On the eve of Sunday’s Super Bowl, the 2017 Pro Football Hall of Fame class was announced. Once again, it did not include Joe Klecko, the legendary Jets defensive lineman.
But that was known well before Saturday, because Klecko was denied entrance, once again, in August, when the Hall’s Seniors Committee used its lone 2017 nomination on former Seahawks safety Kenny Easley, who wound up making the Hall of Fame on Saturday.
3 questions Jets must answer this offseason
The wait continues for Klecko, 63, but he could have a better chance for 2018.
That’s because the Seniors Committee will get two nominations, while the Contributors Committee will get one. Klecko is no longer eligible as a modern-era candidate.
The two non-modern era committees on a rotational basis, so the Contributors Committee had two nominations for 2017: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Jones made the Hall on Saturday, while Tagliabue did not.
The Seniors Committee typically announces its nominees in mid-August, so that’s when Klecko will find out if he’ll have a shot to make the Hall next Super Bowl weekend.
The Hall’s rotational seniors/contributors rules began in 2015. And they mean fewer players in Klecko’s position will have a chance to reach the Hall of Fame, via the Seniors Committee route. The Seniors Committee used to have two nomination spots every year.
Klecko played in the NFL from 1977-88 and spent all but that final season with the Jets. He was a two-time first-team All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler. He wound up with 24 career sacks, but all of those were officially concentrated between 1982 and 1987, because the NFL didn’t recognize the sack statistic until 1982.
One of Klecko’s All-Pro years was 1981, when he led the NFL with 20.5 sacks and was named AFC Defensive Player of the Year. During his career, he made the Pro Bowl at three different positions — defensive tackle, nose tackle, and defensive end.
Klecko didn’t make much of an impact as a modern-era Hall candidate. His first year of eligibility was 1994. He became a senior candidate for the 2015 induction class. Never once, during his time as a modern-era candidate, did he reach the finalist stage.
8 Jets who should be gone in 2017
Now, Klecko is 0-for-3 with being nominated by the Seniors Committee, though the new rules hurt his chances. In Klecko’s three years as a senior candidate, his committee has only once been allowed to nominate two players. In 2015 and 2017, it could nominate just one.
Ultimately, unless Klecko breaks through with the Seniors Committee, he will have to settle for being one of the finest players in Jets history. And there’s certainly no shame in that.
Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
