Pro Football Hall of Fame: The Biggest Snubs in HOF History

Every year, the Pro Football Hall of Fame does its level best to honor pro football's all-time greats with induction and enshrinement, based on the votes of a dedicated cabal of experts who take the Saturday before Super Bowl Sunday to make their cases and tally the final votes.

It's an impossible task to put everyone in the Hall of Fame who deserves to be there, which is why there are lists of snubs like the one you're currently reading. My guideline here were pretty simple: I wanted to focus on more long-term snubs as opposed to players who are in their first few years of eligibility; these are the guys whose names will be increasingly forgotten as the years go by.

So, while it's great to honor the guys who are in the Hall of Fame (especially the new legends), here are the players who have missed hearing their names called for far too long.

QB Ken Anderson

Cincinnati Bengals, 1971-1986

Joe Montana is known as the most famous and highly-regarded instrument of Bill Walsh's offensive concepts, and that's entirely fair. But it was Ken Anderson who benefited most from Walsh's early brilliance as an offensive coordinator. Selected in the third round of the 1971 draft out of Augustana College in Illinois, Anderson had all the tools to run perfectly what Walsh was building in the Midwest that would eventually become known as the West Coast Offense.

Anderson led the NFL in completions twice (1974 and 1982), passing yards twice (1974 and 1975), and completion percentage three times (1974, 1982, 1983). In an era when a 50% completion rate and an equal touchdown/interception ratio was acceptable for quarterbacks, Anderson was often pilloried as part of a "dink-and-dunk" offense, but how did the detractors explain the fact that he also led the league in yards per attempt in 1974 and 1975?

Anderson was great with Walsh as his main mentor through the 1975 season, and he was great without Walsh. He retired after the 1986 season with four Pro Bowl nods, one First-Team All-Pro Nomination, and the nearly unanimous NFL MVP award in 1981.

RB Roger Craig

San Francisco 49ers, 1983-1990/Los Angeles Raiders, 1991/Minnesota Vikings, 1992-1993

Christian McCaffrey is the NFL's current master of yards from scrimmage and the versatility that statistic conveys, but he wasn't the first running back in San Francisco 49ers history to do it. When San Francisco selected Roger Craig in the second round of the 1983 draft out of Nebraska, it didn't take long for the aforementioned Bill Walsh to realize that he had a new kind of weapon in his offense.

Craig is most famous for becoming the first player in pro football history to gain over 1,000 yards in a season both as a runner and as a receiver, but his best season from a running back perspective might have been 1988. He ran 310 times for 1,502 yards and nine touchdowns in the regular season, and gained 172 total yards on 25 touches in the 49ers' 20-16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII.

Craig retired after the 1993 season, and during his career, only Eric Dickerson (15,396) had more total yards from scrimmage than Craig's 13,100. A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-1980s Team, Craig made four Pro Bowls, was named to one First-Team All-Pro team, and was named the AP Offensive Player of the Year in 1988.

WR Torry Holt

St. Louis Rams, 1999-2008/Jacksonville Jaguars, 2009

The Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf" offenses designed by Mike Martz were among the greatest and most explosive in pro football history, and Torry Holt came on board at exactly the right time. Selected with the sixth overall pick in the 1999 draft out of North Carolina State, Holt caught 52 passes on 97 targets for 788 yards and six touchdowns in the season where the Rams won their first Super Bowl. Holt was just getting started, as he led the NFL in receiving yards (1,635) in 2000, and led the league in receptions (117) and receiving yards (1,696) in 2003.

From 1999 through 2007 -- his peak years -- Holt had the NFL's most targets (1,338), the second most receptions behind only Marvin Harrison (805), and the fourth-most receiving touchdowns (71), behind Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, and Harrison. Holt made seven Pro Bowl rosters and had one first-team All-Pro nod.

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

The 1970s was a great decade for receivers -- especially when the NFL passed new receiver-friendly rules before the 1978 season -- and when it came to productivity in that particular decade, there was Harold Jackson, and there was the field. From 1970 through 1979, the 12th round pick of the Los Angeles Rams out of Jackson State led the NFL in receptions (432) receiving yards (7,724), and receiving touchdowns (61). Jackson was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969, and led the NFL in receiving yards (1,116) right off the bat.

