Jaguars: Tony Boselli for the Hall of Fame in 2020

Former Jaguars great Tony Boselli has been on the shortlist of candidates for induction into the Hall of Fame for years. Will 2020 be the year he finally gets the recognition he deserves?

Why hasn’t Jaguars offensive tackle Tony Boselli hasn’t been chosen for the Hall of Fame? He was one of the greatest offensive tackles of his era but played for an expansion team.  Also, his career was cut short by injury and he has no Super Bowl ring to his credit.

As part of the celebration of 25 years in the NFL, Jaguars fans would love to see Boselli added to the Hall of Fame, where he belongs.

For those of you know may not know how good a player Boselli was in his career, here are a few things to know.

"Per John Oehser of Jaguars.com, “This is the fourth consecutive year Boselli has been a Hall finalist. It was his fifth consecutive year as a Hall semi-finalist.”"

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He was selected to the Pro Bowl five consecutive seasons from 1996-2000 and was a three time All Pro.  In addition, he was named to the 1990s All-Decade team. He was the first Jaguar to be in The Pride of the Jaguars.  He is No. 1 on the Jaguars top 25 players list.

Boselli was the second overall draft pick in the 1995 draft by the expansion Jaguars. He became a very popular and impactful player for the team. He went on to a successful career in broadcasting for Westwood One and joined the Jaguars radio team in 2013. He has been an integral part of the Jacksonville community by creating the Boselli Foundation to work with at risk youth.

When local sports columnist and former sports anchor Sam Kouvaris presented Boselli to the Hall of Fame selection group in 2007, debunked the brevity of his career by stating there are 30 players with less than 100  games played already in the Hall including Gayle Sayers. Kouvaris went on to mention his dominant performances against Bruce Smith, Jason Taylor, and Derrick Thomas.

Also, as Kouvaris mentioned shortly after the announcement of the 2019 Hall of Fame class, that 2020 might be the best opportunity for Boselli to finally get the ticket to the hallowed fraternity.

"“There’s no dispute about Boselli’s greatness. The only question ever raised is about his length of service. Why that’s even in the discussion, I don’t know. Two years ago, the selection committee chose Terrell Davis from the modern era eligible players (78 games) and Kenny Easley from the senior pool (89 games) for induction,” he wrote.“Boselli played 97 games, 91 in the regular season plus six in the playoffs. About 12 percent of the players in the Hall of Fame played less than 100 games. Twenty-five percent of tackles in the Hall of Fame played 105 games or less. So Boselli checks the boxes when it comes to qualifying.”"

Jaguars fans know about the greatest player to wear the black and teal, and we want the rest of the football world to celebrate his accomplishments, too.  He was a great tackle and very well respected by his peers. He has gone on to be successful in his personal life and has remained in the Jacksonville area.

My final comment is very simple. There are no Jaguars in the Hall of Fame, yet. This would be a perfect year, the 25th year of the franchise being an NFL franchise, to induct the best player to ever wear the uniform into Canton in July.