These five Cowboys Hall of Fame snubs still deserve Canton’s attention, and their careers compare well or better than players already wearing gold jackets.
The first half of this list had some good Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame arguments.
This half is where I start running out of patience.
Numbers 5 through 1 are the Cowboys I look at and wonder what else Canton needs to see. Some should already be in the Hall of Fame, and others shouldn’t have to wait long once they become eligible.
When I stack their resumes next to players already enshrined, the arguments get pretty tough to dodge.
I’m not trying to put every good Cowboys in Canton. I am looking at the standard the Hall of Fame has already set, and I think Dallas still has a few players who meet it.
Tyron Smith’s Hall of Fame case will come down to how voters handle the injuries.
I get it. His career got choppy near the end, and Cowboys fans spent too many Sundays wondering if he would make it through another season.
I’m not going to let injuries erase what he was in his prime.
Smith made eight Pro Bowls, earned two first-team All-Pro selections, and landed on the NFL’s All-2010s Team. Pro Football Reference has a Hall of Fame Monitor score to measure players’ chances of getting into the Hall of Fame.
Tyron Smith has a score of 77.53. That puts him right behind Orlando Pace at 81.80 and Tony Boselli at 80.68.
Pace had seen Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro selections. Boselli had five Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro selections.
Tyron Smith protected Tony Romo and Dak Prescott, and made elite pass rushers look ordinary when he was right.
This is a man that belongs in Canton.
Zack Martin isn’t eligible for the Hall of Fame yet, so I’m putting that caveat right up front, but I’m also not going to pretend I don’t see where this could go.
Martin has seven first-team All-Pro selections, nine Pro Bowls, and a spot on the NFL’s All-2010s Team. He came into the league almost elite, immediately. For most of his career, he was either the best guard in football or his name was right next to the best that year.
The comparison to Hall of Fame guards should end any argument.
Alan Faneca has a Hall of Fame Monitor score of 134.33, six first-team All-Pro selections, and none Pro Bowls. Larry Allen has a 129.20 score, six first-team All-Pro selections, and 11 Pro Bowls.
Zack Martin is sitting at 122.48.
I don’t see how this would be seen as even borderline. This is Canton material.
The concern for me isn’t whether Martin was good enough. The concern is that voters may start moving the goalpost because he played guard, played for Dallas, and doesn’t have a Super Bowl.
