Sports Q: Will the NFL Top 100 show have an impact on Hall of Fame voting?
Debate the answer with Chad Finn and Boston sports fans at The Sports Q.
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Will the NFL Top 100 show have any impact on HOF voting? Specifically does it help ensure Gronk goes in 1st ballot, and help confirm Vinatieri gets in? Flip side, does Steve Tasker not making it (or having no place for him) possibly hurt Matthew Slater? – Steve H.
Very interesting question here. I think the easy answer is that it just confirms some things. Gronk probably would have been first-ballot anyway, but hearing Bill Belichick and Cris Collinsworth (who has more significant ties to NFL history than I realized) break down his greatness only strengthens that case. Some pretty amazing players such as Ozzie Newsome didn’t make the cut at tight end to be among the five on that list. Gronk belongs for sure, but it’s nice to see him get that accolade with Kellen Winslow Sr., Mike Ditka, Tony Gonzalez, and John Mackey. He doesn’t have to stake his claim as an all-time great. This show did it for him.
I can’t imagine anyone would ignore Vinatieri now. He’s the NFL’s all-time leading scorer and has three of the biggest kicks in league history, including two of the three that have won Super Bowls. If Vinatieri isn’t a first-ballot choice, I don’t know who should be. And the anti-kicker bias by some of these voters is stupid. It’s an important position, one that often decides whether a game will be won or lost. Of course kickers belong in Canton.
Slater is a tougher choice for the reason you cited. There should have been some spot for a gunner like Tasker (or Slater) on that team. I wonder if Belichick argued for that. I do think Slater gets in someday, though, and making the Pro Bowl again this year for the eighth time is only going to help his cause. It’s actually a huge factor since there aren’t a lot of obvious ways to measure his impact beyond accolades.
Ultimately, I don’t think the NFL 100 will have much of an effect on Hall of Fame voting. It mostly just confirms what we already know about the greatest and most deserving players. Like Gronk, and Vinatieri too.
But what does everyone else think? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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