There has long been a feeling among the Raiders
and their fans that the franchise's deserving players were kept out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame due to biases of the selection committee members. I typically don't play into those kinds of feelings, because every fanbase thinks that the rest of the NFL world is biased against them. But there were just too many instances that gave you pause to wonder.For instance, how long it took the likes of Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, Ray Guy, and Tom Flores to get into the Hall of Fame. The former two not living to see the honor. And the fact that the likes of Lester Hayes and Jack Tatum are still not in. It all smacks of bias.
Well, the Hall of Fame is announcing they are changing up the process.
The Pro
Football Hall of Fame today is announcing revised bylaws intended to improve its selection process that include reducing the Selection Committee from 50 to 28 and returning to an in-person annual meeting to consider candidates in three categories: Players, Coaches and Contributors.
“The Hall continually reviews its bylaws to ensure the selection process reflects the highest standards of integrity and the magnitude of election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” President & CEO Jim Porter said. “There is no more important task at the Hall of Fame than the election of each new class.”
Porter said previous selection process bylaws left open the possibility of “unintended biases” in three main areas: the disparate skills of the individuals making the initial presentations of nominees for election at the annual meeting; the assignment of a Selector to each of the NFL’s 32 member clubs; and issues related to players reaching their final years of eligibility in the Modern-Era Players category.
Of course it's thought that the reason for all of this was the uproar of Bill Belichick not getting in on the first ballot. As if that's some kind of outrageous tragedy. Meanwhile players long considered to be the first greatest player at their position -- like Cliff Branch, or Ray Guy, or Jack Tatum -- either had to wait until they were elected by the senior committee (25 years removed), after they had died, or not at all.
But, no, it's after the vaunted Bill Belichick -- who never won a thing without Tom Brady at QB but Brady won the Super Bowl without him -- not getting the honor on his first try that major changes are finally made.
Talk about unintended biases.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Could new Hall of Fame selection process help get deserving Raiders enshrined?
