Tony Boselli should make 2021 Hall of Fame class according to Elliot Harrison

While he failed to make it again in 2017, Tony Boselli should be in line to make the hall of fame according to NFL Network’s Elliot Harrison.

In case you missed it, the NFL preseason technically started last week when the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals faced off in the annual Hall of Fame game (we even had an appearance by former Jaguars great Blaine Gabbert).

The calamity that is the Hall of Fame game follows the actual hall of fame induction ceremony and gives everyone the chance to talk about the recently honored members and possible future additions.

If you’re a Jacksonville Jaguars fan, you’ve been waiting for years now for one player to finally get his due – former left tackle Tony Boselli.

Elliot Harrison over at NFL Network went through the candidates available for the next five hall of fame classes and chose guys for each year. According to Harrison, the Jacksonville Jaguars will have their first Hall of Fame representative in 2021.

"Tony Boselli, tackleBoselli was a left tackle’s left tackle, right out of the gate. By Year 2, Boselli had already established himself as the best in the business, and other interested parties began taking notice. Walter Jones, a first-ballot Hall of Famer himself, told me in Canton that he still remembered “the Boselli-Bruce Smith game.” Still in college at that point, Jones watched the 1996 wild-card playoff game on the tube with the rest of us junkies as Boselli shut out that season’s Defensive Player of the Year (and the NFL’s all-time sack leader). Boselli would not only keep it up for the next three years, but he would gradually be regarded as the top technician in the league. “Technician” is a description Jones used, as well. By 2000, Boselli was a Hall of Fame-level player with a body worse for the wear. A shoulder injury ultimately did him in, thus ending a brilliant career after seven seasons. The question for voters remains: Do they want 11 years from a good player or seven years from a dominant player?"

The last question is a silly one because by now we know the voters will absolutely reward a player who was dominant over a short stretch of time (Gale Sayers and Terrell Davis are prime examples). In reality, Boselli is hurt significantly by the fact that he played in Jacksonville. Had he been drafted by the Cowboys, 49ers, or another high-profile squad, he would already be in.

Boselli has plenty of supporters who think he should be in the hall of fame, but he still needs help. While it’s nice that Harrison has him eventually getting in by 2021, it’s not a good sign that he has him waiting so long. At this point Boselli should be a no-brainer.