Terrell Owens, one of the most deserving candidates and a dominant force/nightmare matchup for his opponents for every team he played for (sans the Bills at the end of his career), was not voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Yet for some reason, Marvin Harrison made it in. And what’s even worse is that Harrison did not even show up to the induction ceremony to accept the amazing honor with the rest of the 2016 class.
There’s a big contingent of fans and analysts that didn’t like Owens’ antics on and off the field, but that shouldn’t have impacted their decision. Let’s look at the stats here, which indicate politics may have been involved in the voting process.
Harrison caught 1,102 passes for 14,580 yards (128 touchdowns), while Owens caught 1,078 for 15,934 yards (153 touchdowns). Owens’ big-play ability was a big reason he was so great, while the speedy Harrison was lucky to catch passes from Peyton Manning for all but two years of his career, which certainly helped boost his stats. Owens was neither quarterback nor scheme-dependant, and was one of the most explosive receivers to ever play the position.
Regardless, here’s what the 2016 Hall of Fame class looks like.
It's official! A huge congrats to our #PFHOF16 Class!!!
📝: https://t.co/TdHrG7ifaj pic.twitter.com/QP5CtiAc9t
— Pro Football HOF (@ProFootballHOF) February 7, 2016
Brett Favre was voted in on his first ballot. For some reason, voters had no problem with him texting pictures of his man region to Jenn Sterger, or Eddie DeBartolo’s gambling issues, yet Owens signing footballs with a sharpie or eating popcorn was a huge deal, apparently.
Looking at the other inductees, Kurt Warner was a strong candidate as well, and will hopefully make it in soon. But Favre, aside from his off-the-field issues, deserved it. Orlando Pace was a no-doubter, as well as Tony Dungy and Ken Stabler. You could make a case either way for Kevin Greene, but he did finish his career strong and continued to set milestones well into his 30s.
With that being said, congrats to the 2016 Hall of Fame class!
