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View Full Version : Now it's up to the seniors committee to help enshrine Broncos' Gradishar in the Pro Football Hall of Fame



Denver Native (Carol)
08-12-2010, 09:08 PM
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_15747961?source=rss

Today's question comes from Don Olmstead, a regular contributor. Send your question about the Broncos via e-mail to jlegwold@denverpost.com.

Q: When will former Broncos linebacker Randy Gradishar be eligible for Pro Football Hall of Fame consideration again via the seniors committee?

A: Don, thanks as always for taking the time to participate. A lot of folks have had questions about the Hall of Fame selection process.

There are two levels of consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

For former players, that means from a point beginning five full years after their retirement extending 25 years, they are considered "modern-era" candidates.

They are on the list of eligible players each year and can be made a finalist — the 15 modern-era candidates who are discussed and reviewed for enshrinement at the meeting of the full board or selectors the day before the Super Bowl in the Super Bowl city.

Those modern-era candidates go through layers of voting as the original ballot each year is trimmed from the full ballot to 25 and then from 25 to 15.

Gradishar was a finalist at least twice in that 25-year period when he was a modern-era candidate.

Now that his 25-year window has closed, Gradishar is considered a seniors candidate.

Under the current bylaws of the Hall of Fame, two seniors-committee nominees are put forth as finalists for enshrinement each year. Those two, in addition to the 15 modern-era candidates, make 17 players overall considered for enshrinement in the meeting that takes place during Super Bowl weekend.

The seniors candidates, however, are simply discussed and then voted on "yes" or "no." Both seniors candidates could make it into the Hall of Fame, just one seniors candidate could make it or neither seniors candidate would make it if he didn't receive enough votes.

There is a nine-member seniors committee within the full board of selectors that has the herculean task of sorting through a huge list to put forth two seniors candidates each year.

There is no limit on the number of times a senior candidate can be considered and discussed by the seniors committee at their annual summer meeting. That means Gradishar, and other players on the list, are eligible to be discussed each year.

The dilemma is the huge size of the list, because it covers the entire history of professional football. The only people who aren't eligible to be on it are the people already enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

That's why players such as Floyd Little, Rayfield Wright, Charlie Sanders and Dick LeBeau had to wait 30 or more years for their enshrinement.

As for Gradishar, at this point it's just a matter of the seniors committee selecting him as one of the players to be considered for enshrinement.

That can be a tall order, but he is eligible for that discussion every year.

Northman
08-12-2010, 09:09 PM
He needs to be in.

Denver Native (Carol)
08-12-2010, 09:33 PM
He needs to be in.

Agree - he should already be there, just like Floyd should have already been there before this year :tsk:

HORSEPOWER 56
08-12-2010, 09:40 PM
Sadly, I doubt Gradishar will ever get in. He has two huge things holding him back:

1) His biggest stat is tackles. Teams record and report their own tackle totals so it's the most open to interpretation stat there is. NTM, he didn't win a Championship.

2) He's a Bronco. If he were a Raider, or Steeler, or Cowboy he'd just need to be "good". As a Bronco, he pretty much has to be the best all time at his position for the time he played - and even then it's not guaranteed (see also, why Shannon Sharpe isn't in, yet).

Frankly, I'm surprised that Little finally got in. His big selling point was the lack of help he got and was still productive. Gradishar was arguably the best player on a great defense which means he had a lot of help.

Lonestar
08-12-2010, 11:25 PM
During Randy's time frame the tackles were not considered because at the time all stats were not kept by the elias sports bureau. Soon after they started compiling said stats and now is done by the NFL IIRC.

It was said at one point that DEN was making up numbers because they were so high each year it was thought to be imposible to be that good.

That and the voters always passing over Broncos probably means he will never get in.
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might add at the time he was playing he was the best MLB in the business YET the PIT LB at the time was consistently being voted to the pro bowl, just east coast bias at its best.