Lewis, Moss and Urlacher, the former Chicago Bears standout linebacker, were in their first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, while Owens had been rejected twice.
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One of the most dynamic players in National Football League history is now a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
When the newest set of Hall of Famers was announced on Saturday night, Robert Brazile of Vigor High School in Prichard and Terrell Owens of Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City were among the eight chosen to join the greats of the game already in the football shrine. He was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and received All-Pro honors four times. Heck, he literally became a verb, as an ESPN segment dubbed “You got Mossed” airs weekly throughout the regular season showing wide receivers rising up and making acrobatic catches over would-be defenders.
He finished his career with 982 catches (15th all time), 15,292 yards (fourth all time) and 156 touchdowns. Terrell Owens is in after controversially missing out a year ago, which was nonsense, but it’s great that he’s finally making it to Canton. Owens was passed over the previous two years, but finally got in this time.
The early feeling is that Bruce will miss out on Canton once again, unless both Moss and Owens are somehow kept out. Here’s the entire list of finalists for this season. In an era when Jonathan Ogden, Walter Jones and Orlando Pace were on their way to Canton, it was Boselli who was a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro who played in two AFC Championship Games for the team that took him No. 2 out of USC when they were beginning play as an expansion team. After he was left out previous year, his brazen social media campaign highlighted a perceived flaw in the process.
This was Owens’ third time being a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Lewis won two defensive player of the year awards. He spent 13 of those seasons with the Eagles before finishing his career with the Broncos.
Kramer, who played for the Vandals from 1955-58, was elected as a Seniors Committee candidate.
Although Moss did not win a Super Bowl, his career at the wide receiver position was unbelievable and he can now add First-Ballot Hall of Famer to his resume.
“Through my playing career, the Hall of Fame was not in my equation”. His addition to the Hall of Fame was long overdue. Still, the addition of not only being a Hall of Fame player, but a first ballot Hall of Fame NFL player, is a sweet feeling.
Brazile was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975 after the Oilers selected the linebacker with the sixth overall pick of the 1975 NFL Draft. The only safety who went to more Pro Bowls than Lynch is Ken Houston, a Hall of Famer who made 10 all-star games.
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“I think it diminishes the reputation and the credibility the Hall of Fame is really revered for”, Owens says of not being elected for what he calls “character” reasons.
