a list of eight deserving senior candidates and two coaches who should be in the Hall under this one-year expansion — I’ll add them here again, along with two more senior candidates, five modern-era players and three contributors.

Modern-era players

S Troy Polamalu

Pittsburgh Steelers, 2003-2014

With Ed Reed making the Hall of Fame in 2019, it only makes sense that Polamalu, the other great range safety in the first part of the new millennium, should go in next year. Polamalu amassed 32 regular-season interceptions for 398 yards and three touchdowns, adding three more picks in the postseason, but his game was always about more than basic stats. Able to create havoc everywhere from the defensive line to the deep third in coverage, Polamalu helped to create the paradigm of the modern do-it-all safety as he blurred positional lines throughout his career. He retired as an eight-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro.

S John Lynch

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1993-2003
Denver Broncos, 2004-2007

Lynch started his career as the first building block of the great Buccaneers defenses of the late 1990s, which really came together when Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks arrived a couple years later. Regarded as one of the fiercest hitters in his era, Lynch had 28 interceptions in his career and 1,106 total tackles. A two-time first-team All-Pro, he made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons with the Broncos at the end of his career, for a total of nine Pro Bowl selections. He is now the 49ers’ general manager.

G Alan Faneca

Pittsburgh Steelers, 1998-2007
New York Jets, 2008-2009
Arizona Cardinals, 2010

One of the best and most decorated linemen in NFL history, Faneca is a nine-time Pro Bowler and six-time first-team All-Pro. Throughout his time with the Steelers, he was the primary force in the team’s power-running game and was with the team long enough to see a transition to a more expansive passing game with Ben Roethlisberger at the helm. The Jets made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in history at the time with a five-year, $40 million contract with $21 million in guarantees in 2008, and he was just as effective for a while in that team’s power rushing attack.

G Steve Hutchinson

Seattle Seahawks, 2001-2005
Minnesota Vikings, 2006-2011
Tennessee Titans, 2012

Known as “Manimal,” Hutchinson was a highly regarded prospect out of Michigan — some analysts at the time would tell you that he was as good a college guard as they’d ever seen. In the early 2000s, Hutchinson worked with Hall of Fame left tackle Walter Jones to pry open massive gaps for anybody running behind them. Shaun Alexander’s 2005 MVP award really should have been split between Seattle’s left tackle and left guard. After the 2005 season, the Seahawks placed the transition tag on Hutchinson, who was subsequently able to arrange a seven-year, $49 million deal with the Vikings. It included a poison pill that forced the Seahawks to match the deal or let Hutchinson go. During Hutchinson’s time in Minnesota, Adrian Peterson became one of the NFL’s best backs. A seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time first-team All-Pro, Hutchinson finished his career with the Titans in 2012.

DL Richard Seymour

New England Patriots, 2001-2008
Oakland Raiders, 2009-2012

Seymour’s rookie season was the same one in which the Patriots’ dynasty began with a win over the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, and that’s no coincidence. The sixth overall pick in the 2001 draft out of Georgia, Seymour not only made an immediate impact, he was the glue that held New England’s defense together through three Super Bowl wins in his first four NFL seasons. Named to the Pro Bowl as both a 4-3 defensive tackle and a 3-4 defensive end, Seymour’s versatility allowed Bill Belichick and his assistants to create one of the league’s first modern hybrid and interchangeable defensive lines. Traded to the Raiders in 2009 for a first-round pick, Seymour finished his career with 62 sacks, 356 solo tackles and all kinds of mayhem against opposing quarterbacks and running backs.

Senior candidates

S Donnie Shell

Pittsburgh Steelers, 1974-1987

A five-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro, Shell has more interceptions than any other member of the Steel Curtain defense in that era — with 53 total, he beats cornerback Mel Blount by four, though Blount has the edge in postseason interceptions with four to Shell’s two. When he retired, he was the all-time leader in interceptions by a strong safety.

DL Joe Klecko

New York Jets, 1977-1987
Indianapolis Colts, 1988

Klecko, a key cog in the Jets’ famed New York Sack Exchange in the 1980s, would probably already be in the Hall if the NFL had kept the sack as an official statistic before 1982. Credited unofficially with 20.5 sacks in 1981, Klecko was one of the most versatile linemen of his era — he was named to the Pro Bowl at right defensive end (1981), left defensive tackle (1983-84) and nose tackle (1985).

LB Chuck Howley

Chicago Bears, 1958-1959
Dallas Cowboys, 1961-1973

Known primarily as the only player from a losing team to be named Super Bowl MVP (Super Bowl V), Howley was much more than that to the Cowboys in a long and distinguished career. Selected by the Bears seventh overall in the 1958 draft, Howley suffered what was thought to be a career-ending knee injury in the 1959 preseason. He didn’t play at all in 1960, but Tom Landry traded for him in time for the 1961 campaign, and it was the perfect spot for Howley, who played 176 games for Dallas. He made six Pro Bowls and five first-team All-Pro lists, and amassed 29 interceptions and 20 fumble recoveries through his career. He was a highly intelligent player and an early version of the modern coverage linebacker.

