I believe Darren Woodson Needs a Gold Jacket

The Cowboys Dynasty of the 1990's definitely needs one more in Canton.

I have come to the Super Bowl for a week of radio every year since 2001. You will find media, fans, and former players from every team are well represented.

Let me tell you, when it comes to the Hall of Fame I can offer you this universal truth:

Everybody thinks their guy and their team has been shortchanged by Canton.

Every last team. They all have a story about their guy – their favorite guy – that should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and for some reason they won’t give him justice.

Of course, on the other side of the aisle is every other fanbase. They want the Hall of Fame to have a high bar that will keep it very special to ever receive the call that a player is in.

Well, as the headline suggests, we have gathered here today to consider the case of one particular player who is near and dear to the hearts of any Dallas Cowboys enthusiast, Darren Woodson.

Woodson is the last name alphabetically to be considered on the list of this year’s 15 finalists who will be debated by the voters at the end of the week:

There are several players above that I feel are HoF caliber players, no doubt. Antonio Gates, Julius Peppers, Jared Allen, Willie Anderson, Devin Hester, and Reggie Wayne all seem like no-brainers to me. Gates and Peppers are first-year guys and since we have many in the queue, we might have to wait on them.

Several others seem worthy, too. Patrick Willis was a monster and Rodney Harrison has quite a body of work. At the risk of going down the list, let’s stick with our guy today. Woodson has been on the list to consider for 16 seasons and it appears the uptick in safeties being inducted recently has both helped and hurt him.

There was a time – not so long ago – where the modern-era safety was horribly underrepresented.

That has been addressed recently:

In 2017, Kenny Easley went in. 2018 brought Brian Dawkins. 2019 was Ed Reed’s turn.

2020 had four safeties: Donnie Shell, Cliff Harris, Steve Atwater, and Troy Polamalu.

In 2021, John Lynch was inducted and in 2022, LeRoy Butler got the call, too.

So, in the span of six years, nine safeties got in.

I think that helps Woody because many of his contemporaries have been given the green light, but it might hurt him because voters might think his era is properly represented now and they are drawing the line.