Getty Eagles tackle Al Wistert deserves a bust in Canton.
The Philadelphia Eagles have two legends on the semifinalist list for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2024 class. Al Wistert and Maxie Baughan have advanced to the next round after the initial list was whittled down to 31 eligible nominees in the senior category.
Wistert, a fifth-round pick in 1943, was a member of the All-Decade Team of the 1940s and helped the Eagles win world championships in 1948 and 1949. His No. 70 is one of only nine numbers retired by the franchise after making four All-Pro teams during his nine-year career. Wistert, aka “Big Ox,” was a two-way player at offensive tackle and defensive tackle. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 95. He was inducted into the Eagles’ Hall of Fame in 2009.
Baughan, a second-round pick in 1960, was a nine-time Pro Bowler who played for the Eagles, Rams, and Redskins. He was a member of the 1960 world championship team in Philly where he started at linebacker. The 84-year-old was inducted into the Eagles’ Hall of Fame in 2015.
Already cemented as Eagles legends, the pair will look to enter football immortality. The who’s who list of 31 semifinalists gets narrowed down to 12 finalists on July 27. The Class of 2024 will officially be unveiled at the “NFL Honors” show prior to Super Bowl LVIII on February 11.
The players who are semifinalists are:
-Ken Anderson
-Ottis Anderson
-Carl Banks
-Maxie Baughan
-Larry Brown
-Mark Clayton
-Charlie Conerly
-Roger Craig
-Henry Ellard
-Randy Gradishar
-Lester Hayes
-Chris Hinton
-Cecil Isbell
-Joe Jacoby
-Billy “White Shoes” Johnson
-Mike Kenn…
Eagles Great Eric Allen Snubbed Again
Former Eagles cornerback Eric Allen might be the biggest snub in the history of snubs. Aside from not already owning a Gold Jacket (which he should), Allen has never been named a finalist. It’s an astonishingly huge oversight by the voters, one covered in depth at Super Bowl LVII.
NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Reuben Frank went into the “absurdity” of Allen’s exclusion from Canton by comparing his numbers to those of Ronde Barber who was enshrined in 2023. No offense to Barber, but it just doesn’t make sense to leave Allen out.
Frank wrote the following:
Allen has more total interceptions than 22 Hall of Fame defensive backs. Only 15 have more than him. Yet he’s never even been a Hall of Fame finalist. It’s absurd and just shows that the Hall of Fame voters are clueless about the best defensive backs of the 1980s and 1990s.
Over the 13-year period from 1988 through 2000, Allen had the second-most INTs in the NFL, behind only Hall of Famer Rod Woodson. Barber’s best 13-year span was 2000 through 2012, and he had the sixth-most INTs in the league.
How is Eric Allen not in the Hall of Fame…
Asante Samuel Feuding with Darrelle Revis
Asante Samuel is another former Eagles cornerback who deserves a spot in Canton and keeps letting everyone know it. The four-time Pro Bowler recently threw some subtle shade at Sauce Gardner of the New York Jets when things went off the rails. Darrelle Revis decided to stick up for Gardner by telling Samuel to “quit being a hater” and then shared a story about watching tape of Samuel biting on “double moves.” Yikes.
@pick_six22 just landed. Hear we go smh… 🤦🏾♂️
I really don’t know much about this guy. never was inspired to watch his film but something does jog my memory. I do remember we played Falcons + Rex Ryan made a highlight clip of him being doubled moved on almost every single…
Their Twitter beef went viral with Revis throwing a final dagger in a now-deleted post showing Samuel dropping a potential game-sealing interception in Super Bowl XLII. Revis wrote: “A high school cornerback could have picked this pass off. This goes to show you ain’t elite. Could have been a hero but you choked and cost your team and Tom Brady another Super Bowl.”