Perhaps another major snub
Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall
This is the NFL’s 2022 Hall of Fame class: LeRoy Butler, Cliff Branch, Tony Boselli, Richard Seymour, Bryant Young, Art McNally, Sam Mills, and Dick Vermeil, per a Dallas Cowboys article. Congratulations to them, as surely, they’ve made great NFL contributions, or else they wouldn’t have been picked. Still, though, there’s one person that should probably be a part of this year’s list.
Enter DeMarcus Ware. A legendary outside linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, winning a Super Bowl in Denver, this year is Ware’s first year of eligibility for the HOF, said by Matthew Lenix in an Inside The Star article. In Travis Wakeman’s Fan Sided article, Wakeman expresses that Ware had a case for first-ballot consideration, listing that he’s ninth in all-time sacks as one reason.
Wakeman also adds a fact that makes Ware not being selected even more interesting.
He had more sacks “than Richard Dent, Lawrence Taylor, John Randle, Rickey Jackson, and Derrick Thomas, all of whom are in the NFL Hall of Fame,” said Wakeman.
Here’s Ware’s career stats.
On the NFL’s website, it lists Ware as having earned 612 tackles, 459 solo to only 153 assisted, 138.5 sacks, 25 pass deflections, three interceptions and one touchdown. These stats have led to him receiving important NFL accolades a multitude of times.
On Wikipedia, the website lists that Ware is a four-time First Team and three-time Second Team All-Pro. It also has Ware as a nine-time Pro Bowler, two-time NFL sacks leader and two time Butkus Award winner. This award is named after legendary HOF Chicago Bears Linebacker Dick Butkus, given to the best linebackers. To top off his achievements, Ware’s a member of the NFL’s 2000 All-Decade Team.
On both teams, if you’ve followed Ware’s playing career, you could tell his presence held major value not just on the defenses but the teams entirely.
Ware continues to inspire players that play and have played for each organization. On the Cowboys, Ware’s presence around the team has been influential to two Cowboys star defensive players, DeMarcus Ware and Micah Parsons, said the Cowboys Maven Staff in a Fan Nation article.
Star Outside Linebacker Von Miller was teammates with Ware in Denver. Now a two time SB champion, currently winning it this year as a member of the Log Angeles Rams, Miller looked up to Ware since he was raised in Dallas, per Todd Archer’s ESPN article.
Coaching Ware in Dallas and Denver, Archer shares glowing words that Wade Phillips had to say about Ware.
“Not only his attitude in football, but his attitude in life. What a guy. Always positive and upbeat, smiling. He radiates energy,” Archer quotes Phillips.
Now I’m not in any shape or form qualified to decide what year an eligible candidate goes into the NFL HOF. No doubt that Demarcus Ware has the HOF, the Cowboys, and possibly, Broncos ring honor on lock. However, in my mind and others, Ware should’ve been a hands down first ballot choice.
Decide for yourself if Ware deserved a first ballot selection.