Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders said that the Pro Football Hall of Fame
is inducting too many players and becoming a “free-for-all.”
Less than a week after the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio, Sanders said in a video posted by Well Off Media that the Hall of Fame is meant for people who “changed the game.” He also said some of those who make the Hall of Fame should be distinguished from others like himself who were game changers.
“My (Hall of Fame) jacket got to be a different color,” Sanders said. “There needs to be a starting 11, there needs to be an upper room. My head doesn’t belong with some of these other heads that’s in the Hall of Fame.”
Sanders, the head football coach at Jackson State, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2011 after a career as a two-time Super Bowl champion, eight-time Pro Bowler, six-time All-Pro and one-time Defensive Player of the Year.
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Sanders has made similar comments before in 2020 on the Dan Patrick Show.
“Once upon a time, a Hall of Famer was a player who changed the darn game,” Sanders said then. “That’s not a Hall of Famer anymore. Every Tom, Dick and Harry, you’re a Hall of Famer, you’re a Hall of Famer, you’re a Hall of Famer. They let everybody in this thing. It’s not exclusive anymore. And I don’t like it.”
In the video, Sanders does not name any players who do not belong in the Hall of Fame or not in the “upper room.”
The Pro Football Hall of Fame class inducted Tony Boselli, Cliff Branch, Art McNally, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour, Dick Vermeil, Bryant Young and LeRoy Butler in the 2022 class.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders slams the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s induction standards