Pro Football Hall of Fame 2020 class will be fantastic

There’s no disrespect intended to the men going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night. Pat Bowlen, Gil Brandt, Ed Reed, Champ Bailey, Tony Gonzalez, Ty Law, Johnny Robinson and Kevin Mawae are all being inducted in one of the strongest classes Canton has ever seen. It’s a group that deserves almost no controversy, the rarest of feats in these times.

The 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame promises to induct a record 20 members to celebrate the league’s centennial. As a result, one can allow for the mind to wander.

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After years of creating a logjam at certain positions, the floodgates could finally burst wide open. At receiver especially, players with impeccable credentials have been forced to wait and in some cases are still waiting. Think Isaac Bruce, Henry Ellard and Torry Holt, and those are just the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams. Heck, even Cris Carter had to wait his turn despite being one of the most dominant players of his era regardless of position.

There are still going to be the five modern-era candidates earning enshrinement. Although, much of the intrigue centers around the senior candidates. Each year, one of the better moments of Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend is seeing a great player of a bygone era getting their moment, whether it be safety Johnny Robinson of the Kansas City Chiefs this year, or Green Bay Packers guard Jerry Kramer in 2018. It’s a lifetime achievement for men who helped build the game into what it has become.

Looking at all of the possible choices for 2020, it’s impossible not to pull for a few men who most believe have been unfairly snubbed.

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Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson always comes up in these debates. Anderson never won a Super Bowl but was the most accurate passer of his era along with being the winner of the 1981 NFL MVP Award. Then there’s Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall. Marshall didn’t miss a single game in his 18-year career and was a member of the Purple People Eaters. Due to sacks not becoming an official statistic until 1982 — four years after his retirement — Marshall’s impact is a bit tougher to quantify.

All told, the process to figuring out this large class will be falloff intrigue. The weekend will be brimming with excitement and pageantry. It’ll also be fulfilling a legion of lifetime ambitions for men who likely thought their dream was left behind long ago.