The Rams got Jackson back in 1973 in a trade for quarterback Roman Gabriel, and Jackson went off that season with a league-high 62 catches and 1,048 yards. Then, in 1974, he led the NFL in receiving touchdowns with 13. Jackson is the most overlooked receiver of his era, and the five-time Pro Bowler and one-time First-Team All-Pro should be at least considered for Canton.

WR Sterling Sharpe

Green Bay Packers, 1988-1994

Gale Sayers and Terrell Davis were inducted into the Hall of Fame after injury-marred careers that had such amazing Peak Value, the length of those careers were superseded by what the players actually did on the field.

Sterling Sharpe should be on that track.

The Green Bay Packers selected Sharpe seventh overall in the 1988 draft out of South Carolina, and there was barely a moment in his NFL career that Sharpe wasn't completely dominant. He led the league in receptions in 1989, 1992, and 1993, receiving yards in 1962, and receiving touchdowns in 1992 and 1994.

Sadly, 1994 was Sharpe's last NFL season due to a neck injury. During his time in the league, he ranked first in targets (510), second to only Jerry Rice in receptions (595), and second in receiving touchdowns (65), behind only Rice again.

At his own Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2011, Sharpe's brother Shannon famously made his sibling's case for Canton.

OT Lomas Brown

Detroit Lions, 1985-1995/Arizona Cardinals, 1996-1998/Cleveland Browns, 1999/New York Giants, 2000-2001/Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2002

Barry Sanders might be the greatest running back in pro football history, but no matter how amazing you are at that position, you won't get as far without great blocking. And in Sanders' case, he had left tackle Lomas Brown leading the way for a lot of his best plays.

Selected with the sixth overall pick in the 1985 draft out of Florida, Brown was already a great player when the Lions selected Sanders in the 1989 draft; it's just that it all went uphill from there. Brown made the first of his seven Pro Bowls in 1990, and he added a First-Team All-Pro nod in 1995.

Why isn't Brown in the Hall of Fame already? Well, it could have something to do with the fact that he once admitted to not blocking Green Bay Packers pass-rusher Sean Jones so that Jones could sack Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell. Mitchell suffered a broken finger on the play, and was replaced by veteran Dave Krieg.

“We were playing Green Bay in Milwaukee,” Brown told ESPN Radio in 2012 . “We were getting beat, 24-3 at that time and [Mitchell] just stunk up the place. He’s throwing interceptions, just everything. So I looked at Kevin Glover, our All-Pro center and I said, ‘Glove, that is it.’ I said, ‘I’m getting him out the game.’ So I got the gator arms on the guy at the last minute, he got around me, he hit Scott Mitchell, he did something to his finger, and he came out the game. Dave Krieg came in the game.”

That happened on November 6, 1994 , and Krieg threw three touchdowns in relief. Certainly an odd thing for any offensive lineman to admit, but it shouldn't completely eclipse Brown's overall greatness.

DE Coy Bacon

Los Angeles Rams, 1968-1972/San Diego Chargers, 1973-1975/Cincinnati Bengals, 1976-1977/Washington Redskins, 1978-1981

Sacks have been an official NFL statistic since 1982, but thanks to pro football historian John Turney and others, we now have credible sack statistics going back to 1960. And with that open door, we can see the true greatness of previous pass-rushers in ways we couldn't before.

It also makes Lander McCoy Bacon a seeming lead-pipe lock for the Hall of Fame. An undrafted free agent out of Jackson State, Bacon tried out for the AFL's Houston Oilers in 1964, but was refused entry to the roster when it was discovered that he hadn't graduated. After a stint playing semi-pro ball, Bacon landed on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad in 1967, and was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1968. The next season, he became a full-time part of the Fearsome Foursome defensive line along with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Lamar Lundy.

Not that Bacon needed all that help around him to succeed -- he had 41.5 sacks with the Rams over five seasons, 23.5 sacks with the San Diego Chargers from 1973 through 1975, 27 sacks in two seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1976-1977, and 38.5 sacks with the Washington Redskins from 1978 through 1981.

With those new sack numbers, Bacon is now known for two things: A 21.5-sack season with the Bengals in 1976 that stands as one of the best pass-rushing seasons ever, and his status as one of the best older pass-rushers in pro football history. He had three straight seasons of 10 or more sacks with Washington from 1978 through 1980 at 36, 37, and 38 years old.

