Tony Boselli named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame
By Daniel Lago
The Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t have much to celebrate in 2016 on the field, but they can now get behind the hall of fame candidacy of Tony Boselli.
The 2016 regular season was perhaps the most disappointing in franchise history since the glory days of the Jaguars back in the late 90s/early 2000s.
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Back then, the team was headlined by a handful of superstars, none more talented than former 2nd overall draft pick Tony Boselli. In an era of all-time great offensive tackles, Tony Boselli was the best of the best. He sprung onto the national scene after absolutely dominating one of the best defensive ends of all time in a playoff game (
) and he was never any worse than the second best offensive lineman in the league during his prime.
There has been some worry that Boselli may never make the hall of fame for numerous reasons (shortened career and playing and Jacksonville being the primary culprits), but he’s broken through this year as one of the 15 finalists:
Former @Jaguars left tackle @TonyBoselli (1995-2001) has been named one of 15 finalists for the @ProFootballHOF Class of 2017.
— Tad Dickman (@TDickman89) January 4, 2017
Boselli was the first draft pick in franchise history but he has some work to do to clear the last hurdle. He has plenty of support in terms of the media, but there are other finalists this year who have been waiting to get in. Ladanian Tomlinson is almost certainly getting in thanks to impressive and historical career numbers, Kurt Warner is a finalist again, and so is Terrell Davis.
Boselli’s resume is built on his outstanding individual acheivements (five Pro Bowl berths, three-time first-team All-Pro, and a member of the NFL’s 1990’s All-Decade team) as well as being arguably the best player on an expansion team that had unprecedented success over its first 5 seasons.
We’ll have to wait a bit and see, but Tony Boselli could give Jaguars fans something to be happy about after an awful season if he gets in.