"Five years from now, one of the most popular complaints about the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be this: How the heck is Richmond Webb in the senior pool? And the answer will be easy: He was never discussed as a modern-era finalist.

Based on what's happened thus far, that's not just likely. It's inevitable.

Yet, for the better part of a decade, Webb defined the left-tackle position. As a rookie in 1990, he started all 16 games and played every snap for the 12-4 Dolphins, protecting Dan Marino's blindside so well that he became the first rookie tackle to make the Pro Bowl since the merger and the first rookie left tackle to do so since 1955.

Bruce Smith won the AP Defensive Player of the Year that year, with his 19 sacks just one shy of the league lead. But in three Dolphins-Bills games (two regular season, one in the playoffs), Webb and the Dolphins held Smith sack-less. Webb had such a dominant season that he was UPI's AFC Rookie of the Year, finished 4th in the AP's Offensive Rookie-of-the-Year voting and, according to the Miami Herald, was flagged for holding just once.

He was a Pro Bowler again in 1991, a Pro Bowl starter in 1992 and a Pro Bowler, period, his first seven seasons. In the middle, he was an All Pro in 1992-95 and a first-team choice twice, including 1994 when Sports Illustrated called left tackles the NFL's 'most important players on the field.'

When the 1990s came to a close, the four tackles on the league's all-decade team were Willie Roaf, Gary Zimmerman, Tony Boselli … and Webb. Roaf, Zimmerman and Boselli all are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But Richmond Webb? Somehow, in his first 16 seasons of modern-era eligibility, Hall-of-Fame voters named him a semifinalist a grand total of — ready for it? — zero times."


Interesting article overall.

https://talkoffametwo.com/guest-columns/how-to-reduce-hall-senior-pool

Posted by Ray on 02/15/2024 @ 18:28pm