DE Harvey Martin

Dallas Cowboys, 1973-1983

Harvey Banks Martin of Texas A&M Commerce is another 1970s superstar who should receive far more praise with those new sack numbers. A third-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1973, Martin proved the worth of Dallas' scouting system that did a great job of mining smaller-school talent, and it paid off in this case. Martin had nine sacks in his rookie season, upping that to 9.5 in 1975 and 14.5 in 1976 -- his first of four Pro Bowl seasons.

But 1977 was the season in which Martin went absolutely thermonuclear on the rest of the league. He had 20.0 regular-season sacks, was named the NFL's Defensive Player of the year, and had three more sacks in the postseason -- including two in Super Bowl XII in Dallas' 27-10 win over the Denver Broncos. Martin was named Co-Super Bowl MVP along with defensive linemate Randy White, who's already in the Hall of Fame.

Through his career, Martin had 114 sacks, and he's a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-1970s team.

CB Bobby Boyd

Baltimore Colts, 1960-1968

Boyd is one of three defensive players on the Hall of Fame's All-1960s team who isn't actually in the Hall of Fame, and we're going to right two of those wrongs on this list. A cornerback, quarterback, and running back for Bud Wilkinson at Oklahoma, Boyd chose between the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers and the NFL's Baltimore Colts, who selected him in the 12th round of the 1960 draft. Boyd chose Baltimore, and got his professional career going early with seven interceptions for 132 yards in his rookie campaign. Two seasons later, Boyd had seven interceptions for 163 yards, just to rove that he was no one-year wonder.

Boyd upped the ante in 1964 and 1965 with nine interceptions in each of those seasons, which coincided with his first two of three career nominations to the First-Team All-Pro team. He finished his career in 1968 with 57 interceptions for 994 return yards and four touchdowns. He currently ranks 13th in interceptions all-time (tied with Mel Blount, Everson Walls, Eugene Robinson, and Johnny Robinson), and 10th all-time in interception return yards.

CB Lemar Parrish

Cincinnati Bengals, 1971-1977/Washington Redskins, 1978-1981/Buffalo Bills, 1982

With eight Pro Bowl nods and one First-Team All-Pro nomination to his credit, Lemar Parrish's lack of Hall of Fame credit is similarly mystifying. The Cincinnati Bengals selected him in the seventh round of the 1970 draft out of Lincoln University of Missouri, and Parrish wasted no time becoming a dominant force on defense, and also as a return man. He had five picks as a rookie, and seven in his second season. As a rookie, he also returned a kickoff a punt, and a blocked field goal for touchdowns.

Parrish finished his playing career with the then-Washington Redskins, and his 1980 season was particularly special. Not many 33-year-old cornerbacks can put up seven interceptions in a season, but that's exactly what Parrish did.

Currently, Parrish ranks fifth all-time in non-offensive touchdowns with 13 in his career. His 47 career interceptions currently have him ranked 47th in pro football history, but with Parrish, you have to look at what he contributed as a special teams maven.

Safety Dick Anderson

Miami Dolphins, 1968-1977

One of Don Shula's smartest players on some of the smartest defenses any football team ever fielded, Dick Anderson was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the third round of the 1968 draft out of Colorado. He was the AFL's Defensive Rookie of the year on the strength of a season in which he picked off eight passes for 230 return yards and a touchdown. Anderson also had eight-interception seasons in 1970 and 1973 (when he won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award). Shula later called Anderson's four-interception, two-touchdown game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in December, 1973, perhaps the greatest game the coach had ever seen.

Along with Super Bowl VII MVP Jake Scott, Anderson patrolled the most dangerous safety duo in the NFL for the (in)famous "No-Name Defense." He finished his career with 34 interceptions, 792 return yards, and three touchdowns, despite missing the entire 1975 season with a knee injury.

Safety Eddie Meador

Los Angeles Rams, 1959-1970

The second member of the Hall of Fame's All-1960s team not in the Hall of Fame we're stumping for here. Meador attended Arkansas Tech, starring as a running back, defensive back, and return man, and then appeared in the Optimist Bowl all-star game, where he ran the ball behind a promising offensive lineman by the name of John Madden. The Los Angeles Rams selected him in the seventh round of the 1959 NFL draft, and Meador had three interceptions in his rookie campaign, back when the NFL had a 12-game schedule. Meador got on the league's radar for the first time in 1960, when he picked off four passes and made the Pro Bowl.

From 1964 through 1969, Meador never had a season in which he wasn't a Pro Bowler, a First-Team All-Pro, or both. He finished his career in 1970 with 46 interceptions for 547 return yards, and five touchdowns.

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