For Once, Pro Football Hall of Fame Voters Got It Right

Hall of Fame voting is one of the more thankless jobs in sports. Sure, it's an honor to be selected as one of the caretakers of a game's celebration of greatness (or so I've heard), but the only time fans want to know who the voters are is when they're angry about a snub of one of their favorite players.

No doubt there are angry fans across the NFL after the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class was announced ahead of Saturday's NFL Honors in Minneapolis. Folks mad that safety John Lynch, offensive tackle Tony Boselli or guard Alan Faneca will be forced to wait another year.

But in viewing this year's class of five modern-era inductees, one thing is clear: The voters nailed it.

Per Daniel Rapoport of Sports Illustrated, the 46 Hall of Fame voters (including Bleacher Report's Dan Pompei) settled on a 2018 class that includes inside linebackers Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears and Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens, safety Brian Dawkins of the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos, and wide receivers Randy Moss and Terrell Owens, who each got around a little bit.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Lewis, Urlacher and Moss were all inducted in their first year of eligibility. It was Dawkins' second bite at the apple, and Owens made it on the third try.

Making a case against any of that quintet is a mission worthy of Tom Cruise.

Get it? Impossible?

That word could also be used to describe the task of covering Moss. From the moment he stepped on the field for the Minnesota Vikings in 1998, there were times he was uncoverable. Opponents had to change their defensive packages when they played against him. There was even a name for it: the Randy Rules.

Over 14 NFL seasons, Moss caught 156 touchdown passes—more than any player not named Jerry Rice. As Moss told Courtney Cronin of ESPN, "I put my mark, I put my stamp, I put my name, I put my family's name on the game of football, the National Football League; you can't get any higher."

The stamp Terrell Owens put on the NFL is part of the reason he waited this long for induction. His credentials aren't in question. Over 15 seasons, Owens earned six Pro Bowl nods. He ranks third in career receiving touchdowns (153), eighth in receptions (1,078) and second in receiving yards (15,934).

DONNA MCWILLIAM/Associated Press

But Owens was also as known for his outbursts off the field as his exploits on it—so much so that many attributed his Hall of Fame wait to them. That led to a rekindling of the age-old debate regarding the weight of a player's off-field actions when considering his HOF credentials. There wasn't a more talked-about finalist this year than T.O.

Or last year, for that matter. Over the past decade, there hasn't been a more glaring omission than Owens. Once could be chalked up to a "message" from voters about Owens' off-field behavior. Twice looked the part of a grudge. And given that Moss was no choir boy himself, it would have been hard to justify selecting one and not the other.

That conversation's over now.

Lewis and Urlacher, the first pair of middle linebackers to be inducted in the same year, were two of the most intimidating defenders of their generation. In a statement released by the Ravens (via Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun), general manager Ozzie Newsome said Lewis—a 13-time Pro Bowler and two-time Defensive Player of the Year—stands out even among this class of all-time greats.

"For 17 years, we could point to No. 52 and tell the other players: 'Follow his lead. Practice like Ray practices. Prepare like Ray prepares. Be a great teammate like him.' It was our privilege to have him as a Raven. We are all better for having him here. His play on game days speaks for itself. Even in that small group who have the honor of being a Hall of Famer, Ray stands out. When you talk about the great players of all time, no matter position, he is among the greatest of the great."

There aren't many linebackers who can be mentioned in the same breath as Lewis, but Urlacher's one of them. On the same field the great Dick Butkus prowled in Chicago, Urlacher carved out quite the legacy. He was an eight-time Pro Bowler with 1,354 career tackles, 41.5 sacks and 22 interceptions. Urlacher was the 2000 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and the 2005 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

All Dawkins did over 16 seasons of prowling the defensive backfield in Philly and Denver was pile up 37 career interceptions, force 36 fumbles and add 21 sacks. Dawkins was a nine-time Pro-Bowler and member of the All-2000s team—a versatile safety before versatile safeties were the NFL norm.

Michael Perez/Associated Press

This group's credentials are about as unassailable as you'll see in a Hall of Fame class. On a list of the top 10 players to ever take the field at their respective positions, all five of those names would to show up.

They were among the best to ever play at those spots—the definition of a Hall of Famer.

This isn't to say Lynch (who played the same position as Dawkins and has a similar resume) isn't worthy of induction. Or Boselli and Faneca, who were a pair of the best offensive linemen of their era.

As Pompei wrote for The Athletic ahead of this year's vote, the crop of 2018 finalists was deep—too deep to prevent someone from getting the cold shoulder.

"The class is strong," Pompei wrote. "It's so strong that I suspect eventually about 85 percent of these men will be Hall of Famers. It's so strong that no matter who we put in, we're going to be roasted for who we leave out. It's the nature of the process."

But the Pro Football Hall of Fame is also a numbers game. Only five modern-era players can gain acceptance in a given year. And among the five inductees, there isn't a weak spot—no one who can be pointed to as underserving.

Not even close.

Maybe those first-year slam dunks made the voters' job easier. Maybe they just did a really good job. Maybe both.

But whatever the reason, any sour grapes are just that—complaints borne as much by allegiance to team to as any empirical comparison.

This year, they got it right.