Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR
San Francisco – To meet NFL Network production deadlines, there was urgency to speed up the voting process in the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection meeting on Saturday.
Executive Director David Baker opened the meeting at 6:29 a.m. – “the earliest start ever” – and encouraged thorough, but non-repetitive, discussions of the 18 candidates.
Eight hours and 51 minutes later – after 18 separate discussions and 10 different ballots – the Class of 2016 was selected.
Quarterback Ken Stabler and guard Dick Stanfel (senior nominees), owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. (contributor) and coach Tony Dungy, quarterback Brett Favre, pass rusher Kevin Greene, receiver Marvin Harrison and offensive tackle Orlando Pace made it through the grueling selection process.
It’s like electing eight popes. But a papal conclave requires only a two-thirds of majority of the vote of the College of Cardinals. The Hall of Fame calls for each candidate to receive 80 percent approval from the 46 selectors for induction. That means 11 no votes can block a candidate.
The seniors and contributor are discussed first. Those discussions lasted longer than some expected:
Stabler’s debate was 18 minutes, 21 seconds.
Stanfel’s, 24:58.
DeBartolo’s was a meeting-long 50:36.
The vote on each is then conducted and collected by the accountants in the room, but not revealed.
When the discussions began on the 15 modern-era candidates – two hours after the start of the meeting – the coffee urns were empty.
For the first time, two inductees of the Hall of Fame who now are members of the media were allowed to sit in as observers as a precursor to future participation. They were Dan Fouts of CBS and James Lofton of Westwood One. Judging by the looks on their faces, the meeting already was an eye-opener for them. Lofton later told me it resembled the meetings on player evaluations he participated in as a coach.
Each modern-era candidate then was discussed in a pre-selected order. After each discussion is introduced by a presenter – usually the selector from the candidate’s NFL market – everyone is free to add to the discussion. These can get argumentative, sometimes combative, but everything was fairly tame this time.
The clockings I had on the modern-era candidates were as follows:
* Guard Alan Faneca: 8 minutes, 45 seconds.
* Tackle Joe Jacoby: 18:30.
* Tackle Orlando Pace: 25:52.
* Receiver Marvin Harrison: 13:09.
* Receiver Terrell Owens: 43:15.
* Coach Don Coryell: 21:07.
* Coach Tony Dungy: 25:59.
* Kicker Morten Andersen: 11:12.
* Quarterback Brett Favre: :19.
When a candidate is such a slam dunk as Favre, it has become tradition for the presenter to simply announce the player’s candidacy and leave it at that, to save time. Legendary Miami columnist Edwin Pope introduced this tradition when presenting quarterback Dan Marino.
* Quarterback Kurt Warner: 26:50.
* Pass rusher Kevin Greene: 27:35.
* Running back Terrell Davis: 24:00.
* Running back Edgerrin James: 9:48.
* Safety Steve Atwater: 10:57.
* Safety John Lynch: 18:05.
Hall of Fame bylaws include a confidentiality clause on the opinions expressed in the selection meeting. That is to encourage an open discussion without fear of retribution. I can make some general observations.
1. Whenever multiple candidates from the same position are discussed, it inordinately pits one against the other. Whether that’s fair or not, it’s the way it is. There’s no rule against electing two from the same position in a given class, but it’s hard to get it done at the expense of a deserving candidate at another position. When players from the same position are discussed, I find that the one who has been a finalist longer usually wins out – everthing else being equal. This was not the case, however, in Pace v. Jacoby, obviously.
2. Owens’ discussion was the most lively. It involved a lot of back and forth discussion weighing the merits of Owens’ obvious deserving production v. notorious instances of team subordination over his career. Seventeen different selectors chipped in on the discussion, and many followed up with multiple comments.
3. Despite a short career due to injury, I was surprised that Davis didn’t make it in his second year as a finalist. I thought the discussion had effectively broken the argument that four super productive years were not enough to get in. It leads me to believe he will have his day – as will others who didn’t make it this year.
4. I thought Warner would overcome protests about the five-year “hole” in the middle of his career. He did not, but there may not be a stronger quarterback candidate for a few years, so his fate is far from sealed.
5. The unsuccessful bids of Atwater or Lynch were a minor setback to a group of selectors banging the drum for safeties – the most under-represented position in the Hall of Fame.
Finally, at 2:19 p.m., the meeting that got underway at 6:29 a.m. moved to the voting stage.
The 15 modern era candidates were cut to 10. Not making that cut were Andersen, Atwater, Faneca, James and Owens.
After the accountants confirmed the counts, the cut to five was made. This vote eliminated Coryell, Davis, Jacoby, Lynch and Warner.
The final five still had to survive the 80 percent majority vote to gain induction to football immortality.
It’s not easy to get in. Nor should it be.