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Fast forward to 2013: Is B.Y. in the Hall of Fame?

Many different columnists and blogs have already mentioned this topic, and I had been meaning to get to it as well. With the recent retirement of Bryant Young, we have to wonder if he is going to Hall of Fame in 2013? Eligibility to the Hall is given to players five years after their retirement. And at first thought, you would think that Young would be an easy candidate to go in 2013. With a great career in San Francisco, he is worth of Hall of Fame status.

But wait… there are other players that also retired this year that may push Young out of the first ballot picture.

Brett Favre
Michael Strahan
Warren Sapp
Jonathan Ogden
Junior Seau (if he is retired)
Larry Allen (if he is retired)

What sucks for Young is the fact that only a maximum of five recently retired players are eligible to the Hall (along with two more “old-timers”). So right off the bat, we know that the spaces are limited for Young.

Favre is a no-brainer for the Hall. Jonathan Ogden was the finest at his position, so he is going in. Michael Strahan will get in, and if there is any doubt, the East Coast bias will help him in.

That’s three spots taken up. And I think that even though Warren Sapp finished his career on a bad team, he has earned his right to Canton on the first ballot. Now there is a battle for that final spot. If Allen and Seau both retire, the battle is between them. Young won’t even be looked at. Seau has been a monster at the linebacker position, giving the Chargers an image for so many years. For Allen, he brought great help to the 49ers offense, especially Frank Gore after protecting championship teams in Dallas.

Sadly, that leaves Young out. In this class of 2013, he probably would have to wait another year. Possibly two. His career numbers aren’t bad. (14 years with 620 tackles and 89.5 sacks). But those kind of numbers aren’t that impressive. His sack total doesn’t even put him in the Top 20 all-time.

Harder for us is that as 49ers fans, we want to pull for the guy we’ve seen develop since his rookie year. It’s hard to see our favorite players that we’ve drafted end up in other uniforms toward the later parts of their careers (Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott to name a couple). But for Young, he was able to stay consistent for all those years. Even after that nasty injury he took off Ken Norton’s helmet on that Monday Night game, he still came back and was effective.

So do you think that B.Y. will be in the Hall of Fame in 2013?
If he doesn’t get the first ballot, do you think he will have to wait long before he gets that phone call?

A Hall of Fame career in San Francisco. But is it enough for the Hall in Canton?

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Speaking of Hall of Fame. I just saw this YouTube video of John Taylor. Not great numbers, but maybe the Hall is in his future? Maybe?

Well, I know the next in line for 49ers players is Jerry Rice. 2010 awaits Rice into the Hall.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Brett Favre, Junior Seau, Warren Sapp, Jonathan Ogden, Larry Allen, Bryant Young, Michael Strahan, Hall of Fame, 49ers, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.