Three Favorites plus one!-Denver Broncos

We return to a feature from last season with three favorites plus one.
The initial post rated three favorites of mine from the pre-1985 era that are in the Hall of Fame and one that I think should be,but isn't.
I'm going to tweak the formula a bit and move it back to pre-1990 and I open it up on non-HOFers when the post decides it.

In this post,we move to the team of my youth,the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos don't really have any favorites of mine in the Hall as many were before my time as a fan (Floyd Little and Willie Brown) and some were after (Shannon Sharpe,Gary Zimmerman) or better known with another club (Tony Dorsett).
Combine that with never been a big John Elway fan (although watching him,I might select him as my 1st pick if starting a franchise with any QB) and this will be a similar,but little different setup from the original idea..

With that in mind-here are my four favorite Denver Broncos that I think have a legitimate argument to be eventually enshrined in Canton...

Steve Atwater was a huge hitter at safety and wasn't a liability as much as some would think.
Many safeties that hit like Atwater can be sometimes weaker in pass coverage and Atwater wasn't one of those types.
Atwater was most famous for his crunching hit on Monday Night Football on the "Nigerian Nightmare" Christian Okoye,but Atwater punished ball carriers in the running game and passing game.
Safety tends to be an underrated position in Canton,but Atwater and our next favorite would get votes from me.

Atwater's partner at safety upon his Denver arrival was a first round selection in 1981 and also has a case for the HOF.
A six time Pro Bowler,Dennis Smith was both a ferocious hitter and a better playmaker than you would think for a player with his body type.
Smith could cover and hit,but was an underrated blitzer and kick blocker off the edge.
Dennis Smith is a deserving player in Canton,but it's going to be tough for him to get there...

Louis Wright was arguably the best corner in the AFC of his era after being Denver's first round pick in 1975 and yes,that's a strong statement,but he belongs in the class of those like Mel Blount,Mike Haynes and Lester Hayes-Wright was that good.
Wright's stats look mundane (26 interceptions in a 12 year career),but he was so smooth that quarterbacks stayed away from challenging him.
If the Broncos were one of the leagues glamour team then as they are now,Wright might already be in Canton...

My all time favorite Bronco's omission from the Hall is a joke and I would rank him above several linebackers that currently are in the Hall.
Former Buckeye Randy Gradishar was a tacking machine that didn't just make the tackles near him,he could run down players in space as well.
I think there is somewhat of a bias against inside linebackers of the 70's,80's and early 90's because they didn't roll up huge sack numbers and get the publicity of the outside linebackers.
Gradishar was my favorite Bronco as a kid and I always had his jersey.
Back in the 70's and 80's,if you were a fan of a team,the only place to get a jersey was either from the Sears or JC Penney's catalog.
Each team was represented by one player and if you didn't care for your player on your team of choice,you were out of luck.
Denver was not exactly filled with offensive players of note,so Gradishar was the choice for the Broncos.
I think Gradishar will eventually get in as a Veterans Committee candidate,but it should not have had to come to that point...

If you would like your team to eventually be a part of this series or even if you want to appear as a guest writer.-Let me know!!

Three Favorites plus one!

A new recurring series here and maybe a future slot on the podcast.

I'll pick three favorite players of mine from the pre-1985 era who are in the Hall of Fame from a team and then add one player who isn't in the Hall that I think should be.

Of course, We'll start with the Browns!

No better place to start than with arguably the greatest player ever- Jim Brown.
A fullback with the speed of the modern halfback, Brown was two decades ahead of his time.

The speed to run away from defenders yet with the phenomenal strength to run over you, the player that most resembles the modern player in old films- Jim Brown is my favorite Brown in the hall...

My second favorite goes to coach and founder of the team- Paul Brown.
Yes, Brown gets an edge for creating the team, winning all of its championships except one (which was really his team that was built in 1964), but also for all the innovations that he brought to the game, such as calling the plays as a coach, helmet radios, the first facemask, etc,
For more on the innovation of Paul Brown, check out his episode of "A Football Life" on the NFL Network.
Plus, he earned tons of credit for being the first person to sniff out the skunk that was Art Modell...

The final one goes to deep threat Paul Warfield, who was the best receiver of the Browns, became the best passing threat on the Dolphins champions of the '70s, had a short stint in the WFL, and then returned home for a final two-season run with the Browns.
Warfield's numbers are skewered a bit by the time that he played in and the run-first teams he played on (the Browns with Jim Brown first and then Leroy Kelly and then the Dolphins of Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick), but his speed and flair ranked him as the deep threat of his time.
Warfield caught just 29 passes in 1973, but 11 went for scores.
Had Warfield played a little later, his reception numbers would have been much higher...

My pick for deserving Brown not in the Hall goes to Hanford Dixon.
Dixon was the best cover corner of his time and made a terrific pairing with Frank Minnifield as the best corner tandem of the 80's.
Dixon played his entire career with the Browns and unlike many "cover" corners (Coughs Deion Sanders) knew how to make a tackle.
Hanford Dixon was superior to quite a few corners in the HOF right now and deserves entry.

Honorable mention goes to Jerry Sherk, who I think was of that level before the staph infection that basically ended his career.
Sherk could have been that deserving.

I hope you enjoyed this feature and I may reach out to others to do their teams-Ryan with Packers,Battlin' Bob Steelers,Big Don Bills etc....