WR Harold Jackson

Los Angeles Rams, 1968
Philadelphia Eagles, 1969-1972
Los Angeles Rams, 1973-1977
New England Patriots, 1978-1981
Minnesota Vikings, 1982
Seattle Seahawks, 1983

Who was the most productive receiver of the 1970s? If I told you that one player led the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in the decade, and the headline wasn’t a dead giveaway, you might go a long time without mentioning Jackson — but with 432 catches for 7,724 yards and 61 touchdowns, Jackson does indeed hold the Triple Crown for the decade. For the Eagles, Jackson led the NFL in receiving yards in 1969 (1,116 yards) and 1972 (1,048 yards), back when the season was 14 games, the passing game was relatively rudimentary and a 1,000-yard season was far more of an accomplishment than it is today. In 1973, his first season back with the Rams, Jackson led the league in touchdowns with 13. If you project his talents into the modern NFL, with its expanded season and far more explosive passing game, Jackson would have a far more compelling case.

DE Richard ‘Tombstone’ Jackson

Oakland Raiders, 1966
Denver Broncos, 1967-1972
Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns, 1972

If you ask people who were watching pro football from 1966 through 1972, they’ll tell you that Jackson was among the best defensive ends the game has seen. At 6-3 and 255 pounds, Jackson had a game not unlike what Deacon Jones put on the field — he could beat you with speed to either side, a pure bull-rush or what was called the “halo spinner” at the time — the head slap. He could crack an opponent’s helmet with that. Jackson’s career was cut short by injuries, and his unofficial sack total of 43 doesn’t move the needle in an era where guys like Gerry Philbin were putting up 20 sacks in a season in the late 1960s, but Jackson was somebody you had to see to believe.

Just ask Lyle Alzado.

WR Cliff Branch

Oakland Raiders, 1972-1981
Los Angeles Raiders, 1982-1985

The pre-eminent deep receiver of his era, Branch became the ultimate personification of Al Davis’ bombs-away vertical attack philosophy. Through his 14-year career, only Charlie Joiner, Steve Largent, Harold Carmichael and Ozzie Newsome had more regular-season catches than Branch’s 501. Only Joiner, Largent, James Lofton and Carmichael had more yards than his 8,685. Only Carmichael and Largent had more touchdowns than his 67, and no receiver with more than 500 catches had more yards per reception than Branch’s 17.34. Yes, Carmichael should also be in the Hall of Fame — he’s the only other receiver named here who isn’t — but Branch is even more deserving.

QB Ken Anderson

Cincinnati Bengals, 1971-1986

Before Bill Walsh had Joe Montana and Steve Young as the perfect distillations of his offensive philosophies, he had Anderson. Walsh was the Bengals’ offensive coordinator from 1968 through 1975, and under Walsh, Anderson transformed from a third-round pick out of Augustana to a player who led the NFL in completion percentage three times, passing yards two times, yards per attempt twice and passer rating four times. He’s been overlooked for years for a number of reasons — he was unable to win a Super Bowl, and he was seen by some as a tool of Walsh and Paul Brown more than his own quarterback — but he was also one of the first modernly efficient quarterbacks, playing in an era where guys who played 15 to 20 seasons ended their careers with unworkable completion percentages and more interceptions than touchdowns.

CB Ken Riley

Cincinnati Bengals, 1969-1983

Paul Krause, Emlen Tunnell, Rod Woodson and Dick “Night Train” Lane are the four career leaders in regular-season interceptions, and all four men are in the Hall of Fame. Riley, tied for fifth all-time with Charles Woodson at 65 picks, is not. Woodson will certainly get in. Ty Law, who’s in the Class of 2019, had 53 career interceptions. Deion Sanders, also in the Hall of Fame and considered by some to be the greatest cover cornerback ever, also had 53. Riley was targeted more often in his career than Sanders was, but it strains credibility that Riley isn’t discussed more often as one of the NFL’s best all-time cornerbacks and a Hall of Fame candidate. Add in his three postseason picks and Riley’s omission becomes even more curious.

LB Randy Gradishar

Denver Broncos, 1974-1983

It was Gradishar’s misfortune to play in an era when Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert and Jack Ham were the primary names among NFL linebackers, and it further obscured Gradishar’s greatness that he played in one of the NFL’s first base 3-4 defenses. Playing in Denver, which was a secondary media market until John Elway showed up, didn’t help either. But when Gradishar retired after the 1983 season, he unofficially had the most career tackles in NFL history with 2,046, plus 26 interceptions (including the postseason) and 20 sacks according to Broncos team records — an impressive number for an inside linebacker in an era when defensive players tended to stay in their lanes. Gradishar has been a Hall of Fame semifinalist and finalist on several occasions, and most analysts consider his continued omission to be among the most egregious.

