Charles Haley Might Once Again Fall Short of the Hall of Fame

I'm tired of having to write this, but it's worth reiterating that former Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers pass-rusher Charles Haley's resume might possess the most prolific combination of individual and team accomplishments we've ever seen. 

Haley, who for the sixth straight year is a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist and will have his Canton fate determined once again Saturday at the site of the Super Bowl, isn't just the only player in NFL history with five Super Bowl rings, but he's also a member of the 100-sack club, a five-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro. 

But don't be surprised if Haley is once against rejected by Hall of Fame voters this weekend.

Hurting his case is a silly double standard which sees quarterbacks get too much credit for winning while players at every other position get virtually none. 

The reality is Haley should already be in the Hall of Fame. Only one other player in NFL history—L.C. Greenwood—has been kept out of Canton despite winning at least four Super Bowls and earning at least a single All-Pro nod. Haley has five and two respectively. 

Player	Rings	All-Pro honors	Hall of Fame?
Charles Haley	5	2	No
Mel Blount	4	2	Yes
Terry Bradshaw	4	1	Yes
Joe Greene	4	5	Yes
L.C. Greenwood	4	2	No
Franco Harris	4	1	Yes
Ted Hendricks	4	4	Yes
Jack Lambert	4	6	Yes
Ronnie Lott	4	6	Yes
Joe Montana	4	3	Yes
John Stallworth	4	1	Yes
Lynn Swann	4	1	Yes

But it does seem as though Haley's Super Bowl impact is being pushed aside in favor of individual totals. There are 11 eligible non-Hall of Famers with more career sacks than Haley and nine with more career forced fumbles, which hurts his case. 

Player	Sacks	2015 status
Kevin Greene	160.0	Finalist
Leslie O'Neal	132.5	Not a nominee
Simeon Rice	122.0	Not a nominee
Clyde Simmons	121.5	Not a nominee
Sean Jones	113.0	Not a nominee
Greg Townsend	109.5	Preliminary nominee
Pat Swilling	107.5	Not a nominee
Trace Armstrong	106.0	Not a nominee
Kevin Carter	104.5	Not a nominee
Neil Smith	104.5	Not a nominee
Jim Jeffcoat	102.5	Not a nominee

And the voters have traditionally held pass-rushers, unlike quarterbacks, to extremely high individual standards. 

Take Kevin Greene, who had more sacks than all but two other players in NFL history but, like Haley, has been a perennial finalist for the better part of a decade.  

Or Richard Dent, who was a five-time All-Pro with two rings and 37 more sacks than Haley. He had to wait eight years to be inducted.

Or Michael Strahan, who was forced to wait a year despite being a Super Bowl winner, owning the all-time single-season sack record and being ranked fifth on the all-time sacks list. 

Greene and Haley are both in their 11th year of eligibility. 

But even if we aren't thinking about those Super Bowls, the majority of NFL players with at least 100 career sacks and 25 forced fumbles are already enshrined. 

Player	Sacks	FF	Titles	Hall of Fame?
Bruce Smith	200	46	0	Yes
Chris Doleman	150.5	44	0	Yes
Derrick Thomas	126.5	41	0	Yes
Richard Dent	137.5	37	2	Yes
Pat Swilling	107.5	36	0	No
Lawrence Taylor	132.5	33	2	Yes
Neil Smith	104.5	30	2	No
John Randle	137.5	29	0	Yes
Charles Haley	100.5	26	5	No
Clyde Simmons	121.5	25	0	No

Sadly, Haley might also be paying the price for his off-the-field antics and oft-abrasive behavior. He famously didn't get along well with the media, who now control his fate as voters. Of course, the press shouldn't hold supposed character flaws against a potential Hall of Famer, but this is a human process.

And if a voter objectively feels as though Haley was a negative presence in NFL locker rooms, it would be within his or her rights to consider that as a factor. 

But if Haley was a negative presence, it'd be scary to see what his teams might have done with him as a positive presence. By all indications, it was the 1992 trade that sent him from San Francisco to Dallas that shifted the power balance in the NFC. It can't be a coincidence that he basically led two separate dynasties on the defensive side of the ball. 

Hall of Famers Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin and Larry Allen get all of the attention, but that 1990s Dallas dynasty never would have existed if not for a shamefully underrated defense. 

The Cowboys were ranked first in total defense in 1992, gave up the second-lowest point total in the league in 1993, ranked first overall again in 1994 and gave up the third-lowest point total in 1995. As a Pro Bowler in two of those years and an All-Pro in 1994, Haley led that charge.

“He was our most impactful player,” former Cowboys defensive coordinator Butch Davis said recently of Haley, per Barry Horn of The Dallas Morning News. “He was the one individual the other team had to account for, had to game plan for.”

Not a single defensive player from those teams has been elected to the Hall of Fame, which is almost hard to believe. Safety Darren Woodson was a semifinalist this year, but nobody stood out like Haley. 

The good news is a backlog is shrinking. At least one prolific pass-rusher has been inducted every year since 2009, removing guys like Rickey Jackson, John Randle, Dent, Chris Doleman, Warren Sapp and Strahan from the queue. 

The problem is that Greene, who along with Haley was one of the 10 finalists last year, had 59.5 more sacks than Haley and is a member of the 1990s All-Decade Team. 

So Haley will likely have to wait at least another year, which is a shame because dominant defensive ends deserve credit for championships too. Maybe not as much as quarterbacks do, but we have to stop tattooing quarterbacks with win-loss records and championship totals while doing the complete opposite with players at other positions. 

Haley has to be a Hall of Famer because he played a key role in turning five teams into champions, which is something no other player in NFL history can say. 

I mean, put it this way: Only one franchise has won more Super Bowls than he has individually, and it's not as though he was ever a supporting actor. The guy starred on those championship teams. 

“I think Charles should be in,” former teammate Michael Irvin said last year, according to David Moore of The Dallas Morning News. “We’re willing to give Peyton Manning credit, so much credit, if he wins this game because we’re going to say he led two different teams to Super Bowl championships. He deserves the credit. But we won’t give Charles Haley any of that credit? He led two different teams to Super Bowls, but we won’t give him any kind of credit?”

They say this game is all about Super Bowl victories. They say individual stats are secondary. Greene won zero Super Bowls as a player, while Haley has a ring for every finger on his right hand. They were both five-time Pro Bowlers with multiple All-Pro nods and plenty of sacks and forced fumbles. 

If there's one factor that should separate them more than anything else, it's team success. But recent history indicates that if it comes down to one or the other on Saturday, Charles Haley will once again be without a gold jacket. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon