Why isn’t Randy Gradishar in the HOF?
 

Can anyone tell me why Randy Gradishar, who is a HOF player and human being, is not in the HOF? His stats back him up. He has used his career to help so many as well. I hope this is his year!

Gradishar
 

James- preach brother! His omission is glaring. Fun fact- both Walter Payton
and Tony Dorsett both state that the hardest they were ever tackled in NFL,
was by Randy Gradishar (I think Dorsett actually said he thought he was
going to die after the hit:). Hopefully it's his time, WAY overdue. Trent King

Now, Trent, you’re just biased because he’s Ohio State. But maybe it’s the relatively short career? It’s not that hard a hall to make so I can’t think of any good reason really. His résumé seems up to par.

It’s a bit of a head scratcher why he’s not in. He retired at a fairly young age, still at the top of his game, and was a very durable player while he played. I gotta think if he stuck around for one more Pro Bowl appearance or 2nd team All-Pro honor, he’d be in Harry Carson territory, and he’d be in by now.

Took Carson forever to get in himself. To the point he boycotted the HOF when they finally elected him.

Inside Linebacker is an overlooked position in football, unless you’re seen as THE guy at that position, even though they are often the Quarterback of the defense. Similar to the catcher in baseball. A vitally important position but hard to accumulate gaudy traditional stats because of the nature of the position.

According to unofficial records, Gradishar has about as many tackles as Ray Lewis, in a much shorter career, which is pretty incredible if you think about it.

Patrick Willis is another absolutely dominant ILB with a shorter career, who should probably be in the Hall by now.

Throw in Hardy Nickerson, Karl Mecklenburg, Leroy Jordan, Tommy Nobis, London Fletcher, Bill Bergey and a few others to.

Gradishar
 

Hi Peter- I know you're just kidding about the OSU connection (mostly:).
In my case, I haven't cared for NFL for decades and truly don't keep track
of OSU player success, or any other player for that matter, of any recent
vintage. Gradishar's omission is senseless. He killed it his entire career,
didn't languish for years as a shadow of his former self, and did it right.
We shall see if he gets in, it's overdue by decades. Trent King

Well Said and hopefully with time he will get his due

For whatever reason it has largely been politics and voter preferences. Ron Wolf in particular was a name that caused issues. Originally it was his 10 years being on the short end. Wolf tanked him by saying Tom Jackson was better.

As for his tackles, gamebooks are are a much better resource than coach totals (where he had the absurd 2,049). In gamebooks he averaged right around what era HOF'rs Lambert and Harry Carson did ~9 per game.

He finished 4th-6th in last years voting (1-3 were inducted Klecko/Riley/Howley) so it stands to reason he's got a pretty good chance this year.

An even bigger omission is Jim Marshall. Why isn't this man in the Hall of Fame? Playing 289 consecutive games in the NFL as a starting Defensive end between 1961 and 1979?
Highly decorated. Sure, he played on 4 losing Super Bowl teams, which means he was the victor in 4 NFL\NFC Championship games. How good would Carl Eller and Alan Page be without this man?

The NFL has inducted over 120 players the past 10 years into their bloated Hall of Fame. They have turned the induction notification into a media circus, insuring 6 or 7 inductees every year.

Hopefully deserving old timers like Gradishar and Marshall will eventually get in.