Hall of Horses? Six Former Denver Broncos Possible Hall of Famers

Making it into the Hall of Fame is a great gauge of how well an individual played throughout his career.

It also can be a measuring stick by which an NFL franchise is evaluated.

The Denver Broncos currently have four players in the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio; John Elway, Gary Zimmerman, Floyd Little, Tony Dorsett and Willie Brown.

Of the five, only Little and Elway played his entire career in Denver, with Brown being a Bronco for three seasons and Dorsett only one. So in actuality, the Broncos have only two players in the Hall that played in the Mile High City for more than five seasons.

For an NFL franchise that just celebrated its 50th year of professional football (the first 10 were with the AFL), having a mere three players in the Hall is a joke, a mockery of the history of football at altitude.

After all, the Broncos were the winners of the first ever AFL game (13-10 vs. the Boston Patriots Sept. 9, 1960) and seven years later, Denver was the first ever AFL team to beat an NFL franchise (13-7 vs. the Detroit Lions Aug. 5, 1967). The Broncos also played in the first ever NFL regular season overtime contest (Sept. 22, 1974 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) which ended ironically in a 35-35 tie.

The 70s also brought the “Orange Crush” defense and the Broncos first Super Bowl appearance (17-10 loss to Dallas Cowboys in 1978),the first of six appearances by the team.

Cornerback Louis Wright helped the Broncos to that first Super Bowl, intercepting three passes in the season, being named to the first of his five Pro Bowls that year.

In the 80s, the Broncos best decade to that point, strong defense continued and the rise of the Elway era began as Denver went to three more Super Bowls. The 80s Broncos were directed under the supervision of Dan Reeves, and became one of the powerhouses of the NFL during that decade.

Part of what gave the Broncos a scary defense was linebacker Karl Mecklenberg. Mecklenberg was drafted the same year as Elway, and he was as an integral part of the defensive side of the ball as Elway was on offense. Meck went to six Pro Bowls in his career, four in the 80s, recording 79 sacks and five interceptions along the way.

In 1989, Denver drafted Steve Atwater in the first round and it was arguably one of the best picks they ever made. Atwater went to seven straight Pro Bowls (1990-96) and was selected to the 1990s All-Decade Team. He finished his career with 24 interceptions and 1,180 tackles and his best game was arguably the remarkable performance in Super Bowl XXXII. In that game, Atwater had six tackles, a sack, two defended passes and a forced fumble and some even argued that he should have been the game’s MVP instead of Terrell Davis.

Speaking of TD, it’s somewhat ironic how the brightest stars burn out so quickly.

Davis was a special running back in the NFL, as he increased his total yards and touchdowns in four straight seasons while finally breaking the seemingly untouchable 2,000 yard mark in 1998. TD was only the fourth player at the time to have accomplished the feat and his achievements do not end there. Davis was named the 1996 AP Offensive Player of the Year, the 1997 Super Bowl MVP and the 1998 NFL MVP.

One of TD’s teammates during the Broncos glory years was none other than the gleaming attitude and glaring talent of Shannon Sharpe. Sharpe went to seven straight Pro Bowls (1992-98) catching a vast majority of his 815 receptions from Elway. His 815 receptions were the most for a TE when he retired (currently second to Tony Gonzalez) and his 64 touchdowns were No.1 at that time as well. In fact, there are five tight ends in the Hall of Fame currently that scored far fewer times than Sharpe did. Sharpe arguably evolved the tight end position into one that can be a threat from a pass-catching perspective and his stats speak for themselves.

Debatedly, Louis Wright, Dan Reeves, Karl Mecklenberg, Steve Atwater, Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe should all be in the Hall of Fame, but the chances of them all getting in are somewhat slim. The six Broncos are among 113 semifinalists which will be cut down to 25 in November and 10 in January. Sharpe was a top-10 finalist the last two years and has seemingly the best chance to get in.

While it’s questionable if Wright or Reeves should get in, Mecklenberg and Atwater are definitely deserving and so is Davis, but he won’t make it because he didn’t play long enough.

Either way, it’s good to see the NFL and writers are looking at Denver more seriously for Hall of Fame talent and that there are likely to be more Broncos in the Hall very soon.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist for bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is the CSU Rams and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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