A future Pro Football Hall of Famer.
NFL Media Group’s Eric Edholm wrote a column in which he revealed every team’s “next best Hall of Fame candidate.”
For the New York Jets, he wrote Nick Mangold.
“Mangold, who tragically passed away last year after battling kidney disease, made seven Pro Bowls in his 11 NFL seasons. Players with those credentials typically have stronger paths to the Hall, but Mangold played center, one of the trickiest positions to crack in Canton. He has a strong case on paper, but to this point, Mangold hasn’t made the semifinalist tier. It could be a fairly long wait before any prominent Jets enter the hallowed halls,” Edholm wrote.
Jets Beat Reporter Going to Make Push for Mangold: EXCLUSIVE
I spoke with ESPN’s Rich Cimini earlier this offseason on “Boy Green Daily.”
Cimini talked about his new role with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He has joined the 50-person selection committee. During our conversation, he explained how he wants to play a role in helping Mangold.
“Yeah, hopefully, next year we will get Nick Mangold. He made the final 50 this year; hopefully, we can get him into the next stage in the final 25. We are just going to try to push a little harder next year and see if we can get some momentum going there,” Cimini told me.
He told me that they’re going to try and make a push next year for the legendary Nick
Here is how the selection process works.
“Under the new selection parameters, the minimum number for a Hall of Fame class is four individuals,” Saad Yousuf of The Athletic wrote.
“The modern-era candidates, who are only players, are in their own category. The requirements to be nominated are that a player must be at least five years removed from playing in the NFL and have received at least one generally recognized postseason honor, such as an All-Pro selection, Pro Bowl invitation, or annual award, among other qualifications,” Yousuf added.
“There are a number of voting stages to narrow down the modern-era candidates. The first vote reduces the initial list of nominees to 50. That gets narrowed down to 25 semifinalists, followed by a vote to 15 finalists,” Yousuf wrote.
“Before the Super Bowl, the 15 finalists are reduced to 10, and then to seven. Committee members must vote for five of the seven finalists. A minimum of three and a maximum of five will be inducted: the top three vote-getters, and up to two more if they receive 80 percent of the vote (40 of 50 votes),” Yousuf said.
Getting Into the Numbers
There are 387 Pro Football Hall of Famers in Canton, Ohio.
According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame website, 11 of those players were centers. To put that into context, that is 0.02% of the Hall of Fame feature centers. It is an exclusive group:
- Chuck Bednarik (C-LB) 1949-1962
- Dermontti Dawson (C) 1988-2000
- Frank Gatski (C) 1946-1957
- Jim Langer (C) 1970-1981
- Bruce Matthews (G, T, C) 1983-2001
- Kevin Mawae (C) 1994-2009
- Jim Otto (C) 1960-1974
- Jim Ringo (C) 1953-1967
- Dwight Stephenson (C) 1980-1987
- Mick Tingelhoff 1962-1978
- Mike Webster (C) 1974-1990
Mangold was named to three All-Pro teams during his career: First-Team (twice) and Second-Team (once). He was named to seven Pro Bowls and is a member of the Jets’ Ring of Honor.
“During his career, he was at the center of six top-10 rushing offenses, including the Nos. 1 and 4 units, in 2009 and 2010. He had a 4-3 mark in three postseason appearances, which included back-to-back runs to the AFC championship game in 2009-10,” Jets senior reporter Eric Allen wrote.
Nick Mangold Predicted to Be Next Jets Hall of Famer