DE Jim Marshall

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Cleveland Browns, 1960
Minnesota Vikings, 1961-1979

Few legacy players are more negatively affected by the fact that the NFL didn’t keep the quarterback sack as an official statistic until 1982 than Marshall, who’s known more for running a fumble recovery the wrong way against the 49ers in 1964 than he is for an amazing career in which he played 19 seasons for the Vikings and never missed a game. Marshall’s unofficial sack total of 127 would put him 17^th all time, ahead of Hall of Famers Derrick Thomas and Charles Haley. Marshall was also an outstanding run defender and one of the prominent members of Minnesota’s dominant Purple People Eaters front four, along with Alan Page and Carl Eller, both of whom have been in the Hall for years. Marshall should have been inducted at a similar clip.

Contributors

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue

NFL commissioner, 1989-2006

Tagliabue took the baton from Pete Rozelle, and much of the NFL as we know it today was established during his tenure. Under his guidance, the league expanded from 28 teams to 32, negotiated ever more lucrative broadcast deals, established a presence in Europe for a time and ensured that the Saints would return to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Tagliabue’s complicated relationship with the truth on the subject of head trauma, and the effects it has had on players, is the one reason his induction should be given closer scrutiny than the automatic slam dunk it might otherwise be.

Player/scout/coach/executive Francis ‘Bucko’ Kilroy

Player: Philadelphia Eagles, 1943-1955 (includes wartime Steagles team)

Coach/scout/executive: Philadelphia Eagles, 1960-1961
Washington Redskins, 1962–1964
Dallas Cowboys, 1965–1970
New England Patriots, 1971–2007

A three-time Pro Bowler with the Eagles as an offensive and defensive interior lineman, Kilroy was even more influential after his playing days as a scout and executive. He was an assistant coach for the Eagles and a scout for the Cowboys and Redskins. He later enjoyed a long career with the Patriots that ranged from director of player personnel to general manager to vice president to scout/consultant. One of the founders of the scouting combine, Kilroy should be named to the Hall of Fame for his off-field contributions alone.

HC/adviser Clark Shaughnessy

Head Coach: Los Angeles Rams, 1948-1949
Adviser: Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins

You may not know his name, but Shaughnessy is as compelling an innovator as there’s been in NFL history, and his reach is as historic as we’ve seen. George Halas hired Shaughnessy as an adviser in the mid-1930s, and it was Shaughnessy’s advancements of the T-Formation that allowed the Bears to dominant the league in the late ’30s and early ’40s. Signed by the Los Angeles Rams to play a similar role for head coach Bob Snyder, Shaughnessy so impressed owner Dan Reeves that he made Shaughnessy the head coach instead. Shaughnessy moved halfback Elroy Hirsch to receiver and created the three-receiver set. And with that, the Point-a-Minute Rams — a dynamic offense decades ahead of its time — were born. He returned to the Bears after two seasons with the Rams and set out to foil the shotgun formation, put in place by 49ers head coach Red Hickey, in the early 1960s. Shaughnessy did just that by bringing back the old middle guard position. As a result, the shotgun was mostly shot down in the NFL for the next 30 years.

A tireless innovator, Shaughnessy deserves a bust in Canton more than anybody else who doesn’t have one already.

Coaches

HC Don Coryell

St. Louis Cardinals, 1973-1977
San Diego Chargers, 1978-1986

As much as any other offensive mind, Coryell saw his concepts rule the modern league. Coryell created offshoots of Sid Gillman’s ideas and made them his own in a three-digit system opposing defenses found nearly impossible to stop. But in St. Louis and San Diego, he was waylaid by owners more interested in the bottom line than in building a Super Bowl contender. Still, after a triumphant career at San Diego State, Coryell turned the moribund Cardinals into a top-10 offense and did even more with the Chargers, who led the NFL in passing every season from 1978 through 1983 — a six-year run unrivaled in NFL history. Coryell also created the modern “move” tight end with Kellen Winslow. He died in 2010 without a well-deserved Hall of Fame nod, and every year that the NFL fails to bring him into that group is an embarrassment.

HC Dick Vermeil

Philadelphia Eagles, 1976-1982
St. Louis Rams, 1997-1999
Kansas City Chiefs, 2001-2005

The list of head coaches who have turned three teams around is pretty small, but Vermeil is part of the group. He took over a moribund Eagles franchise in 1976 and had himself a Super Bowl entrant four years later. He left Philly with a bad case of burnout in 1982 and stayed away from the NFL for 15 years until the Rams came calling. Vermeil pulled off another miraculous turnaround job, taking the Rams from nobodies to Super Bowl champions in three seasons. After leaving St. Louis (a decision he later came to regret), Vermeil took the Chiefs’ head coach position in 2001 and guided Kansas City to 44 wins and a division title in five seasons.

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