Bills Wall of Famer and perennial Hall of Fame finalist Andre Reed was again not selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year. For the fourth straight year he made the first cut down to 10 finalists, but did not make it past the second cutdown to five. ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi, a Hall of Fame Board Selector outlined how long the discussion lasted on Reed’s candidacy as well as all the other finalists.
Grossi called his timekeeping unofficial, but it’s interesting to note nonetheless.
1. Bill Parcells, 55 minutes
2. Art Modell, 32:15. 3
3. Cris Carter, 30:30
4. Jerome Bettis, 29:55
5. Dave Robinson, 28:27
6. Eddie DeBartolo Jr., 27:50
7. Aeneas Williams, 22:45
8. Andre Reed, 18:30
9. Warren Sapp, 17:55
10. Jonathan Ogden, 15:40
11. Kevin Greene, 15:30
12. Curley Culp, 13:21
13. Michael Strahan, 13:13
14. Charles Haley, 10:56
15. Larry Allen, 9:02
16. Will Shields, 4:26
17. Tim Brown, 3:45
Perhaps the most encouraging item that comes from these discussion times is the fact that Tim Brown was discussed for less than four minutes. It serves again as indication that Reed is clearly a more debated candidate than the former Raiders receiver, which is a good thing.
Another encouraging sign for Reed is the statistical note brought up by Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. His research of Hall of Fame voting history revealed that since 1970, 89 percent of candidates who have been multiple finalists, like Reed, eventually have made it to induction. And since 1970, 83 percent of all finalists have made it in.
