Throwback Thursday: 2014 Hall Of Famers

A little bit late, but this week's throwback photo post is centred around the 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

Last weekend saw Derrick Brooks, Ray Guy, Andre Reed, Walter Jones, Claude Humphrey, Aenas Williams and Michael Strahan enter the hall, so let's take a look at their careers using the best photos from around the internet.

Three Potential First-Ballot Hall of Fame Inductees For 2015

You could argue that the real 'fun' of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is predicting who will make the following year's class. On that note, we can safely put the 2014 class behind us, and begin analysing and forecasting future enshrinees to pro football's promised land.

There is always a backlog of hugely talented players waiting to be enshrined, and each year the lengthy queue gets longer and longer with the eligibility of players who have been retired for the required five year period.

In the 94-year history of the NFL, only 287 players have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Considering that, on average, the NFL sees around 2,000 players take to the field each season, you have to be something special to receive a golden jacket. To be a member of this exclusive group is to be someone held up as an integral figure when recounting the history of football, and the voting committee - despite their flaws - tend to place importance on areas such as Super Bowl wins, individual accolades, iconic moments and records.

The phrase 'First-Ballot Hall of Famer' is thrown around all-too often, but in 2015 there are three legitimate candidates who could enter the hall on their first attempt.

Kurt Warner

Teams: St Louis Rams (1998-2003), New York Giants (2004), Arizona Cardinals (2005-2009)

Why should he be in the Hall of Fame?

Very few NFL players can be described as having a 'unique' career, and Kurt Warner is one of the very few to whom the word applies. Everyone knows the story of how a Green Bay Packers reject turned to working a supermarket job to make ends meet, who enjoyed success in the Arena Football League and NFL Europe before unexpectedly emerging as the linchpin of the most potent offense in the history of football. He took a 4-12 St. Louis Rams team to a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl title in 1999, of which Warner was the MVP. In his first three seasons, Warner was named league MVP twice, led the NFL in completion percentage, passing yards, touchdowns (twice), yards per attempt (three times) and passer rating (twice).
This period of dominance was followed by a dry spell of mediocrity, and a one-year stint in New York supporting Eli Manning, but it is his time with the Arizona Cardinals that makes him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Between 2005 and 2009, Warner was back to his early-career best.
It is rare for a quarterback to have a three-year stretch as good as Warner had in St. Louis. It is even rarer for someone to do it twice. He took another lifeless franchise to the Super Bowl, and it is a testament to Warner that neither franchise has scaled the same heights they did when he was under centre.
He retired a four-time pro bowler and two-time all-pro, the holder of the top three Super Bowl passing records, and the only NFL quarterback to throw for over 400 yards in a Super Bowl. He ticks all of the success-based and statistical boxes that Hall of Fame voters look for, and - seeing as he will be the first eligible quarterback in a decade - it is highly likely we'll see him get his gold jacket a year from now.

Junior Seau

Teams: San Diego Chargers (1990 - 2002), Miami Dolphins (2003 - 2005), New England Patriots (2006 - 2009)

Why should he be in the Hall of Fame?

It's a tragedy that we will never get to see Junior Seau stand atop the podium at Canton, surrounded by his peers and looking out over swathes of grateful fans of all teams. Because, of course, Seau possessed a talent that could be appreciated by more than the San Diego Chargers faithful. Seau spent thirteen of his twenty NFL seasons in San Diego - being named to the Pro Bowl in twelve - and in many ways was the franchise. He later enjoyed stints with the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots, and remained the cerebral, passionate, relentless and hard-hitting linebacker he had been in San Diego.
A Super Bowl ring may have escaped him, but statistically there can be no doubting his place among the greats of the game; in 268 regular season games, Seau amassed 1,396 tackles, 45.5 sacks and 14 interceptions. He led the Chargers in tackles in eight seasons, was named on the All-Pro team eight times, the Pro Football Hall of Fame named him to the All-Decade 1990's team, and was commended multiple times for his generosity away from the football field. Seau tragically took his own life in 2012, placing the spotlight firmly on the debate surrounding concussions in football. But while that dark and murky chapter of NFL history continues, you can be assured that 2015 Hall of Fame ceremony will be a celebration of one of the league's brightest figures.

