The wait for Joe Jacoby's enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame continues, as he was passed over yet again during the voting for the Hall of Fame's Class of 2017.
Jacoby's made progress as he heads toward his 20th year of eligibility, having been a Modern-Era finalist for the second straight year. It's just a matter of him taking that next step, and actually making it into the Hall of Fame, instead of being on the outside looking in.
Talk of Fame Network's Rick Gosselin published an article recently, and in it, he took a look at seven of the NFL's all-decade performers that were among this year's Modern-Era finalists – Jacoby being one of them – who didn't garner enough votes to make it into the Hall of Fame. Gosselin wanted to know who, among the seven, was the biggest omission from the Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
Gosselin stated the case for each of the seven greats, and this is what he had to say in Jacoby's defense:
"A four-time Pro Bowler and a member of the 1980s NFL all-decade team," Gosselin said. "An undrafted free agent, Jacoby became a starter as a rookie and played 13 seasons with the Washington Redskins, winning three Super Bowls. He played left tackle during the golden age of pass rushers, having to block Hall-of-Famers Lawrence Taylor, Fred Dean, Richard Dent, Chris Doleman, Charles Haley, Dan Hampton, Howie Long, Lee Roy Selmon and Bruce Smith. He was a two-time first-team All-Pro."
UPDATE: Talk of Fame Network conducted a poll on who the biggest omission was from the Hall of Fame Class of 2017, and, by a wide margin, voters felt Jacoby was the biggest omission, as he got 65 percent of the votes.
Two of the Talk of Fame Network hosts - Rick Gosselin and Clark Judge - voted for Jacoby's enshrinement. Judge feels that time isn't on Jacoby's side when it comes to reaching immortality.
"I feel for Jacoby," Judge said. "To me, he is qualified. What's more, he has only one more year as a modern-era candidate before he goes into the senior pool and then … good luck. To me, this was his last, best opportunity to reach Canton. And he missed."
