00:00All right, there's going to be some massive changes coming up to the Hall of Fame and to the voters
00:06that were picking NFL football players, and it's going to be massive changes.
00:11It's a complete overhaul of the system in how they're going to start selecting, and I want to read to
00:17you how they're going to start looking at some of these new changes.
00:22So the Hall of Fame, the biggest changes, the selection committee has been reduced from 50 members down to 25,
00:31with three at large.
00:34Modern era players and seniors will no longer be separate categories.
00:39All eligible players will now be considered in one pool after mandatory five-year retirement period.
00:46The final and annual finalist group changes from 15 modern era players, three seniors, one coach, and one contributor, to
00:5713 players, one coach, one contributor.
01:00The previous limit of the three seniors on the final ballot has been eliminated.
01:07Candidates who reach the final seven will no longer automatically carry over as a finalist the following year.
01:16Contributors eligible will now consider a candidate's entire football resume, including playing, coaching, and other contributions.
01:26In essence, this is a complete overhaul to the system of picking Hall of Famers.
01:33Here's one of the drawbacks that you're going to get also.
01:36One of the things now, if you think about it, they are not going to have a selector
01:44representing each and every single team.
01:46So here becomes an issue.
01:48If there's a voter, say, that's in Chicago, and he's got a player that he stands up for,
01:54and he is trying to give his speech and hope he gets inducted,
02:01why would that voter that's based in Chicago, who covers the Chicago Bears,
02:06why would that guy give a crap about somebody, say, in Philadelphia?
02:10Why would he care about a Lane Johnson or a Jason Kelsey?
02:15Why would he ever go down that lane of caring about whether or not those players,
02:22because he doesn't cover that team?
02:24The problem with the NFL Hall of Fame has always been that it's been the Hall of Average so far
02:32over the last couple years.
02:33And they're really not looking at the parameters of what some of these players
02:38and some of their requirements when it comes to being a Hall of Fame football player.
02:42We've led a couple guys into the Hall of Fame over the last couple years
02:46that have been really good ballplayers in their NFL careers, but are not Hall of Famers.
02:51And then, obviously, this whole thing blew up this past season
02:55when Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft did not get elected
02:59on first ballot to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
03:02If Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick are not first ballot Hall of Famers,
03:08how in God's name is anybody that is going to be one day possibly looked at as a Hall of
03:16Famer
03:16be a first ballot?
03:18When you look at Andy Reid, how will Andy Reid be a first ballot Hall of Famer
03:24if Bill Belichick was not a first ballot Hall of Famer?
03:27In what rhyme or reason, what case could you come up with why Bill was not a first ballot?
03:35And then you look at Robert Kraft.
03:37Has there been a better owner since the 90s than Robert Kraft?
03:42He's been to 10 Super Bowls.
03:44They've won six with Brady.
03:46They've been to numerous Super Bowls with not just the Brady era.
03:50They went with Parcells, and they went with Bledsoe.
03:54They also just recently, obviously, went with Drake May and Mike Vrabel.
03:59When you look at the practices of how they put people into the Hall of Fame,
04:04there's no doubt there's biases.
04:07And you're going to create bigger biases, I think, with this new system.
04:12I really have a great respect for the Hall of Fame.
04:15My uncle's in the Hall of Fame, Andy Robustelli, and it matters to me.
04:21These guys have been caretakers of the sport.
04:24These guys have been, without a doubt, looked at and doing their job is one of the toughest things on
04:30the planet,
04:31is to put these men into the Hall of Fame.
04:34Being a Hall of Fame player, there's only been 30,000 men that have ever played pro football in over
04:40100 years.
04:41And there's only 16,000 of us alive to this day.
04:46You've got a better chance of being an astronaut than playing in pro football.
04:51And you've got an even crazier count on trying to get one of those gold jackets.
04:57That's why it's so important to be a caretaker of the sport and to have the right people.
05:03My suggestion would be split it up with players and split it up with media people.
05:09I have no problem, but rotate the media people.
05:12Because what happens when you continually have the same people voting,
05:16people start to get into a position where they're starting to go favoritism on certain players or certain not players.
05:24And you've always got to protect that because, again, players are going to put their buddies in.
05:29So you've got to always look at that.
05:32Deion Sanders, a couple years ago, said, we're now the Hall of OK players.
05:36There should be a different level in a different room for the one percenters that he's talking.
05:43I don't believe that.
05:44I think the Hall of Fame, if you've ever been to it, it's one of the most hallowed places in
05:49all of pro football.
05:51It's truly an encyclopedia of the sport.
05:56It tells you exactly what the sport, where it came from, where they are.
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