Once again, Randy Gradishar has been denied deserved induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but Gradishar already has been inducted in the College Football version as he made that grade in 1998 from his days at Ohio State where he was a two-time All-American and finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting for 1973 in a year that saw Ohio State place John Hicks (2nd), Archie Griffin (5th) and Gradishar in the top six and essentially hand the award to Penn State's John Cappelletti with three players splitting the Midwest vote.
Gradishar would be the first-round selection of the Denver Broncos in 1974, was a key cog in the rise of the Denver franchise and in his ten-year career, Gradishar would make seven Pro Bowls, named All-Pro six times and would win the AFC defensive player of the year in 1978.
Combine that with a strong case that the AFC defensive player of the year for 1977 could have been given to him and that he was still in his prime when he retired after the 1983 season in which he was named All-Pro, the case for induction is an easy one to make.
I looked back a little at Randy Gradishar in 2016 and I've always thought that he has been kept out of the Hall for a few different reasons.
The biggest reason is that the peak of Gradishar's career coincided with the beginning of the 3-4 defense that Gradishar's Denver Broncos used as their defensive system.
As effective as the 3-4 was and still is, at that time the 3-4 hadn't truly let loose outside linebackers as pass rushers and with two inside backers rather than a middle linebacker in a 4-3, Gradishar had more responsibilities in pass coverage than a middle linebacker of the time and as an inside linebacker rarely rushed the passer to roll up the type of statistics that voters of today value most from a linebacker-sacks.
Even still, Gradishar finished with only 4.5 sacks officially for his career, that is only because of sacks becoming an official statistic for the final two seasons of his career.
Gradishar also intercepted twenty passes in his career, three of those for touchdowns.
When you add those facts to an unprovable one, Randy Gradishar likely finished the 1970s with more tackles than anyone in the decade and has been mentioned as finishing with over two thousand tackles when he retired after the 1983 season, which would be the highest in NFL history to that point.
I believe that is likely to be correct, but it's unprovable because tackles did not become an official NFL stat until 1994.
Taking those two unofficial statistics together, the statistics that would prove Gradishar's worth either worked against his role on the defense that he played for or weren't an official statistic during his career.
Of the great defenses of the 1970s, Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain (5), Dallas's Doomsday (4), Minnesota's Purple People Eaters (3) and even Miami's No-Name defense has Nick Buoniconti, yet the "Orange Crush" of Denver is yet to be represented.
Randy Gradishar should have been a slam dunk, Louie Wright is another player that has been overlooked by voters and Lyle Alzado might have had a chance if not for the steroid admission and controversy from the end of his career.
Check the numbers out of Louis Wright (perhaps a future forgotten superstar?) and compare them to Donnie Shell and Cliff Harris, both inducted in this class and then consider which is harder to find- an elite cornerback or an elite safety (I'd argue that both Shell and Harris were very good players surrounded by great ones) before the easy take of "Super Bowl Rings".
Minnesota has three guys in (all deserving) and they didn't win one, so that standard shouldn't wash.
I've written in the past of my Bronco fandom in childhood and I spent several years with my Bronco jersey with Gradishar's 53 on it from Sears.Back then, if you wanted jerseys or clothing from teams other than in your area, you had to order from Sears and each team would only have one player available.
It says a lot that the Broncos best player and selection was a defensive player in a day of almost all offensive glamour positions.
As shown in the picture to the right, only one team of the-then 28 teams in the
NFL was represented by a defensive player- Randy Gradishar of the Denver Broncos.
Randy Gradishar may not have received his deserved bust in Canton, but he is now part of the Forgotten Superstars universe, which may not be nearly as prestigious but apparently is better at evaluating deserving members.
Randy Gradishar clips start at around the thirty-minute mark and are preceded by those of Louis Wright.
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