Orlando Pace

Teams: St. Louis Rams (1997-2008), Chicago Bears (2009)

Why should he be in the Hall of Fame?

If the Hall of Fame recognises Walter Jones and Jonathan Ogden as first-ballot Hall of Famers, then they must too recognise Orlando Pace. All three men enjoyed careers of similar length, and all three simultaneously dominated the competition as three of the greatest offensive linemen of both their generation and of all time.
Between 1968 and 1989, eight of twenty-two first overall draft picks ended up in the Hall of Fame. Between 1990 and 2000, only two top picks could be considered first-ballot Hall of Famers - one is Peyton Manning (1998), and the other is Orlando Pace.
Drafted in 1997, Pace quickly emerged as one of the key members of the Rams teams that dominated the late 1990's and early 2000's - his uncanny speed and frightening strength paved the way for Marshall Faulk's dominant stretch between 1999 and 2002, and allowed Kurt Warner time to make the big throws that enabled the Rams to bring home Super Bowl XXXIV. Not everyone from that team can make it on the first attempt, but if both Faulk and Warner (and potentially Tory Holt and Isaac Bruce) are to be enshrined, then arguably the biggest catalyst for their success should join them also.

Throwback Player Profile #6 - Michael Strahan

Seeing as Pro Football Hall of Fame festivities have begun in Canton, Ohio, I feel it only appropriate to make Michael Strahan - on a personal level, my favourite Giant of all time - the subject of this retrospective article.

It is also appropriate that, on Saturday night, Strahan will be inducted into the pro football hall of fame to stand alongside some of the giants of the game. His career saw him morph from a raw but talented second round draft pick in 1993, where he would be part of a defensive unit that also contained Lawrence Taylor, to a talismanic leader who walked away from the game with the Super Bowl ring that had eluded him for fifteen seasons.

Their careers may have only overlapped by one season, but in 1993 the Giants briefly had arguably their two greatest ever defensive players on the roster simultaneously. But of course, no one saw this at the time. Strahan experienced an unusual entry into the world of football; living on a US army base in Mannheim, Germany, Strahan didn't play football as a kid and wouldn't until he returned to Houston for his senior year of high school.

He may not have had the experience level of many college players, but he boasted raw physical talent, which was enough to see the unpolished defensive end taken by the Giants as the fortieth player selected in the 1993 NFL draft.
Jordan Ranaan of nj.com recently unearthed their scouting report on the Texas Southern defensive end:

"A tall good-looking athlete who needs bulk and additional strength for next level. He has plenty of quickness, agility, balance, speed and change of direction to be a very good pass rusher. No reason why he can't grow into a power rusher, neutralize and control line-of-scrimmage type. An upfield player for Texas Southern. Not a leverage player and runs himself out of too many plays. Michael is aggressive and works hard in pursuit. Potential to be a top player in NFL. A situational pass-rusher first year."

Despite his obvious talent, the organisation had concerns from the get-go; Strahan was considered difficult and moody and John Mara recently stated that "there were times you wondered, ‘Maybe we made a mistake'". After a one-sack rookie season as a 'situational pass-rusher', Strahan slowly but surely blossomed into a dominant power rusher, posting his first double-digit sack sack season in his fifth year.

Naturally, Strahan will be remembered most fondly as one of the NFL's finest pass-rushers. After a slow start, he rattled off a host of double-digit sack seasons (the most recent taking place in 2005, two years before his retirement), including the 2001 season in which he set the single-season sack record with 22.5. Despite the controversy surrounding it, Strahan still managed to accumulate his sack total for the season in the space of thirteen weeks.
His last sack came, poetically, at a pivotal moment of Super Bowl XLII. Tom Brady had driven the Patriots' offense to the Giants' 25 yard line, Strahan sacked Brady for a six-yard loss on third down and Bill Belichick opted to go for it on fourth down. The conversion attempt failed and the Patriots left three vital points on the field.

Former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi recently had this to say regarding Strahan:

"I have never seen an elite pass rusher that played the run as well as he did, because it doesn’t happen. Now believe me, I understand the strategy that a lot of it was to negate his pass rush. But I know that [Vince] Lombardi used to run at Deacon Jones. You just didn’t run at Michael Strahan"

If possible, his run-stopping talents are arguably his most underrated and help set him apart from his contemporaries in the Hall of Fame. Strahan could never be accused of being one-dimensional, and the man himself takes great pride in his status as a feared run-stopping defensive end.

Strahan was on the 2000 Giants team that was humbled so badly by the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, so it was no surprise that he finally called it a career following the team's win in Super Bowl XLII and the acquisition of a much-coveted championship ring. It is no great surprise that the charismatic gap-toothed defensive end made a seamless transition to television, where he can be found hosting Good Morning America on ABC, and during the season as a pundit on Fox's NFL coverage.

He left the Giants as their all-time leading sack artist, as the league's reigning leader in sacks, a seven-time pro bowler, a six-time all pro, and as one of the finest players (defensive or otherwise) to have laced up a pair of cleats for one of the league's most storied franchises. Strahan contributed hugely to New York Giants lore throughout his decade-and-a-half career - from his epic clashes with the Philadelphia Eagles' John Runyan and his 'stomp 'em out' sound bites to the familiar and now-iconic sight of him flexing his muscles following a sack or tackle for loss. Michael Strahan compiled a career that had 'first-ballot hall of famer' written all over it, and although he was denied this opportunity last year, he is more-than worthy of his place among the greatest players the game has ever seen.

Throwback Player Profile #4 - Walter Jones

If you've seen the film 'The Blind Side', or read the book of the same name, you'll be aware of the game-changing nature of Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor's hit on Joe Theismann in week 11 of the 1985 NFL season. Taylor revolutionised the game in that his presence alone forced teams to invest heavily in left tackles - finding a player to anchor the offensive line and protect their quarterback's blind side became teams' top priority.

In the twenty-eight years since that night, teams have tried - and often failed - to find that man. Some, like Willie Roaf, Gary Zimmerman, Jonathan Ogden, Orlando Pace and Joe Thomas, have been exemplary...but arguably none of them have been as good as Walter Jones.

Ex-Seahawks quarterback and current Seahawks radio analyst Warren Moon explains why Jones was so good:

"Walter just had a rare combination of great feet, but powerful strength - especially in his lower body...that allowed him to not only be able to stay in front of some of the best defensive ends in the league...he also had that power just to come off and just annihilate whoever was in front of him in the running game. So he not only was a good pass blocker, he was a great run blocker, he was a great run blocker as well. He was the whole package."

It's tough to find a left tackle statistically superior to Jones, as over the course of his twelve-year career he didn't miss a single game (playing 180 in total), was selected to nine Pro Bowls - a franchise record - and was a six-time All-Pro. He only drew nine penalty flags in 5,703 pass plays - once every 634 plays - and allowed only 23 sacks in his entire career.
The many quarterbacks who started for Seattle during his tenure - John Freisz, Warren Moon, Jon Kitna, Glenn Foley, Brock Huard, Matt Hasselbeck, Trent Dilfer, Seneca Wallace, Charlie Frye and Charlie Whitehurst - only experienced pressure from their blind side (or in Brock Huard's case, his 'not-so-blind side') only once in every 248 pass plays. It's also no coincidence that Shaun Alexander was named the NFL MVP behind an offensive line with Jones as a permanent feature.

Those are remarkable statistics for a man who enjoyed an extraordinarily dominant career. As a result he was named by The Sporting News as the best player in the game at any position in 2005, was named on the NFL All-2000's team, and this week he figures to be honoured as a first-ballot inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Walter Jones was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and once-in-a-lifetime talents deserve to be first-ballot Hall of Famers.