Cowboys' Emmitt Smith Critical of Hall of Fame Selection Process, He's Not Alone

Once per year several prominent journalists lock themselves in a room and grind out the difficult process of choosing the next batch of Hall of Famers.

They argue, negotiate and finally compromise.  Each voter represents a prominent media outlet from every city an NFL team calls home. 

There are also several “at large” voters who are journalists that are well respected amongst their peers.

So what’s the problem?  Well first of all, most journalists are used to covering one team.  There is bias whether we like it or not.  As a result the great debate breaks down into deal making. 

“Hey if you vote for my guy this year, I’ll vote for your guy next year.”

The worst thing of all is that players and coaches have little say.  Who would know more about a player’s ability than his fellow teammates, opponents and coaches.

So imagine my delight when I found myself sitting at a table across from the great Emmitt Smith, enshrined just a year ago this past weekend. 

What did he have to say about the issue?  I posed the question, and here is what Smith had to say.

Who has been overlooked?

There was no hesitation in his voice.  Smith answered immediately saying,

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“Charles Haley is one of the first names that come up.  Charles Haley changed the way the Cowboys played football in the 90’s.  And the reason why I say that is because he was such a dominant force coming off the edge, where it took two and three to block him."

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Smith explained, 

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"He created havoc, and when you have one player that’s able to take two or three of the opposing offense to block him, that frees up other players to become who they are, and people from a naked eye standpoint don’t see it that way.”

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What are his stats?

Smith supported his belief by pointing out how statistics don’t tell the whole story.

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“All they see is someone’s stats up here and oh he’s such a great player because of his stats, but hey how did this guy get to be one on one with one of the weaker offensive lineman versus being doubled or triple teamed?”

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Class of 2011 enshrinee Richard Dent agreed.  During his media session, Dent touted the need for a stat depicting a player’s ability to draw a double team. 

Dent also suggested an "error" being given to a wide receiver for a dropped pass, and not penalizing the Quarterback with an incompletion. 

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 “They do it in baseball, why not the NFL” Dent said.

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Smith concluded,

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“Some of the greatest players get double and triple teamed and their stats may not reflect that. Those are some of the reasons why I think players should be interjected into the voting process of who comes and be a part of this elite class or elite group.”

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But do I like them?

The criteria to become a Hall of Famer has never been intricately defined. 

Do the voters weight how they feel about the athlete as a person, or only consider his accomplishments on the field? 

Should both the man and the player be considered?  Smith chimed in,

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“I didn’t know liking him was part of the criteria.  In my day I didn’t care for a lot of players that I played against because either they were that good, or I respected them that much for creating that much havoc and I had to respect them.  At the end of the day, the I like you part, that part should be on the shelf.”

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Charles Haley has five Super Bowl rings, which is an NFL record.  It’s hard to believe why he wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame already other than his off the field behavior.   

Haley was a supreme talent but a difficult teammate.  For more information I suggest you read Boy’s will be Boy’s by Jeff Pearlman.

Remember the AFL

Former Denver Broncos running back and Hall of Famer Floyd Little was enshrined with Emmitt Smith just last year. 

When the AFL and NFL were competing leagues, the NFL marketed itself as the superior establishment with superior athletes. 

Floyd Little, who played in both leagues, disagrees.  Said Little,

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“I thought we had better athletes in the AFL than the NFL.  The bottom line is we had great players, there have been a lot of players that have been overlooked.  I hope we make amends.”

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 Little continued,

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“There’s a couple guys on my team, Rich Jackson, great defensive end, Randy Gradishar,Tom Jackson. Billy Thompson played 14 years, a premiere defensive back, Louis Wright.  Yeah we’ve been overlooked.  There’s a lot of guys that have been overlooked that should be here and need to be here.  But does it happen, I don’t know.”

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Does the process need to be changed?

Emmitt Smith thinks so.  He brought up an unlikely player as proof.

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“Art Monk back in his day waited years to get to this point and so there’s a few things that can be changed.  We are in changing times why not change the way we vote why not change the process.”

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Smith provided his own ideas to solve the problem. 

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“Why not list or change the criteria it takes to become a Hall of Famer?  I mean you have plenty of us that can say OK this is why this person was a Hall of Famer.  Let’s just write out a list, and you can have on that list ‘I don’t like him’ (laughing).  At least you know it’s on the list. And then publish it so the fans get a chance to see it because it’s part of the fans choice too as well.”

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