As the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees are announced, the debates begin, mostly centered on either questioning the legitimacy of a member of the current class and/or making a case that another player deserved to be in as opposed to another.
One of those players that has been a topic of those debates has been former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens, who many believe deserves to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame someday.
One of the people who does not believe Owens has a rightful place in the Hall of Fame is Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Polian.
In fact, Polian had some harsh criticisms of Owens during an interview with Clark Judge of the Talk of Fame Sports Network (h/t Jordan Heck of Sporting News)
“I think the Hall of Fames are for people who make their teams better, not who detract from them. … What did Owens do that made his teams better? He put up a lot of numbers. Bill [Parcells] said that he was a disruptive force. Jerry [Jones], who’s probably one of the most easy-going people when it comes to disruptive guys, got rid of him. I’ve gotten texts from people in Philadelphia responding to the [Hall of Fame] campaign saying, “This guy was a cancer and destroyed our football team.” How does that square with the Hall of Fame?
Part of the motto of the Hall of Fame is [to] support the values of the game. How did he support the values of the game? It’s a team game. It’s not an individual game.”
Polian was asked who he would choose to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame between Owens and Randy Moss, who becomes eligible for Canton in 2018.
“I take neither,” he said. “First of all, here’s my position: (I want players who) contribute both individually and to the team. T.O.’s situation, T.O.’s temperament, his ability to contribute to the team was well known up front. He was going to be a problem. We did not want to deal with problem children. Others may. We didn’t.
“That’s number one. Number two, every year in Indianapolis we said the following: ‘The price of admission is 100 percent effort all the time in everything we do.’ Well, how can we take Randy Moss when we make that statement? It’s that simple.”
While Polian may get more backlash for his assessment of Moss, it’s clear that he is not a fan of Moss or Owens being enshrined in the Hall of Fame