Randy Moss, Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile, and Bobby Beathard are the others in this year’s induction class.
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After spending the first 11 years of his career with Tampa Bay (1993-2003), and helping the Bucs win Super Bowl XXXVII, Lynch played his final four seasons (2004-07) in Denver, where he was selected to a Pro Bowl each season and solidified his reputation as one of the most menacing safeties in the NFL. Owens will reportedly be joined by Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher, Brian Dawkins and Ray Lewis this summer in Canton. “But at the same time, I think I will be patiently waiting”. Moss, who was indeed voted in Saturday, would have had every reason to be heated had he not been a first-ballot selection.
“It’s an extreme honor, the fact that the area’s had so many talented players that have actually been introduced to the big Hall of Fame”, Williams said.
“I didn’t really play the game for the Hall of Fame”, he said. Congratulations go out to the fastest, most exciting and most captivating receiver to ever strap on shoulder pads.
He ranks second behind Hall of Famer Cris Carter in all major statistical categories with 587 career catches for 9,316 yards and 92 touchdowns. Six weeks later, he starred in Super Bowl XXXIX, albeit in a 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots.
Moss finished his career with 982 receptions for 15,292 yards and 156 touchdowns.
Urlacher arrived in the National Football League four seasons after Lewis, and the two dominated the middle linebacker position for the next decade-plus, with Urlacher also winning a Defensive Player of the Year award, Defensive Rookie Of The Year, five All-Pro and eight Pro Bowl selections.
“Growing up as a child, I know what that looked like, Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus”, Lewis said.
Former Vikings guard Randall McDaniel, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, said he was thrilled for his former teammate. He didn’t have legal issues or drug problems. He is also eighth in NFL History in rushing attempts.
Lewis played 17 career seasons – all with the Baltimore Ravens.
In those 16 years in the National Football League he was named to the Pro Bowl nine times, more than any other Clemson player. Of 27 modern-era receivers, Moss is only the sixth to make it in his first year of eligibility and only the second this century after Jerry Rice (2010). Dawkins achieved this feat in his second year of eligibility. Hutchinson was a seven-time Pro Bowl selectee who spent time with Seahawks, Vikings and Titans and also made the All-Decade Team.
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Kramer, an offensive lineman, got passed over 10 times as a finalist before becoming the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. But he was eliminated on the cut to five. “Its a great class”.
