Ex-players ready to defend.
In the wake of Lavonte David hanging up his cleats, Joe has noticed something not only that he did not ever expect to see, but it’s pretty cool.
Joe has noticed that there is a rising groundswell of ex-NFL players who are already beating the drum for David to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Now David is not eligible for induction for a full five years. Even when he is eligible, as Hall of Fame selector and JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman often cautions fans, selectors, rightly or wrongly, tend to lean on All-Pro awards in selecting Hall of Fame players.
There, for a couple of reasons, David falls very short.
Where David does not fall short is production, which should be how one is determined to be Hall of Fame worthy. What did the player do on the field?
There are tons of stats where David ranks right there with some of the game’s greatest. If anything, the evidence is that David has been shafted for years by the chroniclers of the game, not so much the other way around.
In the past couple of days, Joe has seen prominent ex-players, on various platforms (social media, network television, podcasts, etc.) put out stats on David and wonder aloud how in the world the Hall of Fame selectors could not put David in Canton?
Platforms that are much larger, much more influential with much more reach than the platforms most of the Hall of Fame selectors currently toil for.
And of course, the people who traffic in advanced stats have always been in David’s corner.
Yesterday, watching the “Pat McAfee Show,” McAfee, a former Pro Bowl punter, could not understand how anyone wouldn’t recognize David as one of the game’s greats. He openly said if David struggles to get into Canton, then there is something very wrong with the selection process.
McAfee has one of the most popular shows on any platform. He is tight with lots of players, both active and retired. There’s a reason why so many go on his show and are comfortable chopping it up with him.
It almost seemed to Joe that all of these ex-players who have these massive platforms would rise as one to defend David if he struggles to get into Canton. Almost like they are taking a potential David snub personally. Like people dismissing David is an attack on their game.
It also shows how much respect David has throughout NFL circles.
Again, David is five years away from a vote being cast for him (or not for him). But this is starting to remind Joe of when Art Monk struggled for years to get into Canton.
It got to the point that Redskins fans (Monk never played for the Commandos) took matters into their own hands so much that they shamed the Hall of Fame selectors into capitulating and voting for Monk, if for no other reason than to stop being harassed and harangued.
The late Paul Zimmermann of Sports Illustrated, a respected yet crusty and ill-mannered selector, confessed he got hounded so much about Monk that he succumbed to the pressure just so his life could return to normalcy.
Joe senses a similar outcome for David. If he is not elected for a few years, ex-players with major platforms will turn the issue into a crusade and so many football fans will pile on the bandwagon.
Yeah, Joe understands how some selectors may never vote for David because he doesn’t have (fill in a number) All-Pro awards. That doesn’t mean it’s right.