A 6-year HOF plan, just wow

[bachslunch]

Not referring to you guys at all......BUT, I think the voters are a bit enamored with Sam Mills, because of his small stature, where he came from, how he was successful going against the odds, etc. It is kind of like the Kurt Warner scenario in many ways.

If Mills would have been a player from a bigger school, been drafted higher, with greater expectations.....I do not think he is a serious candidate.

Also, his premature death, as sadly as that sounds, helps him get votes as well.

Yup, there's a bit of narrative going on there. But at least when looking at postseason honors, one can make an argument that he's second on the depth chart behind only Mecklenburg. I was a little surprised to see it, but there it was. No idea how any of them look via film study, though.

Different position per se: But how is Greg Lloyd NEVER in any of the voters' minds?

I figure Lloyd to be among the three most competitive OLBs from the 80s/90s currently not in the HoF at 3/5/none along with Cornelius Bennett (3/5/90s) and Pat Swilling (2/5/none). But given that the HoF is now about knee-deep in OLBs from this period, I'm not sure one can easily justify any more.

[JWL]

Not referring to you guys at all......BUT, I think the voters are a bit enamored with Sam Mills, because of his small stature, where he came from, how he was successful going against the odds, etc. It is kind of like the Kurt Warner scenario in many ways.

If Mills would have been a player from a bigger school, been drafted higher, with greater expectations.....I do not think he is a serious candidate.

Also, his premature death, as sadly as that sounds, helps him get votes as well.

Different position per se: But how is Greg Lloyd NEVER in any of the voters' minds?

I don't think Mills is getting more of a look due to his school or size. He was legitimately a top flight linebacker. He was excellent with the Stars and Saints but this is the NFL Hall of Fame (who are they kidding with that "Pro Football Hall of Fame" title?) we are talking about so the USFL does not count. For the record, I think the USFL should be accounted for with the candidates (unlike CFL and Arena football which are very different than NFL football). There are only a few guys who would get a good bump for their USFL days and those would be Mills, Jim Mora and Herschel Walker.

[DukeSlater]

I am not saying it is a huge scenario with the voters, but I think Mills' story is a Kurt Warner root for the underdog Rudy deal.

Yes, he was a damn good backer, for sure.

[rhickok1109]

Not referring to you guys at all......BUT, I think the voters are a bit enamored with Sam Mills, because of his small stature, where he came from, how he was successful going against the odds, etc. It is kind of like the Kurt Warner scenario in many ways.

If Mills would have been a player from a bigger school, been drafted higher, with greater expectations.....I do not think he is a serious candidate.

Also, his premature death, as sadly as that sounds, helps him get votes as well.

Different position per se: But how is Greg Lloyd NEVER in any of the voters' minds?

I don't think Mills is getting more of a look due to his school or size. He was legitimately a top flight linebacker. He was excellent with the Stars and Saints but this is the NFL Hall of Fame (who are they kidding with that "Pro Football Hall of Fame" title?) we are talking about so the USFL does not count. For the record, I think the USFL should be accounted for with the candidates (unlike CFL and Arena football which are very different than NFL football). There are only a few guys who would get a good bump for their USFL days and those would be Mills, Jim Mora and Herschel Walker.

You might as well as give players credit for their college careers .. and the competition might have been tougher in college.

[JWL]

Not referring to you guys at all......BUT, I think the voters are a bit enamored with Sam Mills, because of his small stature, where he came from, how he was successful going against the odds, etc. It is kind of like the Kurt Warner scenario in many ways.

If Mills would have been a player from a bigger school, been drafted higher, with greater expectations.....I do not think he is a serious candidate.

Also, his premature death, as sadly as that sounds, helps him get votes as well.

Different position per se: But how is Greg Lloyd NEVER in any of the voters' minds?

I don't think Mills is getting more of a look due to his school or size. He was legitimately a top flight linebacker. He was excellent with the Stars and Saints but this is the NFL Hall of Fame (who are they kidding with that "Pro Football Hall of Fame" title?) we are talking about so the USFL does not count. For the record, I think the USFL should be accounted for with the candidates (unlike CFL and Arena football which are very different than NFL football). There are only a few guys who would get a good bump for their USFL days and those would be Mills, Jim Mora and Herschel Walker.

You might as well as give players credit for their college careers .. and the competition might have been tougher in college.

Yeah, but at one time the AFL was considered garbage and we count that league. The first three years of the AFL was maybe lower quality football than the three USFL years. I don't know how anyone could go about proving it one way or the other.

[DukeSlater]

I don't think the USFL should figure in the voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

[DukeSlater]

Of course, the College Football Hall of Fame brings the pro career into their thought process in many ways when electing players (Fran Tarkenton, Pat Swilling, Frank Gifford, etc.).

And we are not going to get into all the polls of the greatest college players ever to wear certain numbers (Montana, Favre), and All-Century Teams where guys are picked that never even made any All-American teams.

[JWL]

I don't think the USFL should figure in the voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

To clear up what I wrote and meant last night, I am not looking for Kelvin Bryant to be with Terrell Davis and Joe Jacoby for PFHOF consideration next year. I only see three guys who I would take into account their USFL days. Two of them (Mora, Walker) still fall short. Even with accounting for his USFL career, Mills is still on the borderline. I am only looking at those three because all other USFLers are already in the Hall of Fame or are clearly not worthy.

We toss aside CFL, WFL, NFL Europe, XFL, and that league where Marty Schottenheimer won a title (but it doesn't count so he is still a loser in the eyes of the typical football fan) and rightfully so in regards to the NFL Hall of Fame. I have the USFL above those leagues but below the AAFC and the second half of the AFL. Maybe I am wrong, though. The USFL may have